If You've Seen Me, You've Seen the Father

"If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him."

Philip is anxious. Jesus has told them He's leaving. And Philip says what the rest of them are probably thinking: "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us."

Scripture Focus: John 14:7-9; Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:3

"He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?"

"For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form."

"He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature."

Philip is asking for a theophany. He wants to see a visible representation of the invisible God. He's saying, "Pull back the veil a little bit. Do something crazy, God. I want to see what Moses saw. I want to encounter something like the burning bush. I want to see what Ezekiel saw when he saw the crystal pavement before the throne."

Have you ever felt that way? God, do something. I need You to strengthen my faith.

And Jesus responds with a gentle rebuke: "Have I been with you for so long, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip?"

That word for "seen" in John 14:9 isn't the common Greek word blepō—the word you'd use for "I see that guitar" or "I see Bob." It's the word horaō—to see with understanding. To behold. To comprehend. Jesus is saying, "When you've observed everything I'm doing, when you've truly looked, you see the Father."

When you look at Jesus, you are looking at God.

Colossians 2:9 says, "In Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form." Hebrews 1:3 says, "He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature."

The God who created the world really came 2,000 years ago. He took on flesh. He walked. He talked. He ate. He slept. And Jesus says, "When you look at Me, you are looking at God."

I want you to know something. I have never seen a vision. I have never performed a miracle. I have never heard God speak audibly. I have never had an angel show up in my bedroom.

And yet what Jesus says here is immensely comforting. You want to see God? You want to see something powerful? We look to God's Word as He reveals His Son.

Peter—who witnessed the Transfiguration, who stood on that hill and saw Moses and Elijah in blazing light and heard the voice of God say, "This is My beloved Son"—that same Peter writes in his epistle, "But I have something more sure: the prophetic word to which you will do well to pay attention."

According to Peter, who saw the supernatural on a regular basis, he trusts what's in your lap and in your hand more than what he saw with his own eyes. Experiences can be doubted. But God's Word cannot.

You want to see God? Open the Book. Look at Jesus.

Stay dialed in