7 “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”
8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does His works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”
We can all identify with Philip’s plea to Jesus in verse 8. “Lord, show us the Father.” All Christians go through times when it feels as if God is distant and aloof.
There are those moments when we wish God would give us a tangible sign of His presence and reality, and in this sense the disciples were no different to us. They were confused and upset about Jesus’ impending departure. They knew that something big was about to happen, and they were struggling, so Philip asked Jesus to do something or to give them some kind of experience that would make their belief in God real.
We can sympathise with Philip, because what he said to Jesus echoes this longing we all have to see God with our own eyes.
Jesus was preparing His disciples for the time which was coming soon when He would leave them. After His death, resurrection, and ascension, they would not see Him again. It has been two millennia since Jesus left, and we are in a similar situation to the disciples.
We believe in God, we have come to saving faith in Christ as He is revealed to us in the Scriptures, but not only have we never seen God - we have never seen Jesus or heard His voice audibly. So in one sense, God the Father and God the Son are distant from us, so we need a way to experience their presence in our lives in order to sustain our faith, which as we all know, can be very fragile at times.
The answers to those big questions like, where is God and what is He doing in my life right now, are given to us by Jesus in John chapters 14 to 16, which is the theme of what we will be looking at in the weeks and months to come as we continue our detailed study of the Gospel of John. Whenever you feel the need to have your faith encouraged, and whenever you need a reminder of the promises of God, these three chapters are an excellent place to begin.
When Philip said in verse 8, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us,” he was responding to what Jesus said to them in the previous verse. “If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”
Jesus, having just told them that He was about to leave them, and that He was going to the Father’s house to prepare a place for them, wanted to draw them into a deeper knowledge of the Father. He had consistently taught them that He and the Father were one, but that lesson hadn’t really taken root in their hearts yet, which we can see from Philip’s comment to Jesus.
They knew Jesus, of course. They’d spent the last three years of their lives with Him, but their poor understanding of the Father showed that they also lacked a complete understanding of the true nature of Jesus too. Leon Morris explains it this way: “They had known Him well enough to leave their homes and friends and livelihood to follow Him wherever He went. But they did not know Him in His full significance.”
But that was all about to change, which was what Jesus meant when He said, “From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” Those words, “from now on” are significant because it was through Jesus’ death, resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, that the disciples would be given a deep and profound knowledge of God. This is what Jesus was promising them in verse 7. “From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”
Philip, of course, had yet to learn that. It would seem he was thinking about what happened in Old Testament times. In those days there were many occasions when God revealed Himself to specific people at specific times.
One example is the prophet Elijah. He was fleeing for his life from Ahab and Jezebel, and was hiding in a cave. “He came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, and He said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ He said, ‘I have been very jealous for the Lord, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away.’ And He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.’ And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.” (1 Kings 19:9-12)
We’ll come back to the story of Elijah in a moment, but Philip would have been very familiar with this story, and there are many other occasions in the Old Testament where God revealed Himself to His people in the most dramatic ways, so what Philip was really saying to Jesus was, “Just show us the Father, Lord. If you would do that for us, that’ll be enough to get us through.” Like many Christians today, Philip was looking for some kind of spiritual experience to both affirm his faith and to give him comfort in the everyday struggles of life.
As the old saying goes, “seeing is believing.” If Philip and the other disciples could see the Father, then they would be able to believe in Him, but Jesus challenged Philip by asking, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip?” (John 14:9)
We’re not given an insight into the tone of Jesus’ voice in His reply here, so we don’t know how mild or severe His rebuke was, but it was a rebuke. Jesus refuted the idea that seeing is believing. About 30 years later the author of Hebrews would write, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature.” (Hebrews 1:1-3)
Andrew Knowles, in his commentary on John 14 wrote, “Philip blurts out a question which he has been longing to ask. ‘Lord, show us the Father!’ In these last moments before He leaves them, can Jesus finally and completely reveal God to them? Jesus answers, ‘Philip, do you still not realise, even after all this time? You are looking at Him!’ The Father’s character and purpose can be seen perfectly in Jesus His Son. Jesus and His Father are united. That’s how His miracles are possible.”
This declaration by Jesus, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father,” is at the core of the Christian faith. As Christians we should know not only what we believe, but why we believe it, and this key doctrine which Jesus proclaims in John 14:9 is so important for us to understand.
We believe that Jesus Christ came to this world to reveal God to mankind. He did so to show us through His life and ministry what God is like and also to reveal through the Gospel how it is possible for lost sinners to be reconciled to God the Father.
This teaching is so important that John mentioned it in the introduction to his Gospel. “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known.” (John 1:18) This truth is one of the most important things for us to stress when witnessing to others about Christ. When we proclaim Jesus, we must explain that He is the one who came from Heaven to show us God. Again, as Hebrews 1:3 reminds us, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature.” The NIV translation says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being.”
Our problem is that because we have been separated from God by our sin and because of the false images of God we invent and worship, we no longer live in the relationship with God we were created for.
The first question and answer of the Westminster Catechism is, “What is the chief and highest end of man? Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy Him forever.” There’s the answer to the often-asked question, what is the purpose of my life?
It also explains our great problem. Because of sin, we do not glorify God, so we are not able to enjoy a relationship with Him, outside of Christ, that is. This is why we fill the emptiness in our lives with the things of the world, only to find out that though these things might bring temporary happiness, there is always something missing.
As the Christian author A. W. Tozer wrote, “We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge within us that spurs us to the pursuit.”
Many suppress that truth and they deny it, but Tozer was right. We all have that desire or hunger to know the God who created us. Even though we are sinners, we still bear His image. It has been distorted and marred by our sin, but it is still there, and it is only Jesus who can fully answer and satisfy that desire to know God, which is why He said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
Not only does Jesus show us what the Father is like, but He shows us the Father, since the Father is in Him. “I and the Father are one,” as Jesus said in John 10:30. Jesus reveals God because He is God. Jesus came into our world not as an ambassador or as a servant to bring us a message from God. If this was the case, He would not have said that by seeing Him we see the Father.
This is why the doctrine of the incarnation is so important to what we believe. The Father has come to us in His Son. As John 1:14 reminds us, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Had Jesus not come into our world, we would have no idea what God is really like. In the Old Testament we learn some of the basics of God’s character and what He expects of us, but we could not really see Him and know Him and have a personal relationship with Him until Jesus came.
Philip wanted a display of divine power, but Jesus’ answer to him was clear, and it also challenges much of the teachings you hear in some Christian circles today: We do not need spiritual experiences in order to know God. We need to know Christ. We need to know the Word who became flesh.
Going back to the example of Elijah, this is the lesson he had to learn.
In 1 Kings 18 is the account of how he defeated and killed the prophets of Baal, when God gave him a supernatural sign. Elijah challenged the false prophets to ask their false god to light the fire on their altar. This of course, didn’t happen, because their god existed in their minds only. We pick up the narrative in verse 36: “Elijah the prophet came near and said, ‘O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that you are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at your word. Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that you, O Lord, are God, and that you have turned their hearts back.’ Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt offering and the wood and the stones and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and said, ‘The Lord, He is God; the Lord, He is God.’” (1 Kings 18:36-39)
As far as spiritual experiences go, you’d be hard pressed to top that. You’d think that if God showed up so dramatically and so unmistakably like that, that Elijah would have enough spiritual fuel in the tank to last him ten lifetimes, but we as saw earlier, in the very next chapter Elijah was running for his life and hiding in a cave.
And so God gave Elijah what he asked for - another demonstration of power, but now things were different. “The Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.” (1 Kings 19:11–12)
Other translations use the term “a sound of a gentle blowing,” and “a still small voice.” 1 Kings 19:12 has been so badly twisted and taken out of context that an entire false theology has been built on it. God did not speak to Elijah in the gentle breeze or a still small, inner voice, as some would have us believe, and we know this from the very next verse, which so many false teachers choose to ignore.
“When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a voice to him and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’” (1 Kings 19:13) The voice Elijah heard was external. God spoke to him clearly and audibly. God did speak to Elijah, but He spoke to him in a clear, unmistakable voice. Elijah didn’t have to cup his ear and say, “Lord, is that you?”
The Bible teacher Jim Osman published an excellent book, and the title says it all: “God Doesn’t Whisper.” Osman’s whole premise is that if God is going to speak to you directly, you’ll know it, and there will be no doubt that He has spoken.
So the question is, how did Elijah see and hear God? It wasn’t in supernatural signs of power as in chapter 18, but in the unmistakable sound of God’s voice. “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
It was in the revelation of God’s Word. The theologian Richard Patterson wrote, “What Elijah needed to learn, God would soon show him. God does not always move in the realm of the extraordinary. To live always seeking one high experience after another is to have a misdirected zeal. The majority of life’s service is in quiet, routine, humble obedience to God’s will.”
John Calvin wrote, “They who, in consequence of not being satisfied with Christ alone, are hurried into foolish speculations, in order to seek God in them, make little progress in the Gospel.”
How then, does all of this apply to us? Where and how do we see God to build strength and hope? Jesus gives us the answer in John 14:9. “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
The answer is in God’s Word, the Bible. We understand God by understanding Jesus Christ. We see God in the Bible, as we study His Son. Some of the more looney false teachers out there go around doing a lot of decreeing and declaring in the name of God, telling us that we have the power to command angel armies to tear down spiritual strongholds. None of this is in the Bible, but so many are caught up in this nonsense.
It must have been an awesome sight to be there on Mount Carmel when the fire fell from Heaven, but if we want the fire of God to burn within us, we would do well to remember what the two disciples said after the risen Christ joined them on the Emmaus road: “Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked to us on the road, while He opened to us the Scriptures?” (Luke 24:33)
Elijah’s experiences and Philip’s wish to have the same spectacular displays and spiritual highs are not enough to carry us through our trials. It is the knowledge of God through Jesus Christ as He is revealed in the Scriptures, which is enough for us.
The disciples Peter, James and John were blessed by a dramatic display of the glory of God when they were given a supernatural, yet brief glimpse of the glory of Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration in Matthew 17, Mark 9 and Luke 9.
Peter wanted to stay there. He wanted to extend that incredible spiritual experience, and if the truth be told, we would’ve been no different. “Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them, and His clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.’” (Mark 9:2-7)
“Listen to Him.”
Peter refers to this event in his second letter. “When He received honour and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to Him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain.” (2 Peter 1:17-18)
Quite an experience. Not dissimilar to what Elijah had on Mount Carmel in 1 Kings 18, but look at what Peter says in the next verse. He didn’t say we should seek the same displays of God’s glory. Instead he writes, “We have something more sure, the prophetic Word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.” (2 Peter 1:19)
God’s Word is enough for us, Peter says, and as we grow in our knowledge of the Word, so will our knowledge of God grow.
So yes, we do echo the words of Philip many times. “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” But Jesus’ answer to Philip and to us remains the same: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
Trying to understand the purpose of our existence and the meaning of life has kept countless people awake at night for generations. Just look at the shelves in any bookstore, and see how many books have been written exploring these big questions. Some provide really good answers, while there are many more that come up with the most ridiculous answers, but at the root of it all is this inner desire we have to seek after God and to understand Him.
Sadly, many people are looking in the wrong places, and end up being confused and drawn down some very dangerous paths.
Seeing and understanding God begins and ends with faith in Jesus Christ.
However, and this is so important - belief and faith in Jesus is not some intangible, subjective thing. How often do we hear people say, “Just keep the faith!” Faith in what? Faith in who? That is such an empty phrase which means nothing.
Jesus goes on to say, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does His works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.” (John 14:10-11)
What He does here is to teach that our faith in God is built on belief in at least two things. The first is belief in His words, and the second is belief in His works. In other words, belief is as objective and as tangible as the words and works of Jesus.
Contrary to what so many will say, Jesus does not call for blind faith. He calls for a thinking faith, based on His words as revealed in the Bible, and the evidence of the works He performed, the greatest of which, of course, was His atoning death on the cross for us. Believe in Him and in what He said. Believe in Him and in what He did. Believe that He died for you, bearing the righteous and perfectly just wrath of God at your sins. Believe that He did this for you, confess it with your own mouth, and you will be saved.
The way we make sense of life in this confusing world, and the way we build our faith and deepen our love for God is by looking to Jesus Christ. He is Himself God’s gift to us, and it is in Him and through Him that we can feel the presence and know the reality of God in our lives. The answer to Philip’s question is clear.
Jesus is enough.
Homegroup Study Notes
Read John 14:7-11
Philip asks a seemingly innocent question, yet Jesus’ answer to him exposes a number of shortcomings in Philip’s understanding of who Jesus really is.
Discuss Jesus’ reply in verse 9.
Read Hebrews 1:1-3
In which ways do we seek the Father other than through Jesus Christ, and why are these attempts futile?
Many critics say (incorrectly) that Jesus never claimed to be God. How does John 14:9 refute that statement?
Discuss how in verses 10 and 11 Jesus points a) Himself and His words and b), Himself and His works as evidence of His deity?
How does this differ from what some call “blind faith?”
Discuss this statement by A. W. Tozer in your group: “We pursue God because, and only because, He has first put an urge in us that spurs us to the pursuit.”