Jesus, the "Himaneutic" of our faith!

            A seriously overlooked foundational truth is found in John 17:3.  Here, in the most intimate of prayers, our Lord says, "And this is life eternal, that they might know You, the only True God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."

 **NOTE:  Knowing the Father in the relationship of adoptive sons and daughters is what eternal life is all about.  And Jesus is the only way to know the Father.  Jesus is the "Himaneutic" of the God Head!

            In Matthew 11:27, Jesus says that "no one knows The Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him."  In John 10:15 Jesus again says "as the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father." 

            Hebrews 1:1-2  "God (Father), who at various times and in different ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son."

            "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to The Father except through Me."  (John 14:6)  Wiser words have never been spoken than those of Philip in verse 8, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us."  The Eternal Father is the Blessed "Sufficiency" that we need.  He is the "Holy Reservoir" of all Life and Goodness.  The Beloved Son, Who Eternally resides in the Bosom of the Father (John 1:18), is the Glory of the Father.  He Is the Eternal Declaration of the Glories of the Father.  The Holy Spirit is the "Operant" member of the Godhead Who Eternally proceeds from the Father (Jn 15:26) to testify of the Son and as J.I. Packer says, "To enflesh Christ in His people".  These Three are One, Eternally One in Essence, but with unique roles in the revelation and manifestation of the Godhead!

            Therefore, don't go tramping off into the biblical forest trying to know God apart from "Son Saturation"!                                                                                                             John declares in 1:18, "No one has seen God at any time.  The only begotten Son, Who is in the Bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.  Unlike mere mortals who depart from the womb at birth, the Only Begotten of God ever remains in the Bosom of the Father, and it is from this bond of Oneness that He declares the Father's infinite Beauty and Perfections to the Adopted children.  Jesus gives us no mere "biography" of the Father.  No, He gives us a divine understanding (the Holy Spirit-I John 5:20) that we may enter into that intimate, eternal relational knowledge of which He prays in John 17:20-26.  He sends His Spirit to ignite that "Abba Passion" of adoption in Romans 8:15-16.  Jesus so eloquently expressed that "Abba cry" in Matthew 6:9-15, the Father prayer.

            In John 14:31, Jesus puts an interesting twist on the motivation for the crucifixion, one seldom considered and yet it is His foundational motivation!  "But that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave Me commandment, so I do.  Arise, let us go from here."  The Son's ultimate motivation for the crucifixion was that He might display His Eternal Passionate Love for His Father and His delight in doing His Father's will! (Ps 40:8/Heb 10:5-9)  We humans are not "first chair" in the symphony of redemption.  We must play second fiddle to the glorious harmony of the Passionate Love of the Father for the Son and the Son's Passionate Loving obedience to his Father's will!

            John 6:46  "Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God; He has seen the Father ."  Jesus alone has seen the Father and it is only in His Face that we will ever see God.  II Cor 4:6 "For it is God (by His Spirit) who commanded light to shine out of the darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."  If any one claims to have seen the Father in any other manner than in the face of the Beloved Son, he is either a liar or he is hallucinating.  Ex 33:20 "But He said, You cannot see My Face; for no man shall see Me and live."

            John 3:35  "The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into His hand."  You don't get just half the story from the Son.  He is the very embodiment of Truth that flows from the Bosom of the Father.

 **NOTE:  Jesus is the subject of all the scriptures, both Old Testament and New Testament!!

            John 5:39   "You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they that testify of Me."  The scriptures aren't about theological systems, Israel, the rapture, church structure, style of leadership, worship teams, or God's purpose for your life!  The scriptures are about JESUS!!  If we get that right, all the other will follow in due course.

            How I  wish I could have been a little mouse listening in on the Emmaus road in Luke 24:27, "and beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them all the scriptures concerning Himself."  And yet, we have the Indwelling Spirit of Christ who wrote the scriptures in our bosoms!! (I Pet 1:10-12)

            Jesus says that Abraham understood the Anticipation of Scripture even in the limited revelation that he had.  We learn from the Apostle Paul that Abraham looked way beyond Isaac as the promised seed.  The promised Seed is Christ! (Galatians 3:16)  "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My Day, and he saw it and was glad." (John 8:56)  How the church today needs Abraham's eye sight!

**NOTE:  Just as all sin is "not believing in Jesus" (John 16:7-9), doing the works of God is believing in Him who He sent! (John 6:29) 

            I John 3:23  "And this is His (God the Father) commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment."  This believing on the Son is the labor for the meat that doesn't perish. (John 6:27-29)  Such belief is very apparently far more than the mental assent to Jesus that  modern evangelism talks about.  This belief is the kind that leads to the leaving of fishing nets to follow Him.  This belief is never content with the 5 loaves and 2 fish, but must daily feast on the True Bread from heaven. 

            John 12: 44-45  "He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him Who sent Me.  And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me."  Jesus' goal is to bring us to the life sustaining Love of the Heavenly Father.  This is that which He spoke of in His High Priestly prayer in John 17:24.  "Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world."   Jesus foundational sermon in Matthew 5-7 is all about the "blessed of the Father".  It sets the context for all Jesus' other words and works.

            John 14:6  "Jesus said to Him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father but by Me."  Jesus is the way to the Father, He is the truth about the Father, and He is the Life of the Father made accessible to us through His supreme sacrifice for us.  "He who has seen Me has seen the Father". (John 14:9)  Have we seen the Father?  Have we been brought into the Abba relationship of Romans 8 which Jesus describes in His first sermon? (Matthew 5-7)  If not, we haven't seen Jesus rightly!  We have probably been going to Jesus for loaves and fishes!!

            John 6:57  "As the Living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father,

so he who feeds on Me will live because of Me."  Jesus speaks of His Father over 130 times in the Gospel of John.  He speaks of being sent by the Father/having come to do His Father's will over 30 times.  This is not some trivial emphasis, this is foundational truth.  We are to feed on Jesus!  In feeding on Jesus, we are brought into that eternal Love relationship that He had with the Father from all eternity.  And this feeding on Jesus brings about the nourishment of the Holy Spirit (Who is that Love Bond of Father and Son) which is evidenced by His fruit (Galatians 5:22-23), by the mind of Christ (Philippians 2), and the ongoing Beatitude Behavior. 

Conclusion"  Jesus is not a fire extinguisher, a vending machine, and analgesic, or a really cool guy!  He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  A continual feasting on Him is not optional.  He demands that we passionately pursue Him.  Only through Him do we come to the Father.  Only in the Father do we live in the "peace, righteousness, and Joy of the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:7)  Apart from "Jesus devotion", biblical knowledge and religious practice lead to legalism or at best, "spiritual" co-dependence. 

            John 4:23-24  "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth:  for the Father is seeking such to Worship Him.  God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."