“No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.”
(John 1:18)
The other day I saw the eldest son of someone I had known years ago. The similarity between this young man and his father was nothing short of astounding. He looked, stood, walked, gestured, and talked just like his dad. The similarity between the two men was was positively uncanny; he was, in virtually every respect, the spitting image of his father. Of course when we see or hear about such things our minds take us to Jesus, “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). As today’s verse passage reminds us, He is the One Who mediates God to us; it is He Who declares the Father (John 14:7-9). This being so, it is impossible to truly love God and yet reject Jesus. “Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father,” wrote the beloved disciple, “he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also” (1 John 2:23). The Lord Jesus pulled no punches when He declared: “He that hateth me hateth my Father also” (John 15:23). In the Bible, parentage is attributed to those whose attitude and actions are mirrored by others. Whereas the attitude and actions of God the Father are displayed perfectly in Jesus (John 5:19), the attitude and actions of those who reject God and His known will are reflective of God’s great adversary, the devil. “Ye are of your father the devil,” said the Lord to those who had refused to believe in Him, “and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). When the Lord looks at people who hate and reject Him, those who are self-deceived and who deceive others, He attributes their parentage to the devil (also see 1 John 3:12). When God sees such people, He in some sense sees Satan, the first rebel and the father of lies. It is astounding to think that God would choose to look past our wretched condition, that He would choose to see us as objects of matchless, redemptive love. How mysterious—and wonderful—it is to know that God sees those of us who have received Jesus for salvation as not only innocent, but clothed in His own righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21). The good intentions of God toward all of us is that we might be fully conformed to the image of His dear Son. Beloved,” wrote John, “now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). For those of us who have entered in a love-trust relationship with God through Christ, the blessed and mysterious transformative work is already under way (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).
Hallelujah and Maranatha!
God bless you, dear saints,
Pastor John
English