“‘If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.’ Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.’” John 14:7-11

While it may be hard for our minds to grasp, to know God, one needs to know Jesus; and to know Jesus is to know God the Father.

Philip, a disciple of Jesus, didn’t grasp this truth, prompting Jesus to say to him, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.”

Jesus had just told His disciples: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). And He told His disciples: “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him” (John 14:7). This is what prompted Philip’s request that Jesus show them the Father.

Jesus is “the brightness of [the Father’s] glory and the express image of His person” (Heb. 1:3). “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him” (Col. 1:15-16). The Gospel of John tells us of Jesus: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. … No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:14,18).

And so, to see and know Jesus is to see and know the Father, and one cannot know God the Father without knowing Jesus, the only-begotten Son of God in human flesh and blood! Or, as Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

This, of course, has many implications for us yet today. Those religious faiths that deny Jesus is the Messiah and the only-begotten Son of God in human flesh and blood not only deny Jesus but the Father who sent Him into the world. Those who claim to worship and serve the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob but do not know and trust in Jesus as the Messiah and their Savior do not know the God they claim to serve.

Of much greater importance to all of us who wish to know and serve the true God who created us and will be our judge on the last day is the truth that Jesus is the only way to know God and be acceptable in His eyes. Only in Jesus can we know God, and only in Jesus can we be acceptable in God’s sight (cf. Eph. 1:6-7; Col. 1:19-23). Jesus’ teaching and His works reveal that He is God and that the Father dwells in Him and works through Him.

Remember the simple truth: “No Jesus, No God; Know Jesus, Know God.” Another version says: “No Jesus, No Peace; Know Jesus, Know Peace.” If you wish to know God and know peace with God, know Jesus and what He has done for you so that you might have peace with God through faith in Jesus and His cross.

Dear Lord Jesus, grant that I learn of You through Your Word that I might know You and place my faith in You and thereby know the Father who sent You into the world to be my Savior. Amen.

[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.]