The Son Reveals the Father
For centuries people have wondered what God is really like - His heart, His character, His posture toward humanity. Is He gentle or harsh? Near or distant? Merciful or severe? The Bible gives a clear and beautiful answer: look at Jesus. Jesus is not a different picture of God, but the perfect revelation of the Father’s true nature. In Christ we see God’s compassion, God’s healing, God’s mercy, and God’s love made visible and tangible. If you have ever longed to know the Father as He truly is, the life of Jesus is the doorway into that understanding.
John 14:9
“Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip?
He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father”?’”
Jesus tells Philip and us that God is not different from Him. There is no “hidden God” behind Christ’s back. Everything Jesus does is a direct window into the Father’s character. His gentleness, His patience with the weak, His compassion for the broken, and His refusal to harm or coerce all of this is what the Father Himself is like. Jesus removes fear and reveals a Father who can be safely trusted.
John 1:18
“No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”
No one has ever seen the Father not one person. This means no one has ever truly known God except Jesus Himself. He is the only begotten Son, the One who lives in the closest union with the Father’s heart. And because of that, He alone can reveal exactly what the Father is like.
Hebrews 1:1-3
"God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
God speaks most clearly through Jesus. The prophets gave shadows and pieces, but Jesus gives the exact likeness of God’s heart. He is “the brightness of His glory” meaning the radiance of God’s character shines fully through Him. Jesus is not similar to the Father; He is the “express image” of Him. God is Christlike and has always been Christlike but we did not always know it until Jesus came.
Colossians 1:15 & 19
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” not a reflection, not a partial sample, but the visible display of God’s inner being. “It pleased the Father” that all His fullness dwell in Jesus which means there is nothing about God’s character that contradicts what we see in Christ. When Jesus forgives, that is the Father forgiving. When Jesus heals, that is the Father healing. When Jesus refuses violence, that is the Father refusing it too.
2 Corinthians 4:6
"For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ"
The knowledge of what God is really like does not come through power or threat, but through the face of Christ. Jesus is God’s glory translated into human expression kindness, honesty, compassion, healing. In Christ’s face we learn that the Father is not distant or severe but personally involved, loving, and approachable.
Colossians 1:15 & 19
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
Jesus is “the image of the invisible God” — not a reflection, not a partial sample, but the visible display of God’s inner being. “It pleased the Father” that all His fullness dwell in Jesus — which means there is nothing about God’s character that contradicts what we see in Christ. When Jesus forgives, that is the Father forgiving. When Jesus heals, that is the Father healing. When Jesus refuses violence, that is the Father refusing it too.
Jesus Defines What God Is Like — Not the Other Way Around
John 10:30
"I and My Father are one.”
Jesus and the Father are one not in a vague or symbolic sense, but in purpose, character, desire, and heart. The unity between them shows that Jesus’ actions perfectly reflect God’s nature. There is no “harsher” side of God waiting behind Jesus. The Father and the Son stand together in the same spirit of self-giving love.
John 12:44-45
"Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me"
Jesus says plainly: “He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.” Jesus does not reveal part of God He reveals God Himself. Every healing, every act of mercy, every refusal to condemn is a direct expression of the Father’s heart. Jesus is not a barrier to God; He is God made visible.
John 6:38
For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
Jesus came to do the Father’s will and His life shows what that will truly is. God’s will is not destruction, fear, shame, or coercion. His will is healing, forgiveness, restoration, and eternal life. Jesus’ mission reveals the Father’s deepest desire: to save, not to lose.
If you want to know what God is truly like, look at Jesus.
He is the Father’s heart made visible, audible, and touchable.
Every action of Christ is the clearest revelation of the one true God, a God who is endlessly loving, relentlessly compassionate, and committed to our healing and restoration.