GAZING AT THE SON

in Articles By Mccuon on 24 May 2014

GAZING AT THE SON …  A BLINDING EXPERIENCE THAT ENLIGHTENS!    Scripture: Acts 9:3-5, 8

“… and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are you Lord?” Then He said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?”

Then Saul arose from the ground, and when his eyes were opened he saw no one. But they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.

In the natural set up, if you would gaze at the sun directly for a while you would literally lose sight. You begin seeing darkness around you because the light of the sun is too much for your eyes to handle and we are thus blinded in a sense. And we may easily stagger around in that instance not seeing our immediate surroundings clearly. Now, Saul (who later came to be known as Paul) had such an experience. He was breathing fire ready to burn out the Christians wherever he could find them. He was burning hot in his rage against this new sect that was threatening to oust Judaism out of existence and he was placing his life on the line to see that that does not happen. On his way to Damascus to persecute Christians as he had taken up the task to, there was the Consuming Fire that was ready to swallow him up in love! God, who is love, was waiting to capture him and make him a captive of His great love and free him from the hatred and bitterness that was burning in him against those who had believed in His Son Jesus Christ and were now being saved.

Just as the sun rises in the morning, the Son Jesus Christ arose with healing in His wings, to heal this enraged man Saul. Jesus the Son, shone so brightly with light from heaven and outshone the natural sun, of course it had to bow to its Creator, couldn’t compete! And now Saul was not gazing at the natural sun but at the Son who created the natural one. He dared to look, if you would, straight into the Son and he was literally blinded. It says after the conversation, he opened his eyes and saw nothing (Acts 9:8). And for three days he was blind.

Saul gazed into the Son and was blinded to enlightenment! In his being blinded he was made to see the Person whom he was actually dealing with as he went around persecuting Christians, he was actually persecuting Jesus! He was also made to see that the Jesus whom he thought was an impostor was the God of glory, Creator of all things, living in the heavens in an inapproachable light as he would later write to Timothy (1 Tim 6:16). He also realized that Jesus’ strength was unstoppable and it surpasses any human being no matter how great and strong they are. See how Saul was literally knocked to the ground. Being knocked out blind to the ground is not a sign of strength, is it?

Saul (Paul) in gazing into the fullness of the Son was blinded, but he received so much heavenly enlightenment in the same instance that propelled him to heavenly heights and the world around him lost its grip on him. From that day onwards he was blinded to the world, all that he saw was the King of Glory, Jesus Christ and he chased after him to the very end. He became one who was not hurt, deterred or hindered by any event that happened in the world around him. He had only one goal, to know Him (Jesus) and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering. No good or evil thing could stop Paul from pursuing and seeing Jesus neither could anything separate him from the love of God in Christ Jesus. No shipwrecks, hunger, persecutions, beatings, imprisonments, not even success distracted him. No power in heaven or hell made him lose sight of Jesus. He knew that all things were working together for good because he loved God and was called according to His purpose and that all things were meant to make him more Christ-like. He learnt to be abased and to be abounding for He depended on the strength of Christ.See Philippians 3:3-14, 4:11-13, Romans 8:28, 36-39.

We too, in this time and age have the same grand opportunity and privilege to gaze into Jesus the Son like the man Saul. Yes it means we will become blind to the world, where people will look at us and wonder why you are not pursuant of all the pleasures in this world? Why are you not greedy and killing yourself to become rich and wealthy? Why are you content with just one wife while there are so many girls out here? Why are you not out to make a name for yourself? Can’t you see how beautiful the kingdom of this world is? The glamour, the fame, power, status …but as you lose sight of this world you will be laying hold of the eternal riches of glory in light of the Son of the Most High!Such riches as godliness and contentment which is great gain, wisdom, faithfulness, love, goodness, self-control …

This gaze into the Son will also knock us out of our strengths and high horses. There are things we may be so proud of, well known for and with them, making a reputation and a name for ourselves. As we gaze into Jesus we will discover that all our strengths are futile and unreliable but God’s strength is manifest in weakness. This means that we will come to the limit of our abilities and realize that unless we turn ourselves over to God we are helpless. And at that time God will be able to use us because we are not able and His strength will be perfected in us that no flesh should glory in His presence.

Take a gaze of Him daily in scripture reading, nature, worship and praise, communing in prayer, fellowship with other brethren … precious!

Gazing at the Son, being blinded and enlightened simultaneously, to the praise of His glory! Hallelujah!!!