John 14:9, commentary and pictures

Jesus answered Philip's plea to be shown the Father by asking if after being so long with them he still did not know Him, declaring that whoever has seen Him has seen the Father. He came from heaven in human form to make the Father known through His life, teachings and mission, so that to truly see and know Him by acquaintance and experimental faith is to see and know the Father with no further presentation needed. His words are not of Himself but of the Father dwelling in Him, and the Father in Him does the works, which give sound ground to believe His unity with the Father or to believe for the very works' sake. He is the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His person, in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, sharing the divine nature and showing His equality with God. To see His character and compassionate ministry is to see what the Father is like in goodness, mercy, love, patience and purity, correcting Satan's false picture of God as severe and stern and revealing Him as merciful, gracious and loving.

Setting and Farewell Comfort

The words were spoken in the upper chamber on the night before the crucifixion, alone with the eleven after Judas had left, just before Jesus spoke of His approaching separation. They belong to His farewell words in John 13-17, given to keep the disciples' hearts from being troubled. They came before He led them out through the city toward the Mount of Olives, where He then taught about the true vine.

They were spoken to comfort and strengthen the disciples before severe temptation, trial and sorrow. Betrayal, scourging, rejection, crucifixion and death lay just ahead, with the bitterest cup before Him, yet He forgot Himself and His suffering to give them courage, hope, strength and assurance to endure without failing. They were words of encouragement knowing how severely the faith and courage of the disciples would be tried, and knowing the trials His church would face through unconverted believers, imparting courage to stand fast in the most trying hour. As long as time lasts they bring strength and assurance to the true believer, with a lesson to strengthen and comfort believers and precious instruction for the churches. Though His words were simple enough for children to understand, the disciples could not comprehend them, and He understood their sorrow at losing their Master after three years of labor preparing them for trials soon to open before them. Their understanding remained partial until the Holy Spirit brought His words back and clarified them at Pentecost after His ascension, and complete understanding of God's mysteries will come after the conflict with sin ends.

They belong to the instruction in John 6 and 13-17 that sets out God's will and the divine antidote for the sin of the whole world. That instruction prepared the disciples for their future work and taught them to build their ministry on a divine Christ, relying on divine power rather than human effort alone. It plainly outlines God's will for those who minister in word and doctrine and are acquainted with present truth, and God means just what He says, so those who minister need to be converted to understand it, with the privilege to believe every part of it and to live it out before fellow ministers as the philosophy of genuine missionary work. It is to be carefully studied, believed, lived and practiced, for its deep meaning is understood when the Holy Spirit writes the words on the heart and applies them, as the human will receives the Word and divine power cooperates with it, since mere reading or keeping truth outwardly does not transform character. It calls for living faith that works by love, for giving oneself to the Lord without reserve rather than serving Him halfheartedly, teaching God's love for all the world and that when people draw near to God He draws near to them, so that every step toward Jesus is met by His advance toward them. It brings hope, encouragement, peace and a deeper sense of God's love. It connects Christ's love with keeping His commandments, presenting obedience to the commandments as the Bible's test for those who have had the privilege of light. It teaches that believers are made one with Christ in this present life to be one with Him throughout all eternity, receiving life more abundantly and eternal life, so that though they may die the life of the Saviour is in them.

They are also described as spoken shortly before the ascension and closing of Christ's earthly work when about to return to the Father, in answer to Philip's plea. At that time He committed to the disciples the mission His Father had committed to Him and instructed them how to fulfil it.

Philip's Request and Rebuke

Philip asked to be shown the Father, overlooking the revelation already given in Christ, and in reply came the question of long companionship without knowing, with the declaration that to have seen Jesus is to have seen the Father. To know Jesus is to know the Father also, for Jesus dwells in the Father and the Father dwells in Him, so His words are not His own but the Father dwelling in Him, and the indwelling Father performs the works. That union leaves the works themselves as reason to believe and as ground to strengthen faith through the coming suffering and death.

Philip had been long with Jesus, walking and talking with Him as companion and witnessing His teaching and mighty works. For nearly three years he had seen the healing of the sick, the care for the needy, the feeding of the multitude, the raising of Lazarus and other miracles, with divine glory at times shining through servant humanity, yet he had not comprehended that Jesus was the Sent of God, the Way, the Truth and the Life come down from heaven to represent the Father. His request for another sign showed failure to recognize the Father revealed in the Son through teachings and works. The generation with Him in their midst likewise failed to know Him, and by rejecting Him became responsible for their destruction.

The question is a grieved rebuke of unbelief and lack of faith. Grief arose because after so long together Philip still did not know Him, though words and miraculous works should have shown that He was sent by God with the Father dwelling in Him. He is the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His person, and His unity with the Father shows His equality with God. The call therefore is to believe for that union itself, or else for the very works' sake.

The same question is addressed to His people today. It applies to very many in the present day who have long been with Him through light, mercies, truth and warnings, yet fail to know Him, even though He was lifted up and crucified for them and came forth proclaiming Himself the resurrection and the life. Many still demand that God be shown to them despite evidence already given, for dulled spiritual senses can keep those close to Christ and witnessing signs of God's power from truly knowing Him, since knowing requires more than outward evidence, association or profession, but a personal practical faith receiving His help, accepting His way including self-denial, and letting truth exert its sanctifying, transforming influence as a continual sign of divine power. Those who follow their own inclinations while professing Him remain ignorant of Him as though asking to see the Father, and rejecting the messengers who bear His message is rejecting the Master who sent them. Applied to the Jewish nation, the long time means mercy through prophets as delegated servants and at last the Son Himself, whose refusal worked present and eternal ruin, divorce from God, and retribution in temple ruin, famine, distress, crosses at Calvary and subjection to Satan.

Seeing Jesus Sees Father

Whoever truly sees and knows Jesus sees and knows the Father, for He came from heaven in human form to make the Father known through Himself, His life, teachings and mission. The Father is in the Son and is made known through His teachings and works, and the disciples could know the Father through knowing Christ, yet Philip's request to be shown the Father overlooked the revelation already given in Christ despite long companionship and witnessing mighty works. He came as a servant with divinity veiled in humanity, though divine glory at times shone through so His divine nature was discernible, and His actions were in perfect harmony with the Father whose plans were made together before the foundation of the world. To know Christ by acquaintance and experimental faith is to know God, and no further presentation of God is needed beyond Christ, for God came to humanity in Christ as the Father's representative.

His words are not of Himself but of the Father dwelling in Him, and the Father dwelling in Him does the works, so Christ's words and works reveal the Father. He is in the Father and the Father in Him, speaking not independently but the words of the indwelling Father who performs the works, leaving the works as reason to believe. His miracles are beyond what any human could do, including healing the sick, caring for those in need, feeding the multitude and raising Lazarus, and they testify to His divinity and give sound grounds to believe His unity with the Father or to believe for the very works' sake. That evidence was meant to strengthen faith through His coming suffering and death.

He is the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of His person and presence, the image of the invisible God in whom dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Sharing the Father's divine nature and Godhead and remaining God though made human, His unity with the Father shows His equality with God. God, though invisible and not seen in external form by human beings, is known by faith through Christ, whose compassion and lovingkindness make God known and show how near to heaven people may be. Those who know Christ by acquaintance with Him have a more perfect knowledge of God, for knowing Christ through experiential faith means knowing the Father and His character.

God is most fully made manifest in Jesus' teachings and life and pure holy life, and all that is comprehended in Deity was represented in His human life. His wonderful life, words, deeds, mission and the loveliness of His character perfectly reveal the Father, so to bear witness to the loveliness of Christ's character and to His name, mission and character is to bear witness of the Father also. The disciples took in the meaning only after His ascension, when the Holy Spirit brought His forgotten words back to their minds and they knew for a certainty that they had been in daily companionship and communion with the Commander of the heavenly host and the Majesty of heaven. The same is true of God's people today, who by bearing witness to Christ and letting His love, light and power shine through their lives manifest the principles of His kingdom and unfold the attributes of God.

His life did the works of God and spoke the words of God, and revealed the character of God. The greatest meaning of His miracles is that they were for the blessing of humanity, and this revelation of God in a life of mercy is the highest evidence that He came from God and is the greatest of all miracles.

Father's Character Revealed

To see Jesus in character, life and action is to see what the Father is like, for Christ is the Father's sent representative whose excellence is the Father's perfection. He discloses the Father's presence, goodness, mercy, love, compassion, tenderness, patience, purity, truth and sympathy through compassionate ministry to human need and suffering, healing the sick, caring for the needy, feeding the multitude, living among the poor, suffering and dying. He is the express image of the Father's person and the brightness of the Father's glory, living in dependence on God and in perfect harmony with Him by plans made together before the foundation of the world. To know Christ by acquaintance and experimental faith is therefore to have a more perfect knowledge of God, with no further presentation needed beyond Him.

He came to correct Satan's false picture of God as severe, stern, unforgiving and the source of distress, to sweep back the hellish shadow and remove the darkness cast over the world. In place of that misrepresentation He reveals the Father as merciful, gracious, patient, good, truthful, loving and compassionate, as made known to Moses, inviting men to place love and confidence in Him, to be brought into harmony with Him and to share His oneness. His words and works are from the Father dwelling in Him, and as the image of the invisible God He is the saving revelation of God available to humanity, so that failure to recognize God's character in Him leaves men under Satan's deception and blinded to the light of the gospel. He presented God and truth to the world while veiling divine glory beneath humanity so He could approach men and teach them without change to who He was, and He presented the law in its original dignity as truth rescued from error.

Nature declares God's power, wisdom and love in heaven, earth, ocean, stars and cataract, yet it cannot teach His personality and great love and cannot be accepted as God. A clearer revelation was needed to portray God's personality and character so far as could be endured by human sight, so God sent His well-beloved Son with His own voice declaring Him to be that revelation, the God of heaven condescending to human nature in His only begotten Son. Veiling the brightness of divinity in humanity, Jesus manifests the nature and attributes of the invisible God, approaching men to teach them and let them know their Creator without being consumed. This revelation is complete and sufficient, leaving no new gospel and no need for revelations beyond His Word, for He is the way, the truth and the life by whom alone men come to the Father, and the light of the knowledge of the glory of God is beheld in His face because the Father dwells in Him and does the works through Him. Though living as a man with divinity veiled, His divine character sometimes shone out with power and His miracles revealed Him as Lord, while as Son of David He showed a perfect pattern of true manhood in integrity, duty, love, compassion and sympathy.

He reveals God while keeping a wise reserve about the essence of God, since detailed speculation could confuse minds not prepared to understand it. Human searching, intellect and conjecture cannot discover God, but what men need and can know has been declared and revealed in Christ. Looking unto Jesus shows what man may become, for through Him every gift of heaven is granted to those who cooperate in daily striving for mastery, and He will complete what He has begun in them.

The knowledge of God's character seen in the life of His only-begotten Son is the same as that revealed in the ten moral precepts, which are a transcript of God's character and are life to obey. Christ came to represent the Father in character and to be the example in all things for keeping them, and keeping attention fixed on Jesus preserves that knowledge against Satan's effort to intercept light from the throne and interpose himself. Keeping God's commandments means reproducing Christ's character in oneself, so there is no excuse for transgression, and those who claim to be God's children yet misrepresent Jesus by disorderly, self-willed behavior set up their own will as a standard, oppose the will of Christ and transgress the law.

Divine Unity and Nature

To see Christ is to see the Father because He is in the Father and the Father is in Him, speaking not of Himself but the words of the Father dwelling in Him while that indwelling Father performs the works. His words are therefore not spoken independently, and His actions are in perfect harmony with the Father, lived in dependence on God and in oneness with Him. The ground for belief is that union itself, or else for the very works' sake, since the works leave reason to believe. Christ and God are one and yet distinct personalities, whose plans were made together before the foundation of the world, so that the Son bears the Father's own authority and His presence is as the Father's presence, and the divine authority and glory in His words and work are the Father's as well as His own.

He joined humanity and divinity, coming in human form as a servant with His human arm encircling humanity while His divine arm reached the throne of the Infinite. His divine nature remained distinct in essential character from His human nature, and while standing forth as Son of man in His own personality He stood at the same time one with Deity within the light surrounding the throne of God. He spoke with conscious power and authority as one possessing in Himself power to perform His work, and His divine nature and glory were discernible when they shone through that humanity. As David's son He was a perfect example of true humanity — dutiful, strictly upright, loving, compassionate and tenderly sympathetic — and His miracles revealed Him as Lord, giving fallen people a picture of what they should strive to become. Though living as a human being with divinity veiled, He fully revealed the Father, His divine character sometimes shining out with power.

At His first advent His glory as Son of the Infinite God was concealed by humanity, humility and lowliness without worldly royalty or visible glory, appearing in human flesh as the Son of God in the form of a man. Though appearing as the humblest and lowliest of men, He calmly and deliberately affirmed His royal character and identified Himself with God, so that seeing Him is seeing the Father. Even in the hour of deepest humiliation when the powers of darkness seemed triumphant He still proclaimed Himself the Life-giver who will come in glory in the clouds of heaven. That claim to be one with the Father will be substantiated at His second advent, when divinity is no longer concealed and He comes as one equal with God, His own beloved Son, Prince of heaven and earth, Redeemer and Lifegiver, with His own glory and the glory of the Father attended by angels, and the glory of the Father and the Son is seen to be one.

The Father has real personality, not an essence pervading nature, yet He is invisible and beyond the full understanding of any created mind, and is not seen in external form by human beings. He is known by faith through Christ, who is the Father's image and the only one who represents Him to humanity. Christ is the appointed meeting place between God and humanity, the connecting link after the Fall and the great teacher of mankind, through whom people are united with God and brought to fuller knowledge of Him. People come to the Father only through Christ the Mediator, their Saviour and sole Intercessor, Advocate able to pardon sin, whom no priest or religious leader can replace, and God does not appear in person to teach the way of life because humanity cannot endure the vision of His glory. Christ also represents before God those in whom He has restored God's moral image, and His saving work at Calvary in the Lamb given for sin expresses the Father's immeasurable love.

He came into the world charged with an exalted mission as the visible representative of the invisible God, making known the Father and the glory of divine love in the salvation of man according to the eternal purpose purposed in Christ before time began. He came to direct all attention to His Father, calling to repentance and reconciling to God. His words carry a height and depth and breadth clothed with mysterious power that can only be spiritually discerned and must be brought into life experience.

Following and Representing Christ

True knowledge of God comes through knowing Christ and becoming more like Him, for to see Christ by acquaintance and by experiential faith is to see the Father, since He is the express image of the Father's person and the brightness of His glory sent as God's representative. A pure life through faith in Christ as a personal Saviour brings a clearer and higher understanding of God, while one whose character is not noble and Christlike cannot represent God correctly even if he preaches Christ. God cannot be found out by human searching, but Christ has declared Him, and looking unto Jesus shows what man may become, for through Him every gift of heaven is granted to those who cooperate in daily striving for mastery and He will complete what He has begun in them. In Christ the image of the invisible God is beheld and the attributes of the Infinite are seen, for He and the Father are one, and the glory veiled in types and shadows was displayed in Him in all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Beholding Him and eternal realities in Him exercises faith and satisfies the soul's hunger and thirst for something higher and purer than this world, and the beholder is changed into the image of Christ. The knowledge of God's character seen in the life of His only-begotten Son is the same as that revealed in the ten moral precepts, and keeping attention fixed on Jesus preserves that knowledge against the effort to intercept light from the throne.

As Christ represented the Father to the world by revealing Him through character, work and self-giving redemption in humility and earthly trial to reconcile humanity to God, so His followers and the church are to represent Him in the same manner. They are to represent His character on earth through conduct, including the spirit shown and the way of living at home, embodying His love so that His character may be reproduced in them. Representing Christ as He represented the Father means working as He worked, doing His works and living His life, sharing His self-denial and self-sacrifice at every step heavenward, for He divested Himself of majesty and glory as Commander in the heavenly courts, clothed divinity with humanity, came to a world seared by the curse to live the law of God in human nature and give an example of what humanity may become through abiding in Him. This requires pure benevolence with less of self and more of Jesus, and by doing His works believers manifest the character and spirit of the Father, since Christ is the exact image of His Father's person and character. The object of their mission is the same as the object of His mission, to make known and demonstrate God's love to fallen mankind and to keep prominent the work of saving sinners, and nothing helps more than understanding and fulfilling the lifework of the greatest Medical Missionary. Such living, together with preaching, helps save sinners and makes believers a spectacle to worlds unfallen, to angels and to men, though He is invisible to the natural eye yet beheld by faith by all who believe.

The verse plainly outlines God's will for those who minister in word and doctrine and are acquainted with present truth, and God means just what He says in it. Those who minister need to be converted to understand it, and it is their privilege to believe every part of it and to live it out before fellow ministers as the philosophy of genuine missionary work. Its words deepen Christ's lessons for every generation and are understood in deep meaning when the Holy Spirit writes them on the heart and applies them as the human will receives the Word and divine power cooperates with it, for mere reading or outward keeping of truth does not transform character. The chapter brings hope, encouragement, peace and a deeper sense of God's love, teaching that when people draw near to God He draws near to them and every step toward Jesus is met by His advance, calling for giving self to the Lord without reserve rather than serving halfheartedly. It connects Christ's love with keeping His commandments, with obedience as the Bible test for those privileged with light. It impresses the necessity of living faith, a faith that works through love and purifies the soul, in which believing Christ as personal Saviour is necessary for growth, Christ provides grace while lack of human faith hinders its reception, and sinners must come to Jesus as they are trusting Him to make them pure and keep them holy and obedient.

Living this instruction with Christ formed within cures dissension and striving for the highest place, produces unity with one another and with Christ, and answers Christ's prayer for unity and love. Such unity brings an impregnable wall of strength instead of weakness against determined assaults, enabling standing the test in the shaking time when everything that can be shaken will be shaken. Christ and His Father were one, and in all the Father's requirements Christ cheerfully acquiesced and had the mind of God, being the perfect pattern in whom Jehovah was manifested, heaven enshrined in humanity and humanity enclosed in the bosom of Infinite Love. Ministers who in meekness sit at the feet of Jesus obtain from Him right views of God's character and are thereby able to teach others also.

The words belong to Christ's comfort and instruction just before rejection and crucifixion, and they are to be received by living faith and shared to awaken people to their meaning and bring them the light of truth. So received they give encouragement that brings strength and assurance to the true believer as long as time lasts.