Tuesday, December 7, 2021 1 Peter 1:1-9
I wish I had more time for that but let me just tell you of the sixth thing that you need to learn about this world. Learn this: that you are to be joyfully expectant. Notice verses eight and nine, "Whom,"—speaking of Jesus Christ—"Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Peter 1:8). I've never seen Jesus and it may sound corny to you for me to say this, but I want to say it with all of my heart. I love Jesus Christ, with all of my heart and soul. I love Jesus Christ. I've never seen Him, but I love Him. And, if He were in the heart of Red China tonight, I'd be making plans to get over there to see Him face to face. I've never seen Him, yet I rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. But, one of these days and perhaps tonight, I'm going to see Jesus face to face. And, friend, when I think about that I don't want to see the Lord Jesus having betrayed Him, living and flirting with this old world. I want to be pure and clean when I meet the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says, "... though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls" (1 Peter 1:8-9). What does he mean? The word "end" means "goal." He's saying, "If you got the beginning, you're going to get the end." And, the goal is when we see Jesus.
I read years ago about a man named William Montague Dyke. He was blinded when he was a ten-year-old boy. He belonged to English nobility. And, he was educated and cultured and wealthy but he was blind. He won the hand of one of England's most beautiful and gracious ladies. And, they got engaged to be married. He had never seen her. And, they performed surgery on William Montague Dyke's eyes and they thought that the surgery was successful, but they planned it this way; that he would not see his bride until the wedding. He would not see anything until the wedding—the bandages were still there: the pads over his eyes, the gauze around his head. And, at an appropriate time after the wedding music had been sung, after the attendants had come in, after this blind man, William Montague Dike, had come into the service, standing there, waiting for his bride to come down the aisle, the physician came up and with his scissors snipped away the gauze, unwrapped that bandage, and removed those pads. And, this man who had been blind since he was a ten-year-old boy saw. And, the thing that he saw was the face of His bride coming down the aisle, whom, not having seen, he loved.
It will be that way when Jesus comes. The only difference is, dear friend, we are the ones who will have the blindness removed and we'll see the Lord Jesus, our heavenly bridegroom when He comes. And, I can hardly wait to see Jesus. And, I know I will. Soon, and very soon we're going to see the King.
