QUESTION #39 Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not know me, Phillip?

QUESTIONS JESUS ASKED BIBLE STUDY

 

     Read John 14 KJV: 

 

 Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? (John 14:9)

  Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? (John 14:10)

 

I AND MY FATHER ARE ONE

Reference: John 14

 

Now I will readily admit that on the surface Jesus does seem to speak of Himself and the Father as if they were two persons. In fact, it appears that Philip in John 14 was also confused because he asked Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father" (v. 8). Jesus had been speaking of God in a distanced way all this time, and poor Philip thought that He was speaking of another person. But, notice Jesus' response. He almost sounded as if He were puzzled when He said, "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? He that has seen Me has seen the Father; how is it that you say, “show us the Father?" (v. 9). Jesus was saying that He Himself was the one that Philip was asking for. In verse 7 Jesus tells him, “if you had known Me, you should have known my Father also, and from henceforth you know Him and have seen Him.”

 

The Pharisees also ask Jesus in John 8:19, “Where is thy Father?” Jesus answered them by saying, “you neither know Me, nor my Father, if you had known Me, you should have known my Father also.” In verse 24 Jesus goes on to say, “…for if you believe not that I am He, you shall die in your sins.”

 

One reason that Jesus so often spoke of God in the third person is that He did not want to appear unto men as God, but He wanted to appear as a man just like one of us, as we read in Philippians 2:5-8, NIV:

Vs 5 - Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus:

·   Vs 6 - Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

·   Vs 7 - but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

·   Vs 8 - And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross!

One commentator explains it this way: Many times the question is asked, "If Jesus was the Father why did he not just say so?" The answer to this question is so completely summed up in Philippians 2:5-8. He was humble. He did not think it a good thing to flaunt his deity before men. He did not choose to appear better than man, although he was better than all men for he was the creator of all men. He chose, instead, to have all men appear better than himself.

 

When Jesus speaks thus, does it mean one in unity? The increasing resistance of the Jewish leaders, who constantly called for more and more evidence of His claimed Messiah-ship were about to hear the clear evidence of that claim, in John 10:30 Jesus said, "I and my Father are one." Does that mean that they are one in unity? Well, I ask, if that was all He meant then why did the Jews pick up stones to stone him? (v. 31) The Jewish leaders knew this was His claim to be almighty God, which is why they sought to stone Him - the legal, God-given punishment for such a claim. In fact, Jesus asks them why (v. 32), and they answered him, "because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God" (v. 33). They understood this as claiming to be God. 

 

When Jesus spoke of the Father it was always in a way that distanced his own identity from that of the Father. This action was in keeping with his character of not appearing as God, although he was. Concerning this very subject Jesus made the following promise: "These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall not more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall shew you plainly of the Father: (John 16:25). Paul referred to this same event of revelation when he wrote unto Timothy, "Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and the Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen" (1 Timothy 6:15-16). At the time of this great revelation we will all bow low at his feet and confess, "My Lord and my God!”

 

I could give many scriptures to show that Jesus is indeed God, but here are a few more that show that he is specifically the Father (who is the only God, Mal 2:10; I Cor. 8:6). 

1  Jesus said that He would send the comforter to us (John 16:7), but He also said the Father would send the comforter (John 14:26).

2. The Father alone can draw men to God (John 6:44), yet Jesus said He would draw all men (John 12:32).

3.  Jesus will raise up all believers in the last day (John 6:40), yet the Father quickens (gives life to) the dead and will raise us up (Romans 4:17; I Corinthians 6:14).

4.  Christ is our sanctifier (Ephesians 5:26), yet the Father sanctifies us (Jude 1).

5.  We can easily understand all of this if we realize that Jesus has a dual nature. He is both Spirit and flesh, God and man, Father and Son. 

But if all that I have written above does not clear things up for you, I think John did an excellent job in the first book of John.

 

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²The same was in the beginning with God. ³All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.

 

¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not.

 

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

 

Who was made flesh and dwelt among us? Jesus! He was in the world, the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. All things were made by Him! 

 

Isaiah 9:6, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the might God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

 

Who was Jesus? The everlasting Father!

 

To learn more see “Who Was Jesus” and the “One God Wheel” pamphlet in pocket of study.

 

Notes: