And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man save Jesus only. Matthew 17:8
A young preacher once approached the famous revival preacher Jonathan Edwards and asked the elderly veteran if he would critique one of the younger man’s messages. Edwards agreed, and attended the service where the young man was to speak. When they met afterwards, the young preacher asked Edwards for his opinion. Edwards bluntly told the young man that the sermon was a very poor one. Disappointed, the young preacher asked why, saying he felt certain the sermon had plenty of preparation and good content, and was delivered with considerable energy and conviction. Edwards agreed, but told the young man the sermon was of little value because there was nothing in it of Christ. He reminded the young man that to have any value, a sermon must have Christ, and the more of Christ in the sermon, the more value the sermon. Jesus’ disciples learned the same lesson on the Mount of Transfiguration.
Peter, James, and John were no doubt overwhelmed at seeing Moses and Elijah in the glorious mountain vision. These two great men were well known to them in terms of history and religious background, and might well have been at the top of their list of people from the past they would love to meet. But when the cloud of glory lifted from the scene, there was only one Person before them, the same One they had been committed to following for many months. Regardless of what Moses or Elijah could have said, the disciples could see that the only One that mattered was the Lord Jesus. And in His presence they would learn everything they needed to learn. He is also the only one worthwhile for us to tell others about as we go forth with the Gospel.
We sometimes see Christians who have a poor record of attending the meetings of the Assembly who make a special effort to attend when a particular favourite preacher is to be there. These folks are missing the point; it doesn’t matter who else is to be at the meetings when we have the promise that the Lord Jesus Himself is to be there. One of the things we most appreciate about the Lord’s Supper is that all of the focus of the gathering is on the Lord Jesus. No human leadership intervenes as the Assembly pours out its worship and praise to the Lord in our midst. It should never matter to us who else is there, as long as we appreciate the Lord Jesus, or as our text expresses it, as long as we see no man save Jesus only.
Christians whose attention is focused solely on the Lord Jesus behold more than Christians whose attention is on everything or anything else. -Jim MacIntosh