Yesterday I was rereading some of my absolute favorite verses from John's Gospel. Jesus is so clear in the following passages, and so encouraging.
John 14:6-14 NIV:
[6] "Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [7] If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
[8] "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."
In case I haven't said it before, I just love these passages, as they speak so clearly to me about Jesus as the Father's representative. Everything He said, everything He did is directly from the Father and directed by the Father. When we see Jesus, when we hear Jesus, we are seeing and hearing the Father. This is far more than Jesus just being the spitting image of His Father, this is a unity of heart and mind that we can only understand at the most basic level this side of Heaven. Jesus says "I am in the Father" and the Father is in Him. He says that, "it is the Father living in me doing His work!".
The best part of this for me is the realization that Jesus is demonstrating something in His human-ness that is possible for me as well. Jesus is the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity, but He laid all that down and chose to live as man (Philippians 2:6-8), limited in all ways that man is limited (Heb 2:17), so that He might be a true representative of us in His fulfillment of the Law. If He was demonstrating this as a man, then it means it is possible for me too, as a man. Wow! I can't begin to grasp what it would mean to have an awareness of God living in me to the extent that I could say that everything I say and do is directly from and being directed by Him. I am so far from that reality, but hopefully growing in my sensitivity to Him every day, for He does live in me. Rather than being discouraged by my lack of unity with the Lord, I am encouraged, for I see in Jesus' words what is possible.
He spent His whole life up to His public ministry getting ready for that time. He spent years refining His ability to hear and see what the Father was doing, learning to live in a constant state of awareness of Him present and directing. He was tempted in all ways we are (Heb 4:15) but never digressed from the Father's will or purpose. He learned to walk in absolute obedience, so that He could say that every word He spoke and everything He did were directed by the Father. This reality is available to us, if only we will learn to see, hear and obey. Wow, again!
Finally, as He was directed by the Father, He proclaimed the Kingdom and demonstrated the Kingdom through signs, wonders, healings, casting out demons, cleansing lepers and raising the dead! This is what the Father was doing, and the Father is unchanging (Psalm 55:19), and as such is still wanting to do the same things today! However, instead of being in residence in Jesus, as a human on earth, He is resident in me! The works that Jesus did were demonstrations of this reality (verse 11 above) and our ability to do the same and greater (verse 12 above) is proof of God living in us too.
It is quite simple in my mind. If we believe that God is unchanging, and still has all authority and all power, and His kingdom is still present, and He still is able to take up residence in us, and He still desires to seek and save the lost, then we must believe that He will do the same things as He did through Jesus, for that is how He revealed His unchanging nature in His most perfect and exact representation, Jesus (Heb 1:3). It is not a question of if God desires this, for He has made His direction and purpose very clear through Jesus' words, spoken as the Father's representative. John 14: [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."
I do believe this is true, and I am powerless to do anything about this, except that I can press into relationship (knowing Him) and be obedient to what I hear and see Him doing. Hearing, seeing and obedience are my responsibilities, everything else is from God! Lord, I welcome You into me, and I pray that You will help me to refine my ability to hear and see, and strengthen my resolve to obey everything You tell me to do!
Amen!
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