“Jesus cried out, ‘He who believes in Me believes not only in Me but in Him who sent Me. He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not remain in darkness.’” John 12:44-46
Do you want to know God? Know Jesus, for Jesus is God the Son, sent into the world by the Father to reveal the true God to us and provide salvation for us by making atonement for our sins! That is what Jesus essentially said in His conversation with His Jewish audience at Jerusalem.
Therefore, those who believe in Jesus as the Son of God and their Savior from sin trust not only in Jesus and His words but also in the Father who sent Jesus into the world for our salvation. Those who see Jesus see God Himself in human flesh who came into this world to be our Savior.
The reverse is also true. Those who do not trust in Jesus as the Son of God and the Savior from sin do not trust in God the Father. Jesus said, in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” In John 5:23, Jesus said that “all men should honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.”
And, of course, no one can see God apart from Jesus, for Jesus is God in the flesh, and He came into the world to make known to us the Father. In John 1:18, the Scripture says, “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.”
Jesus came into the world as a light shining in a dark place so that we would not remain in the darkness of sin and unbelief. Through His teaching, He reveals our utter sinfulness and guilt before God and God’s judgment upon our sin.
But Jesus also reveals God’s love and mercy toward us in sending His holy and sinless Son into the world to suffer and die in our stead and bear on the cross our just punishment so that we might look to Him in faith and be pardoned and forgiven and restored to life in communion with God the Father, forever!
Jesus shines upon you and your life, revealing your sinfulness and guilt but also offering you pardon and forgiveness through faith in His atoning sacrifice on the cross for the sins of the world. Do you walk in that light, confessing your sins and looking to Jesus and His blood shed on the cross for pardon and forgiveness? Or do you flee from that light or try to extinguish it in an attempt to cover up your sins, thereby remaining impenitent and under God’s wrath and condemnation? Cf. John 3:16-19.
Dear Lord Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, by the Holy Spirit’s working through Your Word, let me see You and know You for who You are and what You have done for me that I might also see and know the Father’s love and mercy toward me and walk in fellowship and communion with You, the Father, and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen.
[Scripture is quoted from The Holy Bible, Modern English Version, Copyright © 2024, 2017, 2014 by United Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House. All rights reserved.]