DO WE SEE THE UNSEEN?
Brethren, I’d like to start out this morning by
asking a question. And that is, “Do we
see the unseen?”
That
may sound crazy, but think about the question.
Do we see the unseen? If you
could see the unseen, then it is seen and not unseen. So its kind of a paradox, I know. But as we go through the scriptures and as we
go through this message this morning, we’re actually going to see that Christ
our savior and God the Father both see the unseen. And in fact, we’re instructed and admonished
to see the unseen as well. To keep our
mind’s eye focused on the unseen.
If you would, turn with me to the book of
Matthew. We’re going to begin reading
the scriptures there. This first split sermon this morning is titled “Do we see
the unseen?” Here in Matthew 26, lets
begin reading in verse 57.
Matthew 26:57 And those who had laid hold on Jesus led him
away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were
assembled.
We are jumping right into the middle of the
events that led up to the crucifixion of Jesus the Christ. And those who led him away were the mob that
came and got him in the
Brethren if we think about this just for a moment, the
mob led Christ to the leaders of
Matthew 26:58-61 But Peter followed him at a distance into the
high priest's courtyard, and he went in, and sat with the servants, to see the
end. 59) Now the chief priests [these leaders], the elders, and all the council
sought false testimony against Jesus to put him to death; 60) But found none:
[These religious leaders, setting the example, having the Ten Commandments,
teaching the law of God, and all those that were surrounding them, what did
they do here that was way out of character of what they should have been
doing? They sought false testimony against
Jesus to put him to death. They were
seeking someone to come forward with lies, whatever it would take to put Jesus
to death. But, of course, in verse six
it says they found none.] Even though many false witnesses came forward, they
found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward, 61) And said, This
fellow said, I am able to destroy the
Through these verses here we see that the leaders of the city sought all kinds of false testimonies. They were saying, “please, anybody, come forward, give me a lie, give me a reason to put this man to death.” And of course, they found none. That is they found no lies that could hold water; nothing that came close to permit them to crucify Jesus the Christ. Even these two that said, “He said that he could destroy the temple and build it again in three days” were wrong and had things contrary to what Jesus actually said. What He had said, addressing the Jews was, “if you, Jews, destroy this temple, Me, I will raise it again in three days”. We know that He was referring to His body as the temple. So nothing could be found that was worthy of condemning Jesus and putting Him to death by means of crucifixion. Let’s continue reading on in verse 62.
Matthew 26:62--63 And the high priest arose, and said unto
him, [you know this High Priest was getting impatient and frustrated as to how
things were going or not going his way!]
And the high priest arose, and said to him, Do you answer nothing? What
is it which these men testify against you? [Christ had nothing to answer. They were all lies and He didn’t have to
defend himself]. 63) But Jesus kept
silent. And the high priest said unto him, I adjure you by the living God, that
you tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.
So here the High Priest is very direct and he
straight out asked the question of Jesus Christ, “Who are you? Are you really the Son of God? Are you the Christ?” Notice Christ’s answer in verse 64.
Matthew 26:64-65 Jesus said unto him, It is as you said: [in
other words YES] nevertheless I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of
man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming on the clouds of
heaven. 65) Then the high priest tore
his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy; what further need do we have of
witnesses? Look, now ye have heard his blasphemy.”
So the high priest asked him who he was. Specifically, “Are you really the Son of God
and are you the Christ?” Jesus Christ answered and told them “Yes, Yes I am.” Did you know that if He would have remained
silent, they would not have had any kind of evidence. They would not have had anything or any
reason to take these events to the next step of having him crucified. If Christ would have remained silent and not
have given that answer, what would they have done? We don’t know of course, because He did
answer. And he did tell them the
truth. And he told them exactly who He
was. And it led to the next event that
ultimately led to his crucifixion and to his death. Notice what this High Priest said, again to the
leader of the city of
Matthew 26:66-68 What do you think?" They answered and said,
"He is deserving of death." 67)
Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms
of their hands, 68) saying, "Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who
struck You?"
We know the story. They began to beat Him. They began to strike Hi. They blindfolded Him and were making fun of
him. Think about it as we continue to
read on. Let’s try to place ourselves
there as these things were happening to our savior. Not that we would be of those that were
beating him and making fun of Him, if we were there. I know that none of us want to think that we
would have any part in something so horrible as that. But I’d have to go so far
as to say that the only difference between that day and time and today is 1973
years. People would have treated him the same way today as they did then if he
was coming to be the savior of mankind in our day.
We’ll read more about that in just a
minute. But again they began to make fun
of him, blindfolded him, striking and beating him, and said to him “Prophesy who
was it that struck you.” Think of who
they were doing that to. They were doing
that to their very creator; to the one who gave life to mankind. Now obviously they didn’t have any idea or any
clue as to what they were doing. That’s why we read later that Christ prayed to
the Father to forgive them for they do not know what they do. So they didn’t
have a clue as to what they were really doing.
Let’s put ourselves into Christ’s shoes. How would we feel about all of those that
would be doing these things to us? Could we do what Christ did for us and for
all mankind including those that were in the process of killing Him?
He is our creator, the GOD of the Old Testament
and He became flesh and blood and dwelt among us. He became like one of
us. He became a human being. He was God in the flesh. What would we have done had we been there when
Christ was giving His life for us?
If these things were happening to us, what would
we do? I don’t think any of us would
come close to being Christ. I don’t
think any of us would come close to being Stephen. Think about it. Think of all these people we see out in the
world every day. They are bad people
aren’t they? So worldly, they’re
sinners. It’s a sick sinful world that
we live in. How many of us here would
even think the thought of giving one of our children to pay the penalty of
their sins? None of us would. We couldn’t begin to do that. How many of us would think of giving of
ourselves? How many of us could give of
ourselves to pay the penalty of sin for all the people out there? Including terrorists, Al Queda, you know,
crooked politicians and lawyers. Think about it. How many of us could give ourselves at this
point to save mankind? Obviously none of
us can, and that is not required of us. Second,
none of us are worthy to give of our lives to save mankind. We can’t even save ourselves much less
someone else.
I want you to think of that as we go on because
the question we’re going to get to is What did Christ and God see in these
people and ultimately into all of mankind?
What did He see in them that was worth so much for them to do what they
did? Christ offered himself as a sacrifice and the FATHER offered HIS Son as a
sacrifice to pay the penalty of sin, death, for us. What do they see in us and
all of mankind to do what they did?
Let’s continue to read the course of events in
the next chapter. Christ again was taken
away to Pilate.
Matthew 27:15-18 Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to
releasing to the multitude one prisoner whom they wished. 16) And at that time
they had a notorious prisoner called Barabbas. 17)
Therefore, when they had gathered together, Pilate said to them, "Whom do
you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Jesus who is called
Christ?" 18) For he knew that they
had handed Him over because of envy.
Pilate knew Christ was innocent, innocent of
anything they were accusing Him of that would be worthy of death. And he knew it was envy and jealousy that
caused Christ to be delivered to him. That’s a spiritual point brethren that we
all need to work at. Envy kills. Envy and Jealousy kill.
What gets me is that Christ was compared to a
hardened criminal. He was actually led away, and was stood up, in one sense,
next to a hardened criminal, a person that had committed murder, a thief and a
robber. And Pilate asked the question, “Which one do you want me to
release?” I think Pilate thought they’d
say, “Well, Jesus is not near as bad as Barabbas” and they’d let him go and
have Barabbas, a hardened criminal, executed. But just the opposite happened. Notice verse 21.
Matthew 27:21 The governor answered
and said to them, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?
"They said, "Barabbas!" 26) Then he released Barabbas
to them; and when he had scourged Jesus, he delivered Him to be crucified.
Brethren, the leaders of
Again, think about it. What did Christ see when he looked at these
people and asked God to forgive them?
When he looked at them and he knew what was going on and He knew that
they were going to crucify Him. I mean
look what he’d already been through and the worst hadn’t happened yet. What did he see in them to stay committed,
to stay the course, and to become the Passover, the savior, the sacrifice, not
just for us but for all of mankind? What
was it he looked into? What was worth that much to Him to give of Himself to
the point of death?
Let’s continue on down in verse 38. I want to show how they put Christ right
amongst a robber and thief and
murderer. And they had the choice
between the two and the chose the murderer.
Matthew 27:38-39 Then two robbers were crucified with Him, one
on the right and another on the left. 39)
And those who passed by blasphemed Him, [Now wasn’t that what got Him in
trouble, didn’t they say that He had blasphemed and was guilty of death and now
they were blaspheming Him? And wasn’t it
when He said He was the Son of God that he was arrested and was going to be put
to death for blaspheming? I guess it’s a
one-sided law.] wagging their heads,
[you can picture different members of the crowd saying, “Come on, You
worked miracles, You taught as if you had all the answers, You even said that
You were the Son of GOD, now look at
you! You’re not so great after all. They were wagging their head.] 40) and saying, "You who destroy the
temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the
cross."
So they were making fun of him. C’mon, you’re all powerful, you’re great,
you’re mighty. You’re going to destroy
this temple that it took seventy years to build and redo it in three day?. Of
course they didn’t understand He was talking about his body. Anyhow, that was
how they were making fun of Him. Then I also want to draw your attention to the
little word if. I think we’ve all
read in Matthew 4, (which Mr. Armstrong
stated was the biggest battle that had ever taken place) the battle for mankind;
of how Satan the devil had temped Jesus Christ in the wilderness and in each
temptation the word if was used.
Brethren, I think that same battle continued right up to this
point. To the point that I think Satan
the devil was trying anything he could to get Christ to stop from fulfilling
his very purpose of why He came into the world which was to save mankind.
Matthew 27:41-42 Likewise the chief priests
also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, 42) "He saved others; Himself He cannot
save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we
will believe Him.
Brethren, not only is He the King of Israel, He
is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords.
I mean, He’s the Almighty, the all Powerful, the king of all the Earth,
the king of all there is. And yet they
said, IF he’s the king of
Matthew 27:42-43 (Cont) Let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him;
for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'"
(He trusted in God [now this one really gets me, He trusted in God] let
him deliver him now [in other words let God the Father deliver him now because
He trusted in Him. You know they’re lifting themselves up so high they don’t
even see themselves.] He trusted in God let him deliver him now.)
I think Satan was throwing everything he could
at Christ and GOD the FATHER to get them to stop, to stop from fulfilling this
phase in the plan of salvation for mankind.
What was it that made God the Father and Jesus
the Christ continue this course and to stay committed and to fulfill this
horrible task, very painful, humiliating, the worst death a person can go
through? What was it they saw in mankind that was worth THEM continuing? Not
only did Christ and the FATHER continue on, He remained silent for the most
part.
Matthew 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud
voice, yielded up his spirit.
In other words that was the end. He was dead. He died. And we know the ultimate result is that He
became the Savior of the world. I would
like to again just focus on the question, what it was that Christ was able to
see in all this that made it worthwhile and worth the pain for Him to fulfill
His purpose?
Because, I think a lot of us look at it like
this. Christ died for us and He paid the
penalty for our sins in our stead so that we can have life and we can have it
more abundantly. We have the tendency to
look at things as if he saved it for us physically. That is so far from the truth.
Begin
turning with me to John.
John
And
notice he said for HE so loved the world.
He didn’t love the world in all its filthiness, in its stench and sin,
and in its sickness and with all the corruption that is in the world today. That is not what He is talking about. He is talking about all of mankind. And we’ll see more on that as we go along.
John
It’s talking about all of mankind. It may be talking about other aspects of this
creation as well, the animal kingdom, birds, sea life and whatever. That is all a part of it. God is going to create all things new; we
know that. But we see that Christ and
God fulfilled this very purpose. And
Christ said that was the very purpose, the very reason, why he came to the
earth as a physical human being. That is
why He became flesh. That was his whole purpose.
So what was it that He, Christ, was able to see
in each and every individual that was worth giving up His divinity to become
flesh and blood and die by crucifixion becoming our sin offering in our stead?
What was it that he looked at and could see past that we have a tendency to get
stuck on?
It’s the spiritual. He could see past what
they were; physical human being who were completely held captive by Satan the
Devil’s influence.
When he looked at these people, the roman
soldiers, the high priests, the scribes and on all that surrounded Him and were
guilty of killing Him, he looked at them the same way he does us today. He could see right past the physical. He could see right past what we see with our
eyes and with our mind. We call it our heart, the center and the seat of our
emotions, our minds. He could look past everything that is physical and see the
spiritual.
He has given us a human spirit at our conception
or at our birth. (That is a subject by itself) He has given us a human
spirit. That human spirit that is within us is the only thing that is
permanent. It is the only thing that is
eternal and it is what really matters.
God says in Matthew:
Matthew
GOD is able to look and see the spirit that is within us, the only thing in us that really matters. And that is what Christ and GOD the FATHER can see in us as well as in those that were guilty of killing Him that gave them the strength and purpose do what They did in order to save us and the entire world from eternal death, which is the penalty of sin.
Brethren, we know the scriptures, flesh and
blood cannot inherit the
And that’s what Christ and God, I’m sure, are
able to see. They’re able to see the
human spirit enjoined with His Holy Spirit and then that makes us become the
children of God. That is the value that They can see in mankind as a whole that
was worth Them going through what They did. The scriptures refer to us as the
children of God so many times, and that we’re going to become sons of God, and
that we’re going to become the bride of Christ, and we’ve covered that just
recently. We are to become the wife of Christ.
We’re going to fulfill all these roles in our relationship with God the
Father and with Christ. Not like we are
now, but as a spirit being. We have been created incomplete, we know that and
GOD knows that. We must receive of the Holy Spirit to become complete. When
that takes place man’s relationship with GOD will be the way GOD intended it to
be. That is what GOD wants and desires for all of mankind. But everything in
its order as the scriptures reveal. Brethren, GOD can see into the future. HE
can see what it is going to be like when all mankind is saved. HE can see what
that is going to be like for every human being, not just the first fruits. That
is what is worth so much that the FATHER and SON endured what They did to save
the world from their sins.
Paul says that everyone is once appointed to die
and after that the resurrection. He goes on to talk about a physical body and a
spiritual body. The physical comes
first, then the spiritual body is second.
We know that. So that is what Christ and God are looking at in each and
every one of us, the spiritual. Lets be thankful that He does, because we have
a tendency to look at the physical things that we do, and what we look like,
and how we act, and how we behave, and how we respond to things. We look at things at surface value. GOD sees
much deeper and farther than we do. HE looks upon us as potential members of
HIS Family. And lets be thankful for
that.
Turn with me to 2 Corinthians 4:
I think we’ve all read in Hebrews 11:1
where it says,
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Do we have that faith? Do we look at the things that are not seen?
Do we focus our mind on the unseen?
Here in 2 Corinthians chapter 4, actually the
caption above verse 16 says “seeing the invisible”. That goes along with the title of this
message. It’s a paradox. If it’s invisible, how can you see it? But that is exactly what is being related to
us here, that is what’s being conveyed to us.
Seeing the invisible.
2 Corinthians
Do we? If
we did, we’d have a different approach to ourselves and one another, our
families, and even those in the world, if we’d look at others the same way
Christ sees them and sees us.
2 Corinthians
Everything physical, everything that we see, is
temporary. But the things which are not
seen are eternal, that’s the inward part of us, that’s the human spirit that
when coupled with the Holy Spirit enables us then to become children of God and
ultimately, gain our ultimate reward as members of the God family. The very beginning of the Bible starts out
talking about that very fact. God
created man in the image of God. He
created them. That has not been
completed.
As I was putting this message together, I
thought of a speech that I heard years ago in spokesmen’s club. And in that speech this gentleman was talking
about a project that he and his dad had taken on together. They had bought some old car that was just
nothing but a bucket of bolts. It needed
a lot of tender loving care. Yet the two of them started on that project because
they could see what the end result of that project would be before they ever
got there. If you were just to walk up
and look at that old jalopy of a car, most people would pay the junkyard to come
get it. It’s not worth anything. Christ and God have seen the results of the
plan of salvation, results of reconciliation, and us in the same way. They see the end results of the project of
the plan of salvation before it is ever accomplished.
Just as this gentleman was conveying to us in
that speech, because of that it built a relationship between he and his father.
It was a teary type speech, one that would just pull on your emotions. But that’s the way it is with God. We are his children. We’re a part of that project, that plan of
salvation, that plan of reconciliation.
We didn’t go to it and read it but actually there is a scripture that
says that God is reconciling the world, not just us, but the whole world is
being reconciled to Themselves.
They were able and are able to see right past
our faults, our wrongs, our sins and see the inner man, the inner woman, the
inner person. He sees what it is that is
eternal about you, with his Holy Spirit, that is able to develop them. That spirit body in a sense starts to
grow. And as Mr. Armstrong used to say,
it is in its embryonic stage at this point in time. None of us have been born again. We are in embryo and we are growing, maybe in
a gestation period. I’m not that
knowledgeable on the pregnancy stages and so forth.
But that may be where we are right now. None of us have been born as of yet other
than Jesus the Christ and we know that scripture says that he was the first
born among many brethren. Brethren,
that’s what God the Father and that’s what Christ are looking at. They’re looking at the spiritual which is permanent which has so much value
associated with it. Because it has a
direct effect with their family of what they’re doing, of what they’re
producing, of what they’re creating, that they were able to be so committed and
so determined to go through that sacrifice, that death, that shed blood that
nothing was going to alter them or deter them regardless of what was thrown at
them at that hour in Christ’s life.
Think about ourselves. Sometimes we let things get in the way. By comparison, think about what we allow to
distract us and to get in the way. Think
about what we allow to get in our minds where we just see everything
physically. And we forget what God is
doing within us. And we should be so
very, very thankful that God looks right through all of the bad and He sees
that which is good, the spiritual, and His Spirit, His Holy Spirit and
ultimately make us members of His God family.
Turn with me now to the book of Revelation.
Revelation 21:5 Then He who sat on the throne said,
"Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for
these words are true and faithful."
When I read that verse and I read where it says
“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new” that
conjures up all kind of mental images and thoughts in my mind. God is going to recreate the earth, the
worlds, the heavens. We look at it as if
we could see the earth being recreated.
No more sea, no more mountains, no more islands, they all fled. I don’t know any of the details, none of us
do. God knows. We see how God is going to change things. No more sickness, no more disease, and
ultimately, no more sin. I think that’s
what we’re all looking forward to. No
more criminals, no more survival of the fittest where animals kill one another
and eat one another.
We see that everything in these scriptures are
going to be changed, even the throne of God coming down, and the river of life
coming from the midst of the throne. The tree of life that spreads to either
side of the river. We see all these things
and we see them physically to a certain point.
Do we see when he says he creates all things new he’s talking about you
and me, he’s talking about ultimately every person in the world? Because, you
see, we are a new creation. We were once dead in our sins. We have an old man
that we were supposed to have left in the watery grave of baptism. We are the
old man and old, (I was going to say old lady but I guess that doesn’t sound so
good!) [laughs]…we were an old person, we went through the baptism, the watery
grave. We are a new creation that has
not yet appeared as to what we’re going to be like but we know we’re going to
be like him because we’re going to see him like he is.
We’re going to become members of the divine
family of God. We’re going to become a
spirit being. And to become a member of
that family is just incredible. It’s
really beyond comprehension, it is beyond belief in one sense. But you know that’s what’s unseen. We’re commanded not to dwell, not to
meditate, not to focus, not to look upon the things that are temporary but upon
that which is unseen. Our incredible
future, our destiny, our ultimate reward is unseen. Do we dwell on that?
As we prepare for the Passover, we know that
Christ gave himself for us. That he paid
the death penalty in our stead. We could
never pay it for ourselves. We know he
accomplished everything for us, in that sense, and that he saved us from that
penalty of death. He saved us from being destroyed in the
Do we see the unseen?
Transcribed
by JMF, June 2004