The Face of God Text: John 14:7-14
Introduction: A Crisis of Identity
We are in the Upper Room. The air is thick with confusion and a looming sense of abandonment. Jesus, their Lord and master, has just told them He is leaving, and where He is going, they cannot come. He has spoken of the Father's house, and of being the only way to get there. But the disciples are struggling. They are like men trying to navigate by a map they cannot quite read in the fading light. Their hearts are troubled, and their questions reveal a deep-seated misunderstanding of who has been walking with them for three years.
Philip's request in our text is the focal point of this confusion. "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." It is an honest request. It is a pious request. And it is a tragically blind request. Philip wants a theophany. He wants what Moses got on the mountain, a glimpse of the backside of God's glory. He wants a vision, a direct manifestation, something to quell his fears and satisfy his soul. He is asking for the Father, not realizing that the Father has been standing in front of him all this time, speaking to him, eating with him, and washing his feet.
This is not just Philip's problem. This is the problem of the world. The world wants a generic, manageable God. It wants a "Father" in the abstract, a cosmic force, a higher power, a benevolent grandfather in the sky. It wants a God who can be approached on its own terms, through a thousand different religious paths. But it does not want the God who has revealed Himself. Specifically, it does not want the Son. The world is happy to talk about "the Father," so long as we do not mention that the only way to Him is through Jesus Christ. Jesus' answer to Philip is therefore a thunderous declaration against all forms of religious pluralism, all vague spirituality, and all attempts to know God while bypassing the Mediator He has appointed. If you want to see the Father, there is only one place to look.
The Text
If you have come to know Me, you will know My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.”
Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you all so long and have you not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.
Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.
Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do because I go to the Father.
Whatever you ask in My name, this will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
(John 14:7-14 LSB)
The Exclusive Revelation (v. 7)
Jesus begins by laying down the foundational principle of all true theology.
"If you have come to know Me, you will know My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him." (John 14:7)
The knowledge He speaks of is not a collection of facts. It is a deep, relational, and personal acquaintance. To know Jesus is to be brought into the family. And the staggering consequence of knowing Jesus is that you are thereby introduced to the Father. This is not a two-step process. It is one and the same reality. There is no generic knowledge of God available to mankind. All attempts to know God outside of Christ result in idolatry. You either know the Father through the Son, or you do not know Him at all. You are making up a god in your own image.
Then Jesus presses the point home: "from now on you know Him, and have seen Him." He is telling them that their three-year discipleship was not just a class taught by a prophet. It was a direct encounter with the living God. In watching Jesus, they have been watching the Father. In listening to Jesus, they have been listening to the Father. The revelation has already happened. They just need to open their eyes and see what has been in front of them the whole time.
The Blind Request and the Gentle Rebuke (v. 8-9)
Philip, bless his heart, completely misses the point. His response shows he is still thinking in the old categories.
"Philip said to Him, 'Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.' Jesus said to him, 'Have I been with you all so long and have you not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?'" (John 14:8-9 LSB)
Philip wants a sign, a direct vision. He thinks the Father is someone else, hiding behind a curtain, whom Jesus could persuade to make a special appearance. This is the essence of unbelief. It always wants more proof. It wants to see and then believe, while faith believes in order to see.
Jesus' reply is one of the most important statements in all of Scripture. You can almost hear the sorrow and astonishment in His voice. "Have I been with you all so long...?" It is a gentle rebuke, not a harsh one. But it is a rebuke nonetheless. Then comes the thunderclap: "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." Jesus is the perfect image of the Father (Col. 1:15), the exact imprint of His nature (Heb. 1:3). He is not a blurry photograph or an artist's sketch. He is the perfect, living, breathing revelation of who God is. If you want to know what the Father is like, look at how Jesus treats sinners. Look at His compassion, His authority, His holiness, His mercy. In Jesus, the invisible God has become visible. To ask to see the Father after having seen the Son is like looking at a sunbeam and asking to be shown the sun.
The Mutual Indwelling (v. 10-11)
Jesus then explains the theological reality that undergirds His astonishing claim.
"Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves." (John 14:10-11 LSB)
This is the doctrine of perichoresis, the mutual indwelling of the persons of the Trinity. The Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father. They are not two separate gods working together. They are one God. Their will is one will. Their work is one work. This is why Jesus' words are the Father's words, and His works are the Father's works. When Jesus healed the sick, it was the Father's power at work. When Jesus taught the Sermon on the Mount, it was the Father's wisdom being spoken.
Jesus then gives them two grounds for belief. The first and best is to simply take Him at His word. "Believe Me," He says. Trust His testimony about His own identity. This is the path of simple faith. But, He says, if your faith is weak and you cannot yet grasp the truth of His word alone, then look at the evidence. "Believe because of the works themselves." The miracles were not random acts of power. They were signs, credentials authenticating His divine identity. They were the Father's own stamp of approval on the Son. The works point to the identity, and the identity explains the works.
The Greater Works (v. 12-14)
Having established who He is, Jesus makes a radical turn and tells the disciples what they will do because of who He is.
"Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do because I go to the Father." (John 14:12 LSB)
This verse has been the source of much confusion. What could be a "greater work" than raising the dead or walking on water? The answer is not in the spectacle, but in the scope. Jesus' earthly ministry was confined to a small patch of land and a few years. When He goes to the Father, He will be enthroned at the right hand of power and will pour out His Spirit on the church. The "greater works" are the explosive, global expansion of the kingdom through the preaching of the gospel. The apostles, through the power of the Spirit, would see thousands converted in a single day. They would see the gospel cross cultural and geographic boundaries, bringing spiritually dead men from every tribe and tongue and nation to life. That is a far greater work than resuscitating one man's physical body. The work is greater because the exalted Christ, ruling from heaven, is accomplishing it through His people.
And how is this great work to be fueled? By prayer.
"Whatever you ask in My name, this will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it." (John 14:13-14 LSB)
The power for the mission is accessed through prayer offered "in His name." This is not a magical incantation. To pray in Jesus' name means to pray with His authority, for His purposes, and according to His will. It is to come to the Father not on our own merits, but as the authorized representatives of the Son. When we pray for the advancement of His kingdom, for the salvation of the lost, for the strengthening of the church, we are praying in His name. And the promise is staggering. Jesus says, "I will do it." He is not a retired general. He is the active commander, answering the requests of His soldiers on the front lines. And the ultimate goal of all this activity, all these prayers and all these works, is singular: "that the Father may be glorified in the Son." The Son's work always terminates on the glory of the Father.
Conclusion
The implications of this passage are profound and practical. First, we must abandon all attempts to find God on our own terms. God has revealed Himself fully and finally in the person of His Son. To see Jesus in the pages of Scripture is to see the Father. Do not look anywhere else.
Second, we must recognize that we have been commissioned to a great task. The "greater works" are not for a special class of super-apostles. They are for "he who believes in Me." This is our work. We are called to participate in the discipling of the nations, the building of Christ's church, and the extension of His kingdom into every corner of the earth.
And third, we must understand that this great commission is not to be done in our own strength. It is a supernatural task that requires supernatural power. That power is given to us by the ascended Christ as we ask in His name. Our prayer meetings should not be sessions for whining about our personal troubles. They should be war rooms, where we boldly ask our King to do what He has promised to do for the sake of His own name, and for the glory of His Father.