Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1509
“But we see Jesus.” Hebrews 2:9.
IN Holy Scripture faith is placed in opposition to the sight of the eyes and yet it is frequently described as looking and seeing. It is opposed to carnal sight because it is spiritual sight—a discernment which comes not of the body, but arises out of the strong belief of the soul, worked in us by the Holy Spirit. Faith is sight in the sense of being a clear and vivid perception, a sure and indisputable discovery, a realizing and unquestionable discernment of fact. We see Jesus, for we are sure of His Presence. We have unquestionable evidence of His existence and we have an intelligent and intimate knowledge of His Person. Our soul has eyes far stronger than the dim optics of the body and with these we actually see Jesus. We have heard of Him and upon the witness of that hearing we have believed—and through believing there has come to us a new life which rejoices in new light and in opened eyes—and “we see Jesus.” In the old sense of sight we speak of Him as of one “whom having not seen we love,” but in the new sense, “we see Jesus.”
Beloved Reader, have you such a renewed nature that you have new senses and have you, with these senses, discerned the Lord? If not, may the Holy Spirit yet quicken you and, meanwhile, let us whom He has made alive assure you that we have heard His voice, for He says, “My sheep hear My voice.” We have “tasted the good Word of God.” We have touched Him and have been made whole. We have also known the smell of His fragrance, for His name to us is “as ointment poured forth.” And now, in the words of our text, “we see Jesus.” Faith is all the senses in one and infinitely more! And those who have it not are in a worse case than the blind and deaf, for spiritual life itself is absent.
I. Come, then, beloved Brothers and Sisters, whose eyes have been illuminated, let us muse awhile upon our privileges, that we may exercise them with delight and praise the Lord with them! First, let us regard the glorious sight of Jesus as COMPENSATION. The text begins with, “but,” because it refers to some things which we do not yet see which are the objects of strong desire. “We see not yet all things put under Him.” We do not as yet see Jesus acknowledged as King of kings by all mankind and this causes us great sorrow, for we wish to see Him crowned with Glory and honor in every corner of the earth by every man of woman born.
Alas, He is to many, quite unknown. He is rejected and despised by multitudes! In fact, He is by comparatively few regarded with reverence and love! Sights surround us which might well make us cry with Jeremiah, “Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears,” for blasphemy and rebuke, idolatry, superstition and unbelief prevail on every side. “But,” says the Apostle, “we see Jesus,” and this sight compensates for all others, for we see Him now no longer made a little lower than the angels and tasting the bitterness of death, but, “crowned with Glory and honor!” We see Him no more after the flesh, in shame and anguish! But far more ravishing is the sight for we see His work accomplished, His victory complete, His empire secure!
He sits as a Priest upon the Throne, at the right hand of God, from now on waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. This is a Divine compensation for the tarrying of His visible kingdom, because it is the major part of it. The main battle is won! In our Lord’s endurance of His substitutionary griefs and in the overthrow of sin, death and Hell by His personal achievements, the essence of the conflict is over. Nothing is left to be done at all comparable with that which is already performed! The ingathering of the elect and the subjection of all things are comparatively easy of accomplishment now that the conflict in the heavenly places is over and Jesus has led captivity captive! We may look upon the conquest of the kingdoms of this world as a mere routing of the beaten host now that the power of the enemy has been effectually broken by the great Captain of our salvation.
The compensation is all the greater because our Lord’s enthronement is the pledge of all the rest. The putting of all things under Him, which as yet we see not, is guaranteed to us by what we do see. The exalted Savior has all power given unto Him in Heaven and in earth—and with this, “all power,” He can, at His own pleasure, send forth the rod of His
strength out of Sion and reign in the midst of His enemies! With Him are all the forces necessary for universal dominion. His white horse waits at the door and whenever He chooses, He can ride forth conquering and to conquer! At a word from His lips the harlot of Babylon shall perish, the false prophet shall die and the idols of the heathen shall be utterly abolished. The empire of wickedness is as a vision of the night, a black and hideous nightmare pressing on the soul of manhood, but when He awakes, He will despise its image and it shall melt away.