Study Desk

Then I saw the brightness of the glory of the God of Israel, just as I had seen it near the Chebar River.

This vision was like the one I had seen when God came to destroy Jerusalem and like the one I had seen near the Chebar River. I immediately bowed with my face to the ground,

The man got right up. He picked up his mat and went out while everyone watched in amazement. They praised God and said, "We have never seen anything like this!"

As the shepherds returned to their sheep, they were praising God and saying wonderful things about him. Everything they had seen and heard was just as the angel had said.

Everyone was amazed and praised God. What they saw surprised them, and they said, "We have seen a great miracle today!"

When Jesus was starting down the Mount of Olives, his large crowd of disciples were happy and praised God because of all the miracles they had seen.

No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is truly God and is closest to the Father, has shown us what God is like.

The tent where our ancestors worshiped God was with them in the desert. This was the same tent that God had commanded Moses to make. And it was made like the model that Moses had seen.

But three days later, God raised him to life and let him be seen.

Not everyone saw him. He was seen only by us, who ate and drank with him after he was raised from death. We were the ones God chose to tell others about him.

After Paul had seen the vision, we began looking for a way to go to Macedonia. We were sure that God had called us to preach the good news there.

God has seen how I never stop praying for you, while I serve him with all my heart and tell the good news about his Son.

God's eternal power and character cannot be seen. But from the beginning of creation, God has shown what these are like by all he has made. That's why those people don't have any excuse.

But it is just as the Scriptures say, "What God has planned for people who love him is more than eyes have seen or ears have heard. It has never even entered our minds!"

The Scriptures say, "God commanded light to shine in the dark." Now God is shining in our hearts to let you know that his glory is seen in Jesus Christ.

Christ is exactly like God, who cannot be seen. He is the first-born Son, superior to all creation.

Here is the great mystery of our religion: Christ came as a human. The Spirit proved that he pleased God, and he was seen by angels. Christ was preached to the nations. People in this world put their faith in him, and he was taken up to glory.

Only God lives forever! And he lives in light that no one can come near. No human has ever seen God or ever can see him. God will be honored, and his power will last forever. Amen.

But what about people who turn away after they have already seen the light and have received the gift from heaven and have shared in the Holy Spirit? What about those who turn away after they have received the good message of God and the powers of the future world? There is no way to bring them back. What they are doing is the same as nailing the Son of God to a cross and insulting him in public!

Abraham had faith and obeyed God. He was told to go to the land that God had said would be his, and he left for a country he had never seen.