Seeing in the Spirit

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

SEEING IN THE SPIRIT

John 7:32-36

32 The Pharisees heard the crowd whispering such things about him. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees sent temple guards to arrest him. 33 Jesus said, "I am with you for only a short time, and then I go to the one who sent me. 34 You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come."  35 The Jews said to one another, "Where does this man intend to go that we cannot find him? Will he go where our people live scattered among the Greeks, and teach the Greeks? 36 What did he mean when he said, 'You will look for me, but you will not find me,' and 'Where I am, you cannot come'?" 
NIV

Although Jesus was only with them in the flesh for a short time, he is with all men for all times, but he was speaking about the fact of his physical self being there to teach men the truth of God. They had been looking for the Messiah even since before Moses, yet when he was there, they did not see him. They could not grasp the spiritual truth of his words. Why do people have such a difficult time understanding the spiritual? Why do people have to relate everything to their physical condition? When Jesus told them they would look for him but would not be able to find him, they could only think about him going to some far off land they could not go to. But he was referring to the fact that after he was gone, killed on the cross, buried, raised from the dead and ascended back to heaven, they would still be looking for the coming Messiah but would not be able to find him. They had missed the Messiah, he was right there with them and they could only see with their physical minds. It may not be any different for some people today, even some who call themselves believers. Yes believers put their faith in Jesus for salvation, but then put their faith in themselves for every other aspect of their lives. Some may even put more faith in their good deeds, or at least in their ability to check off all the things they do and do not do, rather than Jesus only. They are believers who think it is “Jesus plus” that in needed for salvation, but there is no plus. We cannot see any part of Salvation through the physical mind, but must look only in the spiritual. Yes, we should live a life that is pleasing to God, which in all reality in complete faith in Jesus. There is nothing more pleasing to God then for us to put our complete faith in Jesus. It is true that once we have done that we should live in a manner which proves our faith, our love for our Lord, but those actions are not required for salvation. We cannot not look to the physical actions of life, the Messiah has come, he has accomplished our salvation, we must now see him in the Spirit.