Beholding Before Believing

We might miss it if we do not listen carefully to Jesus. Another step in the process of salvation that comes somewhere between hearing and believing is beholding. Jesus said "For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him, may have eternal life and I Myself will raise him up on the last day." (John 6:40) Many believe in Jesus without really seeing Him and gazing on Him. They get that glimpse of Jesus, form their view of Him, mix it with their preconceived ideas and misconceptions and out pops "Distorted Jesus."  They run with this view of Jesus and wonder why years later this Christianity thing is not working out so well. They never really saw Jesus.

There is a story in John 9 about a blind man who was healed by Jesus. This word "behold" is used in the story. "The neighbors therefore, and those who previously saw him as a beggar, were saying, 'Is this not the one who used to sit and beg?'" (John 9:8)  Do you see what is happening here? They had seen him merely as a beggar, but now they are seeing him in a different light. Now that he has been touched by Jesus this man is suddenly a person with value and not merely a beggar. Jesus told His apostles this was going to happen. "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was in order that the works of God might be displayed in him." (John 9:3)  When the work of God enters a life the person now becomes a billboard for God. People see him differently. But, what of the greatest and largest billboard? Was not God at work in the life of Jesus? Did he not display God? "And he who beholds Me beholds the One who sent Me." (John 12:45)

To behold means to contemplate, to consider, to view with intent and attention. Jesus demands that we slow down and give Him a really good look, not once, not twice, but daily, continuously. Paul talks about this gaze in 2 Cor.3 when he compares it to Moses whose face was changed by spending time with God on the mountain. It changed his countenance. His face glowed with glory. In the same way Paul  says, "But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." (2 Cor.3:18)  This changes our perception of Jesus and of one another. "Therefore, from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer." (2 Cor.5:16)  How much easier faith would be if we spent more time beholding!