McGarvey notes that “To ask Jesus to reveal the indwelling Father was much the same as to ask a man to reveal his own soul.”

Notice the manner in which Jesus replys to Philip. There may be a tinge of hurt in His voice, but overshadowing it is the obvious desire of Jesus to lead Philip and the other disciples ever upward, “from the experience of what He does to the knowledge of what He is.” (Edersheim) He has the same desire for us!

Jesus gives here the other two reasons Philip (and we) should believe that He is the manifestation of the Father. The first of those in this verse is just because He has said so. Jesus, Who is the way, the TRUTH, and the life has said that the Father is in Him and He in the Father, and since we know that everything He says is true, we should take Him at His word. Philip had been with Him for over 3 years and should have known how trustworthy Jesus was. Note that back then faith involved trust in a living Person, just as it does today.

The third and final reason Jesus gives that Philip (and we) should know that He is the exact representation of the Father is the evidence of the miracles He has done. The works of Christ, as the words of Christ, as given in the previous verse, are all revelations of the Father and should be proof of the mutual indwelling (#5:19, 36, 10:25, 38). This is much the same answer that Jesus gave to the disciples of John the Baptist when they asked Him if He was the One to come (Matt 11:1-6). Notice that Jesus said, “at least”. Faith based on miracles is not the best kind of faith, but it is better than no faith at all.

John 5:19  Jesus gave them this answer: “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.

John 5:36  “I have testimony weightier than that of John. For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent me.

John 10:25  Jesus answered, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me,

John 10:38  But if I do it, even though you do not believe me, believe the miracles, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

Matthew 11:1-6  After Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in the towns of Galilee.  When John heard in prison what Christ was doing, he sent his disciples  to ask him, “Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?”  Jesus replied, “Go back and report to John what you hear and see:  The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor.  Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me.”

“miracles” (NIV) = “works” (KJV) = ergon (Greek) = a work, deed, product, something that has been accomplished by hand, art, industry, or mind. John usually refers to the miracles of Jesus as “signs” but here Jesus calls them works. What is a “miracle” for man is just a “work” for Christ.

Morris tells us that the outstanding characteristic of the miracles of Jesus, as recorded by John, was that they were signs which pointed men to God, and not that they were wonders or that they showed mighty power. They were significant events which revealed spiritual truths. By His miracles, Jesus exposed human need and at the same time showed that man could not meet those needs, but God could. At Cana (2:1-11) Jesus turned the water into wine and showed that man could not cope with the events which happen in normal life. The healing of the official’s son (4:46-54) and the man by the pool of Behthesda who had been lame for 38 years (5:2-9) displayed the power of God over the helplessness of man in the face of disease and physical disability. The feeding of the five thousand (6:1-13) showed how inadequate man is to even provide basic food, but, at the same time, how adequate God is. Man is helpless in the face of the power of nature, but the walking on water by Jesus in (6:19-21) revealed how insignificantly nature affected its Creator. The healing of the man born blind (9:1-7) again showed the inability of man to cope with handicaps, but also revealed Christ as the Light of the world. The raising of Lazarus from the dead (11:38-44) highlights human defeat in the face of death, but reveals Jesus as the resurrection and the life. Each miracle was significant and full of meaning. They pointed men to God and revealed God’s provision in Jesus Christ.

Philip expressed a desire which resides within all of us. That desire is so strong that it could be called a “need” and that need is to “see” (or “know”) God. It is an empty, unsatisfying thing to follow a God who cannot be experienced in the physical realm. Fortunately for us, God is not unknowable. In fact, He goes out of His way to make Himself personally known to His people, from His walks in the garden of Eden with Adam to His quiet revelations of Himself to you as you pray and read His Word. God not only can be seen, but He promised that His followers would all know Him personally and intimately (Jer 31:34).

Jeremiah 31:34  No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

So how do we “see” or know God? Jesus tells us it is by “seeing” Him. Do you want to know what God is like? Look at Jesus. Do you want to know how God feels about people? Look at Jesus. Do you want to know how God thinks about things? Look at Jesus.

The question then becomes: “How do we “look” at Jesus?” The answer is to “see” Him in His Word. As we read His Word, the Holy Spirit will illumine it to us and reveal Jesus to us in an ever-increasing manner.

There is one other thing necessary on our part to “see” Jesus and that is faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God because we must believe in Him to approach Him in the first place (Heb 11:6). In this passage Jesus tells Philip (and us) that knowing Him and Who He is depends upon our believing Him. The world says that seeing is believing but Jesus says that believing is seeing. Let us believe so we may see.

Hebrews 11:6  And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.