"I have had a clear view of Jesus. I have seen Him, felt Him, and I have known Him in a far deeper way than simply by the outward physical appearance; I have felt the reality of His life begin to burn in my heart. I have seen in Christ the glory of a life that is totally submitted to the sovereignty of God. That glory has begun to take hold of me, and I have begun to see that this is the one life that God expects of any man He made in His own image. I have seen the marks of the cross upon Him, and by His grace the marks of the cross have been put upon me and I am no longer my own; I am bought with a price, redeemed by His precious blood. Yes, I have seen Him--not in the outward physical sense only, but in the inward sense of a deep spiritual reality. I have had a clear view of Jesus and my life will never the be same again."
But who has seen Him? Is it only the giants, like Paul? ". . . we all, with open face beholding in a mirror the glory of the Lord. . . ." We all--not merely the Moses, the Elijahs, the spiritual aristocracy of the Old Testament times and the whole multitude afraid at a distance in the valley; not only Paul on his face on the Damascus road, blinded by the vision--we all, the weakest, the poorest, the most sinful, the most defiled. The spiritual aristocracy of the church of Jesus Christ is not the preacher or the prophet, but the sinner saved by grace. It is the soul who has come like the publican of old and said, "God be merciful to me a sinner" (Luke 18:13), and it is the soul bowed before Calvary and seeing (as Paul saw) the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. As the Epistle to the Hebrews says, "Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh . . .; Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith . . ." (10:19-22). Paul's resources are dug deep in the fact that he had a clear view of his wonderful Lord.
. . . . You see, we all, with open face--the veil removed, rent in two by His cross--draw near in full assurance of faith, and we see Him. Have you looked into His lovely face in contemplation? Oh, not just a moment's glance . . . . but a long time in preparing the heart as you have gazed upon your lovely Lord. Have you met Him like that today? A clear view of Jesus Christ is that which is needed to take all that comes across our path (Blessings Out of Buffetings, pp. 44-45).
