John 14:8-10Amplified Bible
8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father and then we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time, and you do not know Me yet, Philip, nor recognize clearly who I am? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not say on My own initiative or authority, but the Father, abiding continually in Me, does His works [His attesting miracles and acts of power].
Word of God for the Children of God
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
When have we felt closest to God? When have we felt most distant from God?
You might be doing “all the right things”—attending worship, reading the Bible, praying, studying, helping others—yet God still doesn’t seem very close.
Maybe we have felt this way in a crisis—or even in the midst of daily routines.
We just wish that God would show us unequivocally who he is and he is active.
Philip seems to show that sentiment, saying, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
But Jesus appeared surprised by this; saying, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?”
Jesus had revealed the Father throughout his entire ministry!
Jesus “is himself God and . . . has made him known” (John 1:18).
He taught that he is “equal with God” (John 5:18).
He also said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
Jesus makes “I am” statements, using the Lord’s special name “I am who I am” (Exodus 3:13-15).
He had walked on water, fed many thousands, spoke, stilled the storms, and had raised people from the dead.
That night, Jesus also ate his last supper with his disciples, telling them he would soon die and rise again (John 13).
Yet Philip still desperately wanted more revelation!
Would it really be enough?
John 14:8-10 Christian Standard Bible
Jesus Reveals the Father
8 “Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time and you do not know me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who lives in me does his works.
One day in an art class, the teacher was going around the various paintings to look at what the children were doing, she asked a boy what it was he was painting.
The small boy said to her, “I’m painting a picture of God.”
“But we don’t know what God looks like,” the teacher replied.
“Well,” said the boy, “come back when I’ve finished and you’ll find out!”
With the birth of the infant Lord Jesus in Bethlehem, God took a brush and painted on the largest canvas of history what He Himself was really like.
Hebrews 1:1-4 New King James Version
God’s Supreme Revelation
1 God, who [a]at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the [b]worlds; 3 who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had [c]by Himself [d] purged [e]our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.
When Christ appeared, He rendered obsolete all previous guesses about God’s nature, and He rendered arrogant all subsequent ones.
The writer to the Hebrews put it this way:
“At many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Hebrews 1:1-2).
In other words, through the prophets of old, God had spoken a multifaceted and varied word, weaving His character and His nature all through the pages of the Old Testament.
But in Bethlehem, God spoke in a personified Word.
The long-awaited Messiah, the Light of the nations, appeared—and in that tiny little baby, God made manifest His reality.
Just think: in that Bethlehem manger lay God… wiggling His toes!
The baby that nursed at the breast of Mary and was rocked to sleep in the arms of Joseph was God, and He remains God.
Is it any wonder that the shepherds went out and spread the word?
Is it any wonder that the wise men of His day bowed in worship before Him?
Jesus came to make the Father known.
May our hearts be so humbled by the incarnation that we come to know God personally, not merely intellectually.
Like the shepherds, we have the message of Christ’s advent to share with our society.
As we spread the good news of Jesus’ coming as the Messiah, as the one who is God and has come to make God known, pray that the wisdom of our world may bow before His glory.
Do you know Jesus as your Lord?
Our Lord’s Words to Philip seem to drip with discouragement.
Certainly Philip should have known better.
From reading this portion of John’s narrative, it appears John strongly believed it should be the natural wish of man in every age for some extraordinary vision, revelation of the Father – for an earnest desire for further light – a yearning for the miraculous. “Let us see the Father.”
Philip’s plea here reveals not only the weakness of his faith but the lack of his grasping, understanding, actualizing, the gospel way of making God known.
Jesus came to flesh out the Father for our eyes to see and subsequently as His 21st century followers we are covenanted to flesh out Jesus for the world to see.
To see with bodily eyes is one thing yet to see with eyes of faith is quite another.
Then—praise God—you have seen, and believe in His Father as Thomas stated.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit …
Praying …..
Psalm 19 English Standard Version
The Law of the Lord Is Perfect
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
19 The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky above[a] proclaims his handiwork.
2 Day to day pours out speech,
and night to night reveals knowledge.
3 There is no speech, nor are there words,
whose voice is not heard.
4 Their voice[b] goes out through all the earth,
and their words to the end of the world.
In them he has set a tent for the sun,
5 which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber,
and, like a strong man, runs its course with joy.
6 Its rising is from the end of the heavens,
and its circuit to the end of them,
and there is nothing hidden from its heat.
7 The law of the Lord is perfect,[c]
reviving the soul;
the testimony of the Lord is sure,
making wise the simple;
8 the precepts of the Lord are right,
rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is pure,
enlightening the eyes;
9 the fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever;
the rules[d] of the Lord are true,
and righteous altogether.
10 More to be desired are they than gold,
even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey
and drippings of the honeycomb.
11 Moreover, by them is your servant warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
12 Who can discern his errors?
Declare me innocent from hidden faults.
13 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins;
let them not have dominion over me!
Then I shall be blameless,
and innocent of great transgression.
14 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be acceptable in your sight,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 