Christ Alone Reveals

John 1:14-18


It is Christ alone who has revealed God the Father to man. It is written that "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared Him."


The eye of mortal man has never beheld God the Father. No man could bear the sight. Even to Moses it was said, "Thou canst not see My face; for there shall no man see me, and live" (Exodus 33:20). Yet all that mortal man is capable of knowing about God the Father is fully revealed to us by God the Son. He, who was in the bosom of the Father from all eternity, has been pleased to take our nature upon Him and to exhibit to us, in the form of a man, all that our minds can comprehend of the Father's perfections. In Christ's words and deeds and life and death we learn as much concerning God the Father as our feeble minds can at present bear. His perfect wisdom, His almighty power, His unspeakable love to sinners, His incomparable holiness, His hatred of sin could never be represented to our eyes more clearly than we see them in Christ's life and death. In truth, "God was manifest in the flesh," when the Word took on Him a body (1 Timothy 3:16). He was "the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of His person" (Hebrews 1:3).  He says Himself, "I and my Father are one" (John 10:30). "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father" (John 14:9). "In Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily" (Colossians 2;9). These are deep and mysterious things. But they are true.


And now, after reading this passage, can we ever give too much honor to Christ? Can we ever think too highly of Him? Christ is the meeting point between the Trinity and the sinner's soul.


For Meditation: Our understanding of the character of God need not be vague and indistinct, because our Lord has lived as God with us and made Him known.


~J. C. Ryle~