Seeing the Lord

A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also (John 14:19).

The last time the ‘world’ saw Jesus Christ was when He hung on the cross of Calvary. After His resurrection He appeared to over 500 people, but they were the privileged few who were either already saved, or would be saved when He appeared to them (1 Corinthians 15:4-8).

The translation, the world will see Me no more, is not really accurate. The phrase literally says, a little while and the world Me no longer sees. The world will see Jesus again when He is seated on David’s throne in Jerusalem during the Millennial reign, and finally at the Great White Throne judgment. Then, every eye will see Him (Revelation 1:7). These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power (2 Thessalonians 1:9). However, in the interim period between the ascension and the 2nd coming, the people of the world will only hear about, and know Jesus through the Gospel preached, taught, and witnessed by the Christian and the Christian church.

The saints, on the other hand, have seen, and will see Jesus during the interim period. They saw Him after He had risen from the dead. They saw Him as He ascended into heaven. They saw Him, by faith, after He had taken His seat at the right hand of God. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone (Hebrews 2:9). They see Him now after having passed from this life in death, for they are absent from this body and present with the Lord in glory (2 Corinthians 5:8-9). They will see Him at His appearing in the clouds in the rapture and at His 2nd coming, for we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2). We will see Him forever in the Kingdom that He has gone to prepare for us.

Jesus ended this verse with a marvelous promise to His disciples and to us. Because I live, you will live also. The promise is based upon His work on the cross and His resurrection from the dead. What is significant about this promise is that the life of the believer is the life of Jesus Christ living in the believer. We could restate the promise to say, “You will live because I will live in you.” The Apostle Paul said it this way (Galatians 2:20), I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  There is no greater security for the Christian than to know his/her life is in Jesus Christ, and His life is in them. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one (John 10:27-30). Amen.

Pastor