In a restaurant one day I observed a young man who, I later learned, "sought to see Jesus." Sitting off to himself, he looked distressed and restless. At a gospel preaching some time previously he had been aroused to a true sense of his lost condition. Now he was in deep anxiety about his soul, earnestly desiring to find peace with God.
Pressed in spirit to join him, I immediately spoke to him of the Savior and His finished work, knowing for myself that there is no other remedy for a soul in such a state. "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved." Acts 4:12
His quivering lips told the depth of his feeling as he answered: "They have taken my Lord away and I know not where they have laid Him. Sir, I am looking for Jesus. Can you tell me where I can find Him?"
Here was reality, a soul in earnest. He was looking for Jesus. The sinner was seeking the Savior, crying like one of old, "Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!"
"But where are you looking?" I asked.
The question seemed new to him, requiring some thought. He finally answered vaguely: "I don't know. Just anywhere, I suppose."
"Where is He whom you seek? Where is Jesus now?"
It was some time before he spoke, and, with an inquiring look, he slowly said, "In heaven?"
"Yes! Jesus the Lord, crucified, dead, and buried in a grave here on earth, is now in heaven. He is the risen, living Savior in heaven, Victor over sin and death and hell. He has borne our judgment and is now seated in the glory at God's right hand. Man, lift your thoughts to Him where He is. From that glory He is speaking peace to you! He is telling you that He has borne the judgment for your sins. They were all put away when He died on Calvary's cross.
"Now He is in heaven without them. They can never rise against you again. They were washed away in His blood shed in His atoning death. Now God sees them no more. Christ bore them in His own body on the tree when He died for our sins. He rose from the dead without them. They are gone—put away from before God forever."
The young man was listening eagerly. These few words seemed to lift the load from his heart, and with relief and joy he exclaimed: "I never thought of that before! Jesus is in heaven. The sins He bore on the cross are gone. God sees them no more."
"Yes! God sees them no more. Fix your eyes on Jesus in heaven. No one could look up into the face of Jesus Christ upon the throne of God, and have a doubt. Could you? Impossible! For no sin can enter there."
What joy it was to see the young man's happy acceptance of the finished work of Christ! These few words brought light to him, contented now to find Jesus in the glory, this same Jesus whom he had been earnestly seeking.
One has said: "A truly seeking soul is sure to find the Savior seeking him." Blessed are the words of that same Jesus: "Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out." John 6:37.
Troubled soul, look up! "He is not here, but He is risen, as He said."
"Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace."