Show Us the Father

“Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’  Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?  Whoever 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 is in me?  The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.  Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.’”  John 14:8-11

          Philip’s request represents the desire of every true believer in God.  “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”  Yet, at the same time, when this request is addressed to God incarnate, it is a case in missing the point.  Jesus responds, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?  Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.  How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?”  Philip should have known that the fullness of deity dwells in Christ bodily (Colossians 2:9) and that although no one has ever seen God, he is the only God, who is at the Father’s side, who has made him known (John 1:18).  Jesus continues: “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me?”  Theologians call this reality the mutual indwelling of the Father and the Son.  The oneness of the Father and Son does not obscure the distinction of their persons but highlights the union of their essence.  The Father and Son are one God; so they mutually indwell one another with regard to the union of nature between them.  To see the Son is to see the Father in the sense that they share the same divine essence.  Jesus is the invisible God made visible.  He is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15), the Word made flesh (John 1:14). 

          Jesus teaches his disciples that both his words and his works testify to his oneness with God the Father.  Verse 10b is key:  “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.”  God the Father speaks through God the Son and confirms his own words with his supernatural works.  His miraculous works authenticated the divine origin of his message.  Although it is best to take the words of Jesus at face value, Jesus says, “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves” (v. 11).  The works should strengthen our faith that the words of Jesus are the words of God.  This is why the miracles of Jesus are called “signs” in the Gospel of John.  They signify that Jesus is God’s Son and the source of eternal life.  John 20:30-31 says, “Now Jesus did many signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”  Jesus shows us the Father.  If we want to know God the Father, then we must only look at Jesus Christ who makes him known to us.  “Long ago, 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, who he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1-2).  This message of salvation “was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will” (Hebrews 2:3-4). 

          The only way to a deeper knowledge and communion with God the Father is through God the Son.  We sing, “O come to the Father through Jesus the Son!”  If our hearts say, “Show us the Father,” let us look to Jesus who is revealed to us in the Scriptures.  We have sure and certain knowledge of God the Father in him for the Father is in him and he is in the Father.  To see him is to see the Father.  There is no more of the Father to be found outside of the Lord Jesus.  May God open the eyes of our hearts to see the true revelation of God the Father in the Lord Jesus who remains a distinct person from the Father yet shares in his same single and undivided divine essence!

The Way, the Truth, and the Life

“‘And you know the way to where I am going.’  Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going.  How can we know the way?’  Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.  From now on your do know him and have seen him.’”  John 14:4-7

Thomas didn’t get it.  Jesus told his disciples that he was going away so that he might prepare a place for them in the Father’s house.  He promised that he would come again and take them to himself.  Yet Thomas didn’t get it.  “Lord, we do not know where you are going.”  The disciples were often slow to understand the words of Jesus.  We find this surprising as the introductory words of this discourse couldn’t be clearer.  Yet Jesus becomes even more lucid in verse 6:  “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”  In his Upper Room Discourse, Jesus is always directing his disciples to himself.  Even when he promises the gift of the Holy Spirit, he says, “He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:14). 

This statement about Jesus being the way, the truth, and the life, is one of the many “I am” statements in John’s gospel.  “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35).  “I am the light of the world” (John 8:12).  “I am the good shepherd” (John 10:11).  “I am the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25).  “I am the vine” (John 15:5).  Such statements teach us who Jesus is and what he is able to do for us. 

In this verse, Jesus is telling us that he is the only way to God the Father.  Jesus’ words highlight his uniqueness and exclusivity.  He is the only way, truth, and life.  “No one comes to the Father except through me.”  There are not many paths to God.  There is one and only one way to God, and his name is Jesus.  We cannot find our way to God with good works because we cannot be good enough to satisfy the demands of a holy God.  We cannot find our way to God with philosophy because we have not known the mind of God and are not wise enough to be his counselor.  We cannot find our way to God with our own man-made religion because God demands that we come to him on his terms, not our own.  And God tells us that Jesus, and Jesus only, is the way to truth and life.  Apart from Jesus, then, we are lost, deceived, and dead.  How shall we find our way?  Jesus.  How shall we know the truth?  Jesus.  How shall we live life to the fullest?  Jesus. 

Jesus explains why this is true about himself.  “If you had know me, you would have known my Father also.  From now on you do know him and have seen him.”  Jesus and the Father have something in common: divine nature.  To see the Son is to see the Father because they share in the single and undivided divine essence.  Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15) and God “manifested in the flesh” (1 Timothy 3:16).  If we want to know God the Father, then we can only know him through God the Son, Jesus. 

Jesus is not teaching in this passage that he and his Father are the same person, but he is saying that he and the Father share the same divine essence.  This distinction is important lest we obscure the distinction of persons within the holy Trinity.  Yet Thomas didn’t get this.  We know that he eventually came around after the resurrection (John 20:24-29).  He did eventually confess, “My Lord and my God!”  How does this apply to us today?  Are we seeking to find our way apart from Jesus?  Are we seeking the truth apart from Jesus?  Are we longing for life apart from Jesus?  Without Jesus we have lost our way.  Without Jesus we don’t know the truth.  Without Jesus we are dead.  “I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10b).  We are meant to know this abundant life today.  We find it by continually drawing near to God the Father through God the Son.          

I Will Come Again

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”  John 14:3

          Martin Luther once said that every Christian should live as if Jesus died yesterday, rose again today, and is coming again tomorrow.  Luther’s statement does not intend to detract from the historicity of those events but to make more vivid in our minds the realities of the gospel.  Jesus tells us, “I will come again.”  Those four words give Christians hope because they mean that we shall be reunited with our loving Lord.  Do you know Jesus as Lord?  Have you repented of your sins and trusted him alone for your right standing with God?  Now is the time!  He shall return!  Are you ready for him?  Jesus adds to this promise: “I will come again and will take you to myself.”  Charles Spurgeon famously said, “Heaven is wherever Jesus is.”  The rooms that Jesus has prepared for us are meant for meeting with Jesus.  Without Jesus all the rooms of heaven would be drab and dull.  Christians should long for heaven because we long to be with Jesus.  Jesus is what makes heaven, heaven.  Do you want to go to heaven in order to be with Jesus?  That is a good test to see if there is saving grace in your heart.  Those who have truly been born from above long to be in the arms of their Savior.  We should long for our Lord’s embrace and to hear his gracious words, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”  What a joy it will be to be in the presence of the King!  “One day the trumpet will sound for his coming, one day the skies with his glories will shine; wonderful day, my beloved ones bringing; glorious Saviour, this Jesus is mine!”  Jesus has promised us that he will come again.  We should mark well the words of the living God about the Second Advent of his Son.  “For as the lightening comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matthew 24:27).  “This Jesus, who was taken up from you in heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).  “For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God” (1 Thessalonians 4:16).  “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.  Even so.  Amen” (Revelation 1:7).  Believe the promise!  Look for the Second Coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  Live your life today in light of the fact of the return of our Lord.  What really matters?  Are you ready?  Soon we all shall see the King!       

A Place for You

“In my Father’s house are many rooms.  If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”  John 14:2

When our hearts are troubled by the thought of the evil in us and in the world, Jesus tells us to believe in God and to believe also in him (v. 1).  He then encourages us with the promise of a place prepared for us in heaven.  The hope of a place in heaven is meant to be a source of continual encouragement and refreshment for troubled Christians.  This life is not the end of our story.  For the Christian this life is only the beginning of what God has in store for us.  We cannot fully comprehend the glories that await us in the life to come.  Yet it is amazing how much we learn about heaven from this single verse in the Upper Room Discourse of Jesus. 

          We learn here that heaven is a place.  Many people think of heaven as a state of mind.  They do not believe that heaven is an actual place.  The Bible presents heaven as a place that is as real as China.  The Bible speaks of heaven as a new earth, new temple, and new city (Revelation 21-22).  All three designations speak of place.  Heaven is a place defined by the presence of God.  It is where the Father is, and since the ascension of Jesus, it is where Jesus is sitting at his right hand.  God may dwell everywhere because he is omnipresent and not limited by the constraints of time and space, but heaven is where God chooses to dwell and manifest the fullness of his blessed existence.  Heaven is the place where the presence of God is not interrupted by the miseries of sin and evil.  There is no sadness, sickness, or death in heaven (Revelation 21:4).  Heaven is so inexpressibly wonderful that no eye has seen or ear heard or the heart of man imagined what God has prepared for those who love him (1 Corinthians 2:9), but God has revealed these things to us by his Spirit in the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 2:10).  We do not have a full description of heaven in the Bible, but we have enough to ponder our future with our sanctified imagination.  Jesus emphasizes the fact that heaven is a place in this verse.  He says that his Father’s house has many rooms.  There is plenty of room in heaven for the followers of Jesus.  There was room for the disciples and room enough for us today.  I have seen many beautiful homes in this life, but none can compare with our Father’s home.  Heaven is our home.  It is our place.  Let us never forget that our earthly accommodations are but layovers on our flight to heaven.  We are pilgrims who seek the city that is to come (Hebrews 13:14). 

          We also learn from these verses that heaven is a prepared place.  Jesus ascends to prepare a place for his followers.  As if it were not enough to be told that we have a place in the Father’s mansion!  We are told here that Jesus himself has prepared a special place for his followers.  Who knows us better than Jesus?  Who knows our needs better?  Who knows our wants better?  Who knows our personality better?  No one!  “Believe in God; believe also in me.”  Let us trust Jesus to prepare a place for us in heaven that is exactly what we need and desire.  Because Jesus is God and knows all about us, he is perfectly suited to this task.  What does he have in store for you? 

          We learn here that Jesus has not only prepared a place for us in heaven but that he has promised us a place in heaven.  We should underline the fact that Jesus has not promised a place to everyone.  He has promised a place to those who believe in God and believe also in him.  If we believe in God and in his Son Jesus, then Jesus has prepared a place for us in heaven.  But this is a promise.  Jesus says, “If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?”  No!  Jesus does not lie.  He always tells the truth.  He is the Truth and speaks the truth.  Heaven is not a fairy tale for weak minds.  Heaven is real.  It is real because the One who died and rose again tells us that he goes to prepare a place for us.  It is not just a good idea or wishful thinking or a hope that will give you a positive attitude but is not actually true.  No, heaven is true because Jesus our Lord has made a promise of a place prepared for each one of us who believe.  Christians do not believe in heaven because they have watched a documentary on TV about the afterlife.  Christians do not believe in heaven because they read a book about a boy who died and went to heaven and allegedly returned to talk about it.  Christians do not believe in heaven for philosophical reasons about the immortality of the soul.  Christians believe in heaven because of the words of Jesus.  Our faith is based in the words of Jesus, not in the reason or wit or science of men.  We believe that we have a place prepared for us by Jesus in the Father’s house because Jesus told us.  And would he have told us if this were not so?  Let us believe his words!

Hope for the Troubled Heart

“Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me.”  John 14:1

With these words Jesus begins his Upper Room Discourse.  Jesus commences speaking to his disciples in John 14:1 and continues to John 16:33.  In John 17:1 he begins his High Priestly Prayer.  The words of Jesus in the Upper Room Discourse encourage disciples who are troubled in heart.  We should turn to them to receive our Lord’s instruction (John 14-16) and to hear our Lord’s prayer in our behalf (John 17).  With these words Jesus prepares his apostles for his departure (the Ascension) and the promise of the Holy Spirit (Pentecost).  If we read them slowly and prayerfully, these words will lift our hearts today. 

Jesus begins his great discourse by saying, “Let not your hearts be troubled.”  Why were the disciples troubled?  Jesus had told his disciples three things that would have troubled their hearts.  First, he told them that he was going to die.  Second, he told them that one of them (Judas) was going to betray him.  Third, he told Peter that he would deny him three times before the cock crowed.  These were troubling words for the disciples to hear as they shook their confidence in themselves and in their Lord.  Would they really betray him?  Would they really deny him?  Would the life of the man they believed to be the Messiah end in death by crucifixion?  They were troubled indeed.

          But Jesus speaks words into their troubled hearts that are meant to bring peace.  Only the words of Jesus can bring true peace to troubled hearts.  When we behold the evil in ourselves and in the world that is opposed to Jesus, we too become troubled of heart.  Yet Jesus comes to us and says, “Let not your hearts be troubled.”  How can we be anything but troubled when we observe the evil of our own hearts (the betrayal and denial) and the evil against Jesus? 

          Jesus says, “Believe in God; believe also in me.”  The first line, “Believe in God,” is ambiguous in the original Greek.  Grammatically, it may be translated as an indicative, “You believe in God,” or an imperative, “Believe in God.”  The ESV chooses the imperative for the text and footnotes the indicative as a possibility.  The difference in meaning is only slight in this context.  Jesus may be saying that his disciples need to do two things: believe in God and believe in him.  Or Jesus may be assuming that the disciples believe in God and calling upon them to believe in him as they already believe in God.  Either way, Jesus is telling them to place their trust in God and in him.  Jesus makes himself an object of faith along with God.  No ordinary human being could say, “Believe in God.  Believe also in me.”  Jesus is more than a mere human being.  He is the fully divine Son of God and object of our faith. 

          What is the connection between not letting our hearts be troubled and believing in God and Jesus?  The connection is that the way that we find peace when our hearts are troubled is by believing in God and in Jesus.  The disciples did not yet fully understand how all this evil (the crucifixion of their leader, their betrayal, desertion, and denial of Jesus) was for their good.  Jesus simply says, “Trust God.  Trust me.”  Now we have a different vantage point than the disciples.  We know how this story ends.  We know that all these evils things had to happen because they were part of God’s plan to fulfill the Scriptures and to save us from sin.  God had a plan for the betrayal of Judas and the denial of Peter.  So, in one sense, we have greater reason to trust these words than the original disciples. 

But they apply to the evil that we face today.  Sometimes we look around us at the world and see much evil.  We see people opposing God everywhere we turn.  In our day and age we are able to see evil daily on the evening news.  It can be overwhelming and can trouble the heart deeply. 

It gets worse.  As we look at all this evil outside us in the world, we come to realize that much of that evil also resonates with evil inside us.  We see that we are evil.  Peter might have been inclined to judge the one who was to betray Christ until Christ looked him in the eyes and told him that he would deny him three times.  Peter might have been troubled that one of the disciples would have betrayed Christ and other evil men would kill him.  But I imagine that nothing troubled Peter more than the thought that the evil was in him.  That he would deny his Lord.  That he was capable of that.  Do you get discouraged by your own evil?  Is your heart troubled by the way that you betray, deny, and crucify Christ?  Is there is any hope?  Is there any peace?

          Jesus says, “Believe in God; believe also in me.”  We are meant to look away from others and from ourselves.  We will only find disappointment and discouragement by looking there.  We must look to God and to his Son Jesus.  In Jesus we find peace and hope.  In Jesus our hearts can be delivered from trouble.  Peace does not come from within.  It comes from without.  It comes from Jesus.  “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts” (Colossians 3:15).