To Believe Is To See

Being With Jesus:
John 4:49-50 (NLT)

“Sir,” replied the official, “come with me before my child dies.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live!” The man believed Jesus’ words and went.”

In essence, what this father in John’s story (John 4:43-54) said was, “I’ll see it when I believe it!” And that, my friend, is at the core of outstanding faith. Let me explain:

While we live at a time and in a culture where the scientific method has become man’s guiding theology, it is God who has set the rules for knowing and experiencing him. And he has declared that the avenue to knowledge and experience is by way of faith.

This is an infinitely critical point in light of the fact that modern man has elevated the empirical over revelation as the way to enlightenment. Obviously, a world that is determined to put faith only in that which can be demonstrated by data, where man’s reason is king and metaphysical faith is optional, is in direct conflict with God’s world.

But for the Christian, everything starts with God. Sensory data—what a person can see, hear, smell, touch, and taste—is not a bad thing; don’t misunderstand. In my humble opinion, scientific provability is God-given, and since God created it, we would do well to exercise it. It is not antithetical to faith—necessarily—but while physical proof can lead to knowledge or an acknowledgment of God, only revelation can lead to a knowledge of who God truly is—the God of the Scriptures who has revealed himself through Jesus Christ, and who, according to his own sovereign plan, at times breaks into our lives with his power.

Revelation is based on something other, something more. Revelation is based on the truth that God took the initiative to make himself knowable, that he has revealed himself—both spiritually and physically—to us through his Word and by his Son. Now the empirical and the revealed will not contradict each other, because both are from God. But what we see and what we can prove alone will not suffice.

In the eleventh century, St. Anselm argued that faith is the precondition of knowledge: “I believe in order that I may understand.” (credo ut intelligam). In other words, knowledge and experience cannot lead to faith. It might get you close, but it won’t get you there. Faith is a gift from God, and when faith is experienced, true knowledge and experience flows.

What Anselm said was eloquently stated long before in the fourth century by another pillar of the Christian faith, St. Augustine. Augustine taught that, “faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.” In God’s world, we are to express faith in God first; then knowledge of God and experience with God will flow.

In the story we read about in John 4, this is exactly what is going on with the government official from Capernaum. Jesus has just made the frustrating observation that people will only believe when they see his miracles and wonders (John 4:48). And even then, it is very likely that their “belief” will only be temporary; only good until the next miracle is needed. But then this father, desperate for his deathly sick son to be healed, offers a different response to Jesus: He is willing to believe in order that he might see.

So what does that have to do with what you are facing in your life today? Plenty! God is discernable and knowable through the exercise of your faith. Perhaps you don’t see evidence of that right at this moment, but let me challenge you to believe what you don’t see, exercising faith in a loving God, and the reward will be that you will see, sooner or later, what you believe.

It takes faith—but that has been proven over the millennia! Just ask the father whose son was healed in John 4.

“Faith is to believe what we do not see; and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe.”.” (St. Augustine)

Getting To Know Jesus: Perhaps you have been depending on your sight more than your faith these days. If so, here is a prayer you might considering offering to God: “Gracious Father, I believe. Help any unbelief I may have. I don’t see everything I’d like to see, but I believe. And while I pray that you would reveal yourself in my life today in tangible ways, I also pray that I would trust your love, your care, and your promised favor even if the tangible doesn’t appear. In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, the revealed Word, I pray. Amen.”