A Full Disclosure

[0:00] It's been such a joy to go through John's prologue, just 18 verses, yet to go slowly and dig deeply into what John is saying.

[0:11] I've certainly found that still there isn't enough time to delve into the depths to which John leads us. And so today we conclude that series, More Than Flesh and Bones, with the last of six sermons and this one just in verse 18.

[0:34] But let me read the full prologue. John chapter 1, 1 to 18. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

[0:51] He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

[1:06] The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him.

[1:21] He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

[1:33] He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

[1:56] And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory. Glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

[2:10] John bore witness about him and cried out, No one has ever seen God.

[2:36] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. We pray God bless the reading of his word.

[2:51] Well, I want to ask you a question. Have you ever given someone a loan of something? You ever shared something? Given someone a loan of something, and when you get it back, they haven't quite taken care of it?

[3:05] that ever happen to you? Certainly if you've got siblings, I know that's true. Sharing, sharing's hard. Even as adults, people might not take care of the thing that we share with them.

[3:21] We're hesitant. It might not be treated the way that we would treat it. They might not value it the way we value it. They might not know it's worth like we do. So, we're hesitant to share something with someone else, even as adults.

[3:38] Ultimately, the thing is, ultimately, if we give it to them, they might ruin it. They might ruin it. We consider this passage in John's prologue.

[3:52] The Father in heaven, He might have had a million reasons not to share His Son with the world. And the Son might have had a million reasons not to share His Father.

[4:05] with the world. After all, look what the world did to the Son. Sometimes, my two boys, Levi and Ezra, sometimes they have a hard time sharing one daddy.

[4:18] Now, I'm not perfect. To some people, I might not be worth sharing. But to my two boys, they have a hard time sharing me. Levi will be like, He's my dad, and Ezra is my dad.

[4:29] Although I'm not perfect, and to be honest, at my worst, I might think to myself, I would prefer that someone else be their dad, simply so that they have a better dad than me.

[4:43] Because I love them, and I want someone to take care of them. But, here's the thing, I know that I would really struggle to share my sons with someone else. I'm not perfect, but who's going to love them like I love them?

[4:58] Who's going to know them like I know them? Who's going to see them the way that I see them? Who's going to put up with them the way that I can put up with them? You see, we struggle to share.

[5:12] And that's not a slight on any non-biological parents, by the way. That's not a slight on anyone who is fostering or adopting. It's just to say, see when you consider the perfect and unique connection and relation the Father has with the Son, who by nature are so unlike us, completely unlike us.

[5:34] You wonder why God would want to share with us, or include us. Why would God want to share His Son with anyone? But, while we could ponder all the many reasons why God would not share His Son with us, the fact is, He did.

[5:55] And the very fact that He did reveals something to us about who He is, doesn't it? There's a song that I quite like. It's got a line in it that I just think is a really good line in a song.

[6:08] It's a Christian song. And in the song, it says, I know I don't deserve this kind of love, talking about God's love. I know I don't deserve this kind of love. Somehow, this kind of love is who you are.

[6:24] You see, God doesn't do it because we deserve it or anything like that, but the fact that He does it shows us something about who He is. It's just who He is. Why would God share His Son with us?

[6:36] Why would the Son share His Father with us? Well, it's just who He is. It just shows us who He is. Verse 18 of John's prologue, you need to see it as a bookend.

[6:49] It's the bookend to the prologue. Verse 1 and verse 18 serve as bookends. And if you look at verse 1 and verse 18 together, verse 1 says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

[7:04] Then you look at verse 18. No one has ever seen God. And the only God who is at the Father's side has made Him known. You see, these are bookends.

[7:17] They're saying the same thing in a different way, but John has unpacked it. And so that verse 18 says something similar to verse 1 except with more punch. You see, there was a time and a sphere, if you can even call them a time and a sphere, which there was no one or no thing but God.

[7:38] Nothing. No person, no thing but God. And yet, there was the Word who was with God. Verse 1. And so there's also a sense in which no one but God can see God.

[7:53] No one, no one or thing in all creation or anything can ever know and see God as He truly is except Himself. yet what we will see, the force of verse 18, John is saying something with great force here in relation to that and we're going to see that.

[8:15] But first, I'll need to give you some details about this verse. It's, in some ways, I don't know if you know this, it's a difficult verse. And if you don't know this, then ignorance is bliss.

[8:27] But once you start digging into this, it just gets messy and difficult. And so, I want to let you know of a difficulty in this verse. There's four statements.

[8:38] If you look at your passage, wherever you are, whatever thing you've got, there's four statements. Number one, no one has ever seen God. Number two, the way that the ESV puts it is, the only God, that's statement number two.

[8:52] Statement number three, who is at the Father's side. Statement number four, He has made Him known. Of them four statements, three of them, are not debated, at all.

[9:05] We know what they say, in the Greek, there's no change, or difference. Everyone agrees, on what they say. Now, they might disagree, on the meaning, but there's no debate, as to what they say, in Greek.

[9:18] But statement number two, in your Bible, it might say, the only God. Does anyone get anything different? Sometimes it says, the, do you, anyone get something different?

[9:31] The only and unique son. The only and unique son. Sometimes it might say, the only begotten son, or, the only begotten God. There's a hint, okay.

[9:43] In the Greek, this, this, part of this verse, is greatly debated, and there's two reasons, why it's greatly debated. The first reason, is, the meaning, and the use, of, the Greek word, monogony.

[10:02] So that's where we, kind of, get begotten, or only and unique, or only, is that word, monogony. And, the second reason, is, there's a textual variance.

[10:13] So that means, that if you get all the, if you gather all the oldest, manuscripts, all the Greek copies, of this verse, some, some actually have, the Greek word, theos, which means God.

[10:26] Some, actually have, instead, they have the Greek word, huios, which means son. And there are a couple, that have nothing. And so there's some, that have one thing, some that have another thing.

[10:39] And so it's hotly debated. Firstly, what is the meaning, of the word, monogony? How is it used here? Secondly, is it God? Is it son? Does it matter?

[10:50] That's the question. And so these things, are debated. And one of the reasons, why is because, when you use terms, like begotten, some people use this, to say, Jesus is not God.

[11:01] He's, begotten like a, father begets a son. He's birthed, this is a beginning. And that matters. If you're saying that, about Jesus, that really matters, what you say about Jesus.

[11:13] And so the meaning, of the word, monogony, matters. Secondly, whether it's God, or son. So, I think it's the majority, of manuscripts, have son.

[11:26] But, before you think, that's a winner. The oldest ones, may have God. There is a, there's a manuscript, there's a, there is a thing, called the, diataceron.

[11:41] Sounds amazing, I love that word. Sounds like a, you know, it sounds like a transformer, or something, doesn't it? The diataceron. There's a, there's a document, called the diataceron, that doesn't have any of them.

[11:53] It just says, monogony. Basically, it just says, the one and only, who's at the father's side. Doesn't put God, or son. It just says, the one and only, who's at the father's side.

[12:04] And so, they have these, different meanings. And, and let me tell you, just let me reassure you, with something. What can we do about this?

[12:15] Because we need to do something, this matters. The debate, is more difficult, if you take this verse, on its own, out of context. But, we don't do that.

[12:28] If you, look at this verse, and you do your work, with the context, of the prologue, and the entire book of John, John's gospel, it becomes clear.

[12:38] And I think, this is why, some of the, translators go this way. Now, whether, they should or shouldn't, who knows. So, for instance, if you go back to verse 14, look at verse 14.

[12:55] The word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only, son from the father. Let me tell you something.

[13:07] In the Greek, the word son, is not there, at all. So, why does the ESV, put it in there? The Greek word's not there. So, what do you do in ESV?

[13:18] Well, two reasons, I think, that they're not cheating, or doing something. Number one, the fact that, it talks about father, implies some sort of relation.

[13:29] So, it implies a son. And number two, when you read on in John's gospel, spoiler alert, he starts talking about the son, awful a lot. And so, it's implied here, but whether John means to put it there yet, or if John's just kind of teeing it up, and getting you ready, for what he's going to say later on.

[13:48] So, verse 14, it actually uses that same word, monogony, the only, that's monogony, same word. The word became flesh, and dwelt among us, we have seen his glory, glory as of the only, from the father.

[14:05] That's what it says in Greek. The one and only, or the, what, Janice, what did you have in yours again? One, the only and unique. And so, maybe say in the Greek, glory as of the only and unique, from the father.

[14:21] Now, John is later going to fill that out, what he's talking about. But it says the same in verse 18. The only and unique, who is at the father's side. Now, does that mean son, or God?

[14:34] Read on and find out, but the prologue really tells you, what he's talking about. He's talking about the word. The whole of the prologue, is about the word. And so, it becomes clearer, clearer and clearer.

[14:44] Verse 1, the word is with God, the word is God. So, the whole of the prologue, is about, the person called the word. And we see that.

[14:57] So, when he says, the only, from the father, he's talking about the word. Why is it there? When, in verse 18, he's talking about, the one and only, the only unique, at the father's side.

[15:11] Still, he's talking about the word. He's talking about the word. And so, we have this double use, and this matters. So, verse 14 and 18, he uses this term, the monogamy from the father, the monogamy at the father's side.

[15:26] That matters. And here's why. Because, we've been used to seeing this, used as begotten. I think, if you've heard the word begotten, put your hand up.

[15:37] I've heard it, and I'm younger, and so I don't know, the kind of older, but I've heard it before. But, there's a reason, why translators, have moved away, from begotten.

[15:49] And that's because, of, there's two Greek words. One, means more beget, and one, means more unique, one and only. And, the begot thing, really, talking about, you see that in genealogies.

[16:05] And so and so begot, so and so, and so and so had, so and so. And, what this is not saying, is that Jesus was born. That's not what it's saying. And so, there's two, kind of, different uses, of different Greek words, that are related.

[16:21] And the meaning of this, is like, one of a kind. So like, if you imagine that, there's a, in Genesis, God gave everyone seed, to procreate, of its own kind.

[16:35] And there's the kind. Jesus, is the only, of his kind. The only. There's no one like him. There's no one like that son. And what gets interesting, is there's another time, we have a double use.

[16:50] So, the double use is 14 and 18, in the prologue. The next double use, and the only other, in the gospel, if you flip over to John 3, John chapter 3, John 3, 16, we hardly need to go there.

[17:05] For God so loved the world, that he gave his, yeah, monogony, huios, he uses the word son there.

[17:16] And then verse 18, whoever believes in him, is not condemned, but whoever does not believe, is condemned already, because they have not believed, in the name of the, the monogony, huios, the one and only, son.

[17:34] Now these double uses, there's a double use in the prologue, and a double use, in John 3, they both come after, if you notice, they both come after, John talking about, people being born.

[17:48] John chapter 1, those who did receive him, who believed in his name, were given the right, to become children of God, who were born, not of, the flesh, not of, the will of man, but of God, born of God.

[18:05] John chapter 3, you must be born again, he says to Nicodemus, doesn't he talk about, being born again, being children of God. And so these double uses, come after talking about, being born as children of God.

[18:18] And what John is saying is, you may become children of God, you may be born of God, but Jesus is not. Jesus is different. He's not like you. There is no one, he is the one and only, the unique, there's no other one like him.

[18:32] For he was the one, who was with God, in the beginning, and was God. He is the son, from the father. There's no one like him. And it's important to know that, about being born.

[18:42] John is saying, but Jesus is not like that. Jesus, is not like that. There's various things about Jesus. No one else, who is born of God, came from the father, but Jesus.

[18:55] No one else, who is born of God, was at the father's side, but Jesus. No one else, who was born of God, was given, to us, but Jesus.

[19:07] No one else, who was born of God, is the salvation, of everyone. Or the judgment, but Jesus. He is, the one, and only, unique, son, of God.

[19:23] God. And so, John is really, when he uses these patterns, he's really saying something big about Jesus. Now I've got a question, we're going to run through this, we're going to run through the four parts of this verse.

[19:39] I've got a question that I want to ask you first. Does God play hide and seek? Does God, hide himself from us? Because some people, you might have heard this, some people are tempted to say, if only God would show himself, then I would believe.

[20:00] I don't know if you've ever heard that, I've heard that before. Maybe, maybe there's been a time, where I've said it, or thought it. If only God would show himself, why is he hiding? You know, people all over the world, if there's a God, why doesn't he show himself?

[20:16] Well, if you go all the way back to Genesis, Genesis chapter 3, you'll find out it's not, it's not God that's hiding. God isn't the one that hides. Man is the one that hides.

[20:28] Adam and Eve hid from God. God's not in the business of hiding himself. Man is. God is pure light. Let me ask you this, if you're playing hide and seek, can you hide in the light?

[20:43] God doesn't hide. We hide in the darkness. We turn away from the light. It is man that is hiding, not God. That's the first point. The second point, it's not a matter of hiding.

[20:55] It's not a matter of God hiding, it's a matter of nature. Can we, as human beings, even see God? Who is God? What is God? You see, God is not like us.

[21:07] God is not made of flesh. God is not made of parts. He's not compounded like us. God is spirit. John says, in John chapter 4, Jesus says that.

[21:19] God is spirit. God is spirit. No, he's not like us. He's pure spirit. He's of immaterial and unmixed essence.

[21:29] He's not made of parts. He's invisible. He's infinite. It's a matter of nature. How could our human eyes ever see that?

[21:40] How could we ever behold the true nature of God? We couldn't. How could created things behold the nature of the uncreated? I mean, we can't, I said this last time, we can't even see the whole spectrum of created light.

[21:55] Never mind uncreated God. It's not a matter of hiding. It's a matter of nature. God in his infinite, immaterial spirit, invisible being, uncreated, cannot be seen by human eyes.

[22:13] We're going to get to that when John says, no one has ever seen God. And he says that thousands of years after loads of people have seen God, by the way. But John says, no, no, no one has ever seen God.

[22:26] Ever. Thirdly, does God actually need to reveal himself to us? Does he owe anything to us? Does he reveal himself because he owes it to us?

[22:39] Because he has to? God reveals himself because it is who he is. He wants to be known. He made us to know him. Psalm 19, we sang a bit of, he declares, he declares, the heavens declare the glory of God.

[22:57] Day after day, night after night, the skies, created things, Romans chapter 1, that God has revealed himself and the things that have been made. The scriptures reveal God and his word, the law, the prophets, even people who had visions, who had dreams, who had theophanies, they have seen something of God revealed to them.

[23:24] God reveals himself all the time in every way. David always says, God never leaves himself without a witness. Be it the skies, be it the word, be it a prophet, God never leaves himself without a witness.

[23:40] But, the final point of this question, does God hide himself, is this. The many and amazing revelations and self-disclosures of God, John is trying to tell us, they completely pale in comparison to the revelation and full disclosure in and through his son Jesus.

[24:03] If only God would show himself, oh boy, he has. He really has. He has shown himself. Hebrews says that, doesn't it?

[24:16] If you remember in Hebrews, the writer of Hebrews starts by saying, long ago and many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his son.

[24:35] And he'll go on to say some more things. No one has ever seen God. Ever. We cannot see God in his uncreated nature.

[24:45] No one has ever seen him. John will say the exact same thing. In his letter, 1 John. No one has ever seen God. Now why say that?

[24:56] Why not say no one has ever seen the Father? Haven't men in the past seen God? We have Abraham. You remember the story of Abraham and God comes and visits him and he makes a meal for him.

[25:07] He washes his feet and he bargains with him over Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot and the righteous people standing with God. You remember Jacob wrestling with God?

[25:18] Remember Moses seeing God? Seeing the back of God? Speaking with God as face to face? Remember the 70 elders that Moses took up?

[25:29] It says they saw the God of Israel and they saw God. Remember Isaiah and his vision? Isaiah chapter 6? Or Ezekiel and his vision?

[25:42] Have not men seen God before? John would say no one. No one has seen God at any time at all.

[25:56] Because these things were accommodations where God pressing it into creation to see manifestations of him in some way shape or form.

[26:07] But we know that God himself has no form. God is spirit immaterial infinite immortal invisible. And so these things were manifestations and John would say God you need to know who God is.

[26:20] And no one has ever ever seen God. No one. And the reason why he needs to do this with force because it matters what he's saying. He needs to do this with force. You need to know no one has ever seen God ever ever ever at any time no one.

[26:35] As much as different men may have seen in different ways manifestations of his glory firstly God is spirit he has no form immortal invisible Paul says to Timothy he dwells in unapproachable light you cannot see him you cannot get anywhere near God.

[26:54] He's uncreated created beings cannot see who he is as his own uncreated being he's invisible unapproachable incomprehensible and infinite.

[27:05] Who or what in all of creation could ever behold the creator of all things as he is. Though he has revealed himself in different ways in different degrees to different men these are all and this is one of John's points these are all as amazing as they are would you not would you not have liked to have been there?

[27:30] What was it like in the garden with Adam and Eve? Did they ever see God or did they only hear him? What was it like to be with Moses with the burning bush or in the tabernacle when the glory filled the place or up the mountain?

[27:43] What was it like for the elders to see the God of Israel? What was it like for Jacob? I mean we might not want to do that because we'd end up with a broken hip. What was it like for Abraham with God?

[27:55] What was it like for Isaiah to see? We would fall down dead like him and say woe to me. What was it like for Ezekiel? These things would have been amazing and what John is saying is as amazing as they are they completely pale in comparison to the incarnation.

[28:11] Completely. And people say what? I've seen that guy. He's just the son of a carpenter. Oh really? Who among these witnesses think about this?

[28:26] This is what John is saying. The people who've seen God in the past or something of God Moses, Abraham, Jacob, Isaiah, Ezekiel, who among them who saw little flashes of mediated revelation, who among them could really tell us what God is like?

[28:47] How do they know? How much do they know? Who among them could ever reveal God to us? How much do they know? I mean Isaiah says I'm a man of unclean lips.

[28:59] I mean how can I possibly know about God? He just gives me words and I say them. Who has seen God that they could declare God to us?

[29:13] Who has seen God that they could fully disclose who God is to us? Well that's John's point isn't it? The one and only. The one and only. The monogamy.

[29:25] The difference between them and Jesus is that Jesus is completely unique. He's not just another man. He's more than flesh and bones. He's not Moses. Prophet greater than Moses.

[29:36] He's not Abraham. He's the seed of Abraham. He's not like David. He's the son of David but he's also David's Lord. Jesus is the monogamy of the Father.

[29:49] No one is like him. He's the one and only of his kind. The unique one. He's not a prophet neither a sinful man. Man as he is he's the son of God.

[30:01] unlike these other men his birth was not in the beginning. His birth was not his beginning. He was a person before he was a human. His humanity was him revealing God to us.

[30:15] Making him known. That's the difference. He's the one and only. Whether you put son in there huios whether you put God theos whether you put nothing it's all the same. Jesus is the one and only.

[30:28] The word is the one and only who became flesh. You work that backwards he's the one and only flesh who knows exactly what God is like.

[30:39] The one and only person who is now in flesh who can fully disclose what God is like. No one no one can do that but him. His person is completely unique.

[30:51] The one and only of his kind. Furthermore the one who was in the bosom of the father. Not only is his person unique his position is unique.

[31:02] His position as the one in the bosom of the father. Who else has been I mean has Isaiah has Moses been in the bosom of the father has Abraham none of them none of these people have been in the bosom of the father.

[31:15] No man nor prophet nor angel nor anything created has ever known or will know such intimacy with the father but Jesus Christ.

[31:27] No one no thing no person in all creation will ever know what it is like to be in the bosom of the father except Jesus Christ. What an amazing thing only he who is in the bosom of the father can really make him known to us and what he is like.

[31:47] The amazing thing is John uses this word the bosom of the father. Can you remember where he uses it later on? John chapter 13 the last supper what's John doing?

[32:03] What an amazing thing isn't it? John is lying in the bosom of the one who lay in the bosom of the father. I mean was there ever a better witness to tell us these things about Jesus than him?

[32:17] The one who was perhaps in closest intimacy intimacy with the son who was in the closest intimacy with the father has told us these things. What a great thing.

[32:29] I don't know if you've ever thought to yourself see if I've seen God see if Jesus made himself visibly known to me boy would my evangelism be ramped up. That's a challenge isn't it?

[32:40] I mean it probably would for every single one of us it probably would. Don't deny it. If you seen something that really put all doubt away and really encouraged you enthused you and just you saw his glory you know you would be telling everyone with a fervour and a zeal like no one else I've seen it!

[33:05] I've really seen it! You'd be telling your family and your friends and your neighbour I've seen it! Trust me I've seen it! Why can't God do that? He has!

[33:17] John is the one who's saying this and so even if it happened to us we would be asking someone to rely on our words wouldn't we? As much as we would be like yeah I've seen it!

[33:28] We would be asking people to rely on the basis of our testimony John is doing that exact thing he's saying listen guys I seen it! We have seen his glory glory as of the only the we have seen with our own eyes heard with our ears touched with our hands the one in whom there's life the light we've seen him and we tell you about him now he says at the end of his gospel we know that his testimony is true the one bearing witness about these things his testimony is true trust me I have seen it with my own eyes do we trust the testimony if one of John's purposes in writing is to show us that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God we can see this woven through his testimony and so we see the uniqueness of Jesus as the Son of God he is the only one who came from the father can be the one who was with the father the only one who can tell us and disclose what

[34:34] God is like can be God himself the word who was with God and was God and so he is the Son of God John weaves this through his testimony but also he says Jesus is the Christ and so when you think about John when he's writing this saying where is Jesus right now at the father's side who else if you look at Psalm 110 who else has the privilege of that position to be at the father's right side there's only one person in all creation has the privilege of that and it's the Christ the Messiah the chosen King the Son of God John is saying do I need to tell you more Jesus is the Christ Jesus is the Son of God believe this and you will have life in his name what amazing thing no one else can take that position with the father but

[35:36] Jesus Christ no one else has that position with the father but Jesus Christ we can't go to the depths of what John is saying here it's amazing it's amazing finally finally if we didn't have that last statement no one has ever seen God ever at any time the one and only the unique the son was at the father's bosom if you stopped there you'd be like well no one's ever going to know God if he's not going to share with us at that point you're like it's hopeless who can possibly know God the final words of this is he has made him known really it doesn't say him it just says he has made known actually says he has exegeted Jesus exegeted God to us there are two things that are apparent before that final statement no one's ever seen

[36:40] God despite all the revelation woven into creation despite what can be known about God through all that he's made despite all the manifestations given to certain people despite all the words of God given through people has disclosed in the law and the prophets these were all just faint shapes and shadows and we overestimate how great these revelations were we overestimate them because we underestimate how great the revelation is in Christ as amazing as they were they pale in comparison to how truly immense a revelation of God in Jesus he's the full disclosure Paul says in Colossians in him the fullness of deity dwells bodily what an amazing what an amazing he says God I mean Adam and all of us are just images made in the image of God

[37:41] Jesus is the image of the invisible God we cannot see the invisible God he's immortal invisible dwells in unapproachable light infinite one of the church fathers said how can the finite the finite cannot contain the infinite we cannot fathom the infinite because we are finite Jesus Jesus is a man like no other because he's not just flesh and bones I mean he is but he's more than that in him the fullness of deity dwells bodily he is the image of the invisible God Hebrews look at what Hebrews says about him Hebrews chapter one he is the radiance he is he's not like he's not a manifestation he is the radiance of the glory of

[38:45] God and the exact imprint of his nature exact imprint of his nature I there's no ifs buts about it there's no nearly there there's no similarities he is it's exact the imprint fingerprint of God the imprint of his nature what cannot be seen about God is seen in Christ the word became flesh so that the invisible God would become visible in Christ to us amazing thing so what do we do about that we recognize Jesus for who he is for what he has done for what it is like one of the things about last week talking about the word became flesh is that he didn't take that flesh off in the ascension after his death and resurrection he didn't take flesh off and go back to being in the bosom of the father as uncreated and therefore this revelation in

[39:47] Christ is a permanent revelation how could we possibly keep on knowing God and getting to know God without this permanent revelation that he in his body even in his new body will always ever be the full disclosure of God to us because we will never don't think that you'll get to heaven and see the father you won't don't think that you'll get to heaven and you'll see God as he is in his uncreated form you can't but Jesus will always ever be that revelation of God forever to us always mediated through Christ the son we will see God and if he didn't do that we would never know and if we don't do that for others how will they ever know if God would he keep this to himself what if people ruin it this treasure that we have within us should we keep it to ourselves what if people ruin it let us let us follow after what he has done and make him known to others like

[41:00] John has made him known to us let us see in the incarnation the full disclosure of God let me pray and we're going to sing God our father we give you thanks for we can only ever say that and know that and know you through Jesus and so we thank you for Jesus we see in him that he is more than flesh and bones indeed he is man fully man yet in him the fullness of deity dwells bodily and so we thank you may we ever be looking to Christ looking to Christ to see you looking to Christ to learn who you are and to see that in Christ and through Christ and knowing Christ we know you help us to share that with others we pray in his name amen