We Wish to See Jesus

Next week, I am starting my last Bible study at Center Presbyterian Church.  It has been a joy and incredible privilege for me to lead the adult Bible study there for the past year and a half.  We have done studies on Philippians, Hebrews, and Colossians, and this spring we will be looking at the "I am" statements of Jesus in the book of John.  I am really, really excited about this semester, because I see this study as the culmination of everything I have been teaching the last year and a half.  Below is my introduction to our study in John:

"Life in a fallen world is a tightrope dichotomy between searing pain and seductive pleasure.  In a world full of sudden tragedy, seemingly random violence, natural disasters, cancer, illness, heartache, and tearful goodbyes, where is a rock of refuge to which we can go?  And conversely, in a materialistic culture littered with the spiritual landmines of blinding prosperity, numbing comfort, earthly treasures, and broken cisterns, where is a transcendent and satisfying reality to which we can commit ourselves?

What we are looking for is Ultimate Reality, a person and a truth and a life that transcends the problem of pain and pleasure, eclipsing both in all-consuming glory.  The Ultimate Reality that we are looking for is the person of Jesus Christ.  Colossians tells us that He is "the image of the invisible God," that "all things were created through Him and for Him," and that "in all things He has the supremacy."  Hebrews speaks of this supreme Christ when we hear that "He is the radiance of the glory of God and exact imprint of His nature, upholding the universe by the word of His power."  Philippians tells us the implications of Christ's all-satisfying supremacy: "I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  For His sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ."  Here, then, is the end of all things: suffering and satisfaction, gain and loss, united in the glorious Son.  To know Him will cost everything, yet knowing Him is infinite gain.

How then can we know this Glorious One?  How can we "know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge?" (Ephesians 3:19)  Hosea invites us into this eternal pursuit, saying, "Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord."  We want to say with the Greeks in John 12, "We wish to see Jesus!"  But how?"

The first lesson is all about my answer to that last question: God has given us His Word so that we can see Jesus in it and be supremely satisfied in seeing Him forever.