SEEING THE INVISIBLE. Pts. 1-3

“But this life and the lust of it is passing away. But he who does the will of God endures forever.” (1^st John 2:17)

I have often said, “that which we know as real and tangible is passing away, and that which we have only ever known as invisible is more real, and more permanent than anything we have ever known here.”

Job understood this dilemma better than any Old Testament character. I mean, the man absolutely “had it made” until… his entire world collapsed around him. In the space of a moment he lost his wealth, his property, his cattle and sheep, each and every one of his children, and his health, and he was reduced to scraping his boils with shards of pottery. Could it get any more ‘real’ than this? (I think not). Devastation, Disillusionment, Doubt and Despair.

Satan had bargained with God to allow him to visit the worst he had to offer upon Job. Our natural enemy assured the Lord that this faithful servant would curse Him to His face. As it fell together, however, the good man summoned up the innate wherewithal to exclaim,

“Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him!”

Even Job’s wife ‘encouraged’ him to,

“Curse God and die!”

To which Job responded,

“You speak like one of the foolish women.”

You see, Job possessed the unique ability to “see the invisible,” and he embraced the assurance that, “this is not all there is.”

Pt. 2

Speaking of “seeing the invisible,” I love the verse in the eighth chapter of the Book of Romans.

“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time aren’t worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us.”

A few months ago, I wrote a blog which had as its focus a story about my late father.

“My sister forwarded a photo of my dad to me today; one which I don’t recall seeing before.

The picture depicts my dad at the age of perhaps 65 or 70; 15 to 20 years before our Lord called him home to Glory. When I asked her, Linda informed me that the photograph was snapped in Robbinsville, NC; along a river where my parents had purchased a cabin. It seems my dad was in the process of building a dock, though no structure, whatsoever, can be seen.

In the picture Daddy is wearing the most bedraggled clothes I have ever seen him wear. His jeans are replete with holes, and stains, and his upper body is clothed in a dirty t-shirt. In spite of the condition of his clothing, my father appears to be staring directly into the camera lens, wearing a smile which might easily compete with the sun, and with one hand raised in greeting, (or farewell).

Interestingly enough, as recently as I came into possession of this unique picture, it has become my all-time favorite of my dad.

And I think I like it so much because it so well characterizes the journey we know as life and death.

I think the river represents the threshold between this life and the next. That both literal and proverbial river we call Jordan.

My father’s torn and dirty clothing speaks to the trials, troubles and turmoil of life, and the manner in which it inflicts pain and suffering on all of us.

Whereas, the exuberant smile, and raised hand is all about the conclusion of such momentary symptoms, the joy which awaits the redeemed, and that one final opportunity to bid a fond ‘fare thee well,’ but not goodbye.”

Pt. 3

We live in the age of what has been referred to as the Prosperity Gospel. The pastor of the largest church in America, perhaps the world, might be referred to as the modern-day father of the Prosperity Gospel. You’ve heard that old song, “Everything is Coming Up Roses”? Well, this may very well be the case, if we were to take J.O. at his word.

However, I think you would have had trouble convincing the saints of Hebrews Chapter 11 that life was all flowers and cotton candy.

“Some were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:

And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yes, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:

They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:

God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” (Hebrews 11:35-40)

Perhaps the purveyors of the Prosperity Gospel would make the case that these early believers were simply devoid of faith. However, I would make the case that those who follow after the Prosperity Gospel have never yet discovered the wherewithal to see the invisible; since they seem to be so taken up with the visible.

I think that believers who find themselves stuck in this category are all about doing the impossible; building up a little bit of heaven on earth, while somehow making themselves an exception to the fate which is common to all men.

Can there be any doubt that the Christians who faced off with lions and tigers in the Coliseum were endued with the unique insight and power to see the invisible in the face of utter calamity? I guarantee you, as the teeth and claws of savage beasts ripped into their flesh, and tore limb from limb, the martyrs of the early church never once uttered the words, “But what about the Prosperity Gospel?”

Why? Because they knew where they were going. They possessed the unique wherewithal to see the invisible. They understood that this world was quickly giving way to the next. They gladly exchanged their temporal home for an eternal one.

“That which we know as real and tangible is passing away, and that which we have only ever known as invisible is more real, and more permanent than anything we have ever known here.”

By William McDonald, PhD. From (Mc)Donald's Daily Diary. Vol. 80. Copyright pending


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