24 Series Devotionals - Day 19
The Second Comfort: You Can Know the Father Right Now!
“Phillip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’” (John 14:8)
Phillip, of course, was one of Jesus’ Apostles, and his family must have been from Missouri. He responds to Jesus’ assurance that they know the father with, “Show me!” Show me (us) the father and that will be enough.
Phillip’s first recorded words in John are found in John 1:46. Jesus came to Phillip and said simply, “Follow me.” Phillip went to his brother, Nathaniel, and said, “We found him! The one the Law and Prophets wrote about – Jesus of Nazareth.”
Nathaniel responded with considerable skepticism, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Phillip gave a wonderful response: “Come and see!”
Later, in John 6, when Jesus is preaching to the 5,000 who are getting hungry, Philip cannot see any way for Jesus to feed a crowd that size. He had to be shown.
When Philip said, “Show us the Father,” Jesus had already told them (Verse 7), “If you had known me, You would have known my father also.” He is clearly saying, “You have known God and have seen Him!”
In verse 9, He continues, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip?” He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” Verse 11: “Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.”
Further in verse 11, Jesus, referring to his miracles, says, “….believe because of the works themselves.”
We tend to be a doubting people. Jesus knew He had to “show them” – the disciples, and now us. Our modern world with its myriad uncertainties tends to make us skeptical. Isn’t it wonderful that the God who created us gave us Jesus - whom we can always trust?