October 27

Immanuel

Jesus replied, “Philip, I have been with you all this time, and still you do not know Me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? — John 14:9 BSB

It seems strange for anyone to say, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father." Can we imagine John, the beloved disciple, saying such a thing about himself? The fact that Jesus said it shows that He was conscious of His divinity and that He claimed to be the Son of God. This divine consciousness shines through in all of Christ’s words. Everywhere we turn in the Gospels, we see the light of Christ’s divinity shining through. It would be easier to pluck the stars from the sky than to remove the truth of Christ’s divinity from the pages of Scripture. It is the brightest beam in the radiant splendor of the Gospel.

What did Jesus mean when He said, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father"? He meant that, although He was human, He was also the incarnation of God. In His human life, which people could see, He revealed the invisible life of His Father. People on earth could never see God, so God sent His Son to veil His divine splendor in flesh and show the world what He is like.

When we see Jesus taking children in His arms and blessing them, we see how God feels toward children. When we see Jesus’ heart moved with compassion for human suffering, we learn how our heavenly Father is touched by the sight of our pain. When we see Jesus receiving sinners and offering forgiveness, making broken, sinful lives whole again, we understand the mercy of God. When we follow Jesus to the cross and see Him willingly give His life to redeem the lost, we see the depth of God’s love. The meekness, patience, and gentleness of Jesus reflect the same qualities in His Father. If we want to know what God is like, we need only to look at Jesus. To know Christ is to know the Father.