Jesus makes an interesting statement in a conversation he has with Phillip in John 14. Phillip, who is confused, asks Jesus to “show” the disciples “the Father,” so they can know for sure who Jesus is talking about (John 14:8). And Jesus, perhaps to the surprise of the disciples, answers by saying, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). In other words, anyone who has seen Jesus has seen God.
Virtually every person has asked the question, “What is God like?” Jesus came to answer that question. He came to show us what God is like. What this means is that we must pay close attention to Jesus’ life and especially to the way Jesus treated people during his time on earth. As you read through the gospels, it will not take you long to discover a pattern. Jesus treats people with compassion, with dignity, with respect. He treats people in this manner who are not used to being treated this way, tax collectors, outcasts of society, people who have checkered pasts, to say the least. As a result, they are drawn to him and experience transformation. The woman at the well is a great example of someone who is completely changed through just one encounter with Jesus, who leaves her sin behind and tells as many people as she can about this man who offered her a forgiveness that no one else could.
The miracles of Jesus certainly point to his deity, to the fact that he was God incarnate. Jesus gave sight to the blind, cast out demons, healed countless numbers of people of their sicknesses, and even raised the dead. These miracles, in and of themselves, are enough evidence to back up Jesus’ claim to be God. However, what is worth noting is the context of so many of these miracles, what it is that leads Jesus to perform them. More times than not, it is compassion. It is love. It is the constant kindness Jesus carried with him to people of all walks of life, people who he came to die for. Sure, Jesus got angry. He got frustrated. He lamented at the cataclysmic effects of sin upon the lives of people. Yet, so much of what bothered him was the toxic nature of the religion of his day, how rules and regulations were elevated far above the dignity of human beings.
Why did Jesus, being God, value imperfect human beings the way he did? Why did he love these sinners? The answer is simple. It is because people, as the highest form of his creation, bear his spiritual image. Though fallen, we still carry with us the image of our Creator, marred as it is. This reason alone was enough to send God to this earth. It is why he became one of us as a baby in Bethlehem. It is why he chose to bear the cross. We bear his spiritual image. Why do parents love their children? Why do we sacrifice and give so they can succeed in life? Because they came from us. They are the bone of our bone and the flesh of our flesh. When we look at them, we see part of ourselves. Such is what it means to be created in the spiritual image of God.
God takes sin seriously, there can be no doubt. His holy nature cannot look upon it. Sin separates us from the presence of God and that’s why the sin of Adam and Eve was so tragic. Yet, the book we call the Bible tells the story of a holy God who is also, to borrow author Phillip Yancey’s language, a “lovesick Father,” a God who was willing to go to extreme measures to get his children back. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).
If you want to know what God is like, if you want to know his ultimate characteristics, look at Jesus. Jesus came to show us what God is like. He came to show us the Father. Most importantly, he came to show us the love of the Father, a love that led Jesus to exclaim, “Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:24). This, as he was dying one of the most agonizing deaths one can ever imagine. Do you need forgiveness today? Do you need to know that you are valued and loved by the eternal God of this universe? Jesus came to make this clear. Does your life belong to him?