To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Colossians 1:27
One very special day I was in London for a business trip. I had an hour between meetings and going to dinner, so I thought I’d walk around a bit. There was no master plan to where I was going, just out to stretch my legs and get some fresh air. And then it happened.
I saw a couple of bright lights and people running together. So, I thought I’d check it out. The closer I got, the more in focus the growing crowd got. There seemed to be something going on that excited them. They were moving all around, trying to get a better look at something.
As I got really close, I saw the reason for their excitement. It was Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip. They showed up to visit a bookshop. As they came out, people started bowing their heads. The queen and Phillip walked over to the people and started shaking hands and talking. They eventually got in their royal limousine and rode off, complete with a police escort.
When I reconnected with my business partner, I told them what had happened. They punched me in the arm with all their might and yelled at me for not bringing them along. I then learned that meeting the queen was on their Bucket List. The bruise lasted for more than a week.
When I saw the queen, it wasn’t because I walked into her living room or anything like that. There was nothing that I could ever do to earn or deserve that kind of connection or friendship.
When it comes to meeting the queen, it’s always and only if and when they want to meet people. The same is true for presidents and other important people. You can’t get access unless they first come to you or they open the door and let you in.
It’s the same way with God, but more so. There’s no way for us to find out who God is by ourselves than to walk to the moon. He’s not only so far above us, he’s so much greater than anything we can imagine. And he’s spirit, which makes him invisible to us.
The only way to learn anything about God is for him to show up. For him to make an appearance. For him to reveal himself to us. He has to make the first move. It’s up to God to reach out to us.
And for him to connect to us, he has to become visible. He has to step down from heaven and enter into this world in a way that we can see. That we can hear. That we can understand. That we can know.
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Hebrews 1:2,3a
When God showed up in Jesus, he went all out. He didn’t hold anything back. He didn’t keep anything hidden. Nothing’s in a closet. Nothing’s under the rug. God pulled out all the stops. He took everything he is and put it into Jesus.
Jesus isn’t just some drawing or picture of who God is. He’s not some dead statue of God. He’s not a small, plastic model on the dashboard of life that just sort of looks like God. He’s not even a computerized robot that looks and acts like God.
No, Jesus is God. Period. He’s the real deal when it comes to finding out who God is. What he’s like.
Radiance – God doesn’t need light to shine on him to be seen. Like the sun, he gives off his own light from within himself. Jesus shines who God is from within himself. For all to see.
Representation – It’s like took a mold of himself and made an exact copy of himself. And that exact copy is fully seen in and through Jesus. We see and hear God in all that Jesus said and did.
Retention – More than just looking like God, Jesus holds inside of himself everything that God is within himself. Jesus holds and keeps everything together.
You see, it was God’s grace that caused him to show himself to us. He decided to show himself in Jesus. He showed up in Jesus. It wasn’t because of anything that we did or could do.
Without God showing up in a way that we could learn about. Someone to lean into. Someone who spoke in a way that we could hear and listen to. Without God taking the first step of starting the relationship, we’d be lost.
I know that it’s not very modern to say that we need help to learn about God. We think that we can figure out anything given enough time and information. And while that may be true for some things, God isn’t one of them. He’s so far above us that unless he stoops down, we ain’t got a chance of figuring him out. Knowing him. Receiving his love.
God has showed up in Jesus. And nothing’s missing. That is, the only thing missing is us. He’s shown up, but we’ve got to come to him. Run to him. He’s come down and invited us to be with him. What’s stopping you? Slowing you down?
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