John 17 (Three) Manifestation

Good day

For as long as it takes we are going to study the gospel of John chapters fourteen to seventeen.

To pick up the topic, you may need to read the one or two postings preceding this one.

“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. ⁷ Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. ⁸ For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me,” (John 17:6-8).

In this chapter of the gospel of John Jesus lay strong emphasis on His task of manifesting the name of Father God, making sure the disciples and all those that followed them understood that Jesus, and everything He presented for the sake of mankind, came from Father God. Just like with many Christians today the Jews knew they served the living God, but to many of them it was just a tradition, a ritual they had to follow. At the time He was not a reality to them and Jesus came to make Him that reality. Starting with His disciples He had to make first of all the Jews, and then the whole world understand that Father God was a personal God who desired intimacy with His loved ones. Jesus used the word ‘manifest’ in verse six. As we see in John 14:7-9 Jesus did not only talk about His Father, but He manifested Him: “‘If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’ Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’”?

In His words as recorded in John 5:19 we find the reason why Jesus manifested His Father: “So Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.’” The message that the Holy Spirit lay on my heart from this passage can be summarised in this question: Do we see Father God in the words and actions of His servants, or do we see the servants? This could be in both a positive and a negative way. When a preacher or an author reveals knowledge that pleases us, we often put them on a pedestal and single them out as somebody special. However, we do not like and often criticise or persecute those who challenge us when it comes to our disobedience. In the modern day church culture we hear a lot of ‘God-loves-and-blesses-us’ sermons and not too many sermons challenging our sin and disobedience. The Lord uses His Word, and also wants to use His servants to confront our iniquities.

The point I try to make is that the Lord manifests Him through His servants, both to encourage and to challenge His people, and we need to see Him and not the servants behind what His servants say and do. When the servants say something great, the Lord needs to be praised and when the servants reprimand us, we need to yield to the reprimand without criticising and persecuting the servants, for they only manifest God to us. We also should believe messages as a word from God and not the opinion of man when it is Bible based and challenging, learning from it what we can. The servants need to say what the Lord tells them to say without compromising or editing what they have heard. Jesus did not beat around the bush and neither did the apostles and they saw much fruit on their labour, but also experienced a lot of pain and persecution.

Jesus must have felt proud of the disciples when He said in verse 6B that the disciples have kept His Father’s word, which Jesus gave them. For three years He moulded the men He had chosen, and it was as if He now presented them to His Father as successful products of His labour. We were also given the Father’s Word, in the Bible and through the Holy Spirit’s instructions every day. Could Jesus be proud of us as well because we keep the word He has given us?

Lord, help me realise it is all about you and for your glory.

Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth, via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.

Please pass this on if you think others may benefit by it.