. . . ⁸and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, ⁹obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls.

Christianity is based on the belief in an historical-physical individual, Jesus Christ. We rest our eternity on someone whom we have not seen. The original witnesses recorded what they saw and heard (see, for example, 1 John 1:1–4, 1 Cor. 15:5–8), but after they passed from the scene, all Christians following afterward are called upon to believe in someone they have not seen. In our day of empirical science, things must be tested in tangible ways, or in courts of law where individuals can be cross-examined. Rugged individualism demands that unless we see for ourselves we are unwilling to believe.

The apostle Thomas epitomized this for us when he proclaimed:

“Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” (John 20:25)

We may note Peter himself might have doubted also if he had been the one left out of witnessing Jesus’ previous appearances. But there is something better than being an eyewitness. Peter came to see the blessedness of believing in and loving the Lord, even without seeing him. The writer of Hebrews explains it this way: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen (Heb 11:1). God puts great weight on faith and love that are not based on the physical, tangible experience of the Lord Jesus Christ. We believe in Him whom we have never seen and cannot see now.

Of course, apologists teach us about the conclusive “evidences” of Jesus Christ, the convincing testimony of eyewitnesses, the personal experience of things that are only explainable by the existence of God. We have the philosophical “proofs” of the existence of God, and of course, the theological and logical reasoning from Scripture. But still, we do not see Jesus Christ. We cannot prove Him physically and scientifically. We cannot cross-examine Him or even the original eyewitnesses.

Yet we believe in Him, and we love Him. How can that be? This is truly a miraculous work of God in a person’s life. We are new creations in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). We love Him because He first loved us (1 John 4:9). And our joy in this overwhelms us. Salvation is simply the result of our soul’s embrace of Jesus Christ.

Lord, I believe in and love You with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength.