To see and know God

How can we possibly know God? How can we know what he is like?

Obviously, when we’re talking about an invisible God, there can only be one answer: if he chooses to reveal himself.

God first revealed himself through direct contact, through visions, through dreams, through angels, and through prophets.

Then Jesus came. And when he did, he was no mere man. Rather, he was God himself, coming down and living among us. That’s why he could say,

If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. (John 14:7)

And when Philip asked to see the Father, Jesus responded,

Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time?

Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?

The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.

Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. (John 14:9-11)

This is not to say that the Father is Jesus, or Jesus is the Father. But as Paul wrote,

The Son is the image of the invisible God. (Colossians 1:15)

All that God is, we see in Christ. When we hear Jesus speak, we hear the Father’s words. When we see him react to situations, we see how the Father reacts.

So if we want to truly know the Father, all we need to do is look at Christ.

Let’s put it this way. When people see my daughter, they say, “She looks just like you.”

And as she grows up, a lot of the way she thinks and acts will mirror the way I think and act. You can learn a lot about me by looking at her. It’s the way of fathers and their children.

But while she is an imperfect mirror of what I am like, Jesus is a perfect reflection of what the Father is like.

So what’s my point? Do you want to know God? Look at Jesus.

Do you want to know how God thinks? Look at Jesus’ words.

Do you want to know how God responds to different situations? Look at how Jesus responded.

We don’t have to guess any longer what God is like. We can know because he came down to this earth and he became one of us.

So let us pursue a relationship with him. And if we do, we will find him.

As James wrote,

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. (James 4:8)