In Him we see the Father
Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me—not that anyone has seen the Father except He who is from God; He has seen the Father. (John 6:45-46 ESV)
Scripture makes it clear that God is Spirit and cannot be seen by humans. No one has ever seen Him, meaning His true essence and all that He is. While He has shown Himself at various times in a visible form, known as a theophany, no one has ever seen Him as He is.
But while no human has seen God, Jesus—God the Son—has both seen the Father and has made Him known. “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.” In “seeing” Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, God the Son, we see the Father. We “see” Jesus within the pages of Scripture.
We hear the words He spoke, His teaching; we see His interaction with others, the love, mercy, compassion, wisdom, power, and oneness with the Father that He had. Jesus was God walking on earth, and in Him we see the visible image of the invisible God. He existed with the Father before anything was created, and through His incarnation we understand what God is like.
God revealed Himself in His Son, who came to earth to walk among us, and in so doing made it possible for us to enter into an eternal relationship with God. God has made Himself known in His Son, and in Him we see the Father. The time will come when we will see God. All of this is possible because Jesus sacrificed His life for us, which makes Him and His Father worthy of our worship. [1]
We should know and celebrate God with our whole person. - Craig S. Keener
[1] Anchor God Is Worthy of Worship
