We Can See God Only as Much as We Realize Him

As the workers of the new covenant diligently preach the Word, our heavenly family members throughout the world are now coming back to Zion to find the truth. The place doesn’t seem to matter as long as they can preach. They are intent on preaching the gospel throughout the nation and overseas; some preach on a plane; some preach on an aircraft carrier while doing their military service; and others in various different circumstances.

Whether on land, on the sea or in the air, they all preach God’s word fervently, so the work of the gospel is being accomplished rapidly.

Many of the people of Zion are led into the truth. Among them, there are those who understand the truth right away and those who are somewhat slow to understand why God should come in the flesh. Now, let’s think about what kind of faith we should have to recognize God correctly through the sermon titled “We Can See God Only as Much as We Realize Him.”

We can see God according to our faith

2,000 years ago, Jesus’ disciples had respectively different kinds of faith. Some recognized Jesus right away, while some didn’t.

Philip once asked Jesus to show him the Father. Then Jesus said, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ ” (Jn 14:6-9). Philip thought that Jesus was more than a prophet, but he didn’t realize that He was God the Father until that time.

Even though the disciples were all taught by Jesus, they viewed Jesus differently. Peter recognized Jesus as the Christ giving eternal life (Jn 6:68-69). Thomas, however, doubted even when he heard the news of His resurrection. He came to believe in Jesus after he saw the nail marks in His hands and put his hand into His side where the spear had been thrust into Him. Then he confessed, “My Lord and my God!” (Jn 20:24-29). What about Judas Iscariot? He didn’t see the true nature of Jesus but only looked at His physical life, so he eventually betrayed Him.

Why did they have different views about Jesus? It was because they had different kinds of faith respectively. We can’t see things clearly through foggy glasses. To see what is in front of us clearly, we need to clean our glasses. Likewise, if we look at God with foggy eyes, we cannot see Him even though He is right in front of us.

When we clean everything that obscures our spiritual eyes, we can see God clearly. To those who understand, God adds wisdom to understand Him even more, but to those who don’t understand, He adds factors raising even more doubts, as the Bible says: “Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”

Those who have a partial understanding of God will see Him only partially. However, those who understand God fully will see Him in His entirety. God shows Himself 100% to those who have 100% faith in Him, and 50% to those who have 50% faith. As an example, when Jesus climbed the Mount of Transfiguration, accompanied by His disciples—Peter, James and John, He showed them His original image as God (Mt 17:1-8). However, Judas Iscariot never saw His glorious appearance.

The disciples who were blessed more greatly because of their faith

We should completely understand God to see Him fully. The more we believe in God and understand Him, the more testimonies and wisdom God gives us so that we can fully understand Him. However, God hides Himself from those who have no understanding and are full of doubt (Isa 45:15). God does a wondrous thing—showing Himself to us only as much as we understand Him.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah . . . I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he warned his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Christ.Mt 16:13-20

Jesus told His children, who recognized Him, not to tell anyone that He was the Christ, for there were spiritual blessings that only those recognizing Christ were to receive. Jesus gave credit to the faith of Peter who recognized Him correctly as the Christ who came to this earth (in the flesh). So, He granted him a tremendous gift—the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and showed him His mighty power through miraculous works many times. He showed him His transfigured appearance, and when Peter and his fellow fishermen didn’t catch anything all night, He let them catch a huge haul of fish enough to make the boat almost sink. By doing that, Jesus convinced them that He was the Christ and God Himself. Thus, God gives more understanding to those who understand.

Jesus, whom the Apostles Paul, Peter and John saw, was God in nature. Like them, we should not doubt but believe that God Elohim, our heavenly Father and Mother, is our Creator who made all things. Then God will show us His mighty power by doing many wonderful works.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it . . . The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God . . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.Jn 1:1-14

John recognized Jesus as God, the Word, who was in the beginning and became flesh and made His dwelling among us. To those who didn’t believe, Jesus appeared to be a mere man, a carpenter, but John saw Him as God who created all things.

John, who had a good understanding, was very delighted and thankful that he was breathing together with God in the same space and participating in the great work of God. Just as a child tries to capture his mother’s attention, following her around, John went near to Jesus, laying his head on Jesus’ shoulder or expressing fiery indignation against the impious people who tried to obstruct His path (Jn 13:23; Lk 9:51-56).

He realized that God became flesh and made His dwelling among us. With this realization he looked at God and always paid careful attention to everything He did, so he was able to understand how much He loved us, humans, and came to realize more and more what blessing would be given to those who obeyed His word. Although he was persecuted and put to death for the name of Christ, he was willing to suffer, looking forward to the glory of heaven. Since he had such great faith, he was able to write the book of Revelation—the last will of God, even when he was exiled on the island of Patmos, and was greatly blessed to write about the heavenly Mother, the Bride of the Lamb.

Those who had seen God, and yet didn’t recognize Him

Jesus’ teachings of life were preached to all people throughout Judea. Some people understood them, but some didn’t; some believed, while some rejected.

God approaches each of us in a different way. To those who do not believe, He shows them more things that are hard to believe, but to His children who believe He shows more of His glorious works that make them even more convinced. This providence of God is so amazing and even fearful.

“I and the Father are one.” Again the Jews picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus said to them, “I have shown you many great miracles from the Father. For which of these do you stone me?” “We are not stoning you for any of these,” replied the Jews, “but for blasphemy, because you, a mere man, claim to be God.”Jn 10:30-33

The Jews didn’t recognize the true identity of Jesus as God no matter how many miraculous signs and wonders He performed among them. Their eyes and hearts were seared as with a hot iron, and they viewed Jesus’ teachings with an unbelieving heart. So, even though Jesus showed them that He was God who came in the flesh, they did not believe; rather, they were very hostile against Him and became possessed by more wicked thoughts. God eventually gave them the opportunity to crucify Jesus. He let the evildoers do more evil.

To Judas Iscariot who doubted, God showed more things that caused doubt. ‘Is this really the Christ?’ ‘Is He able to save us?’ With eyes full of doubt, he looked at Jesus, who had no beauty or majesty to attract him to Him like a root out of dry ground. Jesus was not educated, nor did He possess worldly power like governors in those days. The words from His mouth were great and amazing, but He was apparently powerless and didn’t seem to be God.

Since Judas Iscariot had these doubtful thoughts, the devil entered into him and prompted him to betray Jesus. Finally, he plotted together with those who seemed physically powerful, and played a leading role in crucifying Jesus.

While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people . . . With that, one of Jesus’ companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?”Mt 26:47-54

Even while Jesus was on this earth in the flesh, He could summon more than twelve legions of angels. God changed His heavenly robe for an earthly one, but it did not mean a change in His divine nature and power.

God dwelt in the same flesh as us, and lived together with His disciples, limited by time and space. So, although Peter recognized God, even his faith hesitated at a critical moment. For all that, Jesus gave His disciples, who had faith in Him, even greater faith after His resurrection; and He convinced them that He loved them to the end, before He went up to heaven. Jesus showed them His resurrected body by rising from the dead on the third day, and was taken up to heaven before their very eyes. He continually showed further convincing evidence to those who believed. However, Judas Iscariot, who did not have a genuine faith, never witnessed those glorious scenes, and he just ended up betraying Jesus and bringing destruction upon himself, as described in the Bible.

The world does not know God who has come to this earth in the flesh. To those who slander, everything is seen as a cause or object of reproach. So Jesus said, “Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me” (Mt 11:6). Those who correctly recognize Christ and understand Him are truly blessed.

Let’s look at the true nature of God

2,000 years ago, when Jesus was crucified on the cross, those who did not believe only focused on the thought, ‘What kind of power will He use to get Himself out of the critical situation?’ However, Jesus silently endured the extreme pain and suffering on the cross, shedding His blood. To the eyes of those who did not believe, it seemed like Jesus suffered because He was powerless. However, those who understood were able to see the Christ being “pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities,” as described in Isaiah 53. Christ allowed those people to witness the miracle of His being raised from the dead on the third day.

In this age, if we fully understand that the Bible is the word of God, we should accept the teachings of the truth about God Elohim, who appears in the Bible, with an open heart. God does not need man’s testimony about man, for He knows what is in a man (Jn 2:25). If the Bible testifies about God, we need to believe it. When we believe in the teachings of the Bible and look at God, we are able to see the true nature of God.

“Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth . . . For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”Hos 6:3-6

The Bible tells us to know God—to press on to know Him. Even though we offer a sacrifice to God through worship a thousand or ten thousand times, unless we know God, it is useless. If we worship God without believing in Him correctly, we are no different than the foolish people who worshiped an unknown god in Athens as the Apostle Paul witnessed (Ac 17:22-23).

Look at God who is with us, having faith. When we look at God through the eyes of faith, we are able to see God performing miracles even at this moment, just as Jesus transfigured Himself before His disciples and fed over 5,000 people with five loaves of bread and two fish. If one does not see such a miracle even though it is being performed before his very eyes, it is because his spiritual glasses are fogged up. God does not change like shifting shadows (Jas 1:17). It is an individual view of faith towards God that obscures His true identity.

Since the Bible says that God takes more delight in our knowing Him than in sacrifices, we should press on to know God and understand Him. Remembering that God opens the way to receive blessings for those who believe and understand, let’s have a correct knowledge and understanding of God so that we may receive the blessings of heaven, as did Peter and John.

Surely, our God has great power to save the world. I hope that all you brothers and sisters in Zion will guide all mankind to the right path as the salt and light of the world, by having faith and participating in the amazing work of the gospel which is being accomplished by Elohim our holy God.