Focus: Seeing For Believing

Text: Jh.11:40

"Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?"

"If you would believe, then you should see the glory of God." I did not say it; Jesus Christ did, and His words are true. Faith initiates you into the world of possibilities - a world where impossibilities do not exist, a world where God is the center and circumference of everything. Faith connects you to a vision of God's glory.

What glory is Christ referring to? In the context of John 11, the glory of God is the same thing as Lazarus coming back to life by the miraculous power of Christ. Christ came into the world to conquer death for us and in us. Christ's victory over death at the grave of Lazarus was glorifying to God. Every time Satan loses a battle in your life, God's glory is revealed. Every time your need is divinely or miraculously met, God's glory is unveiled. 

Faith and the vision of God's glory are connected. By believing one qualifies for a vision of God's glory.

Christ did a lot of miracles in the Gospels because of the faith of the recipients. Matthew writes, "Jesus seeing their faith" (Mt.9:2). Mark says, "When Jesus saw their faith" (Mk.2:5). God honors faith. Upon seeing our faith God steps into action. In Matthew 9:22, Christ says to a lady, "Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole. And the woman was made whole from that hour." We read in Act.14:9, "The same heard Paul speak: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed." Paul sees in a crippled man faith to be healed.

Jesus Christ said to doubting Thomas, "Be not faithless, but believing" (Jh.20:27). In verse 29, Christ says to Thomas, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." By believing we see, not the other way round. The psalmist exclaims, "O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him" (Ps.34:8). Those who believe are blessed. Those who trust never rust. You can see that tasting and trusting are connected in this Scripture, and when we taste or trust, then we see that the Lord is good.

Do you want to see the glory of God in your life? Are you willing to taste the goodness of God for yourself? Do you intensely and immensely desire to see the works of God in your generation? Then faith is the key. We see by believing. Paul says, "(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)" (2Cor.5:7). Faith is the pathway of vision - a vision of divine glory. Believe God, and you will see God's glory in your own life.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter