The Image of the Invisible God (Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus)
One of the great struggles of my life is to consistently have the right view of who God is in my mind. To be fair my health issues of depression and OCD compound the problem but, really, I think we all have this struggle to some degree.
After all, we know that the Devil is a liar and will take any and all opportunities to steal our joy and peace in God. One of the best ways to do that is to skew our view of who God is. To try and make Him out to be merciless, ungracious or unloving – even a tyrant.
So how do we maintain a Biblical view of the God of the New Covenant? The God who indeed hates sin but is also abounding in mercy, grace and love?
The short answer? Look to Jesus.
The Scriptures are abundantly clear that if we want to know what God is really like then we must come to Jesus. Colossians tells that Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15). “He is the image of God” (2 Cor 4:4) and “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature…” (Hebrews 1:1-3).
God the Father instructs us likewise. When Peter began babbling on the Mount of Transfiguration, the Father spoke and said “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” (Mat 17:2-8). And when the disciples asked Jesus about the Father He said “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)
So when we are confused or in doubt about who God is – look and listen to Jesus. Read the prophecies about Him, read His own words, read what the Apostles said about Him, pray to Him and simply...
“Turn your eyes upon Jesus
Look full in His wonderful face
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace”
“Looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith..” (Heb 12:2a)
