Eye Contact with Jesus

Posted on by Jennifer Arimborgo

Praying

“Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…” (Heb. 12:2, NKJV).

My most powerful moments in prayer have happened when I was looking directly at Jesus. I believe that this verse holds forth for us one of the most essential keys for an effective prayer life: eye contact with the Lord.

It is specifically with our Savior that we are able to engage this way. We are not yet, in our fragile human bodies, able to look on God the Father and live. “He alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see” (1 Tim. 6:16, NET). The majesty of His glory would undo our frail frames.

However, God the Son has made Him known. The Word tells us that, “No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known” (John 1:18, NET).

Jesus’ coming to earth fulfilled this purpose. “Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory – the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father” (John 1:14, NET). Jesus came to make Daddy accessible to us.

For the first time, humans could touch God. They could embrace Him. They could look up into His twinkling, wise smile. They could stand in close proximity to Him and warm their souls in the tangible welcome that emanated from His being. They could bask in the healing tones of His voice. They could feel the affection of God the Father in His touch.

In His face, they could perceive firsthand the lavish riches of absolute acceptance and profound tenderness that spilled forth from His heart. They could sit just inches from His feet and drink in everything compelling and gentle and powerful and kind about His persona.

John describes this personal, intimate contact with the incarnate God as “that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched” (1 John 1:1, NIV).

Jesus is still the image of the invisible God. When He ascended into Heaven, He did not discard this role. In prayer, He still wants our ears to hear Him, our hands to touch Him, and our eyes to look on Him. This contact takes place spirit-to-Spirit. We touch Him with our spirit. We lean in to listen to His voice with our spiritual ears. We gaze on Him with the eyes of our heart.

So the author of Hebrews invites us to look unto Jesus. This is not simply a metaphorical expression. Holy Spirit truly is inviting us to train our inner eyes to gaze on the Author and Finisher of our faith.

With humble gratitude, come to the throne of grace. Come and gaze on the One who loves you more than His life. With reverence, devotion, and childlike trust, look up into His beautiful eyes…

***************************************************

Exodus tells us that God would speak “face to face” with Moses “as a man speaks with his friend” (33:11). Yet, just nine verses later, God tells him, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (v. 20). How is it possible that God spoke to him face to face without showing him His face?

 

28 thoughts on “Eye Contact with Jesus”

  1. With regard to Moses, I believe that God somehow supernaturally permitted him to be in the Lord’s presence while shielding his eyes from what he was not allowed to see.
    I recently have been noticing in the Scriptures the various times we are told to ‘fix’ our eyes, or where we are to have our eyes focused. When I/we struggle with this, it is because of ‘I’ trouble; meaning we are focused far too much on ourselves and our need in the moment. This takes our eyes off the Lord and puts the focus on something far less important. Hence the need for the many reminders to fix our eyes of Jesus!
    Blessings,
    Chuck

    Liked by 3 people

    Reply

    1. That’s a neat way to look at the question about Moses, thank you, Chuck! Also that is very important insight about not getting sidetracked by focus on ourselves. The learning curve as I go through God’s long process to train me to keep my eyes fixed on Him takes longer than I wish it would! I long for the freedom to never get distracted from focus on Him!

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  2. Peace on you Jennifer ❤ Interesting post, I would like to share with you few verses of what Qur’an said about Moses ( Peace and blessings on him)
    (2:54) Remember that when Moses (returned with the Divine Gift, he) said to his people, “O my people, you have .wronged yourselves grievously by taking the calf for worship. Therefore, turn to your Creator . in penitence and slay the guilty ones among you. *70 This is best for you in the sight of your Creator.” At that time your Creator accepted your repentance because He is Relenting ‘and Merciful.

    *70). That is, they should put to death those of their own number who made the calf an object of worship and actually worshipped it
    (2:55) Remember when you said, “O Moses, we are not going to believe you until we see with our own eyes Allah (talking to you)”. At that very time a thunderbolt struck you while you were looking on and you fell lifeless.
    (2:56) Then We raised you to life so that you might become grateful for this favour. *71

    *71). The incident referred to here is the following. When Moses went to the mountain he had been ordered to bring with him seventy elders of Israel. Later, when God bestowed upon Moses the Book and the Criterion, he presented them to the people. Some mischief-makers, according to the Qur’an, began to complain that they could not believe in something just because Moses claimed that God had spoken to him. This invited the wrath of God and they were punished. The Old Testament, however, has the following account: 
    ‘And they saw the God of Israel and there was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank’ (Exodus 24: 10-11), 
    Interestingly, it is stated later in the same book that when Moses requested God to show him His glory, God rejected the request and said: ‘You cannot see my face; for man shall not see me and live’. (See Exodus 33: 18-23) 

     (2:57) (Remember that) We caused the cloud to overshadow you and provided you with *72 manna and salva *73 for your food, saying, “Eat of the clean and pure things We have bestowed upon you” (In spite of this, your forefathers violated Our commands:) however, they did not harm Us but harmed only themselves.

    *72). That is, God provided them with shade from clouds in the Sinai peninsula where there was no shelter from the heat of the sun. 
    It should be remembered that the Israelites had left Egypt in their hundreds of thousands. In Sinai, there were not even any tents in which they could shelter, never mind proper houses. But for the fact that God by His grace kept the sky, overcast for a considerable period, these people would have been scorched to death by the heat of the sun. 
    *73). Manna and quails constituted the natural food that was continually made available to them throughout the forty years of their wandering in the Sinai desert. Manna was like coriander seed. When the dew fell in the night, manna fell with it from above. By God’s grace the quails were made available so plentifully that the entire nation was able to live on them alone and so escaped starvation. (For details regarding manna and quails see Exodus 16; Numbers 11: 7-9 and 31-2; Joshua 5: 12) 

     (2:58) Then call to mind the time when We said, “Go into the town’ *74 before you and eat to your hearts’ content therein, wherefrom you will, but enter the gate bowing down with humility, repeating ‘hittatun’; *75 We will forgive your sins and increase the reward of the righteous”.

    *74). It has not yet been possible to arrive at any conclusion about the identity of the locality mentioned here. The series of events in the context of which God’s command to enter the city is mentioned belong to the period of the exodus of the Children of Israel in the Sinai peninsula. It is therefore probable that the place mentioned in this verse is some Sinaitic city. Another plausible suggestion is that it is Shattim, which was located opposite Jericho on the eastern bank of the river Jordan. According to the Bible the Iscaelites conquered this town during the last years of.the life of Moses. After the conquest the Israelites became so decadent that God smote them with a plague from which twenty-four thousand died (Numbers 25: 1-9). 
    *75). God’s command was to enter the city not with the arrogance of tyrannical conquerors, but with the humility of men of God (in the manner in which the Prophet would later enter Makka at the time of its conquest). 
    As for ‘hit ‘ tah’, it could either mean that when they entered the town they should seek God’s pardon for their sins or that instead of plundering and massacring people in the wake of their conquest, they should proclaim an amnesty. 
     (2:59) But the transgressors perverted the words said to them entirely into a different thing. So We sent down upon the transgressors a severe torment from the sky : that was the punishment for the disobedience they were showing.
    *****
    These were just few Qur’an verses ( along with their explanation) about Moses (peace and blessings upon him) 😊

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Peace to you too, my friend! Thank you for taking the time to share and comment 🙂 Again, I am surprised to learn that the Qur’an talks about the golden calf story. There are quotes from the book of Exodus here; does the Qur’an quote the Bible?

      Moses is one of my favorite Bible characters. When he asked to see God’s glory, God replied (paraphrased), “No man can see My face and live. But I will show you My back.” And even seeing His back was so glorious that Moses’ face shone so brightly afterwards that he had to cover it with a veil because the Israelites were overwhelmed by it. This speaks to my heart that if we ask God to reveal Himself to us, even though we can’t take in the fullness of His glory, He will show us the part that we can take, and it will change us in beautiful ways! Here are the full verses about that:

      Exodus 33:18-23
      Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”

      19 And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

      21 Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. 22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

      Ex 34:5-7
      Then the Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed his name, the Lord. 6 And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, 7 maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.

      Ex 34:29-35
      When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord. 30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and he spoke to them. 32 Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.

      33 When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. 34 But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35 they saw that his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the Lord.

      End of quote. Such a beautiful text! I have studied it much 🙂 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. Jennifer my dear friend that I love 😊🌸 I have so so much to tell you about this matter! You see, every time I read one of your posts or your comments, I feel this tiny screen can’t be enough for the words I want to say to you! About our love and respect and belief in Jesus( peace and blessings upon him)❤❤❤
        Jennifer, this is Chapter n2 is named after the calf, its title in Arabic literally translated to “The Cow” (البقرة: Al Baqara)😊
        There’s an other Chapter named after Mary (peace on her) (مريم :Meriem)
        And to answer your question about whether the Qur’an quotes from the Bible? To answer this in two words: The Quran, Injeel= Gospel, Torah are all from One and Only Source: God the Almighty, Allah: الله
        You can grab the Bible and see in first page a sample of translations to other languages, the word God is translated as ” الله ” prenounced as: “Allah”. The Arab Christians say Allah, meaning God, the Almighty 😊
        So, that’s why you can find some verses in the Bible where God is very explicit, the same message of these verses can be found in the Qur’an.
        I am still working on the post I promised you about, besides an other one about Trinity.
        May God the Almighty walk your heart through his light 🌞❤❤❤
        I miss you! I wish we could meet one day and talk and talk about this lol
        Have a wonderful evening Jennifer🍀💕

        Liked by 1 person

      2. That would be so very wonderful, Nassima dear! I sincerely meet we will indeed meet one day. That would be such a special blessing. 🙂 ❤ 🙂

        I had heard that Allah is translated God. I am curious, when you say that the Qur'an, Torah, and Gospels are all from the same source, do all three hold the same weight in your faith? Also, I was still curious if the Qur'an quotes the book of Exodus directly like that?

        I am very much looking forward to the posts you are working on for me. I absolutely share that same feeling that this little screen is not enough! If only we could meet somewhere for tea easily 🙂 Hugs and blessings! ❤ ❤ 🙂 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      3. My dearest Jennifer, I’m so sorry for this late reply but I have been really busy at work it didn’t want to finish at all lol, I have just finished writing the first part of the video I promised you with, here’s a link to it: https://artoxygene.wordpress.com/2019/04/17/what-is-islam/
        For your question about the Qur’an that it quotes the book of Exodus, it was just a comparison between the two versions of the story, and about your question that all the holy books coming from one source, did you know that in order to be a Muslim,
        You must believe in One God,
        Believe in the prophets God the Almighty sent,e.g. Adam, Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), Dawud (David), Isa (Jesus).
        Belief in angels.
        Belief in the holy books.
        Belief in the Day of Judgement… …
        Belief in Predestination, to believe in the “Fate” or destiny whether it is good or bad, to accept it, these are the very important and main beliefs of Islam ^_^ , the Prophet Muhammad, came with the same message that Abraham, Moses, Jesus, Solomon and David were sent with! to worship the One Lord, One God without partnership, and without pagan, hope you are doing fine Jennifer! I really miss you and miss our discussions 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      4. Good evening my dear Nassima! I did not see your reply until now because I have been travelling. I have had the great joy of visiting my best friend over the last couple of weeks, and this week my grandma, for her 89th birthday. So I pre-scheduled posts for my absence and am just now checking in on my visitors’ comments.

        Thank you for answering my questions! God gave me a very curious mind, so I love asking questions and learning. I am truly grateful for your willingness to share with me. I am so looking forward to reading the first part of what you typed up for me, when I return home next week!

        And no, I did not know that about the tenants of Islam that you describe. I am even more curious now, because some of the things that Jesus taught are not actually the same as what Muhammad said. For example, He taught that He is the only way to the Father. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6). This is why it is surprising to me, what you share. I am trying to understand how statements like this by Jesus could be integrated into your faith?

        Again, with all my heart, thank you dedicating so much time to dialogue with me. I treasure your heart, your time, and your friendship. Sending a joyful, loving hug! 🙂 ❤ 🙂 Much peace be yours in God!

        Liked by 1 person

      5. My dearest Jennifer I’m so so happy to finally read your comment and know you are fine and having great time with your best friend and celebrating your grandmother birthday😍🌷🌸 Best wishes for her🎉🎁🎊
        I will be waiting for your comment on the 1st part of the post I wrote for you, and I’m now working on the second part, so hopefully it will be ready soon 😍 and please don’t thank me for the time I spend answering your questions or commenting as I am doing this with so much joy and happiness, I am smiling right now and everytime I write a comment😊 and this is just because I am talking to your beautiful soul❤😊🌷

        Liked by 1 person

      7. As for you question about the teachings of Jesus. I do believe my dear Jennifer that All the teachings of the messengersvand prophets of God the Almighty ( the Father) are all the same😊 and the verse you have mentioned in your comment was not a surprise or new to me or to my faith at all! I will explain it to you how, but let me tell you this first, this morning I grabed a very old book that I didn’t have time to finish ,and by coisidence the story on that page was about the Prophet Muhammad when
        he and his followerAbu Bakr were on a run from people who wanted to kill them, Abu Bakr was so worried about Muhammad (peace on him) the prophet Muhammad then said: “do not grieve, God is with us” this same word is mentioned in the Bible , now the “sign” part is this: later today I found out that this word is mentioned in the Bible! In the book of Isaiah: [And he shall be called Em-ma-nu-el] we have got 27 books in the old testament, in anyone of these books is it ever mentioned that Jesus (peace be on him) was called Emmanuel? He was called Jesus. He was called the Word of God he was called the Messaiah and he was called the Bread of life,the Truth of God but was he called Emmanuel? It means that this is not refering to Jesus (peace on him) but instead that reffers to Muhammad (peace on him) you see, in the Quran we read that Abu Bakr and Muhammad they were in a flight and they were almost caught (the story that I read this morning from the book) so Abu bakr said: look man they are upon us! We’re done and Muhammad says: Inna Allah Maana which means in English : “God is with us” and I quote from Qur’an : 9:40 [ if you do not aid the prophet,Allah has already aided him, when those who disbelieved had driven him out #of Makkah# as one of two,when they were in the cave and he said to his companion Do not Grieve,indeed Allah is with us]
        Inna Allah Maana= Em ma nu el= God is with is, Jesus on the cross said “E-li, E-li, la’ma -sa-bach-thani “which means[ My God, My God, why has you forsaken me,] he is forsaken by God, that’s a critical moment , so that’s it I thought finding the same word in the Quran and the Bible in one day must be a sign and thought it is Yours,I believe it was a sign for you my dearest Jennifer😊😍❤ isn’t it a great feeling of joy and peace to know that the Almighty is with us! ❤❤❤
        As for your question about the teachings of Jesus( peace on him) as I said in the beginning of my comment that this verse sounded familiar with what Muhsmmad( peace on him) tought us, let’s have a look on the context, in my opinion Jennifer,I see that you probably misunderstood the message of Jesus, John 14:2: In my Father’s house are many mansions if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you/ 24:4 and wither I go ye know,and the way ye know, you know how to get there, they say: 14:5: Thomas saith unto him Lord,we know not wither thou goest, and how can we know the way? ( in other words they missunderstood) Jesus was talking about Spiritual matters, Spiritual goals, Spiritual destination, they were thinking Geographical locations, so Jesus in answer to that question says: I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE, NO MAN COMETH UNTO THE FATHER BUT THROUGH ME, means if you want to know where I am going look at ME, the way to God is through ME, if you FOLLOW ME, you will reach your destination, John: 14:8 philip saith into him, Lord show us the Father aandit sufficeth us, so all this you talking about is too heavy for us, just show us God , if we can see God, we will be satisfied, in answer to that Jesus (peace be upon him) says: Philip you have been with me so long John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long time with you,and yet hast thou not know me? Philip, No man hath seen God any time , that’s what the scripture says;God is not seen at any time, and no man can see GGodand live,, you want to see God with your eyes and you can’t look to the sun? He said if you have seen me you have seen the Father mraning if you understood what I am, you have understood what God is!❤ same John : seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand., means you see and you don’t see, if you have seen me meaning NOT physical because Philip had no difficulty to see with his eeyes, if he had, Jesus would have healed him, so no, he is not talking about physical sight, seen me, means you have understood me,understood who I am,you have understood what God is, you wouldn’t make such a request, so the way to God, every prophet of God in his own time in his own dispensation is the only way to God, in the time of Moses,Moses was the way to God, if you want an other way, Children of Israel wanted an other way through the golden calf, for which twenty four thousand poeple were killed, the Jews killing Jews, God’s commandment says: destroy them! They are worshiping a calf,kill them, why? Because they chose an other way . There’s only one way to God, it’s through the way of the prophets of God, in the time of Noah, Noah was the way, in the time of Jesus,Jesus was the way, in the time of Muhammad, this is his dispensation ,Muhammad is the way,if you want an other way,it will not be accepted from you, the Christ told you that, when he, the spirit of truth is to come, he will guide you through, he had the message, he had the solution, but now he did not have the time , the man is on the run, he has no time to give you all the teaching ( I have yet, many things to say to you, but you can not bare them now, when the spirit of truth is come he will guide you to all through, the spirit of truth is Muhammad ,I would love to know your thoughts about this, and will be glad to answer or discuss any questions or topic you want,Thank you so much for the heart you have for the curiosity you are gifted with , you can’t imagine how much talking to you about God is heartwarming 😊😍❤🍀 it’s 3 am now and I hope you forgive me for any typo I made as I am using my mobile to comment, have a great evening if it is afternoon now there😍 peace and love for you Jennifer🌷

        Liked by 1 person

      8. Beautiful Nassima, your heart is precious! I know God takes great delight in your hunger for Him!

        That passage from John 14 is about the Holy Spirit, whom God poured out, as promised, on the Day of Pentecost, as related to us in Acts chapter 2. You have quoted to me John 16:12-13 about the Spirit of Truth. But we can find more, in that same discourse Jesus gave His disciples that night, about the Spirit of Truth in chapter 14. In verses 16 – 17 Jesus says, “And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth.” And then a few verses later He further elaborates about the Counselor He is going to send, in verse 26: “John 14:26-27
        But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.” He clearly identifies that Counselor, that Spirit of Truth, as the Holy Spirit.

        The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, the Spirit of Jesus, who was sent from Heaven to us once Jesus was resurrected and returned to sit at the right hand of the Father in Heaven. His Spirit comes to dwell inside of us when we believe in Jesus as our Savior, and Holy Spirit becomes one with our human spirit, as 1 Corinthians 6:17 explains, “But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.”

        Jesus told Thomas, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” because He and the Father are One. The book of Hebrews also expresses this beautifully: “Heb 1:1-4
        In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.”

        My sweet friend, since you ask me about my thoughts, it is my belief that Jesus is, as He said He is, the only way to the Father. He expressed equality with God when He proclaimed this in John 8:28, “I tell you the truth,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I AM!” The great I AM was the one of God’s names that He revealed to Moses. So Jesus was saying, He existed before Abraham because He is God; He and the eternal Father are One! The Jews understood what He was claiming immediately and were so offended that they tried to stone Him in the next verse.

        As for Isaiah’s beautiful prophecy about Immanuel, the book of Matthew clearly shares with us that it was in prediction of Jesus’ coming, and fulfilled at His birth:

        Matt 1:20-23
        But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

        22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”

        So, those are my thoughts for tonight, my dear. Sent with so much love from my heart, and deeply grateful for your desire to read and continue to share with each other what we hold precious. I love you and pray great peace on your heart as you read my words!

        Like

      9. One more thought that I wanted to add in explaining the above, Hebrews also tells us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Heb 13:8). So, everything that He said in Scriptures is still true forever: He is the only way to the Father! He loves us so deeply, He gave His life so that we could come to the Father. He longs for us to come and be one with Him, in His arms forever!

        Like

  4. I love your post, Jennifer. It is a tender and endearing look at Jesus. “In prayer, He still wants our ears to hear Him, our hands to touch Him, and our eyes to look on Him. ” Love this line! Prayer can become mechanical, you invite us to see Him when we pray. Thank you!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  5. I tend not to worry about the possible contradiction between the two verses. I focus on the reality that God was in intimate personal contact with Moses in order to communicate what was necessary; that, I believe, is what is most important, and the two verses agree on that matter. — Mike

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Thank you for that insight, Mike. Amen! You are right, that is a vitally important truth seen clearly in both verses. I don’t see it as a contradiction either, but one of God’s mysteries. Since He always invites us to dig deeper, I’m still asking Him about this one 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

      Reply

  7. I remember Joyce Meyer talking about how we might have to hide in the cleft of a rock while God passes by. We may not be able to watch Him as He does what needs to be done, but we will certainly know that God has has been there!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  8. It is so amazing to feel, see, touch, hear this precious Savior our ours. Because of Him I read your words with tears in my eyes. Excellent writing alone does not do that, only inspired and anointed. Bless you, Dear. Keep writing.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a comment