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From Heaven With Love
There are not many ways to heaven. Each may not choose his
own way. Christ was the way by which patriarchs and prophets were
saved. He is the way by which alone we can have access to God.
But not yet did the disciples understand. “Lord, show us the
Father, and it sufficeth us,” exclaimed Philip. Christ asked with
pained surprise, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast
thou not known Me, Philip?” Is it possible that you do not see the
Father in the works He does through Me? “How sayest thou, Show
us the Father?” “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.” Christ
had not ceased to be God when He became man; the Godhead was
still His own. Christ’s work testified to His divinity. Through Him
the Father had been revealed.
If the disciples believed this vital connection between the Father
and the Son, their faith would not forsake them when they saw
Christ’s suffering and death. How perseveringly our Saviour sought
to prepare His disciples for the storm of temptation soon to beat
upon them. All present felt a sacred awe as they listened with rapt
attention to His words. And as their hearts were drawn to Christ in
greater love, they were drawn to one another. They felt that heaven
was very near.
The Saviour was anxious for His disciples to understand why
His divinity was united to humanity. He came to the world to display
the glory of God, that man might be uplifted by its restoring power.
Jesus revealed no qualities, and exercised no powers, that men may
not have through faith in Him. His perfect humanity is that which
all His followers may possess, if they will be in subjection to God
as He was.
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“Greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto My
Father.” By this Christ meant that the disciples’ work would have
greater extent under the working of the Holy Spirit. After the Lord’s
ascension, the disciples realized the fulfillment of His promise. They
knew that the divine Teacher was all that He had claimed to be.
As they exalted the love of God, men’s hearts were subdued, and
multitudes believed on Jesus.