Jesus said, "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." (Luk 10:22).
This means that the Lord Jesus is the only one who knows who the Father is, and anyone to whom He chooses to reveal the Father. In other words, if Jesus doesn't choose to reveal to you who the Father is, then you will not know God. You may believe in one God according to the Scriptures, and still not truly know the Father. That was true of the Jews to whom Jesus spoke in John 8, who had believed in Him (Joh 8:31).
He told them, "You are doing the deeds of your father."
They said to Him, "We were not born of fornication; we have one Father: God." (Joh 8:41). They truly believed they had one Father, which was God. But He told them their father was the devil.
"You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (Joh 8:44)
Likewise, you may call yourself a Christian or profess Jesus as Lord, but not know who the Father is or do His will. You don't believe me? Listen to what Jesus said:
"Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.'" (Mat 7:21-23)
These people call Jesus their Lord and perform miracles in His name, but He does not know them, because they practice lawlessness, rather than do the will of His Father who is in heaven. A person naturally takes after their father and wants to do the desires of their father. The way to tell whose child you are is to observe your deeds. You will do the deeds of your father, whether you are a child of God or a child of the devil. Jesus said to them, "If you are Abraham's children, do the deeds of Abraham." (Joh 8:39)
So they were saying to Him, "Where is Your Father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me, you would know My Father also." (Joh 8:19). If you knew Jesus, you would know His Father also. He said, "He who has seen Me has seen the Father." (Joh 14:9b). To know Jesus is to know the Father, because He reveals the Father.
The apostle John said, "No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him." (Joh 1:18). This means Jesus is the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, and that He has explained, made known, or revealed the Father.
"And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power." (Heb 1:3a). This means that Jesus is the exact representation of God's nature or being.
This does not mean that Jesus is the Father. It means that Jesus and the Father are one. He said, "I and the Father are one." (Joh 10:30)
Therefore, if you seek to know God and who God is, seek the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." (Joh 14:6). That means Jesus is the only way to the Father.
He said to His disciples, "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him." (Joh 14:6-7). He will make known who the Father is to those who truly seek Him.
Let me give you an example. When Jesus was on the cross, they said, "He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe in Him. He trusts in God; let God rescue Him now, if He delights in him; for He said, 'I am the Son of God.'" (Mat 27:42-43)
You see, their view of God was that God would not let anyone hurt Him or nail Him to a cross. God would not suffer. God would not allow mere men to subdue Him. God would not die. God would prove who He is by miraculously coming down from the cross. They assumed God would use His divine power to save Himself. But they were badly mistaken.
They failed to realize that God is love. God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, so that whoever believes in Him would not perish but have eternal life (Joh 3:16). No greater love has any man than this: that he lay down his life for his friends. And that is what Jesus did for us, and in doing so, He revealed to us the Father's heart.
You need to know the Father for yourself, and nobody else can do that for you. Your parents cannot do it for you. Your husband or wife cannot do it for you. Your boyfriend or girlfriend cannot do it for you. Your pastor cannot do it for you. Instead you must get to know Him for yourself. Let me encourage you to to do that today. And if you believe you already know Jesus and the Father, check your deeds to see if it is really so. If your deeds are those of the devil, then you don't know the Father, no matter what you believe or say with your mouth.
If you do the deeds of your heavenly Father, then you will be bearing good fruit. We will recognize you by your fruit (Mat 7:16,20). You should have the fruit of the Spirit in your life, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control (Gal 5:22-23). If you do see those fruit in your life, then that's great. Now let me encourage you to seek to know the Father more through His Son Jesus Christ.
Attribution notice: Most Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. The "All Hail King Jesus" painting © 2012 is by Danny Hahlbohm, all rights reserved by the artist.
Author's note: I recommend reading my articles Jesus is Yehova and The Name of Jesus. Other related articles include Yehova as Both Father and Husband to the Hebrews, Is Jesus God?, Christ the Beginning, The Holy Trinity, Baptized with the Spirit and Holy Fire Baptism.
You may also access the Main Directory for this blog, or my complete blog directory at Writing for the Master.
Do You Want to Know Him?
If you want to know Jesus personally, you can. It all begins when you repent and believe in Jesus. Do you know what God's Word, the Bible says?
“Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’” (Mar 1:14b-15). He preached that we must repent and believe.
Please see my explanation of this in my post called "Do You Want to Know Jesus?"
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Len Lacroix is the founder of Doulos Missions International. He was based in Eastern Europe for four years, making disciples, as well as helping leaders to be more effective at making disciples who multiply, developing leaders who multiply, with the ultimate goal of planting churches that multiply. His ministry is now based in the United States with the same goal of helping fulfill the Great Commission. www.dmiworld.org.
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