God Revealed In The Life Of Jesus

"Jesus said to him,- - 'He who has seen Me has seen the Father." (1)

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." (2)

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." (3)

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." (4)

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." (5)

"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." (6)

1. John 14:9.
2. Ministry of Healing, p. 419.
3. John 14:7-11.
4. John 16:25, 27, 28.
5. John 17:20, 21.
6. Ministry of Healing, p. 422.