“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.” (John 14:7)
To know Jesus is to know the Father. This is not only because Jesus did exactly what He saw His Father do, but also because Jesus was God in the flesh. He wasn’t made in God’s image and likeness as Adam and we are (Gen. 1:26); He was “the express image of his person” (Heb. 1:3), which means He was exactly like God in every way.
The disciples didn’t realize that seeing Jesus was seeing God. They were expecting something more. Many times we miss God in our lives and circumstances because we are looking for something spectacular. Although God is totally awesome, He doesn’t always choose to manifest Himself that way. He spoke to Elijah, not in the fire, wind, or earthquake, but in a still, small voice. (1 Kings 19:12). Jesus didn’t come to this earth in a grand way but was born to poor parents in a stable. Isaiah 53:2 says that Jesus had no form nor beauty that would make us think He was anything more than a mere man.
Paul reveals in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 that God chooses to do things this way so that no flesh will glory in His presence. He wants us to focus on Him through faith and not concentrate on the physical things He uses. In the Old Testament when He did use visible instruments to release His power, the Israelites made idols out of those things.
Just as the disciples saw Jesus but didn’t realize that what they saw was God, you may be missing Him because your focus is on what is going on around you instead of what His Spirit is communicating within you. You may be looking for Him to do something stupendous, like raise the dead, when He just wants you to speak a kind word to someone who is having thoughts of suicide. He wants to use you in great ways, but He also wants to use you in the little things. Keep that in mind as you follow Him today.
