When Seeing isn't Believing

“By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” -Hebrews 11:27. Bold type added.

Christianity is strange; did you know the Bible refers to believers as peculiar six times? These accounts are in Exodus 19:5, Deuteronomy 14:2 & 26:18, Psalm 135:4, Titus 2:14, and 1 Peter 2:9.

But the world also commonly says that “seeing is believing,” while the BIBLE tells us;

“While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” -2 Corinthians 4:18. “...: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.” -from John 20:29.

“(For we walk by faith, not by sight:)” -2 Corinthians 5:7.

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” -Hebrews 11:1.

So it's natural for Christian faith to embrace the unseen, but sometimes those we witness to may respond by saying, “I don't believe in God;” and then if we press them for WHY they don't, many quickly fall back on the answer that it's because they've never seen Him. I've found this to be a pretty common, shallow, and thoughtless response; but the purpose of this message is to help you when facing that “I've never seen Him” line of reasoning.

The excuse of invisibility isn't a genuine reason to disbelieve God's existence, and we all know of many invisible things that are very real; things like Wifi transmissions, love, oxygen, hot and cold, wind, or XRAYS; those giving us the xrays know they're real, and they hide behind lead for safety during the process! Just because a thing is unseen doesn't make it non-existent.

But above all of these down-to-earth examples, God never claims you should be able to see Him; the God of the Bible proclaims himself to be invisible numerous times;

“Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” -1Timothy 1:17. Bold type added.

“13 ...his dear Son: 14 In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15 Who is the image of the invisible God...” -from Colossians 1:13-15. Bold type added.

“No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” -1 John 4:12. Bold type added for emphasis.

So God tells us plainly in 1 John 4:12 that we know no man has seen God at any time, and thus we take it that if scripture says the Lord “appeared” to someone, it was in a form they could receive. Jesus epitomized this type of “appearance,” as is recorded in John 14:8&9;

8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father...”

No one was closer to God than Moses, yet even his flesh couldn't withstand the full presence of the Lord; with this from their interaction in Exodus 33:18-23, when Moses asked to see God's glory;

“And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee...20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. 21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23 And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.” Bold type is added.

Yet we don't need to see God to know that He exists, because creation itself testifies there is a creator, just like we know that every building had a builder, whether or not we know them personally, or saw it done. In the early 19^th century William Paley gave the analogy of The Watch and the Watchmaker as a simple proof for the existence of God, and I'll leave a connection for it here. We know logically that NOTHING cannot produce anything, neither can lifelessness produce life, yet that's exactly what needed to happen if there were no all powerful, intelligent designer. In other words, the existence of God should be obvious, and the Bible affirms this in Romans 1:20; part of a larger prophecy of a time when men will be denying God's existence, with this from Romans 1:18-23;

18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.”

It seems to me that many give up on the notion of God from becoming desensitized to the greatness of creation, being inundated with exposure to it all of our lives; we accept the existence of things without considering what it took to produce it.

We as believers ought to be ready for the responses of a godless world, challenging them to take another look at the greatness of creation which surrounds us, and then taking time to reconsider their points of view. This may be a needed first step for some, one that hopefully leads them into making a U-turn in the direction of Jesus Christ.

“For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.” -Acts 17:23.

“10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. 11 This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. 12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” -Acts 4:10-12.

Please also check out my YouTube videos that I did on this subject at https://youtu.be/ZB7HPJj1y8Q and https://youtube.com/shorts/y34p9AIgLU0?feature=share