The Effect of Christ's Manifestation of the Father on History
Lord Macaulay., D. Thomas, D. D. John 14:8-11 Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffises us.… The great mass of mankind must have images. The strong tendency of the multitude in all ages and nations to idolatry can be explained on no other principle. The first inhabitants of Greece, there is every reason to believe, worshipped one invisible Deity. But the necessity of having something more definite to adore produced, in a few centuries, the innumerable crowd of gods and goddesses. In like manner the ancient Persians thought it impious to exhibit the Creator under a human form. Yet even these transferred to the sun the worship, which speculatively they considered to be due only to the supreme mind. The history of the Jews is the record of a continual struggle between pure theism, supported by the most terrible sanctions, and the strangely fascinating desire of having some visible and tangible object of adoration. Perhaps none of the secondary causes which Gibbon has assigned for the rapidity with which Christianity spread over the world, while Judaism scarcely ever acquired a proselyte, operated more powerfully than this feeling. God the uncreated, the incomprehensible, the invisible, attracted few worshippers. A philosopher might adore so noble a conception; but the crowd turned away in disgust from words which created no image in their minds. It was before the Deity, embodied in a human form, walking among men, partaking of their infirmities, leaning on their bosoms, weeping over their graves, slumbering in the manger, bleeding on the cross, that the prejudices of the synagogue, and the doubts of the academy, and the pride of the portico, and the forces of the lictors, and the swords of thirty legions were humbled in the dust. (Lord Macaulay.) Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? — I. CHRIST IN THE FATHER. In the Father's — 1. Affections. He loves Christ more than He loves the universe. "This is My beloved Son." As a loving child lives in the affections of his parents, so Christ, only in an infinitely higher degree, lives in the heart of God. 2. Thoughts. What an intelligent being loves most he will think most about. (1) Christ is the Loges, the Revealer of the Divine thought. As the word is to the mind before it is sounded, Christ is in God. (2) He is the Executor of the Divine thought. By Him His creative, redemptive, governing, statutory thoughts are carried out. II. THE FATHER IS IN CHRIST as in His special — 1. Temple. He whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain has a special dwelling in Christ. In Him He manifests Himself in a fulness and glory seen nowhere else. 2. Organ. As the soul dwells in the body, God dwells in Christ and works by Him. 3. Revealer. "The brightness of His glory," etc. — the Revealer of His power, wisdom, character, as all that is pure, just, tender, and compassionate. 4. Devotee. God is the object of Christ's supreme love. All His thoughts, powers, and aims, were subordinate to Him. (D. Thomas, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. WEB: Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us."