‘Lord, Show Us The Father’

John 14:7-11

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, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.
[John 14:7-11 NKJV]

‘Father’ appears in John’s Gospel more than any other book in the Bible, and we are shown Jesus speaking of His relationship with The Father in a unique way; no wonder the disciples did not immediately grasp the truth that Jesus was revealing. They often must have felt — and on occasion voiced — that Jesus spoke in riddles.

Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Without the Holy Spirit guidance, (or indeed, without any spiritual understanding) this sentence can seem odd in the extreme, even a bit creepy. But hearing these words with the power of the Holy Spirit and they are incredible and beautiful beyond measure.

Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." ‘Philip’ means ‘fond of horses’, and it was he who became known as ‘the Evangelist’ — a preacher of the Gospel (good news). He seems to have been looking for a visible sign of The Father — maybe in the same way as the disciple Thomas would do — physical ‘proof’ of the truth of what Jesus proclaimed.

Essentially, Jesus’ truth could only be known in an individual, through faithful belief in Jesus’ word. The proof of ‘the truth’ is only realised in experiencing ‘the life’, something which Jesus stated as "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”, just a short moment before. John’s Gospel shows us profound and life-affirming truth, in words that bring comfort and hope, even if, like the disciples when those words were first uttered, we fail to fully understand the enormity of the promise laid before us.

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A HOLY CONDITION: Oswald Chambers on Peace
— Life in the Spirit --

The preacher is there not by right of his personality or oratorical powers, but by right of the message he proclaims. Who is the man that attracts us today? The man with a striking personality and we don’t care about his message.
The New Testament preacher has to move men to do what they are dead-set against doing — giving up the right to themselves to Jesus Christ; consequently the preaching of the Gospel awakens a terrific longing, but an equally intense resentment.
The aspect of the Gospel that awakens desire in a man is the message of peace and goodwill — but I must give up my right to myself to get there.
[from ‘Biblical Ethics’]

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‘THE LORDS PRAYER’ — Andrea Bocelli

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‘MEDITATE ON THESE THINGS’

1 CORINTHIANS 8:5-6 NKJV
For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords),
yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

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