"If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him." [Jn 14:7]

When Jesus was nearing death; when He was on His way to the cross to pay for our sins, Jesus spoke some of the most glorious and profound truths to His disciples. Perhaps the height of Jesus’ teachings are found in John chapters twelve through seventeen, where Jesus, on the edge of death and the wrath of Almighty God looming ever closer, would speak to His disciples many wonderful truths. One such truth is found in John fourteen, where Jesus says to the apostles,

“If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him.” [Jn 14:7]

And again, when Philip answered, “shew us The Father, and it sufficeth us,” then,

“Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen The Father, and how sayest thou then, shew us The Father?” [Jn 14:9]

What Jesus said to Philip and to the rest here is one of the most audacious claims of Christ. Directly and confidently, without shadow of doubt, Jesus claims to be as is spoken of Him in Hebrews: “the brightness of [The Father’s] glory, and the exact representation of His substance.” [Heb 1:3] Jesus says that whatever The Father, YHWH, is like, He is like that too. If it be a character trait or quality of The Great and Awesome LORD of Hosts, Creator of the Universe, then it too is a characteristic and quality of Jesus Christ. Jesus claims that there is no distinction between His character and The Father’s, and thus, His glory and The Fathers. If it were unclear, see what Jesus prays to The Father later in the night, “and now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world existed.” [Jn 17:5]

Imagine yourself in a crowd; or imagine yourself at church, where there is a man speaking to the people. Now imagine that man uttering these words of Christ: “he that hath seen me hath seen The Father.” What an audacious and bold claim! Why, if we were to hear these words uttered from a man, we may very well call him insane or quit listening altogether. And as if our Lord anticipated these thoughts, He says to Philip, “believe me that I am in The Father, and The Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.” [Jn 14:11] It is one thing to say such claims, but it is an entirely different thing to prove such claims.

Jesus was not just one who said, but one that did. Jesus did not just claim to be one with The Father, a complete and flawless representation of Him, but He proved it through His life and actions. Can any find fault with Christ? His enemies could not. Can any look at these bold claims and disagree? Look to His life, dear reader: look deep and long at the life of Christ and find fault if you can. For any sane man knowing that he could not rise from the dead, and knowing that He was not in fact equal to and with God, would never say such bold and outrageous claims. But Jesus did, and He proved these things with His life.

But let us ponder a moment further. It is written regarding God The Father, “[that He] only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see…” [1 Tim 6:16] And again, when Moses requested to see YHWH, He said, “thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.” [Ex 33:20] Now compare these verses with the everlastingly glorious truth that God has given us “the illumination of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” [2 Cor 4:6] The Father, who dwells within inapproachable light, whom no man can see lest they die for the beauty and the glory: yes, this God and this Father, YHWH, we can see through Jesus Christ. Praise God; for the unseeable God is seen in Jesus Christ; the face which would destroy fallen man, (he not having a body fit to behold such glory), we may behold dearly and tenderly in the face of Jesus. For if we have seen Jesus, we have seen The Father.

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