John 17:3* And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.

The word know in this verse is the same as the in Genesis 4:1* ¶ And the man knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man with the help of Jehovah.

To know means to have an intimate relationship or personal experience. In other word our eternal life hinge on our personal intimate relationship with God. It does not depend on anybody else and therefore we cannot blame anyone.

1 John 4:7* ¶ Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. 8* He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

We cannot have a personal experience with God and not come in contact with his Love. That is the nature of God. He is love! To know God is to know His love, to experience His Love. There are two ways to knowing. Mentally or Experientially.

See, you can know about the love of God or personally experience it. It is the heart of the father that we experience his love. Because Love never fail.

Now as we said the last time. Hebrews 1:3 Tells us that Jesus is the express image of the father.

However since these are the last words of Jesus before he goes to the cross, I believe that there is a great revelation that he wanted to pass on to his disciples and to us. If you were to go on a long journey you would iterate the most important information to your closest confidants. You would emphasize what you thought needed urgent attention. Here, this is exactly what Jesus is doing. In this discourse Jesus accentuate a theme and I have never heard anyone get to heart of this great passage.

To find the subject matter of any dissertation we need to look at the recurring word. What is repeated determines the theme and in these Chapters the word “Father” occurs about 40 times.

From Verse 1 Jesus introduced the Father and he ends by a prayer to the Father.

John 14:6* Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

8* Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

9* Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.

12 ¶ Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

Everything that Jesus did was an expression of the Father. When He healed, he demonstrated the heart of Father concerning healing. When he forgave the prostitute that was a confirmation of the love of the father for sinners. And we can go on and on and on.

Romans 8:15 tell us that we have received the adoption of son whereby we cry ABBA father.

John 1:12 inform us we have been given the power to be called sons of God.

I think it is sad that we have lost that truth somehow. We exemplify all the names of God. Elohim, El Shaddai, Adonai, Jehovah…etc. And we have forgotten that Jesus brought us the revelation that God is our father.

A revelation is an unveiling. Usually uncovering a masterpiece. The picture we have of God determines how we receive from him.

I have been fortunate to have a great dad as a role model in my life. Even though he had a deprived childhood, he made sure that we were did not suffer as he did.

When I was growing up, I did not have to worry about what to eat and wear. He worked hard for us. He bought good clothes and made sure we were wearing the trend of the year. He did not not want us to have a complex.

Mt 7:11* If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?

We have complicated Christianity. We see God as an entity that is there when we are in trouble. We treat him like a bank manager or a Doctor that we visit only when needs requires us to. We have not nurture the Father Son relationship. We have made it hard for people to approach him. We say thing like God is hiding and we need to seek him. He is playing hide and seek with us. We talk about the doctrines that are not pertaining to New Testament Truth. We have lost the Heart of the Father.

To be continued ……