Beloved, now we know we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.
1 John 3: 2 NKJV
I've been asked a few times how it is that I came to know Jesus as I have. There is no simple answer because I don't know the exact date and time where I came to know Him as He is. Sure, I've known ABOUT Jesus for many years. Most Christians have a good understanding of what Jesus is...but they stumble when it comes to knowing who He is. What is Jesus? Well, Jesus is our Lord and Savior. Jesus is our all in all. Jesus is the promised Messiah. This is what we're told Jesus is to us. When we hear the name Jesus, this is what we think of. Well, that seems kind of impersonal doesn't it? Do we know Jesus simply by how we define Him, or do we truly know Him? Did Jesus only want to be known by His reputation? I doubt it. I turn to the example of the apostle Paul. Paul was a ultra religious man before he came to know Jesus. In fact, it was Saul who was responsible for much of the persecution of the early church before and after the death of Jesus. The man Saul knew OF Jesus, but he had never seen Jesus for who He was. As far as Saul was concerned, Jesus was just a blasphemer who needed to be silenced. Saul and the Jewish authorities had no patience for this man who spoke of His close relationship between Himself and father God. The Pharisees chaffed at Jesus' claims of His own identity. How He proclaimed Himself as Gods one and only Son, of being one with the Father and basically making Himself equal to God {John 14:9}. However, what Saul did not understand at the time was that Jesus was giving crystal clear indications of His true identity. Yes, Saul knew all about Jesus, but he did not know Jesus. All of that changed on the road to Damascus. It was here where Saul was confronted by a man he didn't know. It was here where Jesus chose to reveal Himself to Saul. From this point forward, Paul would know come to see Jesus as He is.
Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'show us the Father?'
John 14: 8 - 9 NKJV
The Jesus that was introduced to Saul is the same Jesus who I was introduced to not so long ago. As Jesus was revealed to Paul, so He was to me as well {Galatians 1:15-16}. I now see Jesus as He is. So, who is Jesus? Well, for lack of a better explanation, I am. That's right, the Christ I now see is He that resides in me. Jesus is interwoven with my own identity. This is not blasphemy, but the words of Paul himself when he described the Jesus whom God revealed in him. Paul came to realize that the man Saul was dead to him, and what remained was Christ who lived in him {Galatians 2:20}. What a lot of people get stuck on is looking at the experience of Paul as a transformation. How God transformed the wicked man Saul into Paul. However, I believe that Paul did not experience a transformation, but a revelation of Jesus in him. Why is this important? Well, a transformation suggests that Saul never had the Spirit of Christ in him until He was revealed to him. However, I suggest that on that road to Damascus that the Jesus who had always been there was finally revealed to Saul. We see this in Paul's own words in Galatians 1:16. It had been Gods purpose for, as Paul puts it, "To reveal His Son in me." It's my own belief that Jesus had always been there, but that Saul just did not realize this. So, how is this important to how we ourselves see Jesus? First off, we can know all about Jesus, as Saul surely did, and yet not know Jesus for who He is. Who is this Jesus? Jesus is our identity. He is who we are. It is through Christ that we are now one with the Father {John 17:21}. You might be frustrated by the thought that you could never have a personal relationship with Christ Jesus, but this is simply misguided church doctrine. The truth is that God is waiting to reveal His Son in you as He has in me.
~Scott~
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