Yesterday I started going through John 14 with you using the phrase “Your Father would like to have a word with you” as our these. That continues today.

John 14
⁷If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.” ⁸ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” ⁹ Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone 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 that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

If you have seen Jesus, you have seen the Father. He is not just a representative. And it is more than just “He’s the spitting image of His dad.” It is not simply a resemblance. They are connected and intertwined. In fact, Jesus says “the words I say to you are not just my own.” They are the Father’s words, the word He wants you to know and have with you. The Father has His Word with you.

¹² I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. ¹⁵ “If you love me, you will obey what I command.

Recognizing all that Jesus has done in living without sin, dying to pay for our sin, and rising again in victory, gives us a picture of the depth of God’s love. Our response is to want to love Him, too. And He tells us that love will be expressed in our lives by doing what He commands, by listening to His Word. He said it this way in Luke 11:28: “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” If you love me, you will obey what I command.

 ¹⁶ And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you.

Note how the Father makes provisions for when the Word made Flesh is no longer visibly among us. He gives us another one, the Holy Spirit, who speaks the Word and operates through the Word to lead us to faith and strengthen us in that faith.

The Father has His Word with us. I’ll wrap this up tomorrow.