T. Austin-Sparks · 1 of 4

The Revelation of God as Father

"Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I say unto you I speak not from Myself: but the Father abiding in Me doeth His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works' sake" (John 14:8-11).

It must be remembered that the revelation of God reached fulness and finality in His Son. That is a definite statement at the beginning of the letter to the Hebrews: "God, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things" (Heb. 1:1,2). The fulness and the end of the revelation of God is in Jesus Christ, His Son.

In his Gospel John begins right back in the past eternity, and sees the Son there, and then he brings the Son out of eternity into time: "The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14). Then you will notice how much there is in this Gospel about the future. Jesus is constantly speaking about afterwards: "In that day", pointing on to that phase of His existence after He would leave this world. There is much about that eternal future in this Gospel.

So here we have the Son of God in three tenses - the past eternity, the present hour, and the eternity to come. The point is that God's Son comprehends the whole of the eternities, and God's full revelation from eternity to eternity is in His Son.

The words in the Gospel by John which take us right to the very heart of God are "Father" and "Son". However much there may be about "Life" in the Gospel - and there is a very great deal - and however much there may be about other things, the heart of everything is in these two words: 'Father' and 'Son'. The name 'Father' occurs one hundred and sixteen times, which is more than any other subject in the Gospel. Just let that sink into you! The name 'Father' is mentioned one hundred and sixteen times in this Gospel. The word 'Son' is used thirty-seven times, but when 'Father' is mentioned it relates to the 'Son', so that, although the word 'Son' may not occur so frequently, 'Father' always relates to the 'Son'. So you can say that in meaning, 'Son' occurs one hundred and sixteen times.

Now, with this word the Lord Jesus brought an entire revolution into the world. His revelation of the Father was a complete revolution. The way in which Jesus revealed the Father had never been known in the world before. The Jews did not know Him like this. When you go back to the Old Testament and look to see what was the Jews' conception of God, you find that it was very different. There is one word which sums up the whole of their idea of God. The Jewish idea of God was entirely gathered into the one word: 'holy'. He was to them 'the Holy One of Israel'. Perhaps you would be very impressed if you were to look to see how many times that title occurs in the Old Testament. He is called and known as 'the Holy One of Israel' right through the Old Testament. In the prophecies of Isaiah alone, that title occurs twenty-nine times; and if that is one prophet, how many times must it be in all the other books! God was the Holy One to Israel. He alone must be worshipped because He was the Holy One. Isaiah heard the voice of the seraphim crying: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts" (Isa. 6:3), and that sums up the whole of Israel's conception of God.

This is the primary doctrine of Judaism. The Hebrew word for 'holy' means 'different', 'separate', 'one who is set apart from others'. A thing or person in the Old Testament was holy because it, or he, was different and set apart from all others. The priest was holy because he was supposed to be different from all the other men, and he stood apart from them. The temple was holy because it was different from all other buildings, and it was set apart from them. The Sabbath was holy because it was different from all other days, and it was set apart from them. God was holy because He was different from all other gods, and He was set apart from them all. This meant that unless a person was holy, God could not be approached by that person. This very holiness kept every unholy person away. It was very dangerous for an unholy person or an unholy thing to come near to God.

This was the consciousness of the people of Israel. You remember Jacob after that night when the man wrestled with him? It says: "And there wrestled a man with him" (Gen. 32:24). (I think we had just better pause to get our minds straight on this matter. We have heard a lot about wrestling with God, and we base that idea upon Jacob at Peniel. But what the Bible says is that the man wrestled with Jacob. It was God who started this thing, and there was a very good reason for it where Jacob was concerned). But when 'the man' left him, Jacob cried out in terror: "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved" (Gen. 32:30). If he had seen God face to face, his life would not have been preserved because he was Jacob. God came to him in another form.

Think again of Moses. In an interview between God and Moses, Moses said to God: 'Show me Thy face', and God answered: "Thou canst not see My face; for man shall not see Me and live" (Ex. 33:20).

When the man who appeared to Gideon and wrought those wonders went away, Gideon cried out: "Alas, O Lord God! Forasmuch as I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face. And the Lord said unto him, Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die" (Judges 6:22,23).

Do you see what their idea of God was? His holiness made Him very terrible, and for an unholy being to come near Him meant death.