It must have been so marvelous to be with the Lord Jesus Christ for three years, to see all the signs and wonders that gave testimony to the Christ. Just the report of them two thousand years later continues to awe us. Yet, the disciples’ view of who their Lord really was during that tenure seems to be murky at best. Philip finally said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” (John 14:8)
Jesus then admonishes Philip in His loving way saying, “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 14:9-11)
There it was. All spelled out. Yet, this shouldn’t have been a newsflash. He had been saying it all along in so many words. Maybe the disciples were just like us–a little slow and hard of hearing.
Remember when Jesus asked his disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” (Matt 16:15)
Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matt 16:16)
Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.” (Matt 16:17)
Apparently that wasn’t enough. Further revelation was required.
Remember what Jesus told them earlier? “I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)
Maybe that didn’t quicken either, but there were some who were listening. Some of the Jews knew what he was saying. They picked up stones to stone him. (John 10:31)
Jesus asked them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?” (John 10:32)
Then the Jews answered him. “It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.” (John 10:33)
And so that is true. He was God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (John 1:1).
But he drew a distinction between Himself and the Father. He said, “. . . for the Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28)
Admittedly, it does seem like a word game. A bit confusing. He is not the Father, but if you have seen Him, you have seen the Father. Why?
Because He was in union with the Father. The Father dwelt IN Him and He dwelt IN the Father. He was One with the Father. If you have seen one, you have seen the other. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, . . . (Heb 1:3). He was the Word–the second Person of the trinity who was the perfect expression of the Father.
Now he peels away any further doubt. He stripped away all the outward appearances and revealed Himself.
But it’s not as though His words were accepted by everyone. In His hometown, they said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” And they took offense at him. (Matt 13:-57)
The Jews constantly attacked Him for making statements like these. Jesus called out their hypocrisy. “For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.” (Matt 11:19)
That means truth needs no champion. “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” That was bold. That summed it up.
In the same way, those who are in Christ Jesus can make a similar bold statement. Let’s put it like this:
Whoever has seen me has seen Christ.
“Whoa . . . wait a minute,” you say. “You make yourself as Christ? Don’t we know your mother and father? Your sister and brothers? Aren’t you a glutton and drunkard? A friend of sinners? Don’t you have a demon? Where is that in the Bible?”
Well, maybe I don’t fit your image of Christ that is being formed in all of us (Gal 4:19). Maybe it makes me wonder sometimes. Maybe I feel like I have a demon sometimes. If you are judging by appearances, it’s impossible to see. The evidence to the contrary is daunting. But faith totally disregards appearances and feelings. It knows that scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35).
Before vocalizing “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father,” Jesus had already said it in so many other words regarding His relationship with the Father. The disciples just didn’t get it. So also the Bible speaks the same thing regarding our relationship with Christ. Most Christians today don’t get it. But there are many moments when we have to call those things that be not as though they are (Rom 4:17). It’s called faith–believe. We simply reckon it to be so despite appearances or feelings to the contrary.
Just as Jesus said He was in the Father and the Father was in Him and that He and the Father were one, so also He said He was in us and we were in Him and we were one. He was unveiling the mystery which is Christ in us (Col 1:27), the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints (Col 1:26)
John 17: 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Paul puts it best. He says we are ONE with Christ because . . .
1 Cor 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.
Our spirit is in union with His Spirit forming one spirit, not two. He in us. We in Him. We are NOT Christ but we are now individual expressions of Christ in human form, just as He was the expression of the Father in human form. The only difference is the difference between vine and branch (John 15:5). When we come to understand this, then we can say like Paul . . .
Gal 2: 20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
That is as bold as it gets. He lives, yet not Paul (you, me), but Christ lives in me (you). Christ lives His life in us, expressing Himself as us. Our portion is simply to believe.
Read The Seeing Eye to gain a perspective of how God uses all things for our good. Where does the love of God go when evil descends around us like a bell jar? Carl Cook’s birth mother gave him up and his adoptive mother was murdered. He was abused by his stepfather, failed by the justice system, dismissed by the school system, and neglected by the church. Abandoned and homeless, Carl stoically faces these hurdles alone. Or is he?
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