Question: Having seen something of Christ and His all-inclusive death and resurrection, why does it seem so difficult to experience these things?
Answer: The reason for this is that our vision is often very vague. We see something, but not so clearly. We must realize that genuine believing is based upon what we see. When we preach the gospel, we must hold the realization that we are presenting something of reality to people. Our speaking is the presentation of reality. When our listeners hear our presentation, they see something and believe. What they see becomes their faith, their believing. The problem is that often our speaking is weak and the hearing is also weak; therefore, the believing and seeing become very weak. The strength of what we see and believe depends upon the strength of our hearing. Whether our hearing is strong or not depends upon the strength of the speaking.
Question: Does the vision of Christ and His death and resurrection come suddenly as a one-time experience or does it come gradually over some period of time?
Answer: Often it is difficult to determine whether what we see today is a sudden revelation or something which has come gradually through our experience. As we are walking down a certain street, we are able to see the things on that street because we are in the position to see them. One day we see one thing, and another day we see something more. In the same principle, as we attend the meetings of the church, we may not see very much at first. But as we continue to attend the meetings and hear the speaking, gradually we begin to see something month after month and year after year.
We do not often have the experience of seeing something in a sudden way. Actually, according to my experience, the sudden or instant vision is not very valuable. The most valuable vision is something which has been built up within you. If from the day you are saved, you build up a habit of always being in the meetings, big or small, year-round, this will constitute something of a vision within you, which will become something very stable within you. Through the meetings something is sown into you. The accumulation of what has been sown into you is your seeing, your vision. To gain such a vision requires time. We should not expect to see the vision of Christ, His death, and His resurrection in a sudden way. Gradually, as we go on in our experience with the Lord, we see more.
The disciples, especially Peter, are a good illustration of this. Many teachers and students of the Bible throughout church history have tried to determine when Peter was saved. On several occasions Peter had some very significant experiences with the Lord. The first experience was when he was brought to the Lord by his brother, Andrew (John 1:40-42). On this occasion, the Lord changed his name from Simon to Peter, a stone. This experience, however, did not change Peter very much, because shortly thereafter he went back to fishing. Then the Lord went to the sea of Galilee and called Peter as he was casting a net into the sea (Matt. 4:18-19). The Lord attracted him, perhaps by the miracle recorded in Luke 5:4-11. At one moment he was casting a net for fish, and the next moment, having been called by the Lord Jesus, he began to follow the Lord. After perhaps three years of following the Lord, Peter and the other disciples were led by the Lord to Caesarea Philippi (Matt. 16:13). The Lord asked them, “Who do you say that I am?” (v. 15). Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (v. 16). This was another significant experience. After these experiences, Peter denied the Lord three times, even before the Lord’s face (Luke 22:54-61). And on the day of Christ’s resurrection, the angel specifically mentioned that Peter should be told about the Lord’s resurrection (Mark 16:7). Then on the evening of the day of resurrection, the Lord came back to breathe Himself into the disciples (John 20:22).
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