I Am He

 

"This Messiah you speak of, I am He" 

Jesus to the woman at the well, The Chosen 

What is so hard to believe that Jesus lives among us?  Is it that difficult to comprehend that our Lord and Savior continues to influence every aspect of our lives?  Scripture tells us that Jesus not only bled and died upon the cross, but that He rose again three days after that.  When mainstream church teaching sings the same old song for generations, I tend to believe that there must be something to it.  So it is that we accept that Jesus survived the cross.  But here's where the teachings of the church and the reality of Jesus diverge in a dramatic way.  The church teaches that after His death and resurrection Jesus rose into heaven and was seated next to the Father there.  Therefore, ask many a pastor where Jesus is and their response will most likely be...in heaven with the Father.  But if the cross and the tomb could never contain Him, why would thousands of years of church teachings constrain Jesus?  The fact is that we have scriptural references that Jesus not only survived the cross, but might not be where most people expect Him to be.  Up until a few years ago, the one place that I expected to find Jesus was right where the pastor told me, in heaven.  This is where the disconnect started.  For if Jesus was with the Father in heaven, I was indeed alone here on the earth the Father created.  Had the Lord violated His vow to never leave me {Matthew 28:20}?  Yet this is how things seemed to be.  Then I was introduced to the writings of the apostle Paul and the truth of Jesus began to be revealed.  Contrary to what I had been led to believe from the pulpits of countless churches, Jesus was not only alive but living in me {Galatians 2:20}.  For his part, Paul had first hand experience in the revelation of Christ.  It was on the road to Damascus that his own conversion began {Acts 9:1-43}.  So it is that Paul was changed from a life of persecuting the early church to a life of knowing Jesus in a intimate way.  This is the Jesus I have come to know.  

Now Thomas, one of the twelve, termed Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.  The other disciples, then, said to him, "We have seen the Lord!"  Yet he said to them, "Should I not perceive in His hands the print of the nails, and thrust my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will by no means be believing."  And after eight days His disciples were again within, and Thomas was with them.  The doors having been locked, Jesus is coming and stood in the midst and said, "Peace to you!"  Thereafter He is saying to Thomas, "Bring your finger here and perceive My hands, and bring your hand and thrust it into My side, and do not become unbelieving, but believing."  And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!"  Now Jesus is saying to Him, "Seeing that you have seen Me, you have believed.  Happy are those who are not perceiving and believe." 

John 20: 24-29, Concordant New Testament

How many Thomas' do we have out there?  How many well meaning Christians have struggled with knowing Jesus simply because they could not see Him?  Well, I once counted myself as one of these believers.  In fact, when I was first introduced into the scriptures of Paul, I kept butting my head against the wall because I could not physically see what Paul was describing to me.  Christ in me sounds awesome...but how come I can't see it?  How can I verify that Jesus indeed is in me.  The answer to this all too often brings more questions than answers.  For it is by the revelation of the Lord that we began to see Christ in us.  This is the same revelation which brought Paul to his knees on that Damascus road {Galatians 1:15-16}.  It is the same revelation which Paul himself referred to as the great mystery {Colossians 1:27}.  Knowing this, it's not too difficult to understand why so many have a tough time believing the truth of Christ Jesus in them.  Like Thomas, we strive for some kind of physical evidence we can use to verify our own revelation of Jesus in us.  This is not only our mystery, but the expectation of our glory in Christ Jesus. 

To whom God wills to make known what are the glorious riches of this secret among the nations, which is, Christ among you, the expectation of glory.

Colossians 1: 27, Concordant New Testament 

~Scott~