"ANYONE WHO HAS SEEN ME HAS SEEN THE FATHER"

New Concepts
By Marlene Custer

I have to admit that my earliest views of God were that of a very old man with a long, white, flowing beard. 

Didn’t Scripture refer to Him as the Ancient of Days? 

Over-zealous evangelists perpetuated this idea with sermons on God as a vindictive judge ready to cast me into Hell when Jesus, the all-loving compassionate Savior, steps up and shields me from God’s eternal wrath.

It is easy for me to love Jesus. 

Crowds flocked to Him. 

He was compassionate, ready to heal their physical and emotional hurts. 

“Come to me, and I will give you rest.” 
(Matthew 11:28 NIV). 

Yes, Jesus is easy to love!

I was a young adult and reading through the book of John again, when I had my own epiphany. 

In the fourteenth chapter, Jesus is comforting His disciples. 

He had just told them He was preparing a place for them, and that He would come back and take them to be with Him. 

The disciples did not clearly understand what Jesus was telling them, and Philip implores, 

“Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.” (John 14:8 NIV)
What Jesus said next completely changed my concept of God. 

He said, 

“...Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9 NIV). 

If that is true, then God must be kind, loving, compassionate...all the things we love about Jesus. 

It should have been obvious. 

After all, Jesus is called Immanuel—meaning, 

“God with us.” 

And Colossians 2:9 tells us, 

“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form...”.

“Thank you, God, that you are more than a rule-keeping judge. Thank you for being my merciful Father. Amen.”

Marlene is a retired teacher who wants to make Jesus known. Contact