LET US LOOK TO JESUS – LET US FIX OUR EYES UPON JESUS
Hebrews 12:1-2 Therefore, since we are encompassed with such a great cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. 2 Let us look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
In this post, we will look at five simple yet powerful words from Hebrews 12.
From Hebrews 12:2 - Let us look to Jesus.
Question #1 - What does it mean to look to Jesus?
To Look can be described as turning the eyes away from all other things and fixing or attaching them to something.
Other translations have put this verse in this way - "looking away to Jesus…" This gives the sense of taking our eyes off of everything else around us and putting them solely on Christ or fixing our eyes upon Jesus. The KJV says, "looking unto Jesus", again this has a similar idea: to turn from everything else and fasten, glue, or secure our eyes only upon Jesus.
To Look is a VERB; it is an action word. It requires a responsibility upon our part. Jesus can be present, but you can still drown in your problems if you don’t look to Him.
Think about the story from the Bible about the Women with the issue of blood. When she heard of Jesus, she went and pressed upon Him to touch the hem of His garment so she might be healed. How many others in the same crowded market needed Jesus, needed a miracle but were not looking to Him as He walked through? She was looking solely upon Christ, she fixed her upon Him, and she received her miracle.
To Look is continual and constant. It is not a mere glance but a continuous "staring” or focusing our attention on the subject of our looking. This continual looking can be described as fixing, fasten, attach, glue, or secure the eyes upon. There is diligence and resolve in our looking.
The book of Hebrews says, that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Our looking cannot be only when we feel like it, or only when it is convenient. Our looking to Christ must be continual and constant.
Micah 7:7 - But as for me, I watch for (look unto) the Lord; I await (wait) the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
We don’t let something come in and distract us from looking to Jesus.
Proverbs 4:25 - Let your eyes look right on, and let your eyelids look straight before you. In the AMP it says - Let your eyes look right on [with fixed purpose], and let your gaze be straight before you.
How often do we look at other things rather than to Jesus? Just think about some of them that get in the way of our looking to Christ.
People - Many times, we look to people for answers rather than God. We go to family or friends. Sometimes we get caught up and think that if I could only see this pastor/ministry, I would find my answer. Going to a ministry is not wrong, but our looking and faith must be in Jesus, not the ministry. Relationships are good; the Bible says let those who are strong help those who are weak; out of relationships come encouragement and strength, but our looking must be to Jesus.
Past – We can especially look at mistakes, failures, and hurts. Often, in these disappointments, we limit God; we even blame Him. We might say, "God, if you wouldn’t have let this happen, then my life would be different."
Problems – sometimes we become absorbed with all that is wrong in our life and focus our attention on that.
Present – for others, it may be current situations and circumstances, whether good or bad. We can become so consumed by what is happening that we overlook Him and what God is doing.
Pleasures – even being caught up and focused on the comforts of life, thinking happiness comes from these things. Comforts and joys of life are great, but our eyes must remain fixed on Christ.
Mark 4:19 - But the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things entering in choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.
Plans – God gave us intelligence, and He expects us to use it, but sometimes we put more confidence in our plan than God. We set our goals in place and then ask God to bless them, or we give God the project and expect Him to bless it. Our attention is on the plan with only second thought to God when it should be that our attention should be upon God and let Him work out the plans for us.
Fixing our eyes, looking to Jesus is our responsibility. It will not be done for you by someone else; it is something only you can do.
So we can see, the subject of our looking is clear - Looking unto Jesus. Remember, He is perfect, unblemished, never changing, never moving, alive, and living within us. He is faithful, true, and He never fails.
Questions #2 - What do we see when we fix our eyes on Jesus?
LOOKING means to be occupied and influenced by what we are looking at.
John 14:8-9 8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and that is sufficient for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you such a long time, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. So how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Colossians 1:15 He is the image (AMP – the exact likeness) of the invisible God (the visible representation of the invisible).
Jesus is God’s revelation of Himself in human flesh. In Genesis, it says that when God made man and woman – that He said, let us make them in our image. Why? There was an intention of God that through humanity, His image would be displayed. Adam and Eve fell. From that time of Adam and Eve, the image of God began to be increasingly distorted, warped by culture, and corrupted by humanity until Jesus came to reveal God in a perfect way.
When we read the Bible, specifically the gospels, Jesus is showing us what God is like in human flesh.
John 5:19 Then Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do. For whatever He does, likewise the Son does.
Every word that Jesus spoke, every action that Jesus took, every emotion that Jesus had, not one of them, was meaningless or empty.
When we fix our eyes upon Jesus, we are fixing our eyes upon the Father. Not only do we see God, but we get an understanding of who God is.
When we fix our eyes upon Jesus, we see the Character of God.
The Father is loving. He loves you.
The Father is caring. He cares for you.
The Father is compassionate. When the leper came to Jesus and said, if you want, you can make me clean, the Bible records that Jesus was moved with compassion. This tells that the Father is also moved with compassion for those in need.
The Father is good. God is our Father. He wants the best for you. He wants to bless you. He wants to do good for you. Many people think God is mad at them, that somehow God is out to punish them.
When we fix our eyes upon Jesus, we see the Will of God.
-to save us and bring us into a place of peace with God
-that we might have a relationship with God
-that God might come in and live inside us (Christianity is the only faith where the object of worship comes in, dwells in, unites Himself with the one who is doing the worshipping
-that healing would come to the broken-hearted, that deliverance would come to the captive, that freedom would come to those oppressed and tormented
-that we would experience life, not death
When we fix our eyes upon Jesus, we see the Plan of God. Jesus' mission was to reveal the plan of God for the earth.
-God’s plan was Jesus
-God’s plan was that Jesus did it all
-He died so we wouldn’t have to
-He was punished so we wouldn’t have to
-He bore our sickness/diseases so we wouldn’t have to
-God’s plan was that it just simply requires faith
-God’s plan includes all
When we fix our eyes upon Jesus, we see God’s desire for our lives. Jesus gives us an example of what.
-He wants us to be.
-He wants us to do.
-The design God has for our lives.
In Closing
Hebrews 12:2 says that Jesus the author and finisher of our faith
The author and finisher of our faith. He begins it in us, carries it on, and perfects it.
Philippians 1:6 - The author and finisher of our faith - Who begins it in us, carries it on and perfects it.
It means to be fully and firmly persuaded or convinced; that he would carry it forward to completion; he would perfect it. It will be carried through to the end.
LOOKING also means expectation. Christ wants us to look to Him with Expectation.