How You Can You See God What God Looks Like?
John 14:8-14 "Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus answered: “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’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 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 works themselves. 12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Jesus says to his disciples, "If you know me you know my Father as well." Jesus' basic mission was to show the world what the God the Father looked like. Jesus said, "If you seen me you have seen the Father." Many say, "How can you know a God you can't see?" God solved that problem by sending Jesus. God had revealed himself in different ways before Jesus, which we read about in the Old Testament. But the Old Testament was a preview of Jesus coming down out of heaven to show us what God is like.
How can you believe Jesus when he says,"Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?" Here's where the miracles come in. Jesus did many miracles in response to a human needs like sickness, demon possession, and diseases. It showed God's desire for people to be whole and gave us a glimpse of what heaven is like, where there is no sickness or tears. But it also showed the world that Jesus had power and authority which he demonstarted through his "works". So Jesus' works substantiated his deeds and showed us where he came from. If you don't believe what Jesus said, look at what he did.
Finally, Jesus says something quite amazing. He says those believe in me will do the things I have done and do even greater things. This is hard to believe. How can I do greater things that Jesus? The answer will come later when Jesus explains how when he goes back to the Father, he will send the Holy Spirit, which will be the power of Jesus living in us. And this is the power we use as we pray in Jesus' name. Since the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus, Christ lives in us and through us. This is why Paul says , "Christ in you the hope of glory". Colossians 1:27.
Here is a great explanation of how we are "in Christ", a phrase the apostle Paul uses 164 in his letters.
"The commonest description in the Scriptures of a follower of Jesus is that he or she is a person “in Christ.” The expressions “in Christ,” “in the Lord,” and “in him” occur 164 times in the letters of Paul alone, and are indispensable to an understanding of the New Testament. To be “in Christ” does not mean to be inside Christ, as tools are in a box or our clothes in a closet, but to be organically united to Christ, as a limb is in the body or a branch is in the tree. It is this personal relationship with Christ that is the distinctive mark of his authentic followers." - The C.S. Lewis Institute
So how can you see God? You can see him in Christ in all he said and did. You can see the great love Jesus had for us when he died on a cross. And you can also see God in every Christian, as they live their life in the power of the Holy Spirit. As we live by the Holy Spirit, Christ's light shines through us to dark world. When you think of your life as helping people to see what God is like doesn't it bring great meaning and purpose to you.
One of the great reformers John Calvin who came after Martin Luther said,
"The chief end of man is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever."
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