If You Want to Know God, Then Look at Jesus

Jesus has fully explained the Father.

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If you want to know God, then you need to look to Jesus - because He has fully explained the Father.

No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. (John 1:18)

Jesus - the one who has always existed with the Father (John 1:1-3) and knows the Father - has “explained” or “unfolded” or “explained fully” the Father. If Jesus had not come to this earth and lived among us as one of us (John 1:14), then we would have missed out on knowing God as we needed to know Him.

Jesus shows us the glory of God.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

Jesus glorified the Father on this earth (John 17:4). The Father glorified the Son with the glory He had from eternity (John 17:5). Not only does Jesus show us God’s glory, but He gives us glory also and desires us to be with Him so that we may see the glory He had from eternity.

And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one…“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. (John 17:20, 24)

Jesus wants you and me to see God's face and behold His glory throughout eternity.

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5)

Jesus shows us the love of God.

Jesus’ death on the cross was the ultimate demonstration of God’s love for us - the ones who were helpless and the enemies of God.

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

Imagine walking through a museum of God’s love. Many exhibits would spread throughout the museum, but the main exhibit that would tower above the rest would be the cross with God’s Son hanging there for the ones who had made themselves God’s enemies.

By sending His own Son into this world, God showed how much He loves us and wants to save us.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)

Jesus shows us the grace of God.

God’s grace has appeared, bringing salvation to all people (Titus 2:11), and His grace is “exceedingly abundant” in Christ Jesus.

And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. However, for this reason I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show all longsuffering, as a pattern to those who are going to believe on Him for everlasting life. (1 Timothy 1:14-16)

In Christ Jesus, God shows us “the exceeding riches of His grace” (Ephesians 2:7).

Because we have chosen to sin, we have fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23), and have earned the “fair wage” for our sin - death (Romans 6:23). But God’s free gift to us - His gracious offer that we do not deserve - is “eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

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Without Jesus, we would not - and could not - know what we would need to know about the glory, love, and grace of God.

Jesus isn’t just a piece of the puzzle when it comes to the Bible. He is THE piece of the puzzle - without Him, the biblical picture of God and ourselves will be incomplete.

Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.

Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:44-47)