Sunday 14 May 2017

I am God personified


John 14:6-14
Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.’

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’

Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever 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 on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does His works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

This is perhaps a little bit confusing at first, and we probably read the passage and move on to something else. The message we get, at first sight, is that Jesus says He is at one with the Father; God.

But let's analyse what He says a bit more.

Here Jesus is saying something that the disciples do not understand. They think He is saying that He is the Son of God, He is at one with God. But what He is in fact saying is "I am God. I am God, personified. I am God in the shape of a human."

Jesus often taught people to refer to God as the Father. And He often said that He is the Son of God. This must have scandalised the Jews and their elders who crucified Him for the blasphemy of saying He is the Son of God.

Can you imagine their reaction had He said outright, "I am God!"

This is the closest He comes to saying just that. And His disciples still did not understand.

"Whoever has seen me has seen the Father," meaning "I am God personified."

He goes on to say, "I am in the Father and the Father is in me," again, explaining that they are one, He is God in human form.

He repeats this message and explains that the works He has done (miracles) are done through God Who lives in Him.

From olden times, as far back as Abraham, Moses and the prophets, the Jews believed in God. One God. One living God.

Other people had many deities like the Romans and the Greeks for instance.

The Jews had one living God. The God of Abraham and Moses Who spoke through the prophets.

Then Jesus came on the scene. He said He was the Son of God; and in time, many Jews accepted this. In their minds there was a living God in Heaven, and this Jesus, His only Son. Albeit, right now in this passage, He is telling them He is God, (i.e. part of the Trinity), but they don't see it or understand it.

After His death and resurrection the early Christians came to associate God and Jesus together. In their minds, and central to their faith, there was a living God, and this man Jesus who died and was raised from the dead was (is) His only Son.

When Jesus ascended to Heaven, as promised, He sent down His Holy Spirit, (the Spirit of God), to dwell within the disciples and to open their eyes and minds and to understand.

To understand that the three, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, are indeed one.

God - an invisible living Being, Creator of all and everything, somewhere in Heaven.

Jesus - God personified. Appearing on earth as a human being. The only Son of God.

The Holy Spirit - The Spirit (soul) of God. Descending upon the disciples, and upon us if we ask Him, to enlighten us, to help us, and to guide us back home to the Father, God.

12 comments:

  1. Hi Victor! I love your spirituality. This is such a great post for me because I did puzzle a bit on the Gospel this week. How can you ask about the Father when you've been with me all this time? (Poor Thomas, always getting it!)
    It's so hard to be confronted with humanity, and yet see divinity. I suppose we all still do that in figuring out how to see God in each person we meet, not to mention our family members.
    May God bring me the grace I need to see him in everyone I see.
    Ceil

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    1. Hello Ceil,

      If God had appeared to us like a God (i.e. not like a human baby in Jesus) but as a God, a super-powered omnipotent being, able to create everything and able to perfom miracles and so on - He would have frightened the whole of humanity into submission. Hardly the act of a loving Father, is it?

      So instead, He appeared to us as a vulnerable baby child, Who grew amongst us so that in time we got to accept Him, listen to Him, learn from Him, witness His miracles, and ... eventually kill Him.

      But after His resurrection, witnessed by many, some of the early Christians began to understand how He was/is the Son of God. And indeed, God in human form.

      This then led them to accept and understand the Holy Spirit when He descended upon them. To those early Christians, receiving the Holy Spirit was/is a reality which many today do not understand.

      God bless you and yours, Ceil.

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  2. Trust and obey, for there no other way, to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey.

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  3. Victor #1... After having read this interesting and well thought out post of yours... Skitso sinner vic would love to get a chance to try and Pontificate but long story short, I'm simply going to say what Jesus said in so many words to Thomas, Happy are those who believe and have not seen... and leave "IT" at that. LOL!

    WHO'S LAUGHING?

    http://biblehub.com/john/20-29.htm

    God Bless Peace

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    1. I agree.

      God bless you and your family, Victor.

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  4. That is a great passage. John's Gospel is my favorite of the four because there are so many such passages. I think you passed over what might be the most shocking part of that passage; Jesus says, "Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these..."

    Can you imagine? He has cured the blind and raised people from the dead and He is telling them they can do even greater works than these.

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    1. Good point, Manny. Thank you. Can you imagine the amount of Faith and belief one should have to be able to perform similar miracles? I wonder what He meant by "greater works".

      The disciples did in fact perform miracles at the time of Jesus and after His ascension to Heaven. But today ... not many of us perform miracles. What does that say about our Faith?

      God bless you and yours.

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    2. Well today we save lives all the time, and even resuscitate people from the dead. So we do on occasion perform miracles Christ said we would.

      Of course we abort children too, and that is evil.

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    3. Agreed Manny ... some miracles do occur even in these days. But people are un-willing to believe them.

      God bless.

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  5. The "Three in One"---a mystery of faith! Great lesson today, Victor!
    Blessings!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Lulu. It is a mystery, indeed.

      God bless.

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