We Have Seen God!

God is immaterial -- he's not made out of anything. We physical ones can't grasp immaterial things with our five senses, so we have no hope of seeing God as he is. Except for one supremely important matter:
 Jesus himself. How so? Let me explain...

In a discussion with the Jews, Jesus said "And the Father who sent me has testified about me himself. You have never heard his voice or seen him face to face." I used to read that kind of statement literally, but let's remember, John wrote figuratively about most things (not only in his Gospel but his epistles and Revelation also). So Jesus here was telling his opponents, basically, "You don't have a clue what the Father is about."  He confirms that in his next sentence, "you do not have his message in your hearts, because you do not believe me—the one he sent to you."

Here's the other end of the discussion, in John 14, starting in verse 7: Jesus says to the disciples, "If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”  8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”  9 Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you?" 

That's it, the whole deal. To believe in Jesus, and look to Jesus as our salvation and our 'everything,' to see Jesus as the full revelation of God the Father, is to see the Father. There is no alternate God behind a curtain or hiding something of himself from us. 

Know Jesus, know the Father. Know the Father's love and the Father's intention toward humanity, which is to give us life with him forever. If you already know Jesus, then get to know him more deeply. If you've never heard this simple, beautiful message of grace before, well, now you have. The only thing left is for your simple "yes" response to God. What are you waiting for?