What a Privilege Page 39

Scripture says in Luke 10 verse 23:

“Then he turned to his disciples and said privately,
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see.
For I tell you that many prophets
 and kings wanted to see what you see
but did not see it,
and to hear but did not hear it.”

One of my favorite topics to write about is that of the unseen.  That spiritual side of life-which is invisible and therefore could be misunderstood, over-looked, taken for granted, forgotten about… or specifically ignored.  What is so interesting about the scripture above is that Jesus is speaking privately with his disciples about the opposite of this.  Metaphorically speaking, He opened up the ancient pages of the Old Testament and shared with the disciples something extremely profound; that they had been given the historic and prophetic opportunity to see and hear something that kings and men through the ages had been studying about, teaching about, prophesying about, spiritually wondering about and literally waiting on!  

 I can’t imagine the tone in which Jesus spoke these words but I know the tone in which I read them; with a powerful wonderment, with a whispered astonishment, with a deep sense of truth! I could go on and on about how steeped in honor this verse of scripture is but just re-read it yourself in the light of the ages and in the light of the fact that Jesus was standing before them as the fulfillment of prophesy, The Messiah, and marvel at the reality that we also have the privilege of peering back in time with the use of our Bible and clearly see what the disciples were living out. 

We have not physically met Jesus Christ but we can physically read the Bible and research where its text comes from.   There are ancient manuscripts that have been proven historically accurate from the Christian and non-Christian community that we may use for our own study and conclusion.  Using Luke 10:23 as a reference we can assist Christ in making His case by asking the following:  At this point in time, who is the most influential figure in history?   World History and the literary world hold the answer to this and it is Jesus Christ, himself!  His life and testimony has influenced the world since his birth.  Below are just a few ways Jesus’ life has influenced us all.  Think about this:

“Even people who are not Christian or even religious are influenced
in big and small ways by Christ.  They divide history into the time before and after his birth, BC and AD.  Sunday is a worldwide holiday, not as many believe,
 because it is the day of the Sabbath (which is Saturday)
but because it was traditionally held to be the day of Christ’s resurrection.
 The history of the West, indeed of the world,
is incomprehensible without Christ, and would be unimaginably different
had he not lived.”1

We know as a U.S. citizen that our country would be vastly different had it not been founded on the Christian principles on which it stands, or teeters, as it may!  U.S. History has plenty of documents that can be used to verify this truth!  Our country is one thing- the entire world something larger, to be sure.  With the risk of being redundant, why in the world, would we divide the literal “history of time” with the Life (BC) and death (AD) of Jesus Christ?  Influence?  Indeed! 

 Here’s another thought-provoking question:  Do we have to see everything first-hand to believe that it is true?  The answer to this question comes from common sense!   “We don’t have to witness every event firsthand in order to believe the event actually occurred.  In fact, it would be physically impossible to do so.  We believe the testimony of others if they are trustworthy individuals, and especially if their testimony is corroborated by other data.  This is exactly the case with the testimony of the New Testament writers.”2 

This is where this writing steps into my favorite locale-that of the “unseen”.  It is human nature to want visual verification regarding certain things.  However, there are times when we must go on the verifiable word of others using trust.  In the case of Christianity, we are going to have to believe the corroborated testimony of the disciples and writers living in the 1^st century A.D.   

As an interesting tie-in and a blessing of encouragement, Jesus said this:

“Because you have seen me, you have believed;  

blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

John 20:29

Jesus was fully aware that some people would need a visual…. but He was also aware that there would be those of us, through the centuries, who would have no other choice but to go on faith and with this in mind, He spoke these words:  “blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  We have nothing but manuscripts and our faith to take the message of Christ into the next generation and for doing so we receive the blessings of tenacity, hope, strength and favor-the spoken favor of Christ himself as stated in John 20:29

 Back to our scripture in Luke 10: 23- the disciples were standing present with Christ.  Through Jesus’ own words we see that they neither realized the full ramifications of Christ’s life nor the impact of his current statement until later.  Then, they set out to change the world and indeed they did.  Jesus was speaking to the disciples that day and just as intended His words also speak to us.  He would say the same thing today as He did then:

“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see”!
Luke 10:23

Song Recommendation:

Glorious Day

By:  Casting Crowns

1-Dinesh D’Souza; What’s So Great About Christianity, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 2008

2-Norman L. Geisler & Frank Turek; I Don’t have Enough Faith to be an Atheist, Crossway/Good News Publishers, Wheaton, Illinois 2004