The Madness Of His Glory

A Pastor in Florida has recently caused quite a stir by his claim to have met the risen Jesus over the past Easter weekend.  Over the last few years, I have also heard claims that Muslims in the Middle East are having dreams and visions of Jesus that are leading them to faith in Christ.  Are these claims valid?  Can Jesus appear to us in person, and does He?  I can only tell you what I know.

Scripture records many appearances of Christ after His resurrection.  He appeared to Mary Magdalene and other women (John 20:16,17; Matt 28:8-10); to two men on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-43); to Peter and six other disciples (John 21); twice to His disciples in the upper room (John 20:19-29); to more than five hundred believers at the same time (1 Cor 15:6); to James, the brother of Jesus, and many other Apostles (1 Cor 15:7); to Paul four times, first on the road to Damascus, where Paul never actually saw Christ, but only heard His voice (Acts 9),  and three times in visions (Acts 18:9,10; 22:17-21; 23:11); to Ananias in a vision (Acts 9:10-16); and to the aged Apostle John an unknown number of times while he was writing the Book of Revelation.

We know that Jesus' appearances to Paul, Ananias, and the aged Apostle John were after His ascension, so it is interesting to note that those appearances were quite different than His pre-ascension appearances.  Post-ascension appearances are always in some form of vision or dream, and several descriptions we are given of Christ in these visions are quite mind-numbing.  After Paul's first encounter with the ascended Christ, he spent three days afterward blind and did not eat or drink the entire three days.  The Apostle John gives us the most riveting description of our ascended Lord, and tells us that his own reaction to the presence of Christ was that he "fell at His feet as though dead" (Rev 1:17).

I think the most important thing we are to understand about these post-ascension encounters with Christ is that their purpose was always and solely for the furtherance of the Gospel and, for the most part, were always to someone who endured extreme circumstances for the furtherance of the Gospel-- people who were imprisoned, under great duress, or eventually to be martyred.  According to Scripture, Jesus never appeared to anyone to hang out with them or give them comfort.  Even when Jesus appeared to Paul to encourage him at Acts 18:9,10 and 23:11, both times Jesus' purpose was less for comfort and more for telling Paul to keep going forward in obedience and spreading the Gospel:  "keep speaking, do not be silent" and "you must also testify in Rome."  In all of Jesus' post-ascension appearances, He is all-business, direct-and-to-the-point, there are no comforting conversations about His love, and there is always a sense of erect and immediate obedience from those to whom He appears.

No encounter with the post-ascension Christ was ever warm and fuzzy, buddy-buddy, or for the purpose of ministering to a personal, emotional need.  None.  In every encounter, specific instructions were given that related to the furtherance of the Gospel and that would ultimately minister to the Church as a whole, not individually.  Nowhere in Scripture are we given a portrait of a smooth talking, back patting, emotionally endearing Christ-- whether during His earthly ministry, after His resurrection, or after His ascension-- never.  Scripture says our comfort and help come from the Holy Spirit, not visions of the post-ascension Christ (John 14:16,26; 15:26; 16:7; Rom 8:26,27).  And no encounter with the post-ascension Christ was on a regular basis, it was always and only on rare occasions of extreme necessity, all of which....you guessed it....were directly related to the furtherance of the Gospel.

Jesus warned us that many would come in His Name and deceive many (Matt 24:5).  Luke 21:8 adds Jesus' instructions: "Do not follow them."  Jesus actually prefaces His warning by saying "Watch out that no one deceives you..." (Matt 24:4) and "See to it that you are not deceived..." (Luke 21:8).  Growing up, I always assumed that Jesus was talking about other human beings who would claim to be Christ.  But I think a more accurate understanding would be any being other than Christ-- human, spirit, or otherwise-- who claims to be Christ.  The Apostle John also warns us not to believe every spirit, but to test them to see if they are from God (1 John 4:1).  I can attest that this is necessary because I have had an encounter with a spirit that presented itself as a benevolent entity, but when I said, "Jesus is Lord" and it did not reply in agreement, I knew immediately that it was a deceiving spirit that I had initially trusted simply because of its appearance (1 Cor 12:3).

I have never had a vision of the risen Christ.  And although technically we are in a "type" of God's comforting presence through the Holy Spirit during prayer, we are not in His literal, actual presence.  It is more of a "filtered" presence, with the person of the Holy Spirit acting as a protective shield from God's actual presence.  I know this because a scant few times during intense prayer in the Spirit, I have merely approached that presence and all but one time I asked God to save me from it because I couldn't bear it.  There was no warm and fuzzy feeling, there was only the crushing weight of His holiness and the abject horror over my own unworthiness in light of it.  Any feeling of His love was vaporized by the magnitude of it and muted by the feeling that surely if I got any closer I would be utterly undone.  Like what a planet must feel when approaching the event horizon of a black hole and the sheer force of incalculable gravity begins to take over and disassemble matter on a molecular level.  Nothing is left, even the memory of it having been erased as if it never existed. 

In the scant few times I have sensed any approach to the actual presence of Christ in prayer, I felt a humility that words simply cannot express.  They don't exist in the human language.  Even to try to express it in human terms seems ridiculous and absurd.  That is part of what Paul is talking about when he tells us that the Spirit intercedes for us "with groans too deep for words" (Rom 8:26).  The scant few times I have approached His presence in prayer, I fully understood why human beings cannot look upon God and live.  The human heart cannot withstand it-- whether in the body or out-- and all those whom Scripture records as being in that presence were only sustained from their own utter obliteration by His saving grace.  I forget who said it, but I once heard someone say that God wasn't necessarily saving us from hell through our faith in Christ, He was saving us from Himself.  This I understand, and to this I can attest.

When I look over the scriptural accounts of those exceptional few who experienced a vision of the post-ascension Christ I see a common thread-- a common thread that I can attest to, despite my ridiculously infinitesimal experience of Christ's presence.  In Scripture, we see that for those who had a genuine encounter with Christ, nothing else mattered after-the-fact.  In every scriptural account of the post-ascension Christ appearing to someone visually or audibly, we see a person in whom every atom of their being was standing in rapt attention for their orders from their Creator.  Nothing else in their life ever mattered again, other than Christ and His Gospel, because they had encountered the very purpose for their being.  For those who behold their Creator, a madness begins to seep in, an obsession to glorify Him and to serve Him takes over all that they are.   You will know them by their fruit.

"Beware of false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?" (Matt 7:16)

"Therefore I want you to know that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, 'Jesus be cursed,' and no one can say, 'Jesus is Lord,' except by the Holy Spirit." (1 Cor 12:3)

"Jesus answered, 'See to it that you are not deceived. For many will come in My Name, claiming, "I am He," and, "The time is near." Do not follow them.'" (Luke 21:8)

"Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. For many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and is already in the world at this time." (1 John 4:1-3)

"The hair on His head was white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes were like blazing fire. His feet were like bronze glowing in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of rushing waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and coming out of His mouth was a sharp, double-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance. When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead..." (Rev 1:14-17)

"...I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him were seraphim, each with six wings...and they were calling to one another: 'Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of His glory.' At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook and the temple was filled with smoke. 'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined!' For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.'" (Isaiah 6:1-5)

"And He said, 'I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.' But He said, 'You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!'" (Ex 33:19,20)