Jesus is the Image of God

Read 1 John 4:7-21. No one I know has ever seen God. So how can we know him, if we’ve never seen him?

It’s difficult to imagine this in a day and age when we can see people in so many different ways – face-to-face, on television, over the Internet. But for most of human history, important people – like the king or queen, for example – would have been invisible – unseen – by most of the population. How did they know the king or queen actually existed if they’d never seen them?

Perhaps one of the most important ways people knew their kings and queens in history, was through portraits. They at least made it possible for people to know a likeness of their ruler.

Jesus is God’s portrait. Actually, he’s much more than that. He is the complete expression of God in human form. If you want to know what God looks like, then look at Jesus. In his gospel, John wrote:

John 1:18 NLT

No one has ever seen God. But the unique One, who is himself God, is near to the Father’s heart. He has revealed God to us.

Jesus reveals God to us. Read about him, in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John (and the rest of the Bible!). Get to know him and you will come to know God.

THINK IT OVER

Think about the following:

• How do you see God in the life of Jesus?

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.