“Jesus explained, ‘I am the Way, I am the Truth, and I am the Life. No one comes next to the Father except through union with me. To know me is to know the Father too. And from now on you will realize that you have seen him and experienced him.’ Philip spoke up, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and that will be all that we need!’ Jesus replied, ‘Philip, I’ve been with you all this time and you still don’t know who I am? How could you ask me to show you the Father, for anyone who has looked at me has seen the Father. Don’t you believe that the Father is living in me and that I am living in the Father? Even my words are not my own but come from my Father, for he lives in me and performs the miracles of power through me. Believe that I live as one with my Father and that my Father lives as one with me – or at least, believe because of the mighty miracles I have done.” (John 14:6-11 TPT)
“Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed. And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is Spirit.” (2 Corinthians 3:12-18 BSB)
“He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the chidren of Israel. The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.” (Psalm 103:7-8 NKJV)
Daddy specifically wants me to publish this for someone out there. I know in my spirit that there is one person in particular that this is for. I believe that many will profit from the following content, however, just to be crystal clear it is specifically directed for one person. I do not know who, but God does. Maybe it’s YOU?
According to the Apostle Paul, I will never read the Old Testament and understand it apart from Jesus. It was written under a veil that only Jesus can remove. (2 Corinthians 3)
I will never understand the Father apart from the Son. Jesus said that in order to see, hear, and know the Father, I have to see, hear, and know Him. (John 14)
For years, I had a terrible image of God (the Father) because even though my theology told me that Jesus is God, I actually had very different views of God the Father and God the Son. I was like the Israelites who had a faulty view of the “acts” of God rather than like Moses who knew the “ways” of God (Psalm 103:7). The people said that they would listen to Moses but not the God that they feared (Exodus 20:19). However, God “spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to a friend” (Exodus 33:11). Like the Israelites, I read Scripture through the veil and could not see the Father as He truly is.
When the Holy Spirit revealed the reality of the oneness of Jesus and Yahweh (the Father) to me, the veil was lifted, and for the first time, I saw the Father as He truly is. At that moment, He revealed to me clearly that everything that He did in the Old Testament was motivated by the same love that motivated Jesus.
I believe everything that I read in all of Scripture must be read through Jesus as revealed in the Gospels. The motivation of the Father always has been, and always will be, the same as His motivation for sending Jesus into the world. With the loving heart of a Father, everything that He does is to “save” and never to “condemn.” (John 3)
So why does any of this matter?
Now, when I read things like Sodom and Gomorrah, the flood, etc. I see a loving Father who, like Jesus in the Garden, agonized to the point of drops of blood looking for any other option possible other than shedding human blood in order to save the human race. Even in that moment in the Garden, Jesus was mirroring the Father doing only what He saw the Father do.
As a Master Physician, the Father, after exhausting every possible solution and waiting with long-suffering until the latest possible moment, performed amputation surgery on the human race. Only when He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that no one would turn from rejecting him and willfully following the enemy in his plan to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10), did He take the needed action to save us from extinction and preserve a bloodline for the coming Messiah whose death would save us for eternity. From what I read about the condition of the human race just prior to the flood I truly believe that if God had not stepped into human history and saved Noah and his family there would no longer be any inhabitants on planet earth. (Genesis 6)
It has never been the Father’s desire to condemn. It has always been his desire to save. He doesn’t want even one person to perish. (2 Peter 3) Are YOU the one that Daddy wanted to share this with? I pray you are ready to receive and ponder…
…Eric’s Life Lesson # 315: Can You See Me?