John 14:8-14

John 14:8-14 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Philip's statement of Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us reveals his naivete, his lack of understanding about the true nature of the God he proclaimed to worship. When John the Revelator was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, ready to receive a divine message for God's people, he knew with whom he spoke--there was no doubt in his mind. Before John even writes down his specific prophecy, he gives glory and honor to the One Most High: To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father — to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen. John then asks, Do I have your attention? Because I was just talking to the Creator of Heaven and Earth, all that is, was, or ever shall be; and this is what I heard: I am the Alpha and the Omega who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. John then describes seven golden lamp stands, and "someone" dressed in a long robe with a golden sash around his chest with wooly hair as white as snow and eyes blazing like fire. With feet glowing like bronze in a furnace and a voice like rushing waters, He held seven stars in his hand and a sharp sword came from his mouth while his face shined as brilliantly as the sun. (See Revelation 1:4-8)

Think of the power inherent in the mere IMAGE of the resurrected Christ that God allowed John to see in that amazing vision compared with the Christ who came to this earth in bodily form: walking, talking, teaching, and even performing great miracles. John experienced so much power in that celestial moment, he admits: When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades." (Revelation 1:17-18) What would have happened to Philip in his unregenerate state had he actually been allowed to see Father God manifested in all of his holiness and glory? If Jesus would have shown him the Father, such an action would have been enough all right, enough to send him to his death. As with the High Priests who went into the Holy of Holies in an unclean state and had to be pulled out by the rope tied to them because they immediately fell down dead, we suspect Philip would have faced the harsh realities of his sinful flesh in the presence of a righteous and holy God. He would have been judged and sentenced to hell right on the spot. But Jesus pointed Philip to a far better reality than seeing God face-to-face in that moment outside of the cross of Christ and the new covenant of God's saving grace. Jesus lovingly tells Phillip, "You have seen the Father in me," graciously explaining as He has done before that He and the Father are one. If Philip will trust in the reality that Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in him, he will arise with Christ when the Spirit lifts him from the grave in victory over death and sin. Philip will not merely see God: he will not only know God but be known of God, find a home with God as an adopted son, an heir with all the privileges of a familial relationship with the Almighty God of the universe.

Jesus alone reveals the fulness of the Godhead. He makes children of God. IN HIM, as new creatures through his shed blood, we are fully acceptable through Christ to our Father God--He makes the way for us to come to our Father. One of the most beautiful verses in the New Testament is in the opening verses of Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus in the salutation: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. We need not fear God's holy presence, for we are eternally accepted in the Beloved and perfect in the eyes of God. Philip's dialogue took place before the cross and the resurrection, but after the cross he would know Jesus as He really is: The Lamb of God who loved us and willingly went to the cross for us. Christ came to reveal the Father's heart, the Father's love. He became sin who knew no sin that He might become our Righteousness, our Everything! After the cross nothing would ever again separate Philip or us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Since we all celebrate that freedom today, may we walk uprightly and joyfully, sharing that glorious Good News with everyone else! For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. (Romans 8:16) Hallelujah!