"I Am In The Father..."

“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’” (John 14:8-14, NIV).

“Lord, show us the Father…” – Have we also made the request “show us the Father”?

Perhaps, not exactly to see Him physically, for He is Spirit – but to really know Him, to have an intimate knowledge of Him.

Is it also our longing or desire to grasp as much knowledge and experience about the Father – the God, whose Wisdom, Power, Love, Goodness, or Sovereignty transcends our human understanding?

Do we really want to perceive and become more acquainted with Him?

This God, according to the Scripture, said in Isaiah 43:13: “Yes, and from ancient days I am he. No one can deliver out of my hand. When I act, who can reverse it?" In Isaiah 45:7, we read: “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.” And in the same book, chapter 46, verses 10 & 11, we find these words: “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please… What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.”

He also told the ancient Israelites through Moses in Exodus 3:21-22, "And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians." He can cause other people to grant favor to His own people.

He also asserted His Sovereignty in Exodus 34:24, when He told His people, “I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times each year to appear before the LORD your God.” He can even cause the heart of other people not to covet the possession of His people.

The psalmist described Him in Psalm 115:3, as: “Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.” Also, in Ps 135:6-7: “The LORD does whatever pleases him, in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and all their depths. He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.” In Job 23:13, we read: “But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever he pleases.”

God’s Word pictured Him in Lamentation 3:37-38, “Who can speak and have it happen if the Lord has not decreed it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come?” We read in The Contemporary English version: “No one can do anything without the Lord’s approval. Good and bad each happen at the command of God Most High.”

We read in Ecclesiastes 7:13, “Consider what God has done: Who can straighten what he has made crooked?”

In the book of Ezra 1:1, we read: “…the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation…” He can move the heart of men to accomplish His Will.

And Ezra 6:22, partly states, “…the LORD… changing the attitude of the king of Assyria, so that he assisted them in the work on the house of God, the God of Israel.” He is Sovereign of sovereigns. He can change even the heart of a powerful king on earth.

As we read also in Proverbs 21:1, “The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.” The Good News Translation renders it this way, “The LORD controls the mind of a king as easily as he directs the course of a stream.”