What Do We See?

Three basic aspects in the vision of Christ.

Gonzalo Sepúlveda

"He therefore answered, Whether he is a sinner, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see" (John 9:25).

What a blessed experience this man had; blind from birth and the Lord healed him. "Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and finding him, he said, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? He answered and said, And who is he, Lord, that I may believe on him? Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and he it is that speaketh with thee."

Very few people, in the days our Lord Jesus Christ, had the privilege of receiving this direct revelation. This man received double healing; physical and spiritual. He was made healthy to see, and he saw the Son of God.

Dear brothers and sisters, blessed are we, because we were blind, until the Lord opened our understanding and now we see him!

Now, then, we should be under conditions of responding to anyone who demands a reason for our hope: what it is that we have seen, who we are believing, what point we are at and where we are heading.

Looking to the past

Brothers, this is what the Lord has placed on my heart: that the basic vision, the very least that a brother will have seen, is the Lord Jesus on the cross. So turn to that glorious passage of Isaiah 53:4-5: "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."

Blessed word! Dear brothers and sisters, I don't know how old you are in the ways of the Lord, but I always tell the young people who are beginning that they will have to come to Isaiah 53 so often, either because of their own failures or necessities, or to help others to seek refuge in the Lord.

Here we see our Lord Jesus Christ in the peak of his weakness. It is impossible for us, with this mind and with our human limitations, to be able to understand this height, this depth. Impossible to see the extent of the humiliation of our Lord who not only became man, but also suffered death, even death on a cross.

In this passage we don't only see Christ suffering. We are also present, contributing our sins, our iniquities, sorrows, and griefs. But he forgave us and healed us there. Our Lord has blessed us so much! We take life out of this Word and we are strengthened. We also see the Lord taking not only our sins, but also taking us to the cross, because later the apostle Paul would say: "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal. 2:20), and, "we were united with him in the likeness of his death" (Rom. 6:5), in such a way that whoever belongs to Christ and is in Christ, has not only had their sins forgiven, but has also participated in the death of the Lord. That's why we now present ourselves to God as "alive from among the dead" (Rom. 6:13); because we have died with him and we have been raised up with him. In His death not only he died; we died with him. Glory to God because in Christ we are put to death to live a new life!

This chapter of Isaiah should be learnt off by heart. After all these sufferings there is a blessed statement: "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied" (vs. 11), which fills us with hope, mainly when we have failed and sense the extent of our own weakness.

You and I can fail, but, in spite of everything, the Lord will fulfil his purpose, he will see the fruit of his affliction.

Looking to the future

Let us continue. Let's turn now to Revelation 5. What happens there is so glorious, what a beautiful scene! There is a strong angel that proclaims with great voice: "Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?" We know that none was worthy, neither in the heavens, nor on the earth, nor under the earth. John cries. The consolation comes from one of the elders: "Weep not; behold, the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath overcome to open the book and the seven seals thereof." Now let's read verses 8 to 10: " And when he had taken the book, the four living creatures and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sing a new song, saying, Worthy art thou to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou was slain, and didst purchase unto God with thy blood men of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, and madest them to be unto our God a kingdom and priests; and they reign upon earth."

From the extremity of humiliation we go to the other end of his exaltation: amid the throne, and the four living beings, and amid the elders, because there is no higher place in the whole universe! He who was crucified in the greatest expression of humiliation, is today in the greatest place of exaltation: The Lamb standing amid the throne receiving the praise, the adoration from millions and millions of countless angels and of the whole creation!

Brothers and sisters, if the Lamb is on the throne, then death is conquered, Satan is defeated and the purpose of God is completely assured. On this throne all the power and authority that governs the whole universe is represented, from which our Lord reigns, sustaining all things by the word of his power (Heb. 1:3), and angels, authorities and dominions are subject to him (1 Peter 3:22). As for our future, we rest in him, because he has everything under control. There is nothing nor anybody who can remove him from there, because the Father Himself received him with glory declaring: "Sit thou at my right hand till I make thine enemies the footstool for thy feet" (Acts 2:34-35).

This is the Lord that have seen, this is why our eyes were opened, to see the Lord crucified and that our salvation was accomplished there, and to see the Lord glorified in the heavens. So our hearts swell up and you are filled with hope. Isn't that so brothers and sisters? Does that happen to you when you see Christ on the cross and when you see him on the throne? First it is the cross, then the throne. Do you remember that on the cross we were with him adding our illnesses, transgressions and sins? But, blessed is the Lord! We are also there before the throne. First we are in verse 8: "…golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints." This is of comfort for the saints; our prayers are not lost in the air. These bowls receive them and they accumulate there. We are still filling them (they're not full yet).

Then it says: "hast redeemed them unto God with thy blood… and they shall reign over the earth." The word redeemed identifies us, because we were slaves and we have been freed, we were dead and we have been raised up. We were redeemed by Jesus' blood to reign with him!

The Father opened our eyes to see Christ crucified and to see him exalted on the throne. We obtain life, power and encouragement through the death of the Lord, and we obtain glory and hope when contemplating him in His exaltation. How the Lord blesses us! How he cares for us! We are blessed, and strengthened from both ends! Those aforementioned redeemed come from all people, tribes and nations of the earth. Glory to the Lord! No ethnic group was forgotten, nor any language.

Beloved brothers, all that which is in Isaiah 53 is yours. Have you taken hold of it for yourself? All that is in Revelation is also our hope, because you and I are destined to reign with the Lord. So all the contradictions, the difficult situations that we often live make sense, because the Lord is preparing us so that we might reign with him for eternity.

The present vision

Brothers and sisters, there's still something more, because the cross looks toward the past, and the throne toward the future, but we need the Lord today, right here, in the present time.

Let's look at Ephesians 3:14-17: "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ of whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named, in order that he may give you according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts, being rooted and founded in love."

We have seen the Lord on the cross. We have also seen him on the throne, and now, where do we see him? " that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts." In our hearts! How tremendous all this is, because the Lord on the cross is detached from me and on the throne he's also detached from me, but, in this word, the Lord has come to live here, in you and I, in our hearts, and this is through the Holy Spirit. The Father Son and Holy Spirit's work is so clear in this word. But why was Christ able to come to live in our hearts? Because the Lord Jesus paid the price on the cross and having returned to his glory he received the Father's promise, so in the third place we receive this great pouring out of the Holy Spirit that came first to seal us and then to reveal Christ in us.

Did you receive it, brother? Is the Lord in your heart? We are not a Laodicea who have shut the Lord out. We belong to the Lord! Christ dwells in our hearts by faith.

This is not a casual word spoken by the apostle Paul, it is his permanent message, in Colossians 1:27-29 … "Christ in you, the hope of glory", and … "his mighty working, which works so powerfully in me."

These words move us because we see the apostle, not seeking to work in his own strength (like in the story of Romans 7), because he says: "his mighty working which works so powerfully in me." This opens the spiritual appetite. We want to experience that same power, we don't want to see anybody living in weakness. We work so that all learn how to feed off the Lord on the cross, to enjoy the Lord in the heavens and to see the power of what Christ is in us.

Paul taught what was normal for him: " I am crucified with Christ, I no longer live but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20) Does this word not have life, brothers and sisters? Here I feel as though what we have here are three powerful streams, like three inexhaustible waterfalls of living water: one in Isaiah 53, another in Revelation 5 and the other one in Ephesians 3. Glory to the Lord!

Let us return to Ephesians 3: "that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be strong to apprehend with all the saints..." (vv. 17-18). Brothers and sisters, here our individualism is made redundant: with all the saints! This is the yearning of the heart of the Lord who saved us so that we are one.

We need all the saints to understand this width, this depth, this height, and of knowing Christ's love that exceeds all knowledge. Let us give thanks to the Lord for being in Christ's Body.

Experiencing Christ's life

In this glorious and privileged position, as the church, as the body of Christ, we can live in the truth that emanates from the cross and the truth of the Lord's throne. Both truths are made so real when we live in communion with all the saints. On the one hand they will remind us continually that we were washed of all our sins with the blood poured out on the cross, and in the daily life with all the saints we also go on knowing how the subjective part of Christ's cross operates, because in the church we experience the agony of the resources of the flesh; the most mature brothers and sisters, most tested by the Lord, show us what Christ's character, the life of the Lord is like. Also, in the church, we experience the authority of the throne of the Lord and we go on learning how to submit ourselves to one another, to live in the harmony that the Holy Spirit brings among the saints. The Lord is achieving what he wants; a wife, a glorious Church, without blemish or wrinkle, with which to reign forever and ever.

Let us not fear the contradictions amid Christ's Body. There is no other place for us. Our flesh has to lose out, our "self", our soul, has to be dealt with, but Christ has to go on being formed. Amen? How blessed this is!

If you ever thought you were rich before, that became nothing when we saw the Lord, when we saw Christ's body and the tremendous riches that there are in him. "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us unto him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen." (Eph. 3:20-21).