Jesus: The Embodiment Of God

Tonight we are going to see one of the most astounding claims ever made and that is that Jesus Christ is the very embodiment of God Himself.

Last week, our last verse we covered in John 14 was verse 7 which says, READ.

Tonight we pick it up there.

READ 8. Philip’s request was, “show us the Father.” He was requesting a visible sight of God. Jesus had been discussing the fact that He was returning to the Father and that the disciples couldn’t go with Him, at least not now. Philip’s request shows how the disciples interpreted His words. They thought Jesus meant that He was going to some mountaintop or some other quiet place to meet God face to face just as great men of God had done in the past.

They remembered this happening with Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, Elijah, Isaiah and Ezekiel. Philip wanted to go with Jesus to see the Father as well.

He felt that a dramatic experience with God—like seeing God—would calm their troubled hearts and solve their problems—problems like strife and division, betrayal and desertion, denial, and simple misunderstanding.

Here’s a thought. Note the emphasis on the dramatic experience, that is, on seeking the spectacular and the dazzling. They focused on the physical and visible—some sign that God actually exists. Are people today much different? Yes! So many demand the spectacular in order to believe. They think that once they have had a dazzling sight of God then their peace will come, their problems will be solved, they will believe and serve God, they will change and start doing right.

But does it happen?

Philip wasn’t satisfied with what he saw in Jesus. Walking by faith was not enough. He wanted to see some spectacular Person who appeared in dazzling form. Jesus only appeared in human form. He wasn’t in a spectacular form or vision as men of old had seen and as men usually think of God. Jesus was merely human. Philip wanted more than what Jesus was.

And I think there are some in this world today that say, “Jesus is not enough.” They, too see Jesus as a mere man and nothing more. Such people walk through life being blind to the great love of God.

READ 9. Jesus again announces the revelation that He is the full embodiment of God. So when we look at Jesus, we see the very nature, character, and substance of God. Jesus Christ is not the same Person as God the Father, but He has the same perfect nature. So the person who has seen Jesus has seen the Father in all His fullness. That person has seen in Jesus the very embodiment of perfection.

Note the emphasis is upon God AS FATHER. Just like an earthly father, God is not distant and far off. God didn’t create and wind up the world and leave it to run on its own. As Father, God is exactly as Jesus showed us…

• Loving and just.

• Giving and helpful.

• Full of goodness and truth.

• Forgiving and caring.

READ 10. Jesus gets a little more detailed. God’s presence was proof that Jesus was the embodiment of God. God was in God. This can be called the mutual Indwelling Presence of God and Christ, each dwelling in the other. This means that each has the nature and being, the Spirit and Mind, of the other. Each has the Presence, the very Being and Spirit, of the other dwelling within Him—perfectly.

Let’s note the point Jesus was making. The proof that He was the embodiment of God, that He was the One who came to earth to reveal God, is clear: God’s presence is not only WITH Him; God’s presence is IN Him. He Himself is God. He Himself—His Person, His Being, His nature, His character, His love, His care, his just dealings, all that He is—revealed exactly what God is.

Note, too, that Jesus asks Philip a question. “Don’t you believe that I am in the father, and that the Father is in me?”

Jesus’ words were proof that He was the embodiment of God. His words were the very Words of God which God Himself wanted to say to man. When Jesus spoke, it was the father who was speaking through Him. Look at His words, His teaching, and his doctrine, and know that He was who He claimed to be: the Son of God Himself, the very embodiment of God.

READ 11. Jesus’ challenge is pretty forceful—believe the claim of Jesus. He was in the Father, and the Father was in Him—perfectly. Jesus was the One whom God sent into the world to show men who He is and what He is like. He was the revelation of God to man, who came to the world to show man that God is “the Father.”