In the natural order of things, genuine transformation is no small feat. It takes focused, diligent effort to effect lasting change in almost anything.
How paradoxical, then, that the greatest change of all—regeneration—is wrought in us simply by looking! Just like the bronze serpent that was lifted up in the wilderness, Jesus delivers us from the deadly venom of sin when we simply look to Him.
No further action is necessary for salvation but to look upon Him whom they have pierced:
“Look unto me and be saved, all ye ends of the earth!”
And once we are saved, we continue to be made more and more like Him by fixing our eyes on Jesus. The more Moses met with God face-to-face, the more his own face became radiant with glimmers of divine glory.
“And God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.”
And at last, when we are with Him in Heaven and see Him face-to-face, then the Scripture will be fulfilled:
“In that day man will look to his Maker, and his eyes will look on the Holy One of Israel. He will not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he will not look on what his own fingers have made.”
Lord, lift my gaze so that I might see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!