December 21

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy, — 1 Pet 1:8 BSB

How these words speak to our hearts: "Whom having not seen, we love." Haven't we loved Him, dear readers? Isn't His name as precious to us as ointment poured out? We haven’t seen Him with our natural eyes, but we’ve seen Him by the eye of faith. He has manifested Himself to us, or to some of us, and we’ve beheld His glory—the glory as of the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. It is by faith that we see Jesus. Just as Moses “endured as seeing Him who is invisible,” so by faith, we see the invisible Jesus. Faith is "the substance of things hoped for" and "the evidence of things not seen." Jesus manifests Himself to the soul, and in that manifestation, we see Him. And whenever He reveals Himself, He comes with His love, which in turn kindles a corresponding love in the believer’s heart.

It is the special work of the Holy Spirit to testify of Christ, to glorify Him, and to take what is Christ’s and show it to the soul. In the light of Christ’s manifestations and the Spirit’s work and testimony, faith embraces what it believes about Christ, and love enjoys what it sees of Christ.