Seeing Jesus - Eyes

	How wonderful it is to look at Jesus!  For the past three weeks we have examined the hands of the Master.
	We have seen the hands of a carpenter.  They know hard, dangerous work.  They understand that, although it is not possible to please all people, the job must be done right.  We have seen the hands of a fisherman.  They know that there is a right time, a right place and a right method for a good spiritual catch.
	We have seen divine hands which are not too proud to reach down in love and appreciation.  We have seen hands which do not hesitate to reach out in understanding and support.  And we have seen hands which are constantly reaching up in worship and praise.  
	We have seen the hands of a physician.  They can heal physical sickness.  They can treat religious disease.  And, most importantly, these nail-scarred hands can cure spiritual illness.
	There other things which we could have seen in the hands of Jesus.  For example, we could have seen the hands of a farmer.  These are hands which know the meaning of patience and endurance.
	"Be patient, therefore, brethren, until the coming of the Lord," James 5:7-8 admonishes.  "Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains.  You too be patient; strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand."
	We could have seen the hands of a teacher.  They want so much for those who are listening to recognize the importance of what is being taught.  And they want the learners to  be able to put into practice what is taught.
	"Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near," Revelation 1:3 points out.
	"And why do you call Me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" the Lord asks in Luke 6:46.
	"But prove yourselves doers of the word," James 1:22-25 instructs, "and not merely hearers who delude themselves.  For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his natural face in a mirror; for {once} he has looked at himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was.  But one who looks intently at the perfect law, the {law} of liberty, and abides by it, not having become a forgetful hearer but an effectual doer, this man shall be blessed in what he does."
	Or we could have seen the concerned hands of a parent.
	"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her!" Jesus laments in Matthew 23:37. "How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling."
	And the list could go on and on.  But what do we find as we look at the rest of Jesus?  What do we see in His eyes?
	"'Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day,'" Jesus tells the Jews in John 8:56-59, "'and he saw {it} and was glad.' The Jews therefore said to Him, 'You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?"  Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am.'  Therefore they picked up stones to throw at Him; but Jesus hid Himself, and went out of the temple."
	The eyes of Jesus are able to look backward.  They look into the past in search of lessons which might be valuable for the present.  Although we do not have the miraculous ability of the eyes of Jesus, He still expects us to learn from the past.  We are to learn from the lessons of the Old Testament.
	"Now these things happened as examples for us," 1 Corinthians 10:6-11 observes, "that we should not crave evil things, as they also craved.  And do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, 'The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.'  Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day.  Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents.  Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer.  Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come."
	And we are to learn from what we see in the New Testament.
	"Be imitators of me," Paul commands us in 1 Corinthians 11:1, "just as I also am of Christ."
	The eyes of Jesus look backward.  We must train our eyes to do the same.

	The eyes of Jesus look backward.  But they are also able to look forward.  Jesus knows what is going to happen.  He has His eyes fixed on a goal, even though what He sees may not be entirely pleasant.
	"And it came about, when the days were approaching for His ascension, that He resolutely set His face to go to Jerusalem;" Luke 9:51 records.
	"From that time," we find in Matthew 16:21, "Jesus Christ began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day."
	The eyes of Jesus look forward with purpose and resolution. Our eyes should do the same.
	"Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of {it} yet;" Paul expresses in Philippians 3:13-14, "but one thing {I do}: forgetting what {lies} behind and reaching forward to what {lies} ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."
	"Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us," Hebrews 12:1-2 urges, "let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
	The eyes of Jesus look backward for lessons from the past.  They look forward with purpose and resolution.  And, at all times, they are looking with love and understanding.
	"And as He was setting out on a journey," we read in Mark 10:17-22, "a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him, and {began} asking Him, 'Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?'  And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.  You know the commandments, "Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother."' And he said to Him, 'Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.'  And looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him, and said to him, 'One thing you lack: go and sell all you possess, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.'  But at these words his face fell, and he went away grieved, for he was one who owned much property."
	We see love in the eyes of Jesus.  We should see the same in our eyes when we look into the mirror.
	"We love, because He first loved us," 1 John 4:19-21 states.  "If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.  And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also."
	Notice that we said we should look at our own eyes in the mirror.  All too often, we spend our time looking at the eyes of others.
	"And why do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye," Jesus teaches in Matthew 7:3-5, "but do not notice the log that is in your own eye?  Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye?  You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
	The eyes of Jesus look backward for lessons from the past.  They look forward with determination.  And they always look with love.  We should open our eyes to be like those of Jesus. 
	But, no matter how hard we try, there are some things which we cannot see with our eyes.  There is no way we can fully comprehend what God has prepared for us.
	"But just as it is written," Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:9, "'Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, and {which} have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him.'" 
	What must we do in order to see these great things one day?  We must obey the truth so that we can be set free. 

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977. Used by permission."