Seeing the Father

April 20, 2021

14:1 – 15:17 Being in Jesus, just as Jesus is in the Father

Read John 14:7-9

The reason that Jesus is the way to the Father (6) is the intimate relationship which exists between the Father and the Son. The Son came in order to reveal the Father, and that revelation would be completed on the cross. Consequently, in Jesus it is truly possible to know and even to see God (7). As he has already said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me” (12:44-45).

This seeing is not with the eyes, such as Philip hoped for, as in the limited revelation of God’s glory given to Moses (8; Exod.33:18-23). Even though Jesus had been with them “such a long time” (9), the disciples had still not understood that the revelation of God through Jesus was far superior to the revelation given to Moses (1:17-18). As the writer of Hebrews puts it, “Moses was faithful as a servant in God’s house… But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house” (Heb.3:5-6). It is because he is God’s Son that Jesus can make the amazing claim: “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (9).

This doesn’t mean that we need to see Jesus literally. As he will later say to Thomas, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed” (20:29). Eternal life is given to all believers who see God’s grace and truth revealed in Jesus (1:14) and recognise that he is therefore the way to God. That life which he gives to those who believe in him is essentially an entering into the relationship which he himself has with the Father – “This is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (17:3; cf. 2 Cor.4:6).