Seeing the Father

Perhaps one of the most important assumptions embedded in the doctrine of the Trinity is that the central way God is revealed is through Jesus Christ. And what we mean is that what is most crucial for us to know about God, what is most true about God and what we most need to understand about Him is revealed to us in Jesus. Jesus is the revelation of God, the truth about God, the image of the invisible God. There is not another, more fundamental, more important side of God that somehow stands behind the revelation of Jesus. One of the most startling things that Jesus says is when the disciples ask Him to show them the Father. And Jesus says that he who has seen Him has already seen the Father. This means that we do not need to worry that we are missing information. God is not concealed in Jesus. God is revealed in Jesus. He is not hidden behind Jesus. He is manifested in Jesus. If we have met Jesus, we have met the God of the whole universe. If we know Jesus, we know the Father. And so when we say that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, this really is not an esoteric reality. It’s not something for rocket scientists and isolated hermits to concern themselves with. It’s actually a very simple claim resting on the simplicity of Jesus. Whatever more there is to know about God is consistent with this. So put your bitterness down. Put your fears away. Do not be distracted by wicked men. Do not despair over your sin. Bring Him your cares, your pains, your frustrations. You have been summonsed here by the God of all the earth, and we are drawing near to Him now. But we draw near in confidence because we are drawing near to Jesus, a man who sympathizes with us in our weakness, and this Man ushers us into the presence of the Triune God.