March 24, 2002

TO KNOW JESUS IS TO KNOW THE FATHER

"If you knew me you would know my Father too. From now on you do know him; you have seen him" (John 14:7, NEB).

"Philip said to him, 'Lord, show us the Father and we ask no more.' Jesus answered, 'Have I been all this time with you, Philip, and you still do not know me? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. -How can you say, "Show us the Father?" Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? I am not myself the source of the words I speak to you: it is the Father who dwells in me doing his own work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father in me; or else accept the evidence of the deeds themselves" (John 14:8-11, NEB).

"Christ had not ceased to be God when He became man. Though He had humbled Himself to humanity, the Godhead was still His own. Christ alone could represent the Father to humanity, and this representation the disciples had been privileged to behold for over three years. "Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the very works' sake." Their faith might safely rest on the evidence given in Christ's works, works that no man, of himself, ever had done, or ever could do. Christ's work testified to His divinity. Through Him the Father had been revealed" (Desire of Ages, p. 389).

Jesus is God, He is One with the Father. Jesus said, "Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father." How could God have been more direct.

John 12:44: Jesus said, "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me."
2 Corinthians 4:4: "The glory of Christ, who is the image of God."
2 Corinthians 5:19: "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself."
Colossians 1:15: "He is the image of the invisible God."

It is God in Jesus Christ who reconciles us to Himself. God Himself entered into this world to save us. "Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father."