That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life, (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us,) that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. [1John 1:1-3]


That which we have seen with our eyes...

John, one of the Apostles of Jesus, and the writer of this epistle was referring to the Lord Jesus here as the ONE “which we have seen with our eyes”. In order words, he is confirming without ambiguity that Jesus is real. Jesus is not just a ghost, he says, we saw Him with our very eyes. He is not a figment of the imaginations of man. He is a person. He is not wind or matter. He revealed Himself unto us and we saw Him life with our very eyes. We saw Him, not just in our dreams or in our subconscious, we saw Him as He is.

Jesus is NOT just a religious leader to be followed, He is a personality to KNOW and RELATE WITH. John affirms, “we saw His glory, splendour and majesty”. We were eyewitnesses of His power and wonders, and these are not just mystics or maybes, indeed WE SAW HIM. We saw His truthfulness, we saw His never failing power, and we saw Him as the dependable One who NEVER fails.

The major reason why all those disciples of Jesus lasted in their walk with God was because THEY HAD THE REVELATION OF JESUS FOR WHO HE IS, THEY SAW HIM. Our prayers today must be “O Lord, Open our eyes that we may see You clearly. Lord Jesus, we want to know You”.

Those disciples saw Jesus as the Holy One, no wonder, they lived a holy life. They saw the Lord of glory, no wonder they lived a fearless life, no wonder they were more than conquerors, no wonder demons could not come close. Their world was subject unto them, they did wonders and were great, and it was hinged on the revelation of Christ which they saw.


...which we have looked upon...

They not only saw Him, they LOOKED UPON HIM. The question is, “Have you looked upon Him? Has Jesus become so REAL to you as Saviour, Lord and your very life?”

The reason for much ambiguity all around us is because many men have not seen Jesus clearly for themselves. You may have seen Him through the eyes and views of other people - maybe you heard some bogus testimonies here and there, or you saw the big ways several men of God have been proclaiming Him, but yourself PERSONALLY have NOT beheld the Man of Calvary - full of grace and truth.


Until a man sees Jesus for himself, he will still be the same, He will still be stranded. Until YOU SEE HIM (the Deliverer), you can never be free, you will labour and labour and yet continue to grope in darkness. UNTIL YOU SEE HIM, there is no salvation, no deliverance, no freedom, no heaven, no victory. Many men travel up and down in search for victory, deliverance and salvation, they fast for days and pray with self-denials and discipline, YET, no way. THEY SAW OTHER THINGS, BUT THEY DID NOT SEE HIM (JESUS)…

When A MAN SEES JESUS, the veil will be totally taken from off your eyes. When you see Him, your course of life, your perspective, your direction... everything will change and be redirected to embrace all of Him. JESUS SUDDENLY BECOMES THE ONLY ANSWER WITH SO MUCH JOY… If a man is still unmoved, full of excuses, full of His ways, it is because he has not seen the man of Calvary FOR HIMSELF, he has not looked upon Him for deliverance.

Have you seen men who SUDDENLY ENCOUNTER JESUS, it is as if they suddenly became MAD for God, THE WORLD SUDDENLY HAS NO ATTRACTION before their eyes again – the reason is that, THEY SAW HIM.


CATALOGUE OF MEN WHO SAW HIM…

1. SAUL OF TARSUS.
Saul of Tarsus saw HIM, [Bible says in Acts 9:1-9 that the light SHINED AROUND HIM, AND HE HEARD A VOICE, SAUL, SAUL, WHY PERSECUTED THOU ME…] Saul SAW JESUS for Himself. A man who was once a violent, wayward, notorious KILLER… SUDDENLY, His whole life changed. He became a preacher of the gospel, a divine vessel in Gods hands. Saul, who was once an instrument in the hand of the devil, suddenly, he became the one whom demons feared…
Friend, the reason why you are still a prey in the hands of the devil, is because you have NOT seen HIM. Your solution is NOT in special deliverance, it is in HIM. YOU NEED TO SEE HIM (the TOTAL DELIVERER) FOR YOURSELF.

2. THOMAS
Thomas saw Him. In John 20:28, he shouted, "my Lord and my God". A man who had been a doubter, very confused, unbelieving, faithless… SUDDENLY, he became a mouthpiece for God. He had seen the Sovereignty and Lordship of JESUS once and for all, his life changed forever...

3. PETER
Peter saw Him. In Luke 5:8, he shouted, "depart from me, a wretched sinner..." . He saw his own wretchedness and unworthiness. All he had laboured for in life became like vanity upon vanity… Peter cried. He left everything including what he earlier defined as life - fishing - and followed Jesus ONLY till death. Maybe for you, your whole life is wrapped around money and business, you cannot see beyond Dollars and Naira, it is because you actually have not SEEN HIM…

4. MOSES
Moses also saw Him. His course of life changed completely. What men counted as enjoyment and riches and pleasure, they became dung for him. He saw the futility of the world, the emptiness of the pursuit of man, Bible says in Hebrews 11:24-27 that “he chose to suffer affliction with his people in their sufferings than to enjoy the pleasures of sin in Egypt for a moment…” He renounced promotion and kingship, he left all and became the deliverer of Israel from captivity. Till today, Moses can never be forgotten.

5. TWO DISCIPLES ON THE ROAD TO EMMAUS.
These disciples also saw Him, and their plan changed. Their confusion immediately melted away, they received divine strength immediately and began to proclaim His resurrection right unto Jerusalem, the center of persecution and martyrdom.

6. SIMEON
Simeon saw Him (Luke 2:25-32), and he was completely contented and satisfied. He had lived a fulfilled life just by seeing Him, and he was ready to depart this world. Nothing else mattered anymore to him, he had seen the Lord - the Salvation of Israel. Maybe for you, greed, wanting to grab more, covetousness is in you, you are never satisfied, you can kill, rob and take what is not yours. You lack contentment… It is because you have not seen HIM – JESUS, THE MAN OF CALVARY…

7. PETER, JAMES AND JOHN ON THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION .
These 3 disciples also SAW the revelation of Christ in a deeper way on this mount. They have been seeing Jesus as just one of those leaders all these while – maybe a prophet, a great teacher or some good man. But that day, they saw Him, and they entered another realm of their walk with God.


...seen Him...

When the revelation of Jesus has faded from the eyes of a man, you will see him beginning to grapple with sin again (he has lost sight of the Jesus who saves). His life will begin to go up and down, the things he loathed before and had victory over, you will find him being overtaken by them again, he will pray and bind and lose, yet, no victory again (he has lost the vision of Jesus, who only can deliver). The vision of the Lord which he saw at the first has faded and finished, what Christ did once and for all has become frustrated before his eyes, and now he wants to do it by himself, he will never succeed.

When you find men who once saw Him, but now are beginning to emphasize how they will "do" this and do that in other to overcome, how they will organize this and that and engage in "things" and "activities" in order to gain victory again, it is clear that these are men whose revelation of Jesus has diminished, faded or totally gone from their eyes, they have now shifted their premise of victory from HIM to other things they can do...They have suddenly become blind, and cannot see Jesus again.

When I see Him, I see victory, I see salvation, I see deliverance ALL AT A GLANCE, and it is finished.
When I see Him, every chain and shackles will fall off immediately, and it is because I saw Him.
Until you SHOW A MAN JESUS, whatever you show him CANNOT SET HIM FREE… Whatever the CHURCH GIVES YOU – music, money, dance, friendship, fellowship – if they do not give you Jesus, friend, you are doomed. Are you in church for wife, husband, access to burial privileges, helps, communal advantage, good music, generational heritage, name, position, title, then you are still blind, until you see HIM.
Until a man sees JESUS, He is yet in his bondage, and whatever else you show him - be it special prayers, activities, deliverance, binding and losing, doing this or that - ALL THOSE THINGS CANNOT set him free. Whatever freedom he gets at all, will be temporary.

When you see a man with huge dependence on efforts, abilities, strength, energies, industry, hardwork, trying his best to make it, trying hard to serve the Lord, striving with all his energies daily, and you are seeing rising and falling because it has all been “himself” at work... surely, that man has NOT seen the Lord, he has not seen Jesus.

Open my eyes o Lord, that I may SEE YOU…