Sir, we would see Jesus.

¶ And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast: The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus. And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified. John 12:20-23

Certain Greeks came with a noble desire, to ‘see Jesus’. In our carnal view they even came to the right person, a disciple of the Lord Jesus, a person near and dear to Him. Seeing the Lord Jesus is a desire all of us have, but for now unto us the answer is the same as to these Greeks... The Lord did not send them an answer, and He also did not grant them their request. The answer and way forward was this; that God’s purpose which He deems fit for now needs to be performed and fulfilled.

Being bombarded lately with discussions of people seeing revelations and apparitions of the Lord or Angels, some even dying and ascending to heaven and there seeing the Lamb of God in Glory then returning back to life to write books about it and make movies which bring tears to any eye, two particular questions arose in my mind? Let us suppose that, all or some of, these manifestations were indeed of God, what is to be His purpose in doing it, and why is it important to people that things like these have to happen now?

Addressing the latter question first, let us regard that if indeed these manifestations were not important to people, then there would be no argument if someone dispel them as untrue. However judging by the vehement defence of these situations when you question them, one can see without a doubt that a tremendous spiritual and faith-depending value is placed on these signs and wonders by many of the modern day professing Christians. So, to come to the second question now. Why would God be doing these things? What is to be His purpose in these supposed Godly acts? Remember that all His miracles and signs done and prophecies given in the Bible were for establishing faith in Him and His abilities and for working man’s Salvation through the Son of God. I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. Ecclesiastes 3:14 and 1 Corinthians 14:22

We the believers of the Bible as God’s own Word, as well as the Record of His workings with man since creation, have all got a natural yearning to actually see this Great Creator of ours. To just glimpse a bit of Him would be glorious, yet we carry a certain fear as well of course, considering we are but sinful creatures and not worthy to be in His presence by any of our own works. Yet being able to have a deeper experience of His presence and seeing Him with our own eyes, is naturally something we crave. We are like those Greeks declaring that we would like to also see this Jesus as the disciples saw Him and witness His miraculous power like they did.

However, and a mighty big ‘however’ it is; He has already given us His written and preserved Word with all the needed instructions so that we might be throughly furnished unto all good works. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 states: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. Throughly, as in, when you clean out a room you cover the whole room. Not thoroughly, since you can clean out the one corner of the room very thoroughly, yet have not started on the rest of the room and thus your room would not be cleaned throughout. Throughly in the sense that: You have in the Bible all the furnishings to cover every distinct facet of life whatsoever you might need. He also gave in this Word all of His wonderful promises for our future, so now the question arises, why do so many people claim to have these wonderful extra ‘revelations’ of God?

I can see why the Biblical prophets like Daniel, Ezekiel, Moses, Isaiah had to see Christ and also why John the Apostle too, since the revelations and prophecies they recorded have a clear purpose in making sure we identify with the correct Messiah when He returns once again. But some of these other situations where people would reportedly ‘die’ and then go to Heaven and see ‘Jesus’ and return to tell us all about it, to what purpose are they? Certainly we agree that all those books they write are very intriguing and the movies they make, very emotional. No one denies it. And also, that Jewish looking Jesus they saw, which incidentally looks a lot like a picture that always stood on their mantle piece, sounds so marvellous. The Lord Jesus seen by Daniel, Ezekiel and John looks quite different from any person you’ve ever seen, fiery eyes, brazen arms and feet, body like unto beryl and his face the appearance of lightning, et cetera. Recently I overheard a person relating how that, since her young son died many years ago, she would, once in a while, ask the LORD for a sign of comfort and then she’d often see these little white feathers fall to the ground when she sometimes think about her son while at certain places like his favourite football stadium. Now please understand that I am addressing this in a respectful and considerate way, yet one still has to ponder (whilst pigeons are shedding a lot of plum feathers, especially where they use them in their nests in the roofs of football stadiums), the question still remains; why would God send His angels around shedding little feathers? Why do people only get to see the feather and not the rest of the angel? How does this revelation contribute to my believe or salvation in God, above and beyond what He has already given in His written Word? Someone else showed her then also a video of ‘angels’ at a church meeting but who were only visible on the video taken of it and were not seen at the event by the actual attendants. Why not? Why did the camera capture the angels and the eyes of those people could not behold them? What would be God’s purpose in doing that?
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Our focus and hope must, without any faltering, always be on the written Word of God preserved for us as our source of faith and comfort. Consider this for a moment, that even if the Lord Jesus Himself should appear next to you as you are reading this, you have a duty to question His identity. Why? Simply because He has already promised us that the next time Christians will see Him will be at the rapture of the saints, and then the rest of the World at His second coming and to appear at any other time earlier than that for whatever reason, would be contradictory to His written Record, the Bible. So my hope and faith is not on seeing revelations of the LORD in whatever way, but on reading His Word and waiting for that day, according to His Word, when He shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God shall call me along with the other Saints to meet Him in the air. 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17

At a recent event in April of 2017 in South Africa there gathered over a million people to come together one day to pray for the country and that God might deliver the country from the evil behind the tremendous crimes in government and populace. Certain video media was shared all around of some people beforehand on the farm where the multitudes would later on be gathered, being told to drill for water in faith, as they realised that such a lot of people gathered in one place need a lot of water. They were told that there was no water, yet they decided to drill. So then after drilling a borehole they did indeed strike water and acclaim it as a miracle. The comparison, however subtly implied, is obviously with what happened to the Children of Israel in the Wilderness on two occasions. There is a big difference though between these situations in more than one way. After a great recent drought in South Africa, it has in fact rained substantially in large parts of the country, and once again raised the water tables, even though in general at the time of writing in may 2017, the drought is still, strictly speaking, continuing. One needs to question though, how did they know beforehand that there was no water? Did they drill? If so, was it before, or after, those big rains? You see in Moses’ case the water was given to a minimum of 2.5 million people along with their livestock to really save them from death by dehydration. Yet at Bloemfontein, South Africa, all the people brought sufficient supplies of their own water and/or sourced it from the city near by, as was requested by the organisers upon purchasing their tickets, to the point that you don’t hear anything about these miraculously supplied waters actually being used by anyone in a significant quantity? Why was this miracle wasted and not used? Those who did not have water to drink had the luxury of driving to a shop and buying any of numerous kinds of drinks to quench their thirsts. A luxury those future Israelites did not have, when stranded there deep in the wilderness. So was this supposed modern miracle really needed in the same way and urgency as in Exodus, or do the miracles come cheaper nowadays? More importantly, would my faith or salvation be affected in anyway if this is not really a miracle? Note also that Moses did not drill with a huge machine, he struck a rock with his staff and enough water gushed out to make a lake big enough so that all of those Children of Israel could be satisfied. And it is becoming well known since recent discoveries that indeed the very same cloven rock with its water damage through its centre is still standing in Saudi Arabia to this very day. So then, are these two events the same kind of miracles?

So shall we continue to look for wonderful revelations and signs from Heaven? For miracles, healings and apparitions of Christ, or angels, or even saints? God forbid, for we have a more sure Word of Prophecy, whereunto we do well to take heed: Our Bible! It is inspired, preserved and yes, even present today in our very own hands. Is His Bible not enough? Do we need more revelations or miracles to fix our faith on Him? Do we need something more to fully secure our salvation? No, we have enough to do all of that, already captured in His Word. If we are truly honest with ourselves, are these revelations we get today not then also additions to the revelations in the Bible, if they are indeed really to be true? We have sombre warnings recorded, in among other verses, in Deuteronomy 12:32, Proverbs 30:5-6 and Revelation 22:18-19 against adding to God’s written Word. Let us fix our hearts on His Word and forgo the rest, knowing that we shall surely see Him in His might and glory one day; however not in according to our timeframe, but His.

​I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. Psalm 138:2