John 14:7 If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him."
These are strange words. Do they confuse you? Let’s keep them in context. What Jesus is showing and teaching them is pivotal. It’s like a pivot point where you have been going one direction, but then you see something that catches your attention, and you stop, pivot, and go in the direction of a new objective. Up to that moment, the disciples had not known Jesus. I think He meant that they had not known what He came to do. They thought He came to establish an earthly kingdom free from Roman occupation, so they had missed what was happening before their very eyes. He came to reveal the Father! He said, “From now on”. In other words, what Jesus was saying to them from that moment on would reveal not only who Jesus is, but who the Father is. They would realize for the first time in their lives that they had been fellowshipping with and watching God the Father at work in His Son. This was a seismic shift of perspective and worldview that was to become the foundation of the kingdom of God and His church for the rest of history. Is it possible that many, like the disciples, have not known Jesus or the Father because they have the wrong idea of what Jesus came for? They think He came to give them a better life in this world. They love their lives in this world. They wake up each day with no real understanding of where they are going, so any ole way will do as long as it is happy and comfortable to their personal sensibilities. When Jesus reveals Himself, there is a pivot point, where the things of life in this world are replaced by one great and glorious object—the reality of the Father revealed in Jesus Christ. Their hearts are captured. They plant their lead foot, pivot, and change directions because now they know that Jesus and the Father are life indeed. Have you experienced the great pivot?
Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com
