Knowing God Through Jesus Christ

Opening Reflection

Across this series, Seven relationships have unfolded one by one — Creator who gives life its purpose, Lord who claims rightful rule, King who reigns over every circumstance, Shepherd who guides and provides, Father who adopts and delights, Friend who draws near to those who fear Him. Each one is gloriously true. But taken alone, even Seven magnificent titles could remain abstractions — true statements about a God who still feels, in practice, far away. Philip felt this tension acutely. After walking with Jesus for years, he still asked, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us” (John 14:8), as though the Father were somewhere else, somewhere Jesus had not yet brought him. Jesus' response cuts through every abstraction at once: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Every relationship explored in this series — Creator, Lord, King, Shepherd, Father, Friend — is not merely described by Jesus. It is embodied in Him.

Taking a Devotional View

John 14:9 is one of the most staggering claims in all of Scripture: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” Jesus is not claiming partial resemblance, the way a son might resemble his father in some respects but not others. He is claiming exact representation. Paul says the same thing in different words: Christ “is the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15), and the writer of Hebrews calls Him “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3) — not a reflection of God's character at a distance, but its precise expression in a human face. John had already prepared his readers for this claim at the opening of his Gospel: “No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, he has made him known” (John 1:18). What Moses glimpsed only partially on Sinai, what no prophet could fully convey in words, has now been made visible: “God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6).

Every relationship traced through this series finds its source and its access point in Christ. He is the Creator through whom “all things were made” (John 1:3) and “were created” (Colossians 1:16); He is the Lord whom every tongue will confess (Philippians 2:11); He is declared “King of kings and Lord of lords” (Revelation 19:16); He is the Good Shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep (John 10:11); He is the way to the Father, since “no one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6); and He is the Friend who discloses the Father's heart to those who follow Him (John 15:15). To know God as Creator, Lord, King, Shepherd, Father, and Friend is, in every case, to know Him through Jesus Christ. He is not one more title alongside the others; He is the door through which all the others are entered, the face in which the whole character of God becomes knowable, near, and sure.

Father, thank You that I do not have to search for You in the dark, grasping at abstractions. Thank You for sending Jesus, who is the exact image of Your nature, so that whoever has seen Him has truly seen You. Forgive me for the times I have sought to know You apart from Christ, as though there were another door. Open my eyes to see in Jesus the Creator who gave my life purpose, the Lord who claims my surrender, the King who reigns over my circumstances, the Shepherd who leads and protects me, the Father who has adopted me, and the Friend who has drawn me near. Let this series be only the beginning of a lifetime of knowing You more fully through Your Son. In Jesus' name, amen.