Glimpses of Jesus

J. Rufus Moseley wrote a series of articles for The Macon Telegraph. On May 5, 1929 he wrote the following article. It's part of the compilation by Wayne McLain in the book A Heavenly View:

"Because we only see in part and because we see as it were in a glass darkly, does not mean that we do not glimpse reality. It simply means that if the part we see dimly means so much to us, when we see God as He is and Jesus as He is, that we shall be like Him. Even St. John who walked with Jesus, leaned upon His bosom and became His special channel of revelation and report saw that to him and the rest of the children of God, it was not made manifest what they really should be. But writing for himself and all the family of God, St. John says, 'We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is'. (1 John 3:1)

"It also means that we should be very humble in mind and very charitable in spirit. We do not see the same part of God all the time, and others may be seeing parts of His love, purpose, and glory that we are not seeing. The test of every true view of God is that it increases our love for Him and for each other, and that it increases our hope, faith, peace, and joy. The test for the suggestions of the enemy is that what comes from him makes against love, peace, joy, and faith. So different are the love, peace, and joy producing thoughts and inspiration from God, and the disturbing suggestions of the enemy that it is easy enough to know the difference. In addition to the great peace, joy, hope, faith, and love that come from welcoming the thoughts and will of God and from rejecting the suggestions of the enemy, we are being led on from glory to glory to the full revelation, manifestation, and coming of the Lord of glory that is to make us in His likeness even in His bodily likeness.

"The lowest view that one can have of Jesus, who appreciates his wisdom, unselfishness and unrivaled love, is that He is the greatest teacher of the race. Apart from any special revelation, every sensitive soul should see the truth of what is voiced in an editorial in the current number of the Christian Century:

"'In the midst there is one upon whose head there rests a light ineffable; he seems to be one of the worshipers. His face is more marred than any man's and his hands and feet are marked with wounds. He stands at times near the altar, but performs no priestly act. At times he moves among the worshippers and touches them gently with his hands, or looks into their faces, and those who see him or feel the touch of his hand go away with something strange and wistful and powerful stirring in their heart. When asked to say who he is, the people are divided. Some say he should be called the Son of God. Others say he should be called the Son of Man. But whatever title they give him all agree that it was he who made the uttermost experiment with life. He gave himself in a complete, intelligent and supremely tragic surrender to his faith. And what was his faith? It was the faith that there was in the universe a behavior which would respond to love, which would swing into line to support and justify his venture. This one, they say, made that experiment. The experiment is not yet completed. The results are not yet all in. The decision still hangs in the balance. The great experiment may fail. But those who once look upon his face go hence determined that it shall not fail.'

"These are beautiful words, and true words so far as they go. But love shall not fail. Christ has already won, and we win in and through Him.

"No one with spiritual perception can read the story of His life and study His recorded words without marveling at His wisdom, love, healing, and saving power. If those who see this much will only obey His teaching and be led by His Good Spirit, they will be led on to see more. The disciples for a time only saw Him as the wisest, most gracious and helpful person that they had ever seen or heard about, and those who continued with Him were prepared for the deeper revelations that were to come.

"The next revelation ahead is that He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. This certainty comes by the revelation of the Holy Ghost. No matter what one believes as historic knowledge concerning Jesus, real and life-giving knowledge and certainty must be by the revelation of the Spirit. Only what the Spirit reveals and makes clear and sure can stand all the tests of God and life.

"As God has given all power, wisdom, and love to Jesus, it is only in identification with His life, death, resurrection, ascension, and His glorified life that every enemy can be overcome and that we enter into joint fellowship with Him and become coheirs with Him in the fullness of God. Much healing may come by following Him as the teacher, way-shower, and healer, but the great redemption and glorification can come only as we are identified also with His death, resurrection, and glorification.

"We may have, if we love Jesus well enough to keep His commandments and receive the other Comforter, the actual knowledge that Jesus is in the Father and the Father in Him, and that we are in Him and He in us. It's wonderful knowledge. It makes clear how individuals, by being one and in each other, are all the more individual beings. In fact, the wonder of our individuality, in its entirety will never appear until we are wholly in God and God in us.

"As we see Jesus, we see the Father; as we listen to Jesus, we listen to the Father. Yet, Jesus will always be Jesus, as you and I will always be you and I. The more Jesus enters into His many membered body and into the whole creation, and the more wonderfully He manifests Himself in His people and in the creation, the more wonderfully He will appear as the One who lived, was dead, and who liveth forever more. The deeper the unity, the more perfect the individuality.

"But it is not my purpose to attempt to explain the deep unity of God and His manifestations as Jehovah, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, but to report certain glimpses that help so greatly on the way.

"It is a marvelous event when one sees Jesus, even as the perfect teacher, if he dedicates himself to follow Him, His teaching, and His Good Spirit. It is the day when all things begin to become new, when Jesus is seen as the Christ. With this revelation, the seed of becoming a son of God has been planted. The start has been made that is to make us like Him. After this it is just a problem of putting off the old man and nature and of putting on Christ fully, entirely, and bodily.

"The fullness of the Godhead is so embodied in Christ Jesus that there are glimpses of this fullness that cause one to cry out as did one of the twelve, 'My Lord and my God'! In these glimpses, one sees God. Just the other day I was permitted to see not only Jesus on the Cross but also the Father. In this view, God is seen as the God of perfect love and redemption. As Jesus is revealed as our Lord, Christ, God, and everything, the door is opened to see God in a new, living, drawing, transforming, and glorifying way. Jesus is not only seen as God with us, but is also seen as the door into the full revelation of God the Father.

"It is all to be in the name of Jesus until the last enemy (death) is destroyed. Then God the Father will be seen as All in all, and Jesus as our elder brother, and head of the whole redeemed family and creation. The final revelation of Jesus destroys death and mortality, awakens those asleep in Him, and changes the living into His likeness. The perfect revelation of God that this ushers in will reveal a glory that we are not yet prepared to conceive.

"If being prepared to see the revealing of the Son as He is raises and translates the righteous dead and changes the living into His bodily glorified likeness, what will thus being prepared to see the Father as He is bring us into?

"Even a glimpse dimmed by imperfection and finiteness can see this much, Jesus will be known by us as we are known by Him. All things will be ours. Each of us will be an individual manifestation of the fullness of God. All will be in each, and each will be a universal presence, a personal incarnation, and a conscious center of the love, wisdom, power, bliss, and glory of God."