Jesus is God
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Jesus is God
Jesus is God
Tonight we go deeper into the strategic, calculated instructions of Jesus Christ to His disciples in His final hours.
As we see in the initial conversation, they need so much.
Christ reveals three things to them: His deity, His power, and His promise.
I. Jesus reveals He is God.
I. Jesus reveals He is God.
7 “If you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”
7 “If you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” 8 “Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time without your knowing Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on My own. The Father who lives in Me does His works. 11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.
John
John 14:7-
If you know Me, you will also know My Father.
The one who has seem Me has seen the Father.
I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.
What did that reveal?
One thing: It revealed that Jesus is God.
This is a tremendous statement. Yet it cannot be dismissed. You cannot ignore the claim of Jesus to be God.
Jesus is uniquely one with, but distinct from, the Father — He is God in human flesh.
4 You know the way to where I am going.”
This implied they should have known.
It was a straightforward claim of divine authority. It’s a mild rebuke. for their unbelief. It’s now something He knows they need due to the circumstances they will be in. “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through me.” I am going to the Father and I will take you.
They had some understanding. They declared Him the Messiah, the anointed One of God. Peter even made the statement that He was the Son of the living God.
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!”
They were close to fully grasping the truth and reality of His deity. And so Jesus sought to put it in terms they could not possibly miss.
If you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.”
“If you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him...The one who has seen Me has seen the Father...I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.”
7 “If you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” 8 “Lord,” said Philip, “show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time without your knowing Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words I speak to you I do not speak on My own. The Father who lives in Me does His works.
If they truly saw Him fully as God, they would not fear and would not doubt. They would not question. They would boldly and courageously stand.
His desire was to comfort them. And the greatest comfort is to know Jesus Christ for who He is — and that is God.
Philips question was eerily close to the unbelieving Pharisee’s —
19 Then they asked Him, “Where is Your Father?” “You know neither Me nor My Father,” Jesus answered. “If you knew Me, you would also know My Father.”
The question reveals a gross deficiency in Philip’s faith. And Jesus’ answer is basically the same He gave to the unbelieving Jews.
And look at the heartbreak in Jesus voice as He responds to Philip:
9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been among you all this time without your knowing Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
John 14:
He had poured His life into these 12 men for 3 years. We saw that in the beginning from Johns statement.
1 Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
It’s the night before His death and the still didn’t really know who He was.
We don’t know if the answer Jesus gave to Philip was satisfying, but it was exactly what Philip needed. Did you notice that Jesus didn’t perform any miracles or display some fantastic power — it is solely His word. He commanded him to believe.
11 Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Otherwise, believe because of the works themselves.
And that is Christianity — Believing what God has said. Satan can counterfeit miracles and supernatural voices and phenomena. You can get that stuff at a séance. Faith is believing what God said. And look at what Jesus told Philip in verse 10.
— “The words I speak to you I do not speak on My own. The Father who lives in Me does His works.”
If Philip had really paid attention, he and the other disciples would have no doubt having seen and understood all that Jesus did.
John MacArthur said this — “There is always the danger of doubting in the darkness things we have seen clearly in the light.” And this is absolutely true. They had seen clearly all that He did. And now in fear they cower in the shadows of the darkness of the circumstances and doubt everything.
How could any of them possibly ask to see God at this point? He was God incarnate. He proved His deity. They experienced His words and His works. And they experienced His love for them.
He goes on to comfort them.
Look at verse 12 as He begins: I assure you. He then reveals as God His resource of power.
II. Jesus reveals His resource of power.
II. Jesus reveals His resource of power.
12 “I assure you: The one who believes in Me will also do the works that I do. And he will do even greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.
John 14:12
This is an incredible statement taken at face value.
Think about this.
How could anyone do greater works than Jesus did?
He healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, gave speech to the dumb, caused the deaf to hear, calmed the sea, cast out demons, walked on water — He raised the dead!
The key to understanding this incredible promise is the last phrase:
“Because I am going to the Father.”
When Jesus went to the Father, He sent the Holy Spirit.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The power of the Holy Spirit in the disciples changed them from timid scared individuals to a cohesive force that reached the world with the Gospel. Jesus’ ministry never exceed a 175 mile radius. The Gospel never went to Europe, Asia, or Africa, much less the Americas.
The Holy Spirit spread the gospel far and wide in the preaching of the apostles and the message is still spreading today. Their works were greater in scope, not in power.
Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, each disciple had access to power in dimensions not previously attainable, even with the physical presence of Christ.
He would later tell them:
7 Nevertheless, I am telling you the truth. It is for your benefit that I go away, because if I don’t go away the Counselor will not come to you. If I go, I will send Him to you.
Though the disciples thought that without the physical presence of Christ they would be reduced to nothing, but with Christ with the Father and the Holy Spirit indwelling them — they were never more powerful and able to do more.
They would be fearless. His promise was meant to ease their fears. And they preached boldly and saw God do amazing things. In , Peter preached and 3,000 were saved. In chapter 4, 5,000 heard the message and believed. In Acts 5:
12 Many signs and wonders were being done among the people through the hands of the apostles. By common consent they would all meet in Solomon’s Colonnade. 13 None of the rest dared to join them, but the people praised them highly. 14 Believers were added to the Lord in increasing numbers—crowds of both men and women. 15 As a result, they would carry the sick out into the streets and lay them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them.
Acts 5:
Incredible?
Every time we introduce someone to faith in Jesus Christ and we witness a new birth, we are seeing the greatest miracle God performs — Salvation.
How exciting it is to be involved and used by God to do “greater things” than even what Jesus saw here on earth.
This is one of those beyond our understanding here and in the Divine counsels of heaven.
III. Jesus reveals an amazing Promise.
III. Jesus reveals an amazing Promise.
John 14:13-
13 Whatever you ask in My name, I will do it so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.
As incredible the statement in verse 12 was, this may even be more incredible. “Whatever you ask in My name — I will do it.”
The disciples had been with Jesus for about 3 years. He provided everything for them. He fed them. He helped them catch fish. He even provided money from a fish to pay taxes. He had supplied all their needs and now He announced He is going away. “Now what? What are we going to do?”
But He makes this astounding promise that the gap between Him and them would close the instant they prayed.
But this is not a Divine Credit Card with no monthly bill. Christ is not the genie in Aladin’s lamp. This is not “I’ll give you absolutely anything you ask for.” There’s a qualifying statement repeated twice.
What is it?
In My name...
But don’t get the idea that it’s restrictive and keeps something good from us.
To understand the magnitude of this promise, we must understand the emphasis of the phrase He mentioned twice — In My Name.
It’s not just the way to end a prayer. Neither is it a magical formula like Abracadabra granting us our every wish.
The phrase — in My name — stands for all Jesus Christ is. Here’s the connection to what He initially told them — He is God. It means He is the Almighty God, the I am. As Isaiah wrote, He is the Messiah to be born whose name will be called “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah was not just listing names but attributes — His character.
Praying in the name of Jesus is not casually closing by merely mentioning His name at the end of the prayer to let everyone know we’re done. Truly praying in Jesus’ name is to pray only for that which is consistent with His perfect character and that which that brings Him glory.
In fact, it is submission to His will. It is so much submitting to His will it as if the Lord Himself were doing the asking.
Think about this.
Did Jesus ever ask anything of His Father that was not of His Father’s will?
No! And that’s exactly the way we should always pray and approach Him. When we pray like that, we pray with the right perspective. We pray for what really matters. We eliminate selfish requests. When we pray like that — Jesus promised — I will do it.
When we pray like that — We can lack nothing good. And it’s a good that transcends all circumstances.
38 For I am persuaded that not even death or life, angels or rulers, things present or things to come, hostile powers, 39 height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!
-39
This promise is the full heart of Jesus’ message of hope and comfort to terrified disciples. In the midst of their collapsing world, He gave Himself as the Rock to which they must cling and seek shelter.
He is none less to you today. His promise is still valid. His power has not diminished with time. His person is not changed. He is God and He cares for you. How thrilling to experience His unchanging love.