Revealing the Father

from The Patmos Paper E-magazine

One of the great purposes of Jesus’ incarnation besides redemption was to reveal the nature of God, His heavenly Father to man. Jesus did it by pointing to God in his words, displaying Gods nature in His works and revealing His character by showing His own. Jesus is the express image of His Father in Heaven, that is, if you see the Son you see the Father (Heb. 1:3)! When asked to see the Father, Jesus pointed to himself. Not that He was God the Father but he represented the very nature and heart of God:

“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

I saw a great meme recently and on a cell phone was written “Jesus is God's selfie!” Wow! How true! When we see Jesus we see God the Father who can't be seen. Colossians bears this out:

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.” Col. 1:15

Much of the love, grace and tender mercies of God is often hidden in the Old testament because of the wickedness of man, judgment of that wickedness and strictness of the law. But God’s patience, long-suffering and grace is revealed throughout the Old Testament. Jesus came to heal, restore, deliver and show compassion on the wayward and sinners so people could see that this is the real nature of the Father. Jesus did more than anyone else to reveal the nature of God because He alone possessed the true divine nature of his Father. Jesus showed man Gods love, His nature, His heart, His purpose, His ways and His will.

He not only revealed Him as God but unveiled the Father-like nature of God. He taught us to pray by saying “OUR Father which art in Heaven” Jesus also revealed that we are not just his creation, but to those who believe, we are indeed his children (1 John 3:1). False religion points to a God as one who subjects his creation to himself. Christianity by virtue of Jesus shows God as relational, wanting intimate loving relationship with His creation. Even in Judaism God was hidden behind a veil. But Jesus ripped that veil in half at his resurrection to help us see beyond the veil and into the heavenlies. Let Jesus reveal the Father to you more and more each day!