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.”
The challenge is to believe Jesus—believe in Him as a person, as the Son of God Himself, and believe in His claim, that His testimony and witness to Himself is absolutely true.
What Jesus says is basically, “If anyone has a problem with believing My claim, that person should look at My miraculous works.” Believe Jesus because of His phenomenal miracles; do whatever is needed to secure the evidence, but believe and accept His claim.
Did you notice the purpose for Jesus’ miraculous works as it is revealed in verse 11? His miraculous works were performed to stir the belief that He is the Son of God.
READ 12-14. Two promises to the believer. And Jesus stresses these promises by saying, “I tell you the truth.”
1. The first promise is the power to do great works: the power to do the very same works that Jesus did and even greater. Let’s clarify. Jesus is saying that the genuine believer will work hard for the very same purpose as He did—to show the love and justice of God, to help those in need, and to lead others to believe in Jesus as the Son of God. Our works will be greater means that the true servant of God will reach more people than Jesus did.
2. The second promise is the answer to all prayers. This is one of the most powerful promises in the Bible. God hears the prayers of the believer.
Note that the only prayers heard and answered are those asked “in Jesus’ name.” What does that mean to pray “in Jesus’ name?”
It means that the believer prays knowing that:
• The only acceptance to God is IN JESUS. God hears the believer only because Jesus is acceptable to Him and the believer comes in the name of Jesus.
• The only Mediator between God and men is Jesus.
• The only Intercessor before God, the only Person asking God to accept man is Jesus.
• The only Person, the only name that is perfect enough to approach God is Jesus so the believer prays in the name of Jesus.
Does this mean that all we have to do to get what we want from God is to pray “in Jesus’ name?” No! To pray in His name means that the believer asks only those things that will honor his name, praise His name, being glory to His name, and lead to His name’s being lifted up. It means that the believer will ask nothing that would detract, lower, or lead away from His name. (And you’ve been wondering why some of your prayers haven’t been approved?)
Lastly, Jesus says, “You may ask me for anything in my name, and I WILL DO IT.” Jesus is claiming to be God and to have the ability to do anything. That’s a phenomenal claim. Yet it’s a reasonable claim for the Son of God.
