Seeing God Clearly

 Throughout the ages, people have wondered, 'What does God look like?' Well fortunately for us we now have the answer! All you have to do is input a prompt into an "AI god image generator." Yes, that's actually a thing. "You can select specific divine attributes like glowing eyes, ethereal auras, or powerful symbols. The AI god image generator gives you control over elements like lightning, background atmosphere, God's attire and even gender." - Well isn't that special...?

And many people will design their own image of God to suit their own personal preferences. And there's actually a word for that - it's called 'idolatry.' I know I'm being a bit glib here - but we don't really know what God looks like. Many people have an idea in their head - but I think many people's image of God may be a bit off.

In order to bring the true image of God into focus – we need to look to the Bible to see what God says about Himself. People can have all sorts of opinions about God, but to get the truth – we need to go to the source. And fortunately for us, God isn't hiding. And we can learn a lot about Him by His words. But we get the best picture of God by looking at Him in the flesh. That's where we see…

I. God incarnate

And that's just a fancy way of saying 'God in the flesh'. - How would you describe the sky, the ocean or the Grand Canyon to a person who was born blind? If all you had were words to try to describe those things - the person listening would have no idea of the magnitude of what you were relating. God didn't want His children to just read about Him, He wanted them to see Him – to be able to touch Him, experience Him. That's why we see this in John 1:1-5 (NIV)...

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (2) He was with God in the beginning. (3) Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. (4) In him was life, and that life was the light of men. (5) The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it.

"The Word" is the person of Jesus – God's Word became flesh and bone – something tangible. You see, Jesus wasn't created by God – Jesus is God and has always been. Jesus is the creative force in the person of the trinity, the three persons of God. It's a difficult thing to wrap your mind around – and not only is Jesus God's Son; but He's also God incarnate - God in the flesh. That's not something that easily fits into my head very well – but it's true.

But this perhaps blurry image of God comes into sharper focus in the person of Jesus as we learn more about Him. In his Gospel, the Apostle John made this statement…

John 1:18 (NIV)

No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known.

I shared this idea just this past Christmas - but a good understanding of this verse is absolutely vital to understanding who Jesus is in relation to God.

Here this verse is translated into English from the original Greek language and rearranged a bit. In order to have it make some sense to us, the wording and phrasing was changed a bit in the translation, but I want us to look at the 'awkward to us' literal word for word translation from Greek. This verse literally reads…

John 1:18

God no man has seen never; only begotten, God the being in the bosom of the Father, that one declared.

As I said, it doesn't read very smoothly, but the original text says that the Father and the Son are God, One and the same. This is an extraordinary statement about the identity of Jesus; about the eternal nature of Jesus. The only distinction made here between God and Jesus is that One is the Father and the Other is the "only begotten" – meaning God's only Son.

This verse again reveals the complexity of God. Jesus is God, but also at His side and has made God known to man. Sometimes, even though the picture becomes more defined, it can get more complex. To help us clear it up a bit, let's look at some facts we can grasp. If you want to get to God the Father...

A. Jesus reveals THE way

Notice I put the word 'THE' in capitals. Jesus came to reveal The way to God and to reveal God, Himself. Jesus said the following statement to some of His early disciples…

John 1:51 (NIV)

He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

That phrase 'on the Son of man' is not a grammatical translation error. It's a direct reference to a dream that Jacob had in the Old Testament back in Genesis 28:12-13 (NIV)...

He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. (13) There above it stood the LORD, and he said: "I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying."

Jesus was very familiar with this passage of scripture and that phrase "the angels of God were ascending and descending" - and in quoting the text, He replaced the stairway with Himself. In referring to this scripture - Jesus is very literally claiming to be the staircase, The way to get to God. And then He makes the picture even clearer still in John 14:6-11 (NIV)...

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (7) If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." (8) Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." (9) Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

(10) Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. (11) Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves."

There is no denying that Jesus claimed to be THE way to God; not one of many paths, but THE way. Another fact that we need to grasp to clear up our picture is that…

B. Jesus reveals God's love

In the Old Testament, we see the picture of a 'God of wrath' and then in the New Testament, we see a softer image of a 'God of love'. We make a distinction between the two because Jesus comes along and appears so different in character. But we need to understand, that's a mistake in perception.

Don't forget how God was described in the very beginning of the Old Testament. God walked together with Adam and Eve in the garden. God presented the animals He had created to Adam to allow him to name them. Before disobedience and sin entered the picture - God's relationship with man was great! - Perfect!

Jesus didn't come along to soften God's harsh image. Jesus again revealed that deep love that had been there all along. We can't separate any image we have of God from this deep love. We find this, in 1 John 4:8 (NIV)...

Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

We can see more of God's complexity and deep love in the person of Jesus by looking at His grace. On the one hand, we can see how God feels about empty religion and hypocrisy in the account of Jesus' overturning the tables of the money changers. On the other hand, we see God's amazing, undying grace fleshed out in Jesus' attitude of love and acceptance in the story of the woman at the well and in His dealings with the woman caught in adultery.

1 John 4:9-10 (NIV)

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. (10) This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Jesus came and demonstrated God's love for us. He took the punishment for our sins - that's grace. I recently read a passage online that said...

"Grace isn't fair. It feels reckless. How can anyone grow if they're spared the consequences they've earned? Fairness makes sense to us. 'Cause and effect' feels right. But grace refuses to follow the script. It answers not with balance, but with love.

From a distance, grace looks like a loophole - like someone slipping past justice untouched. It can be twisted, taken lightly, even exploited. But seen from the other side, it's something else entirely. It's breath to the suffocating, water to the parched. It doesn't deny the weight of failure; it simply refuses to let failure have the final word. It continues to give, unmoved by our calculations. Grace doesn't operate by our sense of fairness - it overturns it.

And that's what makes grace so unsettling. We instinctively want mercy when we stand in the wrong, but demand strict justice when others do. Grace disrupts that instinct. From the outside, grace appears dangerous - an open door for the undeserving. From the inside, it's life itself - a well that never runs dry."

In Jesus, we see God's love and experience His grace. Jesus reveals God's love that has always been there and Jesus reveals The Way to God - which has always been the plan. But whether or not anyone views God as a loving God, or whether they accept Jesus as The Way to the Father, or not – God has revealed Himself, so each person must…

II. Make a decision

God, our Creator, 'hardwired' into all of us an innate desire to seek Him out. Most people want some kind of a relationship with God. People want something bigger than themselves, even if they can't express it with words like that. Even among people who claim not to believe in God, many reject Him based on what they mistakenly believe about Him.

The most complete image of God we have is the one He gave us in Jesus. Sadly, however, many settle for an incomplete picture. They may want to accept the love of Jesus without any judgment of any sin in their lives. They may want the grace without allowing Jesus to be their Lord. There has to be an intellectual acceptance of all of who Jesus is and a willingness to embrace Him with our lives and actions.

And developing a good picture of Jesus is a very good thing, but it's not really the end goal. We don't go into a restaurant just to look at the menu. We go to eat, to put food into ourselves! However, many people are kind of like that in their relationship with Jesus. They may sit in a pew and take notes; they read all about Jesus and can even tell you many things He did and said – but they don't take Him into themselves and allow Him to make a difference in how they live!

Some of you may remember Brent Walker and his battle with cancer back in 2019. A few months before he passed, he had a Facebook post that I asked if I could share, and I want to do so again...

He posted, "Do you need any extra prayers today? I would be happy to pray for you. Just remember, He always answers but sometimes it's not the answer we are looking for. You must accept that it's His plan, we just have to follow His lead. Love you all!" When I messaged him, he responded -

"Praying for others just helps me spend more time with God. There is so much passion behind my faith now, especially since my diagnosis. I have the best possible win/win situation I could be in. If I beat the cancer I get a little more time here with my friends and family on earth. If the cancer takes my health, I get to go be with my God and loved ones who went before me. Like I said it's a win/win. My goal now is to do good work till He calls me home."

I responded, "That is a beautiful and accurate perspective. I find when people have to face their own mortality it either draws them closer to God or they push away. Your faith is a blessing to me. When I grow up I want to be like you." And his closing comment - "It's worth it."

Brent was not a perfect man, but a man who knew the love of His Creator. He knew that life here on earth is not all there is. No matter what life threw at him - he made a choice. - To humbly serve God no matter the circumstances. We may not know the mind of God in everything, but we know God's heart. We may not always understand God's ways, but we can always be sure of His love for us even in the most difficult situations.

There's a reason that God placed so many descriptions of Himself into scripture. There's a reason that Jesus came down from Heaven as the perfect image of God. The reason is - God is pursuing you. God wants a relationship with you. God doesn't just want you in a Church building on Sunday. God doesn't just want your name on a membership role. God isn't even most concerned with how you've served Him lately – He wants you! All the other things will fall into place after that.

God went to the extreme measure of becoming a man Himself, giving His life on a cross, in order to have a relationship with you. Do you want to know about this God who pursues you, or do you want to know Him on a personal level?

So What?

Bottom line - you don't need artificial intelligence to show you who God is. The Supreme intelligence of the universe revealed Himself in the person of Jesus. Do you really believe that Jesus is who He says He is? And here's how you can tell if you do - or you don't.

If you don't, you'll know because you'll leave here today and take nothing with you. You won't live any differently than anyone else. You won't treat others any differently. You won't be interested in pursuing any sort of prayer life with God. Your relationship to your friends, your family and even your money and things will not be affected at all by anything I've said here today.

However, if you do believe Jesus – your life will never be the same. You will grow in your desire to serve Him. Your need to tell others about Him will just naturally flow out of you and you'll invite people. Your prayer life will change from one of obligation to a privilege. Every relationship you have, your friends, your family, your relationship to your things and your money will be drastically affected in light of your belief that Jesus is the One true Son of the Living God, God in the flesh!

Do you believe that Jesus is who He says He is? Show Him with your life. May God bless us as we seek to serve Him!