Revealed and Made Known

Today I felt led to read from John 17, the final prayer of Jesus over His disciples and over us.  I am always encouraged when I read His prayers and press further into Him for understanding.  The verses I am reflecting on this morning are as follows - John 17:1-8,26 NIV:

[1] After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:

 “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. [2] For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. [3] Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. [4] I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. [5] And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. 

[6] “I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. [7] Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. [8] For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. 

[26] I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.”

The verses that stood out to me this morning were verses 6 and 26, where Jesus speaks about how He revealed and made know the Father.  This is such a  critical part of His ministry, and yet it seems to be missed, or at least not highlighted by many.  The ministry of Jesus was one of constantly representing the Father in word and deed.  He said earlier in John's Gospel that every word He spoke came from the Father ( John 8:28 & John 14:24) and everything He did was at the Father's direction (John 5:19).  In other words He was representing the Father to us all!  The author of the Letter to the Hebrews opens with this profound fact and says , "The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being,..." ( Hebrews 1:3 NIV).

This reality that Jesus was representing the Father is so important for us to grasp!  If we want to know what the Father thinks or says we can look to tthe words of Jesus recorded in scripture and get a very solid idea of the exactly what the Father is like.

We don't need to wonder, or question.

What Jesus said is what the Father was saying!

The Father is unchanging, so everything that Jesus said about the Father then is true of the Father now!  

If the original sin of Adam and Eve was believing a lie and accusation about the Father, then Jesus coming and correcting that wrong belief and proving that accusation wrong is of critical importance in our understanding and relationship with Him!

Thank You Jesus for revealing the Father to us!  Thank You for faithfully representing Him to us all   Help us to dive deep into this revelation, into your representation of the Father, that we might rightfully love, honor and follow Him in all our words and actions!

Amen and Amen!