By Kevin Guigou – Associate Pastor
Jesus’ question to Peter summarizes the great adventure of our lives: Knowing Jesus better.
“He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am’ Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Christ the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘You are blessed, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven!’” Matthew 16:15-17 (NET)
It is during our lifelong quest to understand Jesus Christ that we also grow to discover our Father God and ourselves. Since Christ’s resurrection, it was never intended that we would get to know God without getting to know his Son.
Across our lifetimes, we grow in a personal partnership with God the Father by seeking a deeper relationship with the living Lord Jesus through his spirit.
We’re called into intimate fellowship with both the Father and the Son, each having a unique identity that we long to humbly comprehend and experience.
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him’ [they knew and saw God in the life of Jesus].” John 14:6-7 (NKJV)
By “All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal him.” Matthew 11:27 (NET)
Walking by the Spirit of Christ, we find that we’re getting to know the Father God himself.
John 1:18 reminds us that Jesus lives “in the bosom of the Father” and that he came to reveal and declare God, his identity, and his ways.
“No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.” John 1:18 (NKJV)
The longing of every Jesus follower is to discover a deeper understanding of his rich, multifaceted identity. Christ is the subject of the whole Bible because he is the red thread of God’s redemptive plan across its pages.
“God, having spoken from old time to the fathers through the prophets in many parts and in many ways, has at the end of these days spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things,
through whom also he has given form to the ages, who is the reflection [radiance] of his [God’s] glory, and the exact representation [imprint] of his nature, and is upholding all things by his powerful word.
After he had accomplished the cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” Hebrews 1:1-3 (REV, Revised English Version)
He is the best embodiment of the nature and character of his Father. The Lord Jesus brought the perfect personality of God into a pair of sandals… and into our hearts!
In Part 2, Pastor Kevin will study the oneness and unity of purpose with the Father and His Son, while describing their equally breathtaking distinctions.