In the last scenes of this earth’s history, war will rage. There will be pestilence, plague, and famine. The waters of the deep will overflow their boundaries. Property and life will be destroyed by fire and flood. This should show us that the souls for whom Christ has died should be fitting up for the mansions Christ has gone to prepare for them. There is a rest from earth’s conflict. Where is it?—“That where I am, there ye may be also.” Heaven is where Christ is. Heaven would not be heaven to those who love Christ if He were not there. Are we individually fitting up characters which will be meet for the society of Christ and the heavenly angels?
Philip said to Christ, “Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.”
Philip’s doubt was answered by words of reproof. He wished Christ to reveal the Father in bodily form; but in Christ, God had already revealed Himself. Is it possible, Christ said, that after walking with Me, hearing My words, seeing My miracles of feeding the five thousand, of healing the sick of the dread disease leprosy, of bringing the dead to life, of raising Lazarus, who was a prey to death, whose body had indeed seen corruption, you do not know Me? Is it possible that you do not discern the Father in the works that He does by Me? Do you not believe that I came to testify of the Father? “How sayest thou then, Show us the Father?” “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” I am “the brightness of His glory,” “the express image of His person.” “How sayest thou then, Show us the Father?” “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? the words that I speak unto you, I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.” “Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me: or else believe Me for the very works’ sake.”
Christ emphatically impressed upon them the fact that they could see the Father by faith alone. God cannot be seen in external form by any human being. Christ alone can represent the Father to humanity. This representation the disciples had been privileged to behold for over three years.
As Christ was speaking these words, the glory of God was shining from His countenance, and all present felt a sacred awe as they listened with wrapt attention to His words. They felt their hearts more decidedly drawn to Him, and as they were drawn to Christ in greater love, they were drawn to one another. They felt that heaven was very near them, that the words to which they listened were a message to them from their Heavenly Father.
The wonderful works which Christ had done, which were so full of convincing power, ought to have removed prejudice, unbelief, and malice from the hearts of the Jews. Christ had given a convincing proof of His divinity in raising Lazarus from the dead. Through Christ the Father had been revealed to believers and unbelievers. If the disciples believed this vital connection between the Father and the Son, their faith would not forsake them when they beheld Christ’s suffering and death to save a perishing world. He desired them to see that their faith must lead up to God, and be anchored there.
… Their faith might safely rest upon the evidence given by Christ’s works—works that no man had ever done or ever could do. They could reason that humanity alone could not do these wondrous works. Christ was seeking to lead them up from their low state of faith to the experience they might have received by seeing what He had done in giving a higher education, and in imparting a knowledge of what He was—God in human flesh. …
Before He left them, Christ gave His followers a positive promise that after His ascension He would send them the Holy Spirit. “Go ye therefore,” He said, “and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father [a personal God], and of the Son [a personal Prince and Saviour], and of the Holy Ghost [sent from heaven to represent Christ]: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” …
The influence of the Holy Spirit is the life of Christ in the soul. We do not now see Christ and speak to Him, but His Holy Spirit is just as near us in one place as another. It works in and through everyone who receives Christ. Those who know the indwelling of the Spirit reveal the fruits of the Spirit—“love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith.” “Ye have an unction from the Holy One,” writes John, “and ye know all things. I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. … Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.”
“At that day,” said Christ, “ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you.” Christ sought to impress the minds of the disciples with the distinction between those who are of the world, and those who are of Christ. He was about to die, but He would imprint on their minds the fact that He would live again. And although after His ascension He would be absent from them, yet by faith they might know and see Him. And He would have the same loving interest in them that He had.
Christ assured His disciples that after His resurrection, He would show Himself alive to them. Then every mist of doubt, every cloud of darkness, would be rolled away. They would then understand that which they had not understood—that there is a complete union between Christ and His Father, a union which will always exist.
“He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” Again Christ repeated the condition of union with Him. This promise is made to every sincere Christian. Our Saviour speaks so plainly that no one need fail to understand that true love will always produce obedience. The religion of Jesus Christ is love. Obedience is the sign of true love. Christ and the Father are One, and those who in truth receive Christ, will love God, as the great center of their adoration, and will also love one another. The Home Missionary, July 1, 1897