Let us turn then to God's Word
once again in the chapter of Scripture that we read, John
chapter 14. And I'll read from verse eight
through to the beginning of verse 10. John 14, reading of verse
eight. Philip saith unto him, Lord,
show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 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, show us
the Father? Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me? Well, as we look at these verses,
verses 8, 9, and the first part of verse 10 for a little while
this afternoon, I want to speak on the theme of Christ as the
only revealer of God. As he says here in the middle
of verse 9, he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. Christ, then, as that one who
is the only revealer of God. If we go back to the opening
chapter of this gospel, of course there at the end we see how Philip
was first brought to the Lord Jesus Christ, or first came to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapter one, verse 43, the day
following Jesus would go forth into Galilee and find a Philip
and said unto him, follow me. Now Philip was of Bethsaida,
the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip findeth Nathanael, and
saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law
and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. So clearly, as he is first there
called to be a follower of the law, but Jesus, Philip recognizes
just who Jesus of Nazareth is. We have found him, he says, of
whom Moses in the law and the prophets did speak. When he makes
mention there of the Lord of Moses, we can think in terms,
I suppose, of what Moses says in Deuteronomy chapter 18 concerning
that prophet. The Lord thy God will rise unto
thee a prophet from among thy brethren. He's speaking of the
Lord Jesus and what Moses says there, Deuteronomy 18, 15, is
then repeated by the Lord God himself in verse 18, where the
Lord says, I will raise him up, a prophet like unto thee. And Philip was mindful of those
words. He knew then that this man, Jesus
of Nazareth, was a true prophet. And it is Philip who is speaking
to the Lord here, and putting these requests to the Lord. Lord, show us the Father, and
it's a fight as us. Jesus said unto him, have I been
so long time with you, and yet I shall not know thee, Philip.
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. O sayest thou, then
show us the Father. Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me. And as we consider for
a while this part of Holy Scripture, as I say, I want to deal really
with the subject of Christ as that one who is the only revealer
of the true God. And we see it in a twofold sense. We see it in the person of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and we see it also in his office as that
one who is the great prophet of God. And so, following that
division, as we look at this passage, first of all, it is
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ that God reveals himself. As he says in verse 7, If ye
have known me, ye should have known my Father also. Then again,
in the middle of verse nine, he that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. He is that one who is the revealer.
No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared Him. God, of
course, is a spirit. The Lord says here in chapter
four to the Woman of Samaria, God is a spirit, the true worshippers
worship him in spirit and in truth. God doesn't have a physical
body such as we have. But the Lord Jesus Christ, who
comes in the fullness of the time in that great mystery of
the incarnation, had God contracted to a span incomprehensibly made
man, says Charles Wesley. It is that one who is the image
of the invisible God. He comes as that one who will
reveal God, who has revealed God to men. And it's interesting,
the words that we have here at the beginning of verse 7, he
says, If ye have known me, ye should have known my Father also. And similar words of these was
spoken previously by the Lord Jesus when he was addressing
himself to the Jews. We go back to chapter 8 and verse
19. They say, where is thy father? Jesus answers, ye neither know
me nor my father. If ye have known me, ye should
have known my father also. Basically the same words there
at the end of that 19th verse. as we find here in chapter 14
at the beginning of verse 7. The true knowledge of the Father
can only be known by a true knowledge of the Son. That is a very basic
truth that is constantly brought before us here in the Scriptures,
in the New Testament especially of course, and then principally
we see it in the writings of the Apostle John, not only here
in the Gospel that bears his name, but also in his epistle. Think of the words that we have
in 1 John 2 and verse 23. He says, Whosoever denieth the
Son, the same hath not the Father. But then he goes, And he that
acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. Again, words that
we have in the Second Epistle of John, verse 9, is for the
transgressors and abide not in the doctrine of Christ and not
God. He that abideth in the doctrine
of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. Oh, it is in and through the
Son, then, that the Father is revealed unto men. And he who
is the Son of God is also the Word of God. And that reminds
us of the very first chapter that we have in this Gospel and
the opening words. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him.
Without Him was not anything made that was made. Then the Word was made flesh,
We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the
Father, full of grace and truth. He is the Word. And what is the
point of the purpose of words? It is to communicate knowledge.
He is that one who comes in to communicate to men the knowledge
of God, to make God known. And as the eternal Son of the
eternal Father, He is the very image. He is the image of the
One seeing God. And now, in the course of his
ministry, we see how the Lord is making this constantly plain,
and it's a great offense unto the Jews. It's this that causes
them to accuse him of being a blasphemer when he speaks of God as his
Father. In chapter 5, he heals the lame
man at the pool of Bethsaida, It's the Sabbath day and he tells
the man to take up his bed and walk, and that is a great offense
to the Jews. They consider themselves to be
very strict Sabbatarians, but in many ways they have warped
views of the Sabbath. And we're told how they were
offended. The Jews sought the more to kill
him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said
that God was his father, making himself equal with God. All they understood when he referred
to God as his father, he was saying he is equal to the father. I and my father are one. And there were occasions when
they took up stones and they would have stoned him to death
as a blasphemer because of what he said concerning his relationship
to the father. And when he comes to the end,
Isn't that the accusation that they bring against him before
the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate? Chapter 19, 7. The Jews answered
him, we have a lord, and by our lord he ought to die, because
he made himself the son of God in his very person. He is that
one who is the eternal son of the father, the second person,
in the Trinity, and he comes to reveal God to man. It's interesting, we've referred
just now to the words in chapter 5 and verse 18, where the Jews
were so offended and sought to kill him because, it says, he
said that God was his father. And in his commentary, John Brown
And that particular verse says that the force of that pronoun,
his father, is literally his own father. He is proper father. He is the son of the father,
the son of God. In truth, we know that believers are the
sons of God. There is such a precious doctrine
as that of the adoption. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth his son to redeem them that were
under the law. He's made of a woman, he's made
under the law to redeem them that were under the law. That
they might receive the adoption of sons, that's the purpose of
his coming. is what God had purposed from
before the foundation of the world. As we read in Ephesians
1.5, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself. All believers, what a favored
people they are before God, in the Lord Jesus Christ, have justified
their accounted righteousness in God's sight of their transgressors
of the law, that they are sanctified, they're made holy also in the
Lord Jesus Christ, and they're adopted. And so believers can
come and call upon God as their Father, who is in heaven. Sons by adoption. And then in Scripture we also
see that there's a sense in which the angels, those spiritual beings, are sons of God by creation. Elihu in Job 38 speaks of the
sons of God shouting for joy at their creation. There in Job
38, we turn to that passage and we see what Elihu says concerning
those sons of God and he's speaking of angelic beings. Job 38 verse
Verse 4, well it's the Lord really, it's
after the sayings of Elihu, it's the Lord God himself who begins
to speak now. The Lord answered Job, verse
4, where was thou when I laid the foundations of the earth?
Declare if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures thereof,
if thou knowest? Or who hath stretched the line
upon it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? laid the cornerstone
thereof, when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons
of God shouted for joy." Who are these sons of God who are
shouting for joy in the work of creation? They are those angelic
beings. They are sons of God by creation,
just as believers are the sons of God by adoption. But the Lord Jesus Christ, He
is the only begotten Son of God, the Son of the Father in truth
and in love. He is that one, you see, eternally
begotten by the Father. What does the Lord say here at
verse 10? Believe us and not that I am
in the Father and the Father in me. Or remember how he speaks back
in the eighth chapter of the book of Proverbs, we see him
there, the wisdom of God as he is the word of God. When there
were no depths, I was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills was I brought forth. Brought forth, begotten. Before
there was any creation at all, the eternally begotten Son of
God. Then I was by Him. As one brought
up with Him, I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before
Him. For it is only in Him that we
can see and know anything of God. As the Word was made flesh
that dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the
only begotten of the Father, full of grace, and truth. The law was given by Moses grace
and truth came by Jesus Christ. This is the gospel. What do we
see in the gospel? We have the revelation of God,
the fullness of Him, the finality of Him. And we see it here in
this blessed person who is speaking in this chapter. Again, we think
of the words that we find in that remarkable opening chapter
of the epistle to the Hebrews where Paul speaks about God has
spoken unto us in these last days. And how has he spoken unto
us now? He has spoken by his Son. Look at the words that we have
there. God who at Sunday times, and
in diverse manner spake in time past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son,
whom we have appointed heir of all things, by whom also we made
the world. who be in the brightness of his
glory, and the expressed image of his person. So he goes on,
verse five, unto which of the angels said he at any time, thou
art my son, this day have I begotten thee, and again, I will be to
him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And again, when
he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, and
let all the angels of God worship him. And of the angels he saith,
who maketh his angel spirits and his ministers a flame of
fire. But unto the Son, he said, thy throne, O God, is forever
and ever. A scepter of righteousness is
the scepter of thy kingdom. For it's only in the Lord Jesus
Christ that sinners can have any saving knowledge of God himself. It is life eternal. The prayer
of the Lord Jesus there in the 17th chapter of this gospel,
life eternal to no third, the only true God and Jesus Christ
whom thou hast sent. Oh, look at the words that we
have here. He that hath seen me hath seen the Father also. That's what the Lord is saying. In this passage, as he addresses
Philip, if he had known me, he should have known the Father
also. No man knoweth the Son but the
Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and
he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. It is only in Christ
that we can know God. Outside of Christ, what he's
got is a consuming fire. As Isaac Watts says, to God in
human flesh, I seek my thoughts, no comfort. Find the holy, just,
and sacred through our terrors, to my mind. Oh, what a revelation,
then, in the blessed person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The God
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in
our hearts. to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, or as the margin
says, in the person of Jesus Christ. He is that one then who
is the revealer of God. This is the first thing that
we have to take account of, the wubanda rabbi, the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, salvation is not only in
the person of Christ, salvation is also in the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But sometimes I fear that whilst
we rightly make a great deal of the work of Christ, how he
came to fulfil all righteousness, to honour, to magnify the law
by the obedience of his sinless life, and then in his death to
make the great sin-atoning sacrifice, how he came to die for the unjust
of being sinners to God, we speak of his work, his obedience, unto
death, even the death of the cross, and what he has done to
reconcile sinners who were in that state of alienation, those
who were enemies of God, he has brought back to God. Sometimes
I feel we lose sight of the importance of the person. Our salvation
is not only in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, it is also
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that, first of all, we
see him as that person who is, to us, the great revealer of
God. But then let us think for a little
while about his work. And when we think of the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ, we can think in terms of his threefold
office. He is prophet, he is priest,
and he is king. And thinking of the way in which
he reveals God, I want to say something with regards more particularly
to that aspect of his work where we see him as the great prophet.
To see Christ in the sense that he has come as God's mouthpiece,
God's prophet, to declare the words of God, just as in the
Old Testament those holy men of God, spake as they were moved
by the Spirit of God, the ministry of the Old Testament prophets,
but he is the fulfillment of the prophetic office. And observe
what he says here, at the end of verse 7. It's interesting,
he says, speaking to his disciples, that that provokes Philip to
make the request that we have in verse 8. He says in verse
7, if you had known me, he should have known my father also, and
from henceforth he know him and have seen him." And it's this
expression, from henceforth, because it's used on other occasions,
this wording. It's used, for example, back
in chapter one and the end of that chapter, where the Lord
is addressing himself to Nathaniel, whom whom Philip had brought
to the Lord Jesus. And what does the Lord say there
in chapter 1, verse 51? Hereafter. From henceforth. It's the same
construction really, but it's rendered rightly, Hereafter ye
shall see heaven opened at the angels of God, ascending and
descending upon the Son of Man. And the same wording is to be
found in Matthew 26, 64, where the Lord Jesus is before the
Jewish council. They're going to dismiss him,
of course, to Pontius Pilate. But first of all, he is brought
before that council of the Jews, and he addresses himself to the
high priest there in Matthew 26, 64, and he says, from henceforth, literally, hereafter,
ye shall see heaven open, and the Son of Man sitting on the
right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. Oh, he is speaking, you see,
to that that is in the future. He's speaking of, there he's
speaking of the end of time, when the Lord Jesus Christ is
to return in power and great glory. But the point I want to
make is this concerning the wording that we have here at the end
of verse 7 when the Lord says to his disciples from henceforth
for hereafter ye know him and have seen him he's really speaking
of events that will take place in the future. He's literally
saying hereafter ye shall know him. and shall see. But what
we have here is one of the remarkable aspects of the New Testament
writings. It's what's called the prophetic
perfect. The Lord Jesus is speaking of
a future event as if it has already happened. He's speaking of something
that was to come in the future, but he speaks as if it has already
occurred. He means to refer to something
that is to be, but he says, from henceforth ye know him and have
seen him. Look at what he says later in
verse 29, Now I have told you before ye come to pass, that
when it is come to pass, ye might believe. Or the Lord can speak
of future events as if they were already accomplished. Why? Because He is that One who is
the Eternal Son of God. He is God. He is very God of
very God. And He is the very Spirit of
prophecy. Are we told as much, are we not,
in Revelation 19, the testimony of Jesus? He is the Spirit of
prophecy. He speaks through the prophets.
And all that He says is truth. He is the Amen. He is the Faithful. is the true witness. Again, when
Peter is speaking of the ministry of the Old Testament prophets
there in 1 Peter 1 verses 10 and 11, he speaks of how the
Spirit of Christ was in them. Those Old Testament prophets,
they spoke of the Spirit of Christ was in them and moved them. He
knows the end from the beginning. This is the Lord Jesus who has
come as the very fulfillment of the prophetic office. There's
that remarkable statement that we have in Daniel chapter 9 concerning a
specific reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. What a word it
is! Verse 24 in Daniel 9, he comes
to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make
reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness,
to seal the vision and the prophecy. To seal the vision and the prophecy. All prophecy ends with the Lord
Jesus Christ. No prophet after the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the greatest of all the
prophets. And of course, you don't need me to tell you that
there is a false prophet. And there are multitudes who
follow the teachings of that false prophet. The Mohammedans,
the Muslims, Mohammed is a false prophet. There's no prophet after
the Lord Jesus Christ. God who at sundry times and in
diverse manner spake in times past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in his last days spoken unto us by his Son. And that is the fulfillment of
all prophecy. Now, the Lord then is speaking
of something in the future, at the end of verse 7, that speaking
of it is so sure and certain, it's as if it has already occurred
from henceforth, hereafter. He know him, and have seen him. Philip, saith unto him, Lord,
show us the Father, and it sufficeth. Now what is the significance
of this request that Philip is making? Well, Philip is still
thinking in terms of the Old Testament. What was the manner
in which God so often spoke in the Old Testament, but it would
speak in visions. There, men actually had visions. We read of Moses and the elders
of Israel seeing something of the glory of God in Exodus chapter
24. Remember after the Giving of
the Ten Commandments, they want Moses to be their mediator. They
don't want God to speak to them directly as he had in giving
the Ten Commandments. Moses goes into the map, and
in chapter 24, we read these words. Verse nine, there went
up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders
of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel, And there was under
his feet, as it were, a paved work of a sapphire stone, and
as it were, the body of heaven in his clearness. And upon the
nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand, although
also they saw God, and did eat and drink." They saw something,
they had some sort of vision of the greatness and the glory
of God. That was the experience we know of Isaiah the prophet. In chapter six, where he receives
his call and his commission, the king, Uzziah, is dying. He
is there in the temple and he sees the throne of God never
vacated. He sees the glories of God and
the angels, the seraphim, round about the throne of God. And
Ezekiel, Ezekiel, in the opening chapter of that book, he scribes
a remarkable vision that he sees of the throne of God. And then,
by degrees, he sees something of the Shekinah glory, the glory
that was there in the temple, in the holy place, being removed
from the midst of Jerusalem, going to the threshold of the
temple, and then going to the east of the temple. If you read
there in Ezekiel 10, I'll give the references, verse 4, the
19, and then in chapter 11, 23, he is seeing that glory departing
from Jerusalem as the people are to be taken away into exile. But he sees remarkable vision.
And this is what Philip wants. He's thinking in these Old Testament
terms, Lord, show us the Father. And it's a fight of us. He wants
to see something, we know. from what Paul says to the Corinthians,
the Jews require a sign. Well, they wanted a sign from
the Lord Jesus, and he says, no sign shall be given but the
sign of the prophet Jonah. That was in the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. So what is it really that the
Lord is saying here at the end of verse seven? From henceforth,
hereafter, You know him and have seen him. He is speaking of what
is to come. And what is to come, and this
is the whole subject matter of what he is dealing with in chapters
14, 15, and 16, is the ministry of the Holy Ghost. He is to come. He is to come. And the coming
of the Holy Ghost will give the greatest of all the revelation
of God that has ever been known. That is going to be the ministry
of the Holy Ghost to make known the things of Christ. Verse 16,
I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter
that he may abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth whom
the world cannot be seen, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth
him, but ye know him. For he dwelleth with you and
shall be in you. Verse 26, the comforter. which
is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall
teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance
whatsoever I have said unto you. The guy in the end of the following
chapter, verse 26 in chapter 15, when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of
truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me. And then in chapter 16, chapter 16 and verse 13, he says,
Albeit when he, the spirit of truth, is come, he will guide
you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself,
but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. And he will
show you things to come, he shall glorify men. For he shall receive
of mine and shall show it unto you. Oh, it is that ministry
that is to come, that ministry of the Holy Ghost that the Lord
is speaking of. From henceforth, hereafter, you
know and have seen Him. He will open up their understandings
to all that great mystery that they have been witnesses to.
It was the blessed coming of the Holy Ghost. Go back again
to the comment that John makes there in the temple. Christ is
ministering in chapter 7. What does he say? He that believeth
on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
flow rivers of living water. And then the following verse,
39, is parenthesis. John says, this spake he of the
Spirit, which I that believe on him should receive. For the
Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet
glorified. Or when that great day of Pentecost
was fully come, and there was that mighty outpouring of the
Spirit of God. And that's the day in which we're
living. Always a great privilege to live in this Gospel day. Until
we really grasp that favour that the Lord has bestowed upon us,
we take so much for granted. We have the Gospel. In all the
fullness and richness of the Gospel, we have all the means
of grace. not really appreciated these things, and so this terrible
judgment has come, and I say again, it begins at the house
of God. Oh, we're those who are doing
despise to the Spirit of God, resisting the Spirit of God.
What a blessing to know that we live in this day. There's
words, and I often find them difficult words, but I think
in what In the light of what I'm saying, it's as though I
understand words that we find in 2 Corinthians 5.16. Paul says, Yea, though we have
known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him
no more. What does he mean? Though we
have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him
no more. He is no more in this world. He is risen, he is ascended,
he is at the Father's right hand, We don't know him in the flesh,
but we know him now by that blessed ministry of the Holy Spirit. The guy, look at the words of
Paul there in 1 Corinthians 2, 10. God hath revealed them unto
us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man, say the Spirit of man that is in him,
even so the things of the Spirit knoweth no man but by the Spirit
of God. How we need that ministry. How
we should seek that blessed ministry. This is how the Lord Jesus Christ
was revealed to the Apostle Paul. He was not one of those who was
a follower of Jesus whilst he was here upon the earth. But
what does he say, please God? who separated me from my mother's
womb to call me by His grace and to reveal His Son in me. For to know that blessed ministry,
that the Lord might come by His Spirit, in His words, and grant
to us such a revelation that we might know Christ in His prophetic
office. He's still exercising that ministry
today. When Paul speaks to the church
at Ephesus there in Asia Minor, Turkey as we now call it. It
was somewhere where the Lord Jesus Christ never ministered. He was sent to the lost sheep
of the house of Israel. He didn't go to the Gentiles,
but that was what happened, of course, after his work was accomplished
and he had ascended to heaven and the outpouring of the Spirit
and the ministry of the Apostle. There is Paul, the Apostle to
the Gentiles, preaching at Ephesus. And what does he say? to them
there in Ephesians 4.20, ye have not so learned Christ. If so,
be ye have heard him, and been taught by him as the truth is
in Jesus. Or have we heard Christ? Have
you heard the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ? My sheep know my
voice, he says, and they follow mine. It's not hearing the voice
of a minister, a preacher. It's hearing that blessed voice.
It's the Lord himself from henceforth. He knoweth Him, and hath seen
Him. Philip saith unto him, Lord,
show us the Father, and he shall fight against us. 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. Now sayest thou then, Show us
the Father? Believest thou not that I am
in the Father, and the Father in me? Now, it's true here, we
certainly have the Father, and the Son, God the Father, God
the Son, and we also have God the Holy Spirit. Though his ministry
is so self-effacing, he's not mentioned, but I say he is the
one being spoken of there who makes known Christ, who reveals
Christ. It's Trinitarian, this whole
passage is a Trinitarian passage. It's God's Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost. Oh, this God is the God of our
salvation. How do we know Him? We see God
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We know Him by that gracious
ministry of the Savior. Well, the Lord be pleased to
bless His truth to us.