One of the reasons Paul was able to live as he lived, preached as he preached, and endured what he endured is found in 2 Corinthians 4:18 where he said: “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are not seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.“The same thing can be said of Moses in the Old Testament. The Hebrew writer tells us that “he endured, as seeing him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:27). Through a study of the Scriptures, we understand that God is invisible to the physical eye (Colossians 1:15), but He can be seen through the eye of faith (2 Corinthians 5:7). The spirit of man, in contrast with the physical body, cannot be seen because it is the “inward man” (Romans 7:22; 2 Corinthians 4:16).
Those individuals who see only the visible, live as if there were nothing to man but dust, but those who can see the unseen, live in recognition of the fact that we are created in God’s image and are going back to Him (Genesis 1:27; Ecclesiastes 12:7). Many folks cannot see the unseen because they only use their physical eyes, focusing on tangible things which are made of dust and will return to dust, i.e. “….the things which are seen are temporal….” (2 Corinthians 4:18). There is nothing which can be seen with the physical eye that will endure the ravages of time. Time, in its destructive march, moves on and corrupts every mark that human hands have made.
Men may feel that they have erected something that will endure, but their hopes are all in vain as all physical things will perish (2 Peter 3:10). All treasures laid up here on the earth will be corrupted and consumed by moth and rust, or thieves will "break through and steal" (Matthew 6:19). Only those individuals who see the unseen realities are fixing their gaze on the eternal (Colossians 3:1-2).
Understanding all of the above, let us be found “fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith” and “run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1-2 NASB). If we are willing to “endure” as Paul and Moses endured, and to “see” that which is invisible, we too will also experience that eternal “unseen” realm (Revelation 2:10; 1 Peter 1:4). What a great blessing that will be!
—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets
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