2022-05-19 “shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us”

John 14:8  “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us9  Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

It is quite clear that, at this point, the Apostles were struggling, not only with the thought that the Lord was leaving them, but with the idea of a Triune God (I John 5:7), with what the Kingdom of God was going to be like since He was leaving, and why they should be thinking about Heavenly Mansions at this time.  So, “Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.”; that is, we’ll understand if you will let us see “the Father”.  Then, our Lord very kindly answered him, “Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?”!  And then, He goes on to remind them of the evidentiary works that they had seen in His life; telling them, “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.  11  Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.” (John 14:10-11); that is, the perfect union of The God Head is plainly evident in the works that the Lord had done for them all to see.  But, they still didn’t understand it.  The lesson to us is that such belief is not possible without the work of the Holy Spirit within us, for not even the Apostles themselves could fully believe until they were empowered to believe on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2).  Even great miracles, such as raising the dead to life again wasn’t enough, it took and still takes an act of the Holy Spirit within our heart’s mind to make us knowingly believe such extraordinary things!  But, knowing and believing such things yields joy and peace far above any carnal pleasures of this present world and gently calms us as the storms of life are raging about us!