Whom having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. 1 Peter 1:8
Unknown to her husband, one of our neighbours had struck up an Internet friendship with a man living in Seattle. Every day, they sent messages back and forth, sharing photos and life stories, their friendship growing into a secret romance. As this friendship grew, the woman made plans to leave her husband and join her new friend on the west coast. She secretly withdrew all of her and her husband’s life savings and had them transferred into her lover’s account. She sold many of her belongings, packed everything that she wanted to take with her into a suitcase, and disappeared one night when her husband was working a late shift. She had convinced herself that she loved a man she had never seen until she arrived in Seattle to discover the truth about him. He had been sending her pictures of his son; he himself was middle-aged, fat, and ugly, with obnoxious manners and an addiction to cocaine and liquor. Instead of the lovely suburban home he promised, he lived in a slum apartment, and he had already spent all of her money on drugs and gambling. Sadly, this woman’s story is all too commonplace today. It is an understatement to say that loving somebody you have never seen can be foolish and dangerous. But just the opposite is true when the Man we love is the Lord Jesus Christ.
A friend of mine tells me he is saved by his good looks: he got a good look at what a guilty and lost sinner he was, and then got a good look at what a wonderful Saviour the Lord Jesus is. Those good looks will get anyone to Heaven, we will all agree. Those good looks are described in the Word of God. The first good look is called repentance, and the second good look is called faith. Did my friend actually see the Lord Jesus? Not like I see your face when we shake hands on a Lord’s Day morning, no. But the sight of the Lord Jesus by faith is as sure a sight as anything our eyes have ever seen. More sure, in fact, because our eyes can deceive us with optical illusions and parlour tricks. The faith that the world cannot know gives a view that is more real and abiding than anything else in this world. Things that we can see with our eyes can truly give us pleasure and delight, but they can never give us the joy unspeakable that our text speaks of. That is because every one of earth’s views will one day fade away and burn, but the sight that we have received of Jesus Christ by faith will capture and hold our attention forever when our glorified eyes behold Him in His glory.
Speaking of his Saviour, Paul said ‘The Son of God Who loved me and gave Himself for me’ (Galatians 2:20). In response to His great love for us, we love Him sight unseen now and will love Him forever. – Jim MacIntosh