2022-05-27 “how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us”

John 14:22  “Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?

Like the other Apostles, “Judas” (“not Iscariot”) had a misconception of the Kingdom of God and the reigning Messiah-King; he could not understand how Jesus could set up and rule over a powerful kingdom with great palaces and mighty armies and glorious subordinate princes, where He could be seen and heard by His disciples but not by the rest of the “world”.  Again, the Lord emphasizes that God-given “love” leads His Children to “keep” His “words” (obey Him) (John 14:23); the context is, we strive to obey even if we don’t fully understand everything.  Then, the Lord emphasizes that it is not simply the man Jesus speaking to them, it is God in His entirety; for, when the Son speaks, it is the same as the Father speaking; furthermore, His coming was not a unilateral decision, it was God’s unified decision to send the Son, incarnate as a man, (John 14:24) to accomplish the will of God.  Essentially, while it was the man Jesus doing the speaking, it was truly God speaking with absolute authority and power to accomplish His Holy Will.  All of this will indeed overwhelm the human mind; but, “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1); that is, those things of God that are beyond our human understanding, we still believe them because the “faith” He plants within us gives us the “substance” and “evidence” to lovingly know that they are so.  Then, the “love” that comes with our “faith” moves us to wake each day and prayerfully cry, “What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?” (Psalms 116:12).