DAY FIFTEEN | John 14:6-18

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”

Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.”

Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father. And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

“If you love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.

Show Us the Father!

As we read these words, it is important to remember what was happening. This is the night before Jesus is going to be crucified. On their way to Jerusalem to prepare for Passover, Jesus had tried to communicate to His disciples what was going to happen, but His friends do not fully understand what will be unfolding over the course of the next few days.

They also were not aware that they were sitting around the table of what we call the Last Supper. It must have seemed odd when Jesus had risen from dinner and removed his outer robes, grabbed a towel and a basin and washed their feet. The love in His eyes, and conviction in His voice was clear. In fact, by the end of the night, the disciples would tell Him how His plain and clear words made them certain that He was sent from God.

It was on this special night, and in what must have been a holy moment, that Jesus speaks to them, No-one comes to the Father, except through me.

In response to these words, Philip speaks up, Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient (enough) for us.

Can you relate to this request? As a follower of Jesus, have you ever just wanted to know and understand more about who God is and what He is like? I don’t think that this is a bad desire. In fact, in some ways, knowing God more is the whole point of following Jesus.

While I believe that Philip’s cry to Jesus, Show us the Father, came from an honest and hungry heart, the way that Jesus responds to him shows us that Philip and the others had missed out on an important part of why Jesus came.

If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father…

In one of His clearest statements of the night, Jesus reminds His friends of what He has been saying since that day that the heavens opened and the Father spoke His blessing over Him as He stood on the banks of the Jordan following His baptism. Jesus came as a Son to reveal the nature of the Father. Even after three years of walking with Jesus, hearing His teachings, observing the miracles, and sharing life with Him, Philip and the others hadn’t quite grasped this aspect of the good news.

I can really relate to the disciples in this area. I am not exactly sure why, but it can sometimes be easy for me to have a different picture of the Father than I do of Jesus. Growing up, I always pictured Jesus as the loving, kind Savior who gave His life for me. On the other hand, I envisioned God, the Father, as stern, reserved, and sometimes distant.

There are Scriptures throughout the New Testament that repeat what Jesus reminds His friends here, If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father. That means that anything that I believe about the Father that I can’t find in the life and character of Jesus is something that needs to be reexamined in the light of His face. In fact, Paul tells the Corinthians that we have the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:6)

As Jesus looked into the eyes of His friends that night in the upper room, He tells them that He is in the Father, and that as He goes to be with the Father, that the Father was going to send them another Helper – the Holy Spirit. This Spirit of Truth was going to dwell in them and abide with them forever.

I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you. – Jesus

These words remind us that just as Jesus came as a Son to show us the Father, that even as He was leaving this earth, He was sending us His Spirit so that we wouldn’t walk through this life living like orphans. Focusing our lives on Jesus and following Him into our identity as sons and daughters is at the heart of the gospel.

No-one comes to the Father, except through me.

In this statement, Jesus not only declares that He is the only way, but He also emphasizes that the door is for us to come to the Father. The same offer is extended to us today, that we would come to the Father, through His death, burial and resurrection, and by the power of his Spirit walk through this life as sons and daughters. This is not only the essence of our salvation, but a clear invitation for the way that we walk with Him throughout our days on this earth.

As you fix your eyes on Jesus, I pray that you would have confidence to see the Father in Him. I pray that in seeing Jesus clearly, that you would be able to identify any areas where you have mis-seen the Father. Then you can invite the Holy Spirit to help you change the way that you think about Him. And finally, I pray that your heart would be overwhelmed with confidence that the Father has sent the Helper to help you in this life – so you don’t have to go through this life as an orphan, but walking as a son or daughter of God.