Hosanna Restoration Church

John paints such a wonderful picture here of the Life that they witnessed in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. Much like fine art, of which I am not a student and can only go by what others say, it is easy to just glance and go on by and not see all that is there.

A student of art will see the brush strokes and feel the passion of the one who told the story with color and shading. What I may think is a mess and worthless, a collector may pay a fortune for. The collector obviously understands something and sees something that I do not.

While we have been discussing the management of gifts and honoring the owner of the gifts, it has come to my intention that we must have a desire to see these things manifested. God must be revealed to the world around us. This is why Jesus came into the world. He came to reveal God and His Kingdom to a world that desperately needed to see Him. Though He reveals Himself in creation, not all catch it there.

We surely live in world that desperately needs to see Him. Jesus revealed life. He revealed what life could be and what life should be. This was what John was talking about when He said that the life was manifested. What Jesus did and said was the manifestation of the Kingdom of God. He came to make us whole.

His followers saw it and longed for more. Jesus did not mind the fact that they wanted to see Him do things as long as they believed He was who He said. He assured them that there were even greater things ahead. John realized that what they saw was the eternal life that is with the Father walking among them. Jesus was the promise of God. John was compelled to share the same with all who would believe it.

How do we experience this? We do it by seeking God and experiencing the manifestation of the Life that He has promised and longs for us to experience. We must be careful that we do not stop there however. Just as Jesus desired to manifest the Kingdom so should we. It is good to accept that the great things of God are for us and to enjoy them all. It is bad if we stop there and fail to pass that along to others.

Just as John longed for them to experience the joy, so must we. If we don’t, we miss the beauty of the masterpiece that Jesus came to reveal and we never experience the full value of the Kingdom of God.