Essays in Ephesians #6

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints. Ephesians 1: 16 – 18 ESV

It’s not always easy to see Jesus. He Himself said,

I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted Him by the Father. John 6:65

His disciples were blind to his identity. Despite all the miracles revealing His divine power and authority, He had to tell them who He was. Here’s a conversation where Jesus comes right out and tells His disciples that seeing and knowing Him is seeing and knowing God.

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.

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. John 14:6-9

Most likely that’s why Paul asked God to send believers a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. He knew we’d all need it.

Saint Francis throws more light on our need for the Holy Spirit and the challenge we humans bump into when we set out to see Jesus.

The Father lives in inaccessible light and God is Spirit.  No one has ever seen God. Therefore He cannot be seen except in the Spirit since it is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh does not offer anything. But neither, inasmuch as He is equal to the Father, is the Son seen by anyone other than the Father or other than the Holy Spirit.
Quoting from the “Admonitions of St. Francis” in Francis and Clare,
      The Complete Works, Paulist Press, 1982, p. 25,26.

David Hazard explains St Francis’ words in his little book A Day in Your Presence.

 We understand Philip’s confusion, you and I, because in truth God our Father lives in light which the flesh may not enter, nor even approach 1 Tim 6:16. We know that God is Spirit John 4:24 and that no one has ever seen God with human eyes John 1:18. Therefore, God cannot be seen—unless one is seeing by inward eyes, by the Spirit of revelation.

Only the spirit of God can reveal God to a mere man. As the Scripture says, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing.” John 6:63.

In the same way since Jesus is equal to the Father, His spiritual presence and Lordship over all cannot be seen by anyone, other than the one to whom the Father and the Holy Spirit choose to reveal Him. John 6:65.”

Quoting from David Hazard in A Day in Your Presence: St. Francis of Assisi,
Bethany House, Minneapolis, 1992

Do you want to see Jesus? I do. Let’s turn Paul’s words into a prayer.

Father, God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, please give us a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Jesus. Enlighten the eyes of our hearts, so that we may fully know the hope to which You have called us, and all the riches of Jesus’ glorious inheritance in the saints?
Ephesians 1: 16 – 18 ESV

Father, may we this day

Live in the fear of the Lord, for it is the beginning of wisdom. Proverbs. 1:7

Keep our hearts tender to God and man, for the hard of heart cannot see or hear from God.

They did not understand. . . their hearts were hardened. Mark 6: 52