How Do You See Jesus?

It is written:

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2  looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

When you think of Jesus, how do you see Him?

Is He a powerful preacher?

A Person who died on a Cross?

One Who sits in judgment and condemnation of your failures?

Look at how Paul says that we should “look” unto Jesus:

“Apoblepein is used in the NT only twice, and aphoran only once, but they are such vivid words that they repay the closest study. They are to all intents and purposes synonyms and both of them mean the same thing and have much the same history. Both blepein and horan mean ‘to see’ or ‘to look’; and apo, which is the first part of both of these words, means ‘away from’; and both words mean ‘to look away from everything else in order to focus one’s gaze on one thing’; they mean to neglect everything else in order to concentrate one’s attention on one thing. The important instance of apoblepein is in Heb. 11.26….The one instance of aphoran is in Heb. 12.2, where we are enjoined to run ‘looking unto Jesus…“First, let us look at apoblepein. Suidas, the Greek lexicon, tells us that apoblepein is used by Aeschines as a synonym of thaumazein, which means ‘to wonder’. Philostratus tells us that when Apollonius, the famous sophist, landed in Egypt, as he advanced from the ship the people ‘gazed at him’ (apoblepein) as a god. When Xenophon is telling of a man whose services the country was needing, he says, Your fatherland is ‘looking’ (apoblepein) to you. Philo describes the builder, as building and all the while ‘looking’ (apoblepein) into the pattern of the architect. Xenophon speaks of a person as being so vain that she kept ‘gazing’ (apoblepein) at her own reflection. Plato says that it is the aim of the lover to make the loved one so dependent on him that the lover in all things ‘will look’ (apoblepein) to him in utter love and complete dependence. An Ephesian inscription tells of one who ‘looked’ (apoblepein) to the reverence of the gods and to the honour of the most illustrious city of the Ephesians. Theophrastus in his Characters uses apoblepein to describe the look of the flatterer who gazes with rapt attention at the person he wishes to impress. Now let us look at aphoran. Lucian uses it for one man looking intently at another as they pursued an argument. Twice Epictetus uses it. He uses it in a description of his aims with his pupils. ‘And so now I am your teacher, and you are being taught in my school. And my purpose is this—to make of you a perfect work, secure against restraint, compulsion and hindrance, free, prosperous, happy, looking to (aphoran) God in everything both great and small.’ He describes the great hero and benefactor Hercules as ‘looking to’ (aphoran) Zeus is everything he did. Josephus, describing the death of Aaron, tells how, as he died, the crowd ‘looked wonderingly’ (aphoran) upon him. From all this there emerges a wonderful picture of the way in which the true Christian looks at the blessedness of God and the wonder of Jesus Christ. He looks with an utter fixity of concentration; he looks with wondering amazement; he looks as one who looks to a champion and a saviour; he looks as one who looks at the master plan and pattern of life; he looks as a loved one looks with adoration at his lover; he looks as a man looks at his familiar friend; he looks as a man looks to God when God has become for him the only reality in the world. Aphoran and apoblepein describe the look of the soul which is ‘lost in wonder, love and praise’.” (William Barclay, New Testament Words (The William Barclay Library), 793-825 (Kindle Edition); Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press)

Jesus wants you to see Him with wondering amazement,” as your Champion and Savior. Do you see Him as the One Who has the master plan and pattern for your life? He would have you to regard Him with the same affection as a lover, as your best friend.

Are you “lost in wonder, love and praise” when you see Jesus?

If your understanding of Jesus doesn’t involve these things, then it is time to expand your view of the Son of God.