Under what Conditions Will Jesus Manifest Himself to Us?
David W Palmer
(John 14:22–24 NKJV) Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” {23} Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. {24} He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”
This Judas (not Iscariot) asked a brilliant question: “Lord, how is it that You will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” His question may have been primarily aimed as asking “how” Jesus’s manifestation could be so selective that he could only be seen by them and not by others; but the underlying question was: “How will you manifest yourself?” In other words, under what circumstances and conditions will your glorious presence be manifested—or shown forth?
Jesus’s answer is simple; it begins with, “If anyone loves me ….” This speaks immediately of relationship. The first condition we need to meet to have Jesus manifest himself to us is love; we need to pursue a close, intimate, transparent, submissive, trusting relationship with him—a relationship of love. This is a bonding in which we focus on what matters to him, go out of our way to express our love to him, and do things for him. What’s more, we have already seen in John 14 that if we love him we will keep his commandments—do what he wants us to do:
(John 14:15 NLT) “If you love me, obey my commandments.”
Our Lord and Master continues his answer in John 14:23: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.” This is the second great clue for us in discovering the answer to the question: “How will you manifest yourself to us?” So, what will it take for us to fulfill his condition, “Keep my word”?
The Greek word, which is translated here as “keep,” has several fascinating connotations in its meaning:
It means to attend to carefully, take care of: to guard; metaphorically to keep (it in the state in which it is); to observe; to reserve: to undergo something.
So, when Jesus says that he will manifest himself to those who truly love him and who keep his word, he means first that they will “attend” or give their full attention to his word as their priority. This is like attending to your responsibilities before taking your leisure.
“To take care of, to guard”
This implies that we have to be faithful custodians of God’s word and what Jesus said. We must ensure that it is not tampered with in any way, that it is preserved as he originally intended it, and that we handle it accurately and faithfully:
(2 Corinthians 4:2 NKJV) “But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.”
(Jude 1:3 TLB) “… urging you to stoutly defend the truth that God gave once for all to his people to keep without change through the years.”
(Ephesians 4:15 NKJV) “… speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ.”
In this passage, the phrase, “Speaking the truth in love,” could also be translated as, “Be true in doctrine and confession.”
“To observe”:
Again, Jesus’s emphasis for those who want to have him manifested to them is to “observe” his word. This means to keep your eyes on him and what he said, as well as to obey him: listen with the intent to do! Seeing that in John 1, Jesus is introduced as the “word,” the “word made flesh” (John 1:1–3, 14), this implies that we should keep our eyes on Jesus, the living word of God:
(Hebrews 12:1–2 NLT) … let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. {2} We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross,
