Visible manifestations of the invisible God

“No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known” (Jn. 1:18 NET).

Grace has a destination. It is not an end by itself, but a path somewhere. God wants you to catch the higher purpose of grace rather than struggle with the petty issues of our daily Christian walk. Grace is God’s call to humanity to partake in the excellences of His glory. As 1 Thess. 2:12 says, “exhorting and encouraging you and insisting that you live in a way worthy of God who calls you to his own kingdom and his glory.”

John 1:18 above teaches us that Jesus came to make God known. His is in intimate fellowship with God and reveals God. God the Father is invisible, and Jesus the Man is a revelation of Him. He is the visible manifestation of the invisible God. Grace has brought us into the shoes of Christ, becoming His flesh and His bones. Grace has brought us into the bosom of the Father, in intimate fellowship, causing us to be revelations or expressions of the invisible God. Jesus did not make God the Father known by teaching people about Him. He did not give humanity a lecture or theological discourse on God. He revealed God by His very life—how He spoke, acted, and reacted toward the people. He was a living and walking manifestation of the invisible Father. That’s not all—you, in Christ, have become the visible manifestation of the invisible God!

MEDITATE

How did God reveal Himself differently through Christ compared to other times? See Heb. 1:1-3.

APPLY THE WORD

If you have been struggling to teach people that God is kind or loving, you can safely pause now. Change the emphasis, stop teaching, and start living God for them to see! That’s God’s purpose of grace in your life. He wants His beauty, power, wisdom, etc. to be fully expressed through you. At work today? In school? At home? Reveal God in the way you talk and act toward those who are around you!