"Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen." (1 Timothy 1:17 NIV) "No one has ever actually seen God, but, of course, his only Son has, for he is the companion of the Father and has told us all about him." (John 1:18 TLB)
"Christ is the visible image of the invisible God..." (Colossians 1:15 NLT) "God is love..." (1 John 4:16)
"No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love has been brought to full expression through us. (1 John 4:12 NLT)
Did you notice the sequence of those scriptures?
I love what Pastor and theologian John Stott says about the invisibility of God. It is very applicable for us as we celebrate Christmas this year:
"It is a fact that God is invisible. No one has ever seen him and the very invisibility of God has always contributed a major problem to faith. In Old Testament days, the Jews were ridiculed by their heathen neighbours - 'Where is now your God? We can't see him. Come to our temples and we'll show you our gods. They are visible, they have ears, and eyes and mouths. But where is your God?' The people of God were embarrassed by these heathen taunts and would reply, 'True, your gods have eyes - but they can't see, they have mouths, but they can't speak. Our God, however, has neither eyes nor mouth but he can both see and speak.' Psalm 115:2-8. The same problem confronts scientific secularists today. Trained to use the empirical method, they are sceptical of anything which is not amenable to investigation by the five senses. They refuse to believe in what they cannot see. How then has God solved the problem of his own invisibility? The first answer is given in John 1:18 (RSV) 'No one has ever seen God: there is only the Son - he has made him known'. Jesus Christ is the visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15). As he himself said, 'he who has seen me, has seen the Father' (John 14:7). That's wonderful, people may respond - but it was also two millennia ago. Is there no way in which the invisible God makes himself visible today? Yes there is. 1 John 4:12 begins with exactly the same words, 'Nobody has ever seen God' - but instead of continuing that only the Son has made him known, it goes on - 'If we love one another, God dwells in us…' It is surely one of the most breathtaking sentences in the New Testament. It declares that the same invisible God, who once made himself visible in Christ, now makes himself visible in Christians - if we love one another. There is no more convincing evidence of the reality of the living God, than the love which animates the Christian community."
(This first appeared in a publication from the London Institute of Contemporary Christianity.)
May God bless each of us this Christmas with a richer understanding of His love so we in turn bless this world. When we love one another we literally manifest the presence of God! What a profound thought. As Jesus prayed, let us also pray:
"...I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. (John 17:20-23 NIV)
