Introduction

When you think of God, what image do you see? A familiar image is a larger-than-life man sitting on His throne with white hair, a long beard, and a stern-looking face with piercing eyes. The picture usually includes angels surrounding His throne worshipping Him, as a bright light shines over Him. If there were no beard, no throne, no angels, and no lights, would you recognize Him? If God was standing in front of you as an ordinary man, with a normal voice and no supernatural signs happening around Him, how would you recognize Him? What clues would tell you that there was something about this Person that was different from any other man you had ever met?

We believe we would see the difference in His eyes and hear a familiarity in His voice. But one quality that would set Him apart from all other men would be His love, which would be immediately recognizable because we have felt it in various ways over our lifespan. We would recognize the heart of the Person who had rescued us on several occasions and had come near to us in our darkest hours. We would recognize in His voice; that still, small voice that spoke to our spirit and comforted, guided, and encouraged us when we needed it most. If we met God on the street in the form of a man, we wouldn’t be meeting a stranger. We would recognize a friend. How about you? Would you recognize Him if all the glorious outward signs of His divine nature were hidden? The Bible tells us that God is near to every human, as close as our next breath (Acts 17:26-28). This means that no one in the world would be meeting a stranger. Each person would have some memory of that divine love and voice. The difference would be how each one responded when they encountered Him. Some would be glad to see Him. Others would be afraid or angry. And with that understanding in mind, let’s listen to the explanation Jesus gave His disciples as to why they would be persecuted.

Spiritual Beings

• Every human can sense God because He created us in His image. That means we are spiritual beings living in and through a body.
• So instinctively, we know more than our five senses can tell us. We can recognize things and people spiritually, not just physically, so when someone meets God, their heart knows it even if their brain doesn’t.
• He (God) is familiar even to those who don’t know His name, which is why Jesus can make a statement about people who reject Him (Jn 16:3; Jn. 8:19).
• In these statements, He says His adversaries didn’t know the Father or Him, but He is pointing to a lack of relationship, not recognition. That group of religious leaders didn’t “know” the Father (or His Son) because they had hardened their hearts against Him.
• If everyone can spiritually recognize God when they meet Him, why is there such a difference in how people react? Why are some people glad to see Him while others pretend they don’t know Him?

God In Flesh

• By now, you probably have recognized the question asked in the introduction has already been answered. God sent His Son, Jesus, from heaven to become an ordinary, unimpressive-looking man.
• The prophet Isaiah described Jesus’ physical appearance in Isaiah 53:2-3.
• When people met Jesus, nothing about His appearance told them who He was. But His spirit was the eternal Son of God who is just like His Father in all ways. So, when people met Jesus, in effect, they met His Father. And some of them loved the Person they met. They listened carefully and watched closely. Even if their brain didn’t understand, their heart recognized an old friend.
• However, some reacted very differently, not with apathy but with strange hostility. They saw the same eyes, heard the same voice, and even watched the same miracles, but their reaction was hatred (Jn 3:19-21
• Jesus says there is no such thing as a person entirely ignorant of God. Those who have been living in rebellion to Him, and want to continue, desperately try to avoid Him because they don’t want Him to tell them to stop doing certain things. But those who have been trying to please Him draw close to Him because they recognize Him and want to be with Him.

Jesus In Us (Mt 25:31-46)

• Matthew 25:31-46 describes one of the ways Jesus will decide who belongs to Him and who doesn’t. He said the decision for some will be made based on how they reacted to the presence of Jesus within His people, meaning ordinary disciples like us.
• Jesus tells us that when we follow Him as He followed the Father, to a certain level, people will see a difference in our eyes and hear a difference in our voices. They will experience His love through us. At some level, people will meet Him when they meet us; as a result, they will react to us like people reacted to Jesus when He walked on the earth.
• Some will love us because they recognize Him at work in us. Unfortunately, others will reject or neglect us for the same reason.
• Jesus carefully watches how each person responds to us because that response reveals their heart toward Him.
• We need to realize the impact that our life has on others (Mt 25:40, 45). We carry Jesus within us, which is a great honor and responsibility.
• People can meet Him when they meet us, so we would do well to let His love show through us.
• Most of us have had the experience of people sensing our faith in Jesus Christ and then reacting positively or negatively. Such reactions can be very confusing without understanding what Jesus taught His disciples that night. However, knowing why people react like they do to us is helpful.
• Thankfully, Jesus did explain these things. So even though being rejected by others because they see Jesus in us may still hurt, that rejection is not quite as personal when we realize that what we are experiencing is much bigger than us. Those negative reactions can become more of a call to prayer than an offense that causes us to grow angry.
• When we see a positive reaction, we realize it’s Jesus in us that they are drawn to, not simply our delightful personality. A positive reaction also becomes a call to prayer that God would guide us in how to tell that person more about Jesus.

Conclusion

That evening Jesus taught His disciple and all of us something so critical to our faith. He taught us that it was God in Him, and He in us, that produced those unexpected, sometimes hostile reactions. Are we willing to accept that responsibility? Above all, Jesus’ words cause us to ask ourselves: Do people recognize Jesus when they meet us? If they do, Jesus says some of them will persecute us just like they did Him. And He says that’s a good thing. Listen: “Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great… You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world… Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:11-16).

Discussion Questions

Have you ever met someone new, and something about that person told you they were a Christian? Who was it, and where did you meet? Were you right? What did you see?
Have you ever had someone react to you positively or negatively because they sensed Jesus in you? What was their reaction? How did it change your relationship with that person?
How can people meet God when they live in places without anyone to tell them about God? Can you think of an example in the Bible of someone who met God without anyone to preach to them? Who? How did they learn about God?