6. REVEALERS LIKE HIM

Jesus came to be the revealer of the Father. Philip had requested "Show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us". Jesus said to him,

John 14:8-9 "...Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'?".

These words demonstrate His deity. It is important to understand that His miracles demonstrate that the Father by the Holy Spirit was working through Him. His words demonstrate deity. He claimed what no person other than the Son of God could claim. To introduce someone to Jesus is to bring that person face to face with God. To see Jesus is to see God and know what God is like. Jesus is like the Father in nature, likeness and purpose.

Out among the wonders of nature, we are brought home to the fact that there is a mighty Creator, but it is only as the Holy Spirit shows us Jesus, that the Father is known, understood and appreciated. The Master said, "As the Father sent me, I also send you" (John 20:21 ). We are sent to be Jesus to people who need to know Him. Our following of Him should be so close that, like Paul, we should be able to say, "Imitate me just as I also imitate Christ" (1 Corinthians 11:1 ). Paul is saying, 'Christ is my example, and I copy Him. He is the perfect example. Follow me as I follow Him, and you will be all right'.

Our kingdom life-style as a revealer of Jesus is testified to by Paul.

Galatians 2:20 "I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

A revealer of Jesus must be dead to the influences of sin and the world; to pride and self ambition. Such things have no power to affect the dead. A revealer is living a life of intimate union with Him. It is a life consumed with a desire to be like Christ in all things. A revealer is one in whom Christ lives His life. They live in Christ and Christ lives in them. When that is so, Christ is seen. Revealers of Jesus are like this, because they live by confidence in the Son of God. Their faith is not in personal ability, but in the ability of Christ to live His life in them.

If anyone was looking for Jesus in the neighbourhood in which you live, would that person end up at your address? It should happen, because He has commissioned you to be a living revelation of Himself.