If the kingdom of God is invisible, in heaven, how can seeing Jesus be key to seeing it as he is also invisible, in heaven?
score:2
Paradox of Isaiah: seeing vs. perceiving The answer for the verses in John is simply the commission of Isaiah. Its the key theme that is driving this narrative in John for the purpose of the question, this being the paradox between physical versus spiritual sight described in Isaiah 6:9 and cited in John 12:40:
9 He said, “Go and tell this people: “‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
Again, John cites this in 12:40 and continues,
41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’ glory and spoke about him.
Those at the time of Jesus could physically see Jesus standing before them but refuse to recognise him spiritually, "ever seeing but never perceiving" (Isaiah 6:9). It's the judgement of Isaiah proclaiming the salvation (heaven) of God to the ever seeing which is rejected and therefore never perceiving.
It's that simple and is the heart of John's gospel.
John is very hard hitting in this message, particularly John 9:5-30 where the man born blind could see Jesus, but the Pharisees born sighted refused. I have gone on to explain each verse in the context of Isaiah, which together with light/dark its theme and interplays across the entire Gospel of John. However, on reflection for simplicity the above answer IMO suffices to explain physical sight versus spiritual sight and salvation "turn and be healed".
More post
- 📝 Is God setting us up for failure?
- 📝 If we will have free will and be sinless in Heaven at the same time, then why did God not create a world with sinless free creatures to begin with?
- 📝 Did early Christian converts follow Kosher?
- 📝 What are the main arguments the Catholic Church uses in support of the sole interpretive authority of the Magisterium?
- 📝 What is the purpose of church discipline?
- 📝 Why are some miracles hard to explain and some are not?
- 📝 Are our sins of the future forgiven? (John 20:23)
- 📝 Are there published testimonies from Christians who independently discovered the doctrine of the Trinity on their own by just reading the Bible?
- 📝 Looking for Nanjing Mandarin Colloquial version (南京官话译本) of the New Testament
- 📝 In Catholicism, what are some examples of views considered opinio tolerata?
- 📝 In which writing(s) did Augustine assert that God exists outside of time?
- 📝 What is a faithful translation for "the son of perdition" in John 17:12?
- 📝 Martin Luther's take on Roman Catholic clergy individuals living (immediately) before him
- 📝 Does Christianity address the difference between joy and pleasure and how to manage them?
- 📝 In what way is Jesus different from other sons of God according to Biblical Unitarians?
- 📝 If every stone of the temple was thrown down how is the Wailing Wall still standing?
- 📝 How did the early 20th century Pentecostals interpret healing or its absence during the 1918 Influenza pandemic?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis that Christ is NOT physically present in communion?
- 📝 How do proponents of Sola Scriptura address the ministry of those Apostles who authored no parts of Scripture?
- 📝 Taking shoes off before closing a deal - is there an history evidence?
- 📝 Where in Scripture, did it mention the fallen relationship between God and Satan?
- 📝 According to adherents of 'soul sleep', how did Moses and Elijah appear to Jesus, Peter, James, and John?
- 📝 Is the gender of the Holy Spirit, feminine or masculine?
- 📝 Were splits already present in the New Testament? If so, how did Jesus handle these splits?
- 📝 Why can't the laity preach a homily, and can a lay person ever preach?
- 📝 What was Paul's "revelation" (mentioned in Galatians 2:2)?
- 📝 Is it true that if we make a good confession and receive the sacrament of Eucharist on the following Sunday of Easter all our sins will be forgiven?
- 📝 What was the Early Church's (ante-Nicene period) view of the interplay between free will (or lack thereof) and salvation?
- 📝 Verse on evangelizing those in the Church first?
- 📝 Are those instructed before baptism considered catechumens before entering the catechumenate formally?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 If the kingdom of God is invisible, in heaven, how can seeing Jesus be key to seeing it as he is also invisible, in heaven?
- 📝 Since there is only one God who is not formed then how can the Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that Jesus is a created god?
- 📝 If flesh & blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God how did the Lord Jesus show His "hands and feet" after the resurrection?
- 📝 How could Jacob wrestle with God if no one can see God and live?
- 📝 How can a loving God make a deal with the devil?
- 📝 If the Holy Spirit is God, and God can not be in the presence of sin, then how can the Holy Spirit dwell in me a sinner?
- 📝 How can John the Baptist be the greatest man born of woman, when Jesus was also born of woman?
- 📝 What does the Bible say about this question- Why do Jesus and God have two seats in heaven when they are the same God?
- 📝 How do non-Trinitarians who do not believe Jesus is God Almighty explain how Jesus can effect atonement for all of humanity?
- 📝 Don't the questions of Hebrews 1:5 and 1:13 demand an answer of 'None'? So how can Jehovah's Witnesses say that Jesus is the archangel Michael?
- 📝 How can God be Sovereign (in the Reformed sense) if a man can ignore His call to repentance?
- 📝 How was Jesus the Seed of David if Jesus is God who created Man (Adam), and David is the seed of Adam?
- 📝 How can apologists argue that if Jesus did not rise again then Christianity and the Church would not have lasted, when other religions have?
- 📝 According to Jehovah's Witnesses and Unitarians and all who deny that Jesus is the Almighty God, how can He be in you and live in you?
- 📝 How do Trinitarians respond to passages in the Bible that seem to clearly distinguish between God and Jesus after his ascension?
- 📝 How can trinitarians profess co-equality when Jesus said the Father was greater?
- 📝 According to the Catholic Church, what did Jesus mean by saying that the least in the kingdom of heaven in greater than John the Baptist?
- 📝 If "the Kingdom of God comes not with observation", how can it be "taken by violence"?
- 📝 How do deniers of Jesus' divinity explain that the angel at Revelation 22:9 did not include Jesus in the list of beings that can be worshipped?
- 📝 For those who deny the deity of Jesus Christ how do you explain Isaiah seeing Christ/Messiah with his physical eyes at Isaiah 6:1?
- 📝 How do those who hold Jesus = God in the Trinitarian sense account for Paul's reticence to state this clearly and consistently?
- 📝 How does a non-God Jesus sitting as King forever correct the rejection of God as King that began in Samuel's day?
- 📝 How did Nathanael see the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man?
- 📝 How does Jesus describe God in the Gospels
- 📝 "Kingdom Of God is at Hand" - Which Kingdom was Jesus and John the Baptist talking about?
- 📝 Why did Jesus compare the Kingdom of Heaven to leaven?
- 📝 How do Jehovah’s Witnesses support their belief that only 144,000 persons can be in the New Covenant and go to heaven, there to rule with Christ Jesus
- 📝 Jesus says, that God the Father is a Spirit AND Paul says there is one (1) Spirit. How do trinitarians understand who or what the Holy Spirit is?
- 📝 According to Trinitarian theology, how is Jesus God when he sits at the right hand of the true God?
- 📝 How do proponents of the “free-will defense” against the problem of evil explain that God can be free and immune to moral evil at the same time?