August
2, 2003
GOD
REVEALED
"Jesus
said to him,- - 'He who has seen Me has seen the Father"
(John 14:9, NKJV).
Christ
came to teach us humans what God desires us to know. "In
the heavens above, in the earth, in the broad waters of the
ocean, we see the handiwork of God. All created things testify
to His power, His wisdom, His love. Yet not from the stars
or the ocean or the cataract can we learn of the personality
of God as it was revealed in Christ. God saw that a clearer
revelation than nature was needed to portray both His personality
and His character. He sent His Son into the world to manifest,
so far as could be endured by human sight, the nature and
the attributes of the invisible God" (Ministry of Healing,
p. 419).
During
His last supper with His disciples, Jesus sought to comfort
them and to reveal Himself more fully to them. In response
to a question by Thomas, Jesus said, "If
you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and
from now on you know Him and have seen Him." Philip
said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient
for us." Jesus said to him, "Have
I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?
He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say,
'Show us the Father?' Do you not believe that I am in the
Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you
I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells
in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and
the Father in Me" (John 14:7-11).
The disciples
did not fully understand Christ's relationship to the Father
and Christ desired them to have a clearer and more distinct
knowledge of God. He said, "I will
tell you plainly about the Father... The Father Himself loves
you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came
forth from God. I came forth from the Father and have come
into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father"
(John 16:25, 27, 28).
The personality
of the Father and the Son and the unity that exists between
Them is presented in the prayer of Christ for His disciples:
"I do not pray for these alone,
but also for those who will believe in Me through their word;
that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I
in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may
believe that You sent Me" (John 17:20, 21).
"The
unity that exists between Christ and His disciples does not
destroy the personality of either. They are one in purpose,
in mind, in character, but not in person. It is thus that
God and Christ are one.
"Taking
humanity upon Him, Christ came to be one with humanity, and
at the same time to reveal our heavenly Father to sinful human
beings. He who had been in the presence of the Father from
the beginning, He who was the express image of the invisible
God, was alone able to reveal the character of the Deity to
mankind."--Ministry of Healing, p. 422.
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