“‘If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’ Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? 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 authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments.’”

Good News in a Time of Despair

We closed last week’s passage with another of Jesus’s “I Am” statements, with Him saying, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Each of the “I Am” statements that occur through John’s gospel is another reminder of Jesus’s deity, tying Him and His authority back to God in the Old Testament. In the account of God speaking to Moses from the burning bush, Exodus 3:13–14 says,

“Then Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’ God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: “I AM has sent me to you.”’”

As we’ve moved through John’s gospel, with each “I Am” Jesus has given evidence for those to look at Him and see His divine nature. “I am the Bread of Life,” “I am the Light of the World,” “before Abraham was, I am,” “I am the Door,” “I am the Good Shepherd,” “I am the Resurrection and the Life,” they’ve all attested to His station and power as the Son of God, and Son of Man. While tragic, it makes sense that those who oppose Jesus are blind to what He says, failing to see His Truth, and coming to hate Him as His genuine authority presses against and exposes their corruption and wicked hearts. But what we’ve also seen, again and again is that even those who are closest to Jesus, fail to see Him for who He really is. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me,” give a different level of clarity. Yes, “I am the Bread of Life” shows Him mirroring the Father who gave His people manna from heaven when they were in the wilderness. “I am the Light of the World,” and “I am the Good Shepherd” both reflect Him in the same manner as the Father in that God shepherded His people out of Egypt, a pillar of fire watching over them and guiding them through the darkness. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life,” carries with it a direct explanation, “No one comes to the Father except through me.” The entirety of Scripture points to God – He is our Creator, our Lord and Master. He is the embodiment of Love, and Power, and Mercy, and Grace, and Wrath, and Judgement, and Justice and it’s too much, He is too much. He is perfect in His righteousness, and we are wicked in our sin and there is no path, no means for true reconciliation between humanity and our God. For Jesus to say that He is the one and only path by which we can come to God, points again, screaming in declaration to His deity. Jeremiah 10:6 says,

“There is none like you, O LORD; you are great, and your name is great in might.”

There is no one like God, no one who can compare to His righteousness – and so it makes that only God could reconcile us to Himself, only He could serve as the Way for humanity to reach Him. As we continue on into this week’s passage, we see further explanation of what this means as it pertains to the relationship between He and the Father, as well as how it applies to the twelve disciples. Finally it gives an assurance and a standard that we are to take up and lean on as followers of Christ today.

1.      Sight Given by God, not the World

“If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

Jesus continues on by again drawing attention to this disconnect the disciples have between who they see Him as and who He truly is. These men have lived alongside Jesus, learning at His feet. They were taken from a variety of different lives, most pulled from the dregs of society, uneducated men with no great prospects or opportunities, called to serve in the ministry of the Messiah. They’ve heard Jesus’s teachings, they’ve witnessed His miracles firsthand, and even been blessed to carry out some of these same miracles in His name. We’ve seen Peter profess before the rest of the twelve that Jesus is the Christ, and Matthew 14:33 says that after Jesus walked upon the Sea of Galilee to join them in their boat,

“And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, ‘Truly you are the Son of God.’”

But what Jesus starts with, “If you had known me,” just Reemphasizes that while they have known Jesus personally, and at times they’ve grasped at the edges of the Truth, they haven’t fully known or understood Him. There’s been a gap, for both the disciples, and for the people at large in their understanding and comprehension of who the Son of Man really is. If they had really seen Jesus for who He was instead of who they wanted or expected Him to be, they would have seen the Father in Him and understood that the will of God was manifested and at work in Him. This is a heavy blow. To think that you’ve spent years learning directly from Jesus, to love and revere Him, and yet He tells you that you’ve missed it. But rather than chastising them for their lack of sight, Jesus follows this news immediately with hope.

“From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

The culmination of Jesus’s ministry, the miracle of miracles, His hour of glory on the cross is nearly at hand. Jesus said in John 12:27–28,

“‘Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour”? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.’ Then a voice came from heaven: ‘I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.’”

Through His death on the cross, and by His resurrection from the grave, His teachings and miracles come to be seen in a different light. Jesus said in John 9:39,

“For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.”

Through His glory on the cross eyes, and hearts, and minds are opened, and He is fully visible as One with the Father. John 1:18 says,

“No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.”

While 1 John 4:7–13 says,

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.”

Only Jesus has truly seen, known, and understood God face to face. No other has done this, or could do this as Jesus has, because the Father and Son are One and so their ability to see and know the other is perfect and complete. However the passage from 1 John helps us see how, just as we cannot truly know love apart from God, yet in His love for us, we are brought into understanding, so we cannot fully see and know God as Jesus does, yet in the Son, we may see and know the Father.

2.      Assurance from Need, not Desire

“Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? 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?”

There were times in the past that I would read my Bible and roll my eyes at the disciples. If your lens is distorted, and they register more as characters in a story, it becomes easy to point and judge. It can be tempting to scoff and think, “I would never to that” when Peter denies Jesus, or to think, “my faith would never be so weak” at Thomas’ doubts. But God has humbled me and drawn me closer to Him, and in Him, I feel a love for the disciples as my brothers in Christ. I acknowledge the mistakes they make, but I sympathize with them in their weakness, understanding better just how weak I am myself. Jesus just told the remaining eleven, that He is the Way to the Father, that to know Him is to know the Father also – and Philip turns right around and says “Lord, show us the Father.” It could be easy for us to roll our eyes, but we have the glorious benefit of the entire canon of Scripture, and (if you are redeemed and made new in Christ), you read with the Helper of the Holy Spirit within you. The disciples, up until quite recently, had their minds set on an earthly kingdom with Jesus as their ruler, and them ruling beneath Him. Now, the reality that Jesus’s life is truly in jeopardy, that He’s telling them He’s leaving is sinking in. True, Jesus doesn’t leave them without hope, but continually tells them of the glory that is to come. But as is so prevalent in human nature, it’s only the negative that seems to register with the disciples. There’s fear, confusion, and uncertainty, and in their desperation, Philip seeks reassurance. While we should never be so bold or foolish as to shake our fist and question God, there is a difference between doing this and asking God questions or seeking His comfort in our distress.

Exodus 33:17–23 shows Moses, distraught in the aftermath of the golden calf rebellion, asking God for affirmation,

“And the LORD said to Moses, ‘This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.’ Moses said, ‘Please show me your glory.’  And he said, ‘I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name “The LORD.” And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,’ he said, ‘you cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.’ And the LORD said, ‘Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.’”

Judges 6:36–40 shows Gideon, anxious before battle, asking God for not one, but two signs,

“Then Gideon said to God, ‘If you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said, behold, I am laying a fleece of wool on the threshing floor. If there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will save Israel by my hand, as you have said.’ And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. Then Gideon said to God, ‘Let not your anger burn against me; let me speak just once more. Please let me test just once more with the fleece. Please let it be dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground let there be dew.’ And God did so that night; and it was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew.”

But we should also keep in mind Deuteronomy 6:16, which Jesus quotes in Matthew 4:7,

“You shall not put the LORD your God to the test…”

Philip is likely asking for a divine sign to give them some peace and reassurance as their faith is tested. Some glimpse of glory and power from God the Father, as was witnessed in the Old Testament, or by Peter, James, and John during the transfiguration. Again, I sympathize with his position. He is still struggling, as are the others, to see and recognize Jesus’s deity. But it’s important for us to remember that we are not to test God, to show poor faith in the assurance we’ve already been given.

“The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.”

God does not owe us extravagant signs and wonders to being with, but even less so when He’s already provided them. While we may want the heavens to open, and to have divine revelation fall upon us, we overlook the fact that we hold God’s Word, that as is written in Romans 1, God’s existence is testified to by creation itself. Likewise, while I sympathize with Philip, he asks for what he’s already been given. After Jesus heals the crippled man by the pool of Bethesda, John 5:16–18 says,

“And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is working until now, and I am working.’ This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.”

Even if those disciples who hear John the Baptist cry, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” didn’t understand – even if those who saw examples of Jesus divine foreknowledge, who saw the water turned into wine, the temple cleansed, and the sick and broken healed didn’t understand, Jesus has been stating His equality with the Father as the Son since this event in John 5. And if His words weren’t enough to go off of, they had the miracles themselves, they had the teachings that cut through the fog and confusion created by the religious teachers of the day with divine precision. Likewise, we have the Word of God that tells us exactly who He is – but if that’s not enough, if we need further assurance, we have only to look at creation, at the universe, at reality itself, which speaks to its creator. We have only to look at the all-encompassing perfection of the Holy Word of God. The canon of Scripture we’ve been given, that defies worldly teaching and the impulses of the flesh and serves as foundation and guide to lead us to the Father. The Word, of which Hebrews 4:12–13 says,

“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”

The world is wicked, flesh holds only death, and to live is to suffer. We must cling to the comfort afforded us so graciously by our Father – but in doing so, we must seek what He has given us, knowing that this is more than enough, and not become distracted in seeking after what we want from Him.

3.      Authority in the Spirit, not the Flesh

“Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.”

While it may not seem like it at first glance, this one verse, verse twelve, is a particularly dangerous verse. Not because of what Jesus says, which is beautiful and overflowing with hope and promise, but because of what people do with it. Twisting, manipulating, or outright contradicting what God has said isn’t a new practice. Genesis 3:1–5 says of the fall,

“Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say, “You shall not eat of any tree in the garden”?’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, “You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.”’ But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.’”

On a related, but slightly unrelated note, I really, sincerely, passionately hate Satan. A man may oppose another man in good faith. It is possible for two enemies to have a degree of mutual respect or understanding between the two of them, even as they strive to end one another’s lives. This is not the kind of enemy that Satan is. He is a liar, he’s the liar, the father of lies, a caustic, poisonous treacherous fiend, whose hatred of righteous God spills over upon creation. He’s a manipulator, a deceiver, a bitter, vengeful, malevolent monster who is fighting a war that was lost before it began, and is simply seeking to cause as much pain and ruin as possible before he’s confined to burning exile for eternity. I draw attention to the kind of adversary we have in Satan, because we have to understand that he will seek to ruin us in any way he can. Also bear in mind that it is the spirit of the enemy that is at work in the world, his nature that exists in the sin stain that rests on humanity. This means you don’t have to have the Devil on your shoulder to drag you down and make you stumble, but that you in your flesh can take care of that all on your own. Paul wrote in Romans 7:21–25,

“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”

We must always, always, read Scripture in context, with obedient hearts and minds, the goal being to understand what God has delivered to us, and not to take away what we want for ourselves. Why is verse 12 dangerous? What do people do with it? “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do, because I am going to the Father.” This verse is stretched beyond reason in the charismatic movement – sometimes out of a sincere, if not misguided heart, but many times into full blown heresy. There are churches that teach that if you’re not prophesying, healing the sick, speaking in tongues, or otherwise displaying the Spiritual gifts displayed by the Apostles, you haven’t received salvation. These are churches that teach that you can manifest what you want out of the world, that your will carries divine weight, that you can “name it and claim it” for whatever you so choose, and they’ll use this verse to back their claim. “Whoever believes in me will also do the works that I do; and greater works than these will he do,” it’s that “greater” that they’ll use as a springboard. “Jesus said you will do the works that He did, and greater works beyond,” and suddenly, you have a mangled gospel, a self-centered, self-glorifying abomination instead of what the gift of life in Christ is supposed to be. So what does it mean? If I can’t go to my local hospital and walk through the halls healing everyone in sight, if I can’t multiply the dollars in my bank account as Jesus did the loaves and fish, if I can’t walk on water or raise the dead, then how can I say that I’m doing the works of Christ or beyond them? Firstly, it’s important to remember that Jesus was fully God and fully Man, and that it was by His deity, His authority in the Spirit, by God the Father, not His humanity that He worked miracles. There is no limitation to what God can do through us, be it parting seas or moving mountains. However, it seems that with the greater establishment of the gospel, God does not reveal Himself by obvious physical signs like these as He once did – or at least not as frequently as He did during the Apostolic age of the church. So bearing in mind that we should submit to God’s will and know what we could be used for whatever He raises us to, we shouldn’t seek to work signs and miracles simply for the sake of working them, what are these greater works? You could say that the directive was only for the Apostles, but this sells the power of the Word short. Matthew 4:17 tells us the initial message of Jesus’s ministry,

“From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.’”

I am blessed and tasked by the great commission to not only share this same message, but one greater – that the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and I can point you to the only path that will allow you to get there. Jesus died, glorifying God with His sacrifice, and I am washed clean in His blood, sanctified and raised up to new life in Him. In His resurrection, he robbed death of its sting, and in Him I am freed from death, from darkness and separation and brought into the Light. Jesus tore the veil that separated man from coming directly to God, and by this I am free and clear and able to approach the throne of my Lord and Savior with confidence and joy. And by my salvation, by the Spirit that indwells me, I am blessed to share all these things, to point others to the truth of Christ, to offer a message of salvation, not just to a select group of people, but to any and all who might receive the Word of God. That I, born in sin, raised in wickedness, bearer of flesh that by its very nature brought me into open rebellion before God, can be transformed, washed clean, made new, and blessed to testify the Truth of the gospel cannot be understated – it is a miracle. To follow in the Spirit and lead others to Christ is both the work that Jesus did and the greater work beyond, and I can think of no higher privilege, no greater joy than that.

“Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

I’m not overly opinionated when it comes to Bible translations. There are some that are exceptionally bad and should be avoided at all costs, though to be fair, most of these aren’t actually translations, but are purposefully reworked and twisted to suit an agenda (looking at you Passion “translation”). While I cross reference with other Bibles, I almost entirely read and work out of the ESV, as I’m a big fan of “thought for thought” translations, and I’ve found it to be a smoother read than the NASB for example, at least for me personally. I bring this up, because for the end of today’s section I actually prefer the NASB, and it’s not because of the translation, but the subject break. Between verses 14 and 15, the ESV has a break that says, “Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit,” while in the NASB the break is between verses 15 and 16, saying, “Role of the Spirit.” I have nothing against subject headings, but I’ve also found a lot of benefit from reading with them, then rereading while ignoring them. I bring all this up because if you read, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it,” you may miss the forest for the trees, and drift in a manifesting, name it, claim it sort of direction. On the other hand, making sure that “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” is read in connection with this helps keep us on course. Matthew 7:7–11 says,

“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

This is beautiful and comforting. It reminds us of God’s intimate knowledge of our needs, and His limitless ability to meet them. However this should be understood alongside James 4:1–3,

“What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”

This is where “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” becomes so grounding, as it reminds us that it’s not about us, but about glorifying and honoring God. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments,” is again an acknowledgement of Jesus’s coequality with the Father, referencing back to the Old Testament. Deuteronomy 6:4–9 says,

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

Putting all this together, we have the great comfort and assurance that God will answer any request and meet any need – provided we are seeking His will. We have the guarantee that we will always be more than prepared to serve the Lord and share the gospel of Jesus Christ. There will be times of pain, anxiety, fear and doubt, but we are loved and cared for by our God, provided for by the King of kings and Lord of lords. As Jesus said in Matthew 6:31–33,

“Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

Pastor Chris’s sermon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ANLxOncofA