The Son Reveals The Father

When you think about Revelation in the Bible, what do we commonly think of? Well, normally, somebody brings up the topic of Revelation. The last book of the Bible is entitled Revelation. Revelation of Jesus Christ, actually. That the Father had given him to pass on to John, to write it down. It's not the Revelation of John, but of Jesus.

And as we read through the entirety of the book, 22 pages or chapters, I guess it would be. 22 chapters. What's that talking about? Well, it's talking about the time of the end. Talking about things that are going to lead up to the time of the end, the return of Jesus, the establishment of the kingdom on earth, and beyond.

Chapter 19 and 20, 21, 22. They are incredibly informative whenever you have understanding. Many people read them, and that's the most confusing thing I've ever read, so I'm not going to put a lot of time into it. But, I don't think that most of us view that way. We realize there's a lot of benefit to that.

And yet, I want to talk about a different type of Revelation today. What does Jesus, as the Son of God, what does he reveal about the Father? To those who have ears to hear and eyes to see. Here in Luke 10, you see the statement that's made that we want to focus on today. Luke 10, verse 21, at that hour, Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, and you have revealed them unto babes.

Yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. That was your intent. That was your purpose. Verse 22, all things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father. And anyone, and he goes on to say, let me back up, no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.

So this is discussing a certain understanding that we need to have of how the Father and the Son work together in achieving the incredible plan, the vision that they have for mankind, how it is that they're going to bring about in the lives of people at different times, the development and the growth, the transformation and understanding of God's great plan and what He's actually offering us. I want us to think about, as this clearly says, that the Father draws people to the Son, and we read that in John 644 and John 665, if we want to verify that, but that's in the book of John.

But we often go over a section of Scripture, at least part of the section of Scripture, at the Passover service, that involves John 13 through 17. So a five-chapter section. And what I want to point out to you is, I know sometimes we hurriedly go over that. You can't hardly read the whole thing. There's five chapters that take us an hour and a half to read it easily. And so we don't often do that Passover night, but we often refer to most of the information that is mentioned here.

But I'm going to point out to you that Jesus is talking in these chapters to his very closest friends, disciples that he had had working with him under his tutoring, under his training, under his example, as he showed them many different things, as he reacted to things, as he said certain things to some and certain things to others. He was making a reservation. Now he was making a revelation to those individuals who were very close to him.

And if we realize that's what he's doing, then he's also doing that for us. See, he has great interest in us. He's quite committed to us of our lives, of helping us, of loving us, of forgiving us, of encouraging us. And yet what is the revelation that Jesus gives to his closest friends in these five chapters in John? What does he reveal about the Father? What does he reveal about his relationship with the Father? What does he reveal about our developing relationship with the Father? Because, now let's face it, that's the only way we're going to have a relationship with the Father is through Jesus Christ the Son.

And yet he reveals a great deal about the Father in these chapters. I want to encourage all of us to read John 13 through 17 before we get to the Passover. We've got a month now, so hopefully you'd have plenty of time to read part of that. I mean, even if you broke it up, you'd have plenty of time. But I want to point out to you what it is that Jesus is revealing.

In essence, and the title would be, the Son Reveals the Father. Because that's what the facts are when we study these chapters. I want to start off in John 14. I'll primarily be looking at these few chapters. But in John 14, again, you can read through the whole thing. And sometimes it seems pretty comprehensive, sometimes kind of complex, sometimes maybe unexpected as far as what's going to be said. But we understand the setting that this was Jesus, in a sense, his final kind of teaching and discourse to his disciples before he would be later that night betrayed and ultimately then tried, mocked by those who hated him, crucified by those who got involved, whether they wanted to or not, they killed the Son of God.

And the Jews, of course, had been involved in trying to bring that about. But what was it that Jesus reveals about the Father? Here in John 14, John 14, starting in verse 28, John 14, 28, has an incredible statement in it. Jesus said, you heard me say that I'm going away and that I'm going to come back. I'm going to come to you. So he was repeating something he'd already told him many times.

And yet here, this evening, this very crucial evening, before he would die tomorrow, he told them, I've told you, I'm going away, but I'll come back. Now, I couldn't really grasp that. And looking back 2,000 years ago, we can believe that. We can see that that's what the Bible shows happened. But would we have been able to believe that right then, if we were there?

That would have been very hard to do. But he says, I told you, I'm going to come back. And then if you love me, you would rejoice that I'm going to the Father. See, again, he was telling them, you don't quite understand what's going to happen, but I'm going to be returning to my Father. I have existed with him for all eternity. And I have been here for the last 33 years. I have been among you intimately for three years.

I've been training you and guiding you and showing you how to be some of the initial members of the Church of God. That's what he was telling them. And yet he says, if you really understood, you'd rejoice that I'm going to the Father because... What does he say about the Father? What does he reveal about the Father? Well, he reveals that the Father is greater than I am. Now, in essence, that is an ultimate example for all of us in our Christian lives.

See, it describes how it is that the Great God and the Eternal Word exist together in absolute harmony, absolute cooperation, absolute love, absolute desire to bring about the incredible plan of bringing human beings to a point to where they can be the sons of God.

And see, he's doing that, or he is able to do that because, as he says, Father is greater than I am. Now, isn't Jesus God? Well, yes, he is. Is he the Son of God? Clearly. As a human being, he was certainly in a limited form. And certainly looking at the Father, he realized that the Father is greater than I am, and I'm relying on the Father to bring me back to life. After three days in the grave, three days and three nights. But see, what he was stating is that I am voluntarily and willingly in submission to the Father for the good of the family. So whenever he says Father is greater than I am, he may be saying far more than just an obvious fact that, well, you know, sure the Father is in charge of everything. Yes. But see, we cooperate in every way for the good of the family. If we back up to chapter 15, or I guess go forward to chapter 15, Jesus also says to his disciples in verse 7, If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you. I mentioned that last week, I think, because he's just saying ask for anything. Need a million dollars, need a new car, need a new house, need a new back, need some new shoes. That's not what he's saying. He's just saying, well, if your words abide, my words abide in you, then you have access to the Father. You can ask the Father and he will hear and he will help you. And he goes on to say, verse 8, My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and that you become my disciples. See, if we want to glorify God, if we want to truly praise and worship and thank the Father for everything he has done for us, well, then we're going to want the words of God to abide in us. He says other things here. He says, allow me to abide in you. He says, allow the love of God to abide in you, but I'm not covering that yet. But he says, you know, I am in willing submission to the Father and if we're going to glorify God, well, then that's clearly how we understand the coming kingdom and the government of God. The second thing I'll point out, and I'm not going to enumerate these because I get mixed up with my numbers, and I don't want you to be mixed up with my numbers. Anyway, you know, these are all revelations of the Son about the Father. Another thing that's very clear here in chapter 16, starting in verse 7, is that Jesus wanted his disciples to realize, you have been with me for three and a half years and you have been taught and guided. You have been protected. You have been nurtured. But I'm leaving. I'm not going to be here and I'm going to send help. I'm going to send the Helper. I'm going to send the Comforter. I'm going to send the Holy Spirit that will help you to achieve the incredible human potential that you have. To achieve a potential that ties in with the mystery of how God is working in people's lives, how the Father wants us to be in his family, how he incredibly loves us. Here in chapter 16, verse 7, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away. Again, they were struggling with him leaving.

It's to your advantage if I go away, because if I don't go away, then the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send it to you. To hear, he directly says, I've got to leave. I've been helping you. I have been protecting you. I have been creating a healthy spiritual environment with the group, he could say. He says, I'm going to be gone. How are we going to fix that? Well, we'll send the Holy Spirit to you. We back up to chapter 14, verse 15, he says, If you love me, then you will keep my commandments.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper or Advocate to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot receive, because it doesn't recognize that Spirit, nor does it know that Spirit. But you do know it because he abides with you and shall be in you. He was telling them, you're different from the world. You're different from people who don't comprehend the purpose and plan of God. Now, you need to display that appropriately, but he doesn't want you to miss the fact that the receipt of the Holy Spirit is an incredible blessing. It is the way that we will ever be a part of the family of God.

In chapter 15, in verse 16, he says, You did not choose me, but I chose you. And I appoint you to go and bear fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.

Here he says, you didn't choose me, I chose you. I rescued you out of the bondage to sin that you were in. This, as I mentioned earlier, God rescues us. We don't do that ourselves. And yet, you also see here in chapter 16, verse 13, or verse 12, I still have things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But in verse 13, when the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth. For He will not speak of His own, but will speak whatever He hears, and He will declare to you the things that are to come.

Here, He's referring to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not a he or she. He usually would use it in trying to describe the Holy Spirit, because it's not a personage, it is a power through which God does, you know, incredible things.

But the primary thing that He is doing with us, and Jesus is saying here that, well, I'm going to go away, but I'm going to send the Holy Spirit. Now, did He do that immediately? No. He did that on the day of Pentecost, as we read about in Acts, chapter 2. Now, that was going to be a little while later.

See, sometimes, you know, you can read the Bible, and you can wonder, well, you know, if this is the case, well, how come it doesn't happen all at once? Well, God is the Master Timekeeper. He knows, on the right time is, to do the things that He's going to do. And He is the one who will bring about things in His own time. But here, as we mentioned, Jesus reveals that the Father is going to make available the Holy Spirit, which is going to be transformative, which is the most important gift that any of us ever have.

You can think of gifts, and you can think of a lot of stuff. And you can think of even abilities or attributes. Let's see, those that are described in the Bible come from the Holy Spirit. And so we want to be grateful for that. John chapter 13 reveals another attribute about the Father, because Jesus is reflecting the Father. And what is it in John 13 that we, again, always read? As we go through a foot-washing service as a part of the Passover, we go through a foot-washing service, and Jesus said, as He did with His disciples, in verse 12, do you know what I've done to you?

In verse 13, you call me teacher and Lord, and you're right, because that's what I am. So if I, your teacher and Lord, have washed your feet, then you ought to wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done to you. And verily I tell you, servants are not greater than their masters, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. He said, I'm not greater than the Father. He already said, the Father is greater than I am.

But He says, if I set this example of service, of being willing to do things that are inconvenient, things that are possibly difficult, things that are messy, you know, we don't usually make too big a mess when we have our foot washing service. It's somewhat controlled, unless I spill my pan or something. But, see, what it symbolizes is the attitude of service, the outlook of service that Jesus has, but also that the Father has as well.

He is an incredible giver. And He works with us. You can think about, obviously, to do this task. Actually, He says in verse 16, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. But if you know these things, you are blessed. You are happy if you do them. That's a benefit of doing what God says. Not just that we would go through the motion of a foot washing service on the evening when we have the Passover, but that we have an attitude of service, an attitude of humility.

We've had other messages about seeking to be humble, seeking humility. See, the reason why that's important is that, in a sense, describes Jesus Christ and the Father. Humility. Not describing the devil who is arrogant and vain and jealous and boastful, but humility, as Jesus said, I'm weak and lowly in spirit. This is the way He describes Himself, and He was here reflecting the Father with His actions. And certainly, if you read Philippians 2, verse 7 and 8, you see that Jesus, as the Word, was willing to humble Himself and take on the form of a servant and become obedient unto death.

See, that's the description that you have of the incredible activity that Jesus was willing to do, the Word was willing to do to become Jesus, to be the One who would be born as the Son of God here on earth, but the One who would live and then die and be resurrected to once again be on the right hand of the Father. He was willing to do that, and so that's another attribute He reveals about the Father. Here in chapter 16, verse 22, the disciples, again, were a little troubled about what He's talking about.

I'm going to go away and I'm going to come back. We're not really sure what you're talking about, but in verse 22, so you have pain now because He was leaving, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one can take that joy from you. On that day you will ask nothing of Me, but verily I tell you, if you ask anything of the Father in My name, He will give it to you, and until now you have not asked of things in My name, but asking you will receive so that your joy may be complete. See, how joyous is the Father?

You see some references to the Father rejoicing at the repentance of one sinner. At the beginning of a life of growth and development and transformation, he talks about the Father being excited, the angels being excited about that around the throne of God, in Luke 15. But here Jesus says, yeah, it's going to be painful because you're going to be lost. You're not going to know what to do. And they didn't. They didn't know what to do initially. They knew what He said, but they didn't know what else to do besides that.

They were going to wait for the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit would come. But He says, I'll see you again and your hearts will rejoice. And your joy, your joy can be complete. See, how is it that you can have a joy that has no limit? Well, here he's describing this is an attribute of God.

This is an attribute available through the Holy Spirit. This is actually one of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Galatians 5, 22. Love, joy, and peace. Joy is one of those early ones there. You also see here in chapter 15, verse, let's say in verse 10, If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love.

So He says, not just abide in me and not just abide in my words, but abide in my love. Rest is, I have kept my Father's commandments and I abide in His love. Now see, there's the pattern. There's an example. He says, I follow the instructions because that's what the Father wants. That's what He gives us as a way of life.

But He says in verse 11, I said these things to you so that my joy may be in you. Not just me somehow working up joy, but the joy that comes from God and Jesus Christ. It's far greater than anything that makes us happy today. Often we're happy when things turn out well for us. Or, I'm happy if I don't hurt. You're happy if you have something that goes away and improves and you don't hurt like you did. Now we're happy about physical things, but see, the joy that Jesus had was far beyond that.

And He says that joy is a joy that you can have if you are relating to the Father in the intimate type of a close communion and relationship that God has made possible. See, this affects, brethren, it affects our prayers. It affects our study of the Word of God. It affects any meditation or any fasting that we do. It affects, drawing close to God, is what He tells us to do. And we understand, well, there's certain things I need to do and I need to benefit from that, but He wants that to become joyous.

He doesn't want that to be a labor. He wants that to be joyous because that's the most important thing in life. Another thing you see here in John 16, in verse 33, I have said this to you so that in me, you may have peace. See, we can have peace from God. Not just peace because we're settled. We're feeling okay right now. We have a place to live. We have, for the most part, plenty to eat.

We have clothing. We have almost everything. Most anyone would need. Certainly it's available somewhere if we don't happen to directly have it. But He says, the peace that I'm offering you is a peace that comes from God. And what does He say? In the world, you're going to face persecution, but take courage. I've overcome the world. That's not a problem. Christ is able to overcome. He did overcome the world. He can help us overcome the world. We can have a peace and sense of security and a stability that is impossible to have on our own.

That's what He reveals about the Father in this discourse right at the very end of His life. Another thing that He points out about how the Father and the Son operate is here in John 14. John 14, verse 22. John 14, verse 22, He says, well, Judas was asking Him a question. Lord, how is it that You will reveal Yourself to us and not to the world? And so they were trying to understand how He was saying, you know, you're going to be blessed with the Spirit of God.

You're going to be able to have a joy and a humility and a peace that comes from your relationship with God. And Jesus said, well, how are you going to do that to us and not everybody else? You know, we're not really that much different. We have some same problems as everybody else has. Well, Jesus said, those who love Me will keep My commands or My words, and My Father will love them. And we, being the Father and the Son, will come to them and make our home with them.

And whoever doesn't love Me does not keep My words, and the word that you hear is not Mine, but it's from the Father who sent Me. See, Jesus always pointed out that I am not here to demand My own way. That's a very good lesson for all of us to learn, because if we're here to demand our own way, you know, then we'll find that we demand our own way out into nowhere.

That doesn't work. But Jesus said, I'm not here to demand My own way. I'm here to speak the words that Father gave Me. I'm here to do the will of the Father. I'm here to do the work of the Father.

That's who I represent. I am a representation of the Father. And so here He points out that the Father and the Son would come and make their home with us, and that we can be united with them. In chapter 16, verse 32, this is an incredible statement as well, because He was watching His closest buddies. He was watching them listen, but then seemingly not understand what He was saying. And yet He had already told Peter, when Peter said, Oh, I'll never turn my back on you. He said, Oh, yeah, you will. Yes, you will, because you're human. You're very limited on your own.

By yourself, you are a loser. That's what He was telling Peter. You can do nothing of yourself. And of course, Peter denied it and denied it and denied it until he ended up denying Jesus numerous times. And of course, he wasn't the only one. The others did as well as we read in others of the Gospels. But see, what was it that Jesus said?

How united are the Father and the Son? How closely do they relate to one another in a union that is absolutely complete, absolutely permanent, and absolutely supreme? That's what He describes the love of God as. But here in chapter 16, He says, the hour is coming, verse 32, the hour is coming, indeed it has come. You know, we're at it right now. The hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered. All of you will be sent away. All of you will be scattered. All of you will turn your back on me. And you will leave me alone.

Yet He says, I know I am not really alone because the Father is with me. He didn't have anything to do with what any other human being did for Jesus to know that the Father was with Him. See, how united are the Father and the Son? What does He reveal about their relationship, about their love for one another? See, another thing is mentioned here in chapter 17. Here in this chapter, the last of the five that I'm asking you to read, it's a prayer.

It's a prayer that Jesus prayed. He started off talking about His own needs. He then talked about His disciples who were going to need a lot of help. And then He talked about all of those who would come to believe in Him through their work, through the preaching of the Gospel. And that's how it's kind of broken down. But here in verse 3, what does He tell us that we really need?

Well, He says in verse 3, this is eternal life. That they may know you, the only true God, and that they may know Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. See, knowing God and knowing Jesus Christ is eternal life. Now, again, a lot of people can read that and say, well, I know those words. I know God and Christ. And yet it goes far beyond that, because Jesus was revealing the Father. He was showing that an intimate, close communion and relationship with the Father and the Son is available through the power of the Holy Spirit.

And if we drop on down to verse 20, He says, I ask not only on behalf of these, His disciples there with Him, but also on behalf of those who will believe in Me through their work. So those who would come to believe the Gospel, who would come to believe that the Father sent the Son in order to provide redemption, in order to comprehend that the Kingdom of God needs to be established, and He is preparing for that Kingdom. And He wants individual sons and daughters to live with Him into the Kingdom and beyond, be a part of His divine family. But He says in verse 20, those who will come to believe in Me through their word that they, in verse 21, may all be one as you, Father, are in Me, and I am in you, that they may also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent Me.

See, that was the union, that was the cooperation, that was the mind that Jesus wanted not only Him to have, but His disciples to have, and all of us to have. In verse 23, I in them, you in Me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent Me and have loved them even as you have loved Me.

See, those are all revelations that the Son gives of the Father. He shows what it's like to be a member of the family of God, to be the Son, in relationship to the Father, and then for others to be drawn by the Father to the Son, and then for the Son to reveal the Father.

The final thing I'll mention here is in John 17. In John 17, he's talking about the fact that the people that make up the Church of God, which would initially be the disciples and then others that God would draw, but then others down through, now the last 2,000 years, those who make up the Church of God are all going to be united.

They're going to be together, they're going to be in cooperation. They are going to value that more than anything because that is what Jesus reveals about His relationship with the Father. And here in chapter 17, he says in verse 15, I'm not asking you to take them out of the world. I'm not asking you to take them out of the world, but I'm asking you to protect them from the evil one.

See, all of us need protection from God. We need protection as we travel around, as we do. We need protection as people become less and less law-abiding. Lawlessness abounds. And so we need protection. We all need to pray to be protected from the evil one. But here, Jesus is pointing out that, you know, I'm not taking you out of the world, I'm leaving you in the world so that you can overcome. So that you will learn to just rely on the Father in order to be protected and to be an overcomer.

And then the final thing he says is down here in the last couple of verses here. Righteous Father, verse 25, Righteous Father of the world simply doesn't know you. But I know you, and these know that you sent me. And I have made known your name to them, and I will make it known so that the love that you have loved me, the love with which you have loved me, may be in them and I in them.

See, if we want the love of God, he tells us to keep his commands, and that expresses love toward God. But if we want the love of God to be able to extend that to others, well, then that's got to come from God. That's got to come from a relationship with the Father and with the Son, and withdrawing close to them, and in many ways discussing these things we've just mentioned, discussing these with God. Help me understand. Help me see how that these are the highest priorities for human existence.

The highest priorities is to become like God, to become like God is. And that's why you find when Paul enumerates what love is and what it is not in 1 Corinthians 13, he gives some very specific directions. Love is not. And then he goes through a lot of things. He says love is. And he delineates a number of things, but he finally concludes in the last verses of that chapter. He says love is absolutely permanent. It is absolutely complete. It is absolutely supreme. That's how he concludes, not in those paragraphs anyway, or those verses.

That's what he says. It's complete. It is fabulous to have the love of God. But see, that comes from a relationship with God that you cultivate on your knees. That's what he's wanting of us. So truly, Jesus reveals the Father in this intimate discussion with his friends on the night that he is betrayed. But see, he revealed that to his disciples, and they were struggling with understanding.

But he says he revealed that, and we see it recorded here in the Word of God so that all of us can read it. And all of us can benefit from what he has to say because he reveals the Father not only to those in the past, but to all who are the children of God today. To all of us. And so let's read again what I read to begin with in Luke, and we want to read it in Matthew this time.

Matthew 11. Matthew 11. You see Jesus again talking about how incredible it is that God had chosen to work with those he calls babes. Verse 25. At that time, Jesus says, I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the prudent, the noble, the great of this world.

You've hidden this from them, and you've revealed them to babes. Yes, Father, that was your gracious will. All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him. That's pretty much the same wording that Luke used. But see, it says to have that joy and to have that peace and to have that oneness and to have that voluntary closeness, then we have to be grateful for what Jesus reveals about the Father and then nurture that and apply that in our lives.

So I again encourage you, I know we often cover these verses, like I said, at the Passover, but I hope that you will read them before then, because they are incredibly meaningful. Whenever Jesus says, my words are spirit and my words are life, that is significant. And it clearly is something that can impact each and every one of our lives, and as we examine ourselves with God's help, we can be looking forward to the Passover with a desire and with a zeal, with a gratitude, and with the benefit of knowing that God is preparing us for what He is doing. For a divine role in His kingdom, and He loves us so much, He is going to continue to teach us throughout our lives.

And so please try to cover these here in the next few weeks, and we'll look into something else next week.