"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory," -1 Peter 1:3–8
Peter wrote this little letter around AD 62 to encourage the gentile Christians living in Roman provinces (modern-day Turkey), who at this time were being heavily persecuted under Nero. The era of Jesus walking the earth was rapidly ending, and the majority of the Church had not seen those days themselves. A generation was rising that was putting complete faith in a Man they hadn't seen in the flesh.
And yet.
"Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory."
It is a miracle not to take for granted that God's Spirit builds in us a faith more powerful than we could ever build ourselves. Though our eyes have not yet seen Jesus, our hearts have. He is not a stranger to us, quite the opposite. For the Spirit "will guide you into all the truth" (John 16:12).
Not part of the truth, the full Truth.
"Jesus said to him, 'I am...the truth...No one comes to the Father except through me.'" -John 14:6
"'But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.'" -John 15:26
So no, we, like the gentile Christians in AD 62, have not seen Jesus in the flesh; the way He is revealed to us is much more complex. Yet our faith is not weakened because of that. Quite the contrary, we can draw far nearer to God and He to us than ever before.
Through the belief in the Truth He has poured into us, we can "rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory".
Enduring Word commentary on this verse says,"...the word translated 'joy inexpressible' 'occurs only here in the New Testament, and describes a joy so profound as to be beyond the power of words to express' (Grudem)."
The power of the joy Jesus provides through our belief in Him is far stronger than the power even our words have. Words are vehicles that enable us to share our deepest. They are a powerful tool. But even they cannot describe joy; because though our words have great power (the power of life and death), the power of joy is stronger.
Joy, like hope, is only as good as who you find it in. When you find joy in an inexpressible and infinite God, your joy is also inexpressible. This is why joy is so much deeper than emotions...it doesn't always make sense to us.
Nero was one of the most brutal leaders in history, and God's people were his target. The Church lived day after day with the threat of death and extreme suffering looming over their heads because of their faith. Watching as their friends were taken and as once crowded rooms of followers of Jesus became empty.
Does joy always, if ever, make sense? Absolutely not. But Jesus provides an abundance of it. Joy is not an emotion because it is in our trials that our emotions testify against it. Fear! Anger! Grief! are the cries of our emotions and feelings and flesh. Joy! Peace! Truth! is the cry of the Spirit.
Our earthly flesh protests, sharply and loudly, against the heavenly Spirit of joy. Our flesh will say, it doesn't make sense. He will say, it will all make sense later when you see your inheritance.
His Spirit, and the joy we receive through Him, cannot be properly expressed through words, and cannot be felt through feelings; at least not fully. He is holy, and so He is holy in us, completely and utterly set apart. With our tongue of flesh, we cannot fully express the heavenly things He is doing in us, or the joy He is providing. Not yet, anyway.
"Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." -Isaiah 43:19
Dry and parched are we without Him, but behold! He has done a new thing. He has planted in us a joy we cannot produce on our own, a holy type of joy that enables us to taste heaven. A joy that springs forth from the root of knowing, believing, and loving Christ. Do you not perceive it?
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