29 April 2024 John 14:21-26
Many non-believers have been asked in public debates what it would take for them to believe in God. Some of them have replied that it would take a tremendous theophany, God appearing and with His finger writing in letters of fire a mile high, “I Am Here.” It is a bit of a silly answer, because they don’t really expect such a thing would ever happen.
But the fact is that anyone can receive a theophany. Any time.
All they have to do is love Jesus and abide in His word, and not only will Jesus appear to them, but Jesus will come and live with them. He will appear every day.
This isn’t what the disciples expected, of course. They assumed that Jesus would reveal Himself to everyone, regardless of whether they wanted to see Him or not. Jude spoke for them all: “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us, and not to the world?” (John 14:22). Jesus had said to them many times that He had already done that – countless healings and exorcisms; miraculously feeding multitudes of people, twice; teaching regularly in public places, even in the Temple, and still they asked for signs.The problem wasn’t that Jesus had not revealed Himself. The problem was that people didn’t want Him. They wanted somebody else, somebody who would offer them not heaven, but deliverance from the Romans, or greater wealth, or greater status. Something else.
The problem was that they didn’t want Him, and apart from that, they couldn’t see who He was, viz., God. God with them right there.
That is still the problem.
There are plenty of reasons to believe that God exists that are coherent and compelling. God is still the best explanation for the existence and order of the universe. God is still the best explanation for the existence of objective moral values and duties. God is still the best explanation for the emergence of things like human rights, democracy, and modern science. There is still good reason to trust the Bible as a foundational text for society, culture, and law. There are still good reasons to trust God as a solution for the crisis of meaning that is the source of a growing amount of mental illness in America and the West. The problem is not that God has somehow been invisible to people. The problem is that people have seen all this, and want something else, someone else. Or they simply want to be left alone.
But the promise remains. You can have a theophany anytime. If you love Jesus and abide in His word, He will come and live in your house. He will come and live in your life. You will see Him every day.
Everyone knows about the phenomenon of the “Nones,” the rapidly growing number of people who claim no formal religious affiliation. They may not be Christians, but they are not non-believers. The overwhelming majority of them believe in some supernatural power, even if they are for the moment non-committal about who that power may be. Atheism as a movement in the English-speaking world has largely collapsed, and many erstwhile atheists have been wondering if their decision against God may have been hasty. Russell Brand is getting baptized. The arch-atheist himself, Oxford scientist Richard Dawkins, has been calling himself a “Cultural Christian,” because he likes the ethos of Christianity even if he can’t quite get his head around Jesus. He has also wondered out loud about the acids of post-modernity, how they are corroding the foundations of civil society, and how Christianity might be a solution for all that. He knows his secularism is not a solution.
They are all wondering about what they want, wondering that perhaps they have wanted the wrong thing, wondering if they should want something else. Someone else.
The promise is still good. They can have a theophany.
Any time they want. Love Him and abide in His word.
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