Visions

Why visions?

We’re in desperate need of them.  All around us, the world can seem so meaningless.  There is suffering.  War.  Hunger.  Lies.  Deceit.

We feel as if these things aren’t right, that there has to be something better, something greater.  People search for transcendentals–truth, beauty, goodness–grasping desperately around for peace, love, hope.  In our minds we see something higher, something above the mundane grub of life… things that should be, that ought to be.  We look for meaning in our lives, and those are what keep us going.

But we don’t seem to be able to reach it.  It’s like we’re in a dark cave or something, and we’re always searching for that light at the end of the tunnel.  And in fact, according to the Bible, we are.  Job complains to God about saving him from his abject miseries, asking “that I may find a little cheer before I go–and I shall not return– to the land of darkness and deep shadow,  the land of gloom like thick darkness, like deep shadow without any order, where light is as thick darkness” (Job 10:20b-22).

Human history has gone on for who knows how long, and how far have we gotten?  There are still wars.  There are still people starving.  Injustice is still the law of the land.  “For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely” (Jeremiah 6:13).  The problem is with us, that much is clear.  If only people would stop cheating one another.  If only people would love one another.  Let’s have more love in the world, some cry, but what is the result? “They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace” (6:14).  The problem is deeper than that.  “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matthew 15:19).

Some people try to fix their hearts. We try self-help books.  We try religion.  We try to make ourselves better people…

But to no avail, for “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jer 17:9).  We who are liars.  We who cannot be truthful to others, how can we expect to be truthful to ourselves?  How can we possibly expect to heal ourselves of a condition that we are never able to completely ourselves diagnose?

But there’s hope.  “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined” (Isaiah 9:2).  There is one whose heart is not deceitful, whose love does not fail, whose promises are everlasting.  This perfect One came to heal our hearts and to rule over us all as the only one who does not pervert justice, who does not discriminate in any way whatsoever.  But he did not come on high in power, as the Lord of Hosts to subject all under his glorious might, “but he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53: 5).  He came as a man, humble, without any distinguishing factor.  He chose to serve others, not to rule.  He chose humiliation, not glory.  “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;   God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are” (1 Corinthians 1:27-28).

All that we ever thought worthy was counted unworthy, for the first became last and the last became first (Mark 10:31).  The high became low, and the far became near.  The weak became the strong, and the downtrodden, the empowered.  “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2).

Through Him we have access to what we have always longed for, for what we have always known to be good and true and right.  Through Him we have the authority to discard our hearts of stone for a new spirit of life.  Through Him, we who were dead have become alive.  We who were far off can now draw near.

And now that we stand in the Light, we look and see everything we thought had been so meaningless… so completely unnecessary… so utterly useless… were all pointers and hints, visions, dare I say.  But  “These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:17).   “They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things” (Hebrews 8:5a).  “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities–all things were created through Him and for Him.  And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:16-17).  “Fear not,” He says to us, “I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades” (Revelations 1:18).

So now, let us stand and boast in the Light of the World.  For “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (James 1:17).  We may have many glimpses while here on Earth, but there is only one true vision that will never change.  His name is Jesus Christ.  Can you see him?

(All quotations are from the English Standard Version of the Bible)