Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us” (John 14:8). Philip asked in simple terms, “make Your Father known to us.”  Jesus would regularly reference God, the Creator of all things, as Father. This was strange and unfamiliar language to all who worshipped Him, or even acknowledged His existence and authority. His references were relational rather than jurisdictional, and the request was to reveal to them what had been revealed to Him. The acknowledgement was apparent that He was the only One who could make Him known in that manner. He then disclosed to them a major component of His earthly mission by saying, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father. Have you been with Me this long and known this?”  

The role of fatherhood is shrouded in mystery. God wondrously allows his seed to become a life that can live apart from its origin. What is in the father is in his children, and his DNA is a self-replicating material that can continue from generation to generation. Philip’s request is akin to the request of Moses when He asked God to show Him His glory. The difference between the two is that Moses would have to die if he saw it, but Philip would live by seeing what he requested. Jesus is the glory of the Father! He said, “if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” 

Likewise, a prophetic picture of Christ is presented through the prophets who spoke to fathers and communicated God’s Word to their families. In these last days, He speaks through spiritual fathers that serve as shepherds and lead His people on a predestined path. Spiritual fathers are to make Christ known to earthly fathers for the sake of raising healthy children and maintaining a happy home. They are obligated to know the Father through His Son for the sake of their relational health. Unhealthy relationships, however, are formed when the original structure is either compromised or abandoned. The eternal Father/Son relationship of God in Christ is extended by the same DNA as Christ and His Church. To see God as Father, He must be seen through the lenses of His Son, as fatherhood on earth is intended to reflect the relationship established in Heaven. To see Christ as the Son of God is to see ourselves from the perspective of God’s ultimate intentions for us, where His intention is for us to become sons and be led into the blissful state of eternal sonship. There, His love is completed among individuals who are positioned to receive the full effect of His love.