“Looking upon Jesus as He walked." John 1:36.
John the Baptist had his attention focused on the Lord. What was it that made him so eager a disciple, so faithful a witness, that led him to testify. "He that cometh from above is above all." John 3:31. Why was he willing to decrease that Jesus might increase? Willing to see his followers leave him, if only they went after Jesus?
He had seen the Lord of glory, the maker and upholder of all things, moving among guilty men, full of grace and truth, coming to His own, only to be refused by them, yet unchanged by their hatred, unwearied in His love and compassion. He had seen the anointed of Jehovah, on whom the Spirit descended and remained, to whom the voice from heaven had said. "Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well pleased." Luke 3:22. And John, as he gazed on Jesus, found strength for a life of toil and testimony, and for a cruel death in prison, by the sword of Herod.
Is it our habit to look upon Jesus as He walked? There is power in this look, and peace and joy. In Him we see the kind of walk that pleased God, and on which He looked with unchanging delight.
Stephen, "being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God." Acts 7:55.
Here was another look indeed! Stephen beheld Him, not as the lowly, soon-to-be-crucified One, but as the One who had passed through death, having broken the bars of the grave—a risen Lord, standing. Waiting, if even now His own would receive Him. Stephen, as he looked, was conformed in measure to His likeness, and kneeling down prayed, "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep." Acts 7:60. He was the Church's first martyr.
Lord, teach us how to look as Stephen looked.
Yet another look! A strong man on the Damascus road, breathing out threatenings and slaughter, smitten down and blinded by the glory of the light that shone from One saying to him. "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou Me?" Acts 9:4. And he arose, and ever after, the glory of that light filled his vision, impelling him to a life of pain and labor, of bitter persecution, of famine and nakedness, of stripes and imprisonments, to end, as with John and Stephen, in a martyr's death. He endured all most gladly because, as he himself explained, "last of all He was seen of me also." 1 Cor. 15:8.
May we, like John. Stephen and Paul be "looking upon Jesus." "We see not yet all things put under Him. But we see Jesus... crowned with glory and honor." Heb. 2:8, 9.
If we look around we see an ever-deepening darkness; if we look within, our hearts will be disappointed, but "looking upon Jesus," and by the help of His Spirit, the mighty Comforter, sent by Him, "Looking unto Jesus" we can say:
We look until His precious love
Our every thought control,
Its vast constraining influence prove
O'er body, spirit, soul.