Introduction: The World's Motto
The world lives by a simple motto: "Seeing is believing." We are creatures of the senses. We trust what we can see, what we can touch, what we can measure. We demand evidence, proof, and personal experience. To love someone, you must know them, see them, and interact with them.
But here, the Apostle Peter, writing to believers scattered and suffering, describes a reality that is completely alien to the world's logic. He describes a love for a person they have never met. He describes a joy that erupts in the absence of physical sight.
In the previous verses, we learned that our faith is tested by fire like gold (v. 7). Now, in verse 8, Peter shows us the beautiful, powerful result of that genuine, tested faith. It is a faith that loves, believes, and rejoices in a Savior it has never seen.
I. A Love Beyond Sight: "Whom having not seen, ye love"
Peter begins with this remarkable statement. He, of course, had seen Jesus. Peter had walked with Him, eaten with Him, and touched the wounds of His resurrection. But the people he was writing to had not. They were just like us. Their relationship with Christ was not built on physical memory, but on spiritual reality.
* A Supernatural Love: This is not a mere admiration for a historical figure. It is a real, personal, and deep love. How is this possible? It is the work of the Holy Spirit. When we were "begotten again" (v. 3), God planted a new nature within us, a nature that supernaturally loves the one who saved us.
* A Love Based on Testimony: We love Him not because we saw Him, but because we have come to know Him. We know Him through the testimony of His Word. We have "tasted" that the Lord is gracious. We love Him for who He is—our Creator, our Redeemer, our King. We love Him for what He has done—He left glory, bore our sins, and conquered the grave for us.
This love, born of faith and not of sight, is a powerful proof that our faith is genuine.
II. A Faith That "Sees": "...though now ye see him not, yet believing..."
Peter repeats the theme for emphasis. Our present reality is one of not seeing. We do not see Him in the boat, on the cross, or walking from the tomb. But this absence of sight is not a lack of connection. Why? Because we have a greater faculty than sight: we have faith.
* The Action of Our Faith: The verse says, "yet believing." This is the active, present-tense engine of the Christian life. As Paul says, "We walk by faith, not by sight." Faith is the evidence of things not seen.
* Believing is Our "Seeing": Faith is not a blind leap in the dark. It is a confident trust in an unseen reality. It is the spiritual sense that allows us to perceive the truth of Christ. We believe in His power, we trust in His promises, we rely on His presence, even when our physical eyes see only the trials and the "heaviness" of this world.
This is the faith that was tested by fire, and this is the faith that holds fast to the unseen Christ.
III. A Joy Beyond Expression: "...ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory"
Here is the glorious climax of the verse. What is the result of loving an unseen Savior and believing in an unseen reality? The result is not a grim, dutiful obedience. The result is an explosion of joy.
* Joy Unspeakable: This is a joy so deep, so profound, so supernatural that human language cannot fully express it. It is a "joy that no one can take from you."
* It's not the world's "happiness," which depends on circumstances.
* It is a divine "joy," which can coexist with the "heaviness" of verse 6. It is the joy of knowing your sins are forgiven, your inheritance is secure, and you are kept by God's power. It’s a joy that bubbles up from the wellspring of your salvation, not from the puddles of your situation.
* Full of Glory (or "Glorified"): This joy is not just unspeakable; it is a glorified joy. It is a joy that has the quality of heaven itself. It is a foretaste of the glory to come. When we, by faith, connect with our unseen Savior, we are tapping into the very atmosphere of heaven. We are experiencing a down payment of the glory that will be fully ours "at the appearing of Jesus Christ."
Conclusion: The Evidence of Unseen Faith
The world says, "Seeing is believing." God says, "Believing is seeing."
This verse is the very definition of our Christian experience. We are those who love a Savior we have not seen. We are those who trust in Him, though we cannot see Him now. And because of this, we are those who experience a joy that the world cannot understand and that words cannot fully contain.
This unspeakable joy is the evidence that our faith is real. It is the present reward of trusting the unseen Christ, and it is the glorious foretaste of the day when faith will finally become sight.
Amen.
