John 14:7-11 – Jesus is one with the Father

Despite being with Jesus and hearing His teachings, the disciples still had not fully grasped what He had taught, concerning His oneness with the Father. Jesus is the only begotten of the Father. No one can truly know the Father without truly knowing Christ. And when we know Christ we will know the Father. Being so closely kneaded with the Father, Jesus was God manifested in the flesh. Knowing and seeing Jesus was as good as knowing and seeing the Father. Jesus predicted that this truth of His oneness with the Father would become clearer.  

Philip’s statement is a clear illustration of how lack of understanding the disciples had, concerning Jesus being one with the Father. Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” He still did not get the full import of all that Jesus was saying. In asking that question, he showed that he failed to realize that Jesus is the manifestation of God. The Lord then replied him saying, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” Jesus was gently rebuking him. In His answer to Philip’s question, Jesus was saying, “Have you been so long with me and yet fail to realize who I am. Can you not see that I am God?” The God whom Philip, and probably the others as well, desired to see could be seen visibly in Jesus. He was the visible expression of the invisible God.  

Jesus Christ and God the Father was in each other. Together they had a perfect union between them. Jesus explicitly said that both His words and works perfectly reveal His Deity. He equates His words with the works of the Father. Remember, in creation, God spoke and everything came into order. God’s words were His works. So in verse 11, Jesus then appealed to them to look at His works. If they could not accept His deity based on His words, they should at least, on the basis of His works, acknowledged that He is truly God. We thank God that what was unclear to the disciples has been made clear to us through the Spirit who has been given to us. Just as Jesus authenticated His words through His works, we must also let the actions of our life speak for us as His followers.  Actions always speak louder than words. Hear what Peter exhorts us to do in his first letter to the early church, “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation” (1 Peter 2:12)