“Show us the Father!”

Jesus is the Logos, the “Word become flesh” in whom the “Glory of God” resides. He is the Real Tabernacle foreshadowed by the Tent carried by Israel in the wilderness where the Glory of Yahweh was manifested. However, those manifestations were limited and temporary. In contrast, God fully reveals Himself in Jesus. He is the living expression of the Father - (John 1:14).

God is redeeming men and the creation itself through this same Jesus, a process that will culminate with the “arrival” or ‘Parousia’ of His Son when he raises the dead and overthrows Death once and for all. Then he will usher in the “New Heavens and the New Earth” that his Father “may be all in all” – (1 Corinthians 15:20-28).

[Photo by frank mckenna on Unsplash]

During Israel’s wilderness journey, the Levites carried the “Tent of Meeting” wherever the nation went. It was where Yahweh met His people through their priestly representatives, the temporary dwelling place of His presence on Earth, although access to it was always limited.

Only Moses, and only on one occasion, was granted the favour of beholding the Glory of God, but he only saw God’s “backside.” Full exposure to the Divine Glory would have ended the Great Lawgiver’s life then and there. “No man can see Me and live!” - (Exodus 33:17-23, 34:1-6).

The Tabernacle was a temporary structure. Its functions and furnishings foreshadowed the Real Tabernacle. As the Gospel of John confirms, the permanent “Tabernacle” was none other than Jesus of Nazareth, the “Word become flesh.”

Moreover, John applies the verbal form of the Greek word for “tent” to the life of Jesus. In His Son, God began to “tabernacle” among His People as He promised in the Hebrew Bible. Under the New Covenant, God will put His Spirit in His children, and “I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” – (Leviticus 26:12, Jeremiah 31:33, Ezekiel 36:26, 37:26, John 1:14, 2 Corinthians 6:16, Hebrews 8:2).

Believers behold the Glory of the one true God and experience His presence in Jesus. Access to Him is no longer confined to the Temple in Jerusalem or the Tabernacle in the wilderness, nor is it limited to the geographic boundaries of the Land of Canaan or the City of Jerusalem– (John 1:14).

The Ancient Tabernacle and the Jerusalem Temple were “types and shadows” of the reality found in Jesus. The Father is revealed and found in Jesus. Apart from him, there is no accurate knowledge of God.

The Son now “sits” in the presence of God interceding for his “brethren” as their faithful High Priest, having “achieved the purification of their sins” through his “one for all” sacrifice – (Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:14-18, 8:1-6, 10:12).

Every man and woman who believes the words of Jesus “will see the glory of God.” The Son of God is the “way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him” – (John 11:40, 14:6).

The Father can only be known in His Son. Anyone who knows Jesus has seen the Father. The man who beholds the Nazarene “beholds Him who sent me.” No one can experience the presence or obtain the knowledge of God without the “word made flesh” – (John 12:45, 17:24).

When Philip asked Christ to “Show us the Father,” Jesus responded: “He who has seen me has seen the Father!” As he declared earlier, “he who believes in me believes not on me, but on Him who sent me”– (John 2:44, 14:7-9).

In the Nazarene, God's glory is revealed now and forever. He is the living expression of the Life-Giving God. Though the Gospel of John maintains the distinction between Father and Son, they speak and act as one. Jesus declares the words he hears from his Father; the Glory manifested in him is the Father’s Glory.

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SEE ALSO:

• Knowing God - (Jesus is the interpretive key that unlocks the Hebrew Scriptures, Bible prophecy, and the Mysteries of God)

• Light of the World - (Jesus is the true Light of the World. This light shines all the brighter in the darkness. It means life and salvation for humanity)

• The Expression of God - (Jesus is the Logos made flesh, the dwelling place and manifestation of the nature and glory of God – John 1:14)