“Lord, Show us the Father…”
John 14:8
Don’t you find it interesting how all of our questions and understandings come through our own limitations and perceptions? If we could remove all our preconceptions and simply allow Jesus to reveal His truth to our hearts, we could then begin to live in this broader, fuller, place He has called us to.
Jesus’ response to Philip, ‘Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father.’ We know several other scriptures establish the thought that Jesus was the express image of the Father. From His prayer in John seventeen, we see that His desire is for us to know the Father. His prayer is a continuation of how He has lived, so that His revelation could be imported into our lives.
‘ I have manifested your name’
‘I have given them your word’
Knowing His name firstly involves our seeing and hearing. If we can see Jesus rightly, we can know the Father. If we have ears that will hear, we can know the Father. Jesus declared “I and the Father are one.”
Helps Word Study on Name:
3686 ónoma – name; (figuratively) the manifestation or revelation of character, distinguishing it from others. ["According to Hebrew notions, a name is inseparable from the person to whom it belongs, i.e. it is something of his essence. Therefore, in the case of the God, it is specially sacred" (Souter).]
M. Vincent, "In the Bible, a name (3686/ónoma) expresses the sum of the qualities which mark the nature or character of a person.
Ephesians tells every family in heaven and on earth derives its name from our Father. Hudsons translation renders it “name and nature”.
When Moses saw the glory of God, it was God appearing and declaring His name and His nature.
Exodus 34: 5 "And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty..."
Jesus concludes His prayer in John seventeen with “I have made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them and I in them”. Holding the knowledge of our Father leads us into love.
From the beginning God revealed himself as a Father. We see him as the Creator of all things. We see him providing His family with every thing they need for life. We see Him covering their sin with the blood sacrifice and we see Him redeeming their lives in the promise of Jesus.
This is the essence of Fatherhood: creating, sustaining, covering and redeeming HIS Creation. His heart to reveal this to His children is seen in the gift he has given in His son who went about doing good and revealing the heart and mind of His Father. Where religion had twisted and perverted the reality of His word and His ways, Jesus shone as the light of God in the midst of the darkness and brought truth that set captives free.
Phiip asked, “Lord, Show us the Father and Jesus replied, “He who has seen me, has seen the Father”. May our eyes continue to behold Him as He manifests His Name and gives us His word and we grow in the knowledge of our heavenly Father.