God has been pleased to reveal Himself in various ways and under different characters in every age and in all dispensations. Before the cross He had made Himself known to Adam, the patriarchs and to His people Israel, but it was not until Christ came and had glorified God on the earth and finished the work which had been given Him to do that all was told out — that the Father-name of God could be fully revealed. Before this, clouds and darkness were round about Him, but as soon as atonement had been made by the death of Christ on the cross, the veil was rent, and believers could thereafter be set down in the light as God is in the light. All distance and concealment were now abolished, and all that God is, together with the name of Father, was fully displayed. Christ Himself, as the Word that became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:1414And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)), was Himself the revelation of the Father. But until the descent of the Holy Spirit there was little, if any, power on the part of those before whose eyes the revelation was passing to apprehend it.
No Knowledge Until . . .
Practically, there was no knowledge of God as Father until after Pentecost. This will be plain if we trace the successive revelations of God that were made to His people in the Old Testament. To Abraham, God said, “I am the Almighty God; walk before Me, and be thou perfect” (Gen. 17: 1); to Moses, “I AM THAT I AM: and He said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3:1414And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. (Exodus 3:14)). And when He entered into distinct relationship with His chosen people, it was under the name of Jehovah and that was ever His covenant name with Israel. Search the whole of the Old Testament Scriptures and not even the word “father” will be found more than five or six times as applied to God, and in most of these cases it is used rather as indicating the source of existence than as implying relationship.
The Old Testament saints were undoubtedly born again. This is to be insisted upon, for without a new life and a new nature they would not have been able to converse with God, but it is equally true that they never knew God as Father and therefore that they could not be in the enjoyment of the relationship.
The Son Reveals
God was not revealed as Father before Christ came. Christ Himself was the revealer of the Father. In the Gospel of John He is presented to us in this character. In the very first chapter of this Gospel it is said, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, [who] is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him” (vs. 18). None other but Himself could have done so, and this is because of the position He ever occupied — the place of intimacy and communion that He ever, and He alone, enjoyed, as marked by the words “in the bosom of the Father.” This place He never left. It is a moral expression. He was in it as much when He was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief as when He possessed the glory which He had with the Father before the world was, and on the cross itself He was still there, for He Himself said, “Therefore doth My Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I might take it again” (John 10:1717Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. (John 10:17)) — His death was in obedience to the commandment which He had received, supplying, as it were, a new motive for the expression of His Father’s love.
Later in the Gospel, we find one of His disciples permitted to lean on His bosom, and this same disciple was the chosen vessel to unfold in his Gospel the eternal Sonship of Christ, and this in some measure may aid us in understanding that none but He who was ever in the bosom of the Father could unfold Him in this character and relationship. In divine things it is ever true as an abiding principle that we can only tell out to others that which we ourselves know in our own souls. If we are not in the power of the thing spoken of, our words, clear as they may seem to be, will convey but little significance. The Lord Himself laid down this principle when He said, “We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen” (John 3:1111Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. (John 3:11)).
How He Reveals Him
Let us then enquire in what way the Lord revealed the Father. He Himself has answered the question. “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 yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of [literally, ‘from’] Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works’ sake” (John 14:811).
Christ Himself then, in all that He was, in the life He lived when down here, was the revelation of the Father; that is, He was the perfect moral presentation of the Father, in all that He is, to all who had eyes to perceive it. As He said, “I have declared unto them Thy name” (John 17:2626And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:26)) — name in Scripture being the expression of the truth of what a person is, and it signifies, in this connection, the truth of the Father. Thus as Christ passed through this scene, every feature, every moral trait, all the perfections of the Father’s mind and heart and character were fully exhibited. To the natural eye He was only Jesus of Nazareth, the carpenter’s son, but the eye opened by the Holy Spirit beheld in Him “the glory as of the only begotten of the Father” and as such the declarer of the Father.
By Words and Works
His words were as perfect as His works, and thus when the Jews asked, “Who art Thou?” He replied, “Altogether that which I also say to you” (John 8:2525Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. (John 8:25) JND). As another has said, “His speech presented Himself, being the truth.” Our words often convey either more or less than the truth, and we are frequently humbled at the discovery that we have failed to express even what we desired, and sometimes because we have left behind a wrong, if not untrue, impression through the imperfection of our words. With Him, on the other hand, every word was perfect and therefore a ray of His own glory as well as a manifestation of the Father. Thus we find in John 14 that He identifies His words with His works. “The words,” He says, “that I speak unto you I speak not [from] Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works” (vs. 10). The words were as perfect as the works, and both alike the revelation of the Father.
How to Have a Fuller Knowledge
The question may be asked, “Where then can we obtain a fuller knowledge of Christ in order more perfectly to know the Father?” The answer to this question is of all importance. It is only in the Scriptures that we can learn what Christ is. There may be meditation upon Him undoubtedly, but if we would be preserved from the snares of mysticism and imagination, the Word of God must be the basis of our contemplations.
Remembering this will give an incentive to study of the Scriptures in such a spirit as would be an occasion for adoring worship and for grateful praise.
E. Dennett, adapted from The Child of God