5. How Jesus Reveals What God Is Like

Which family member gives us an idea of what God is like?

In the Bible, God repeatedly speaks of Himself as a Father.

Some of the father images we see today are anything but desirable. There are neglectful dads, abusive dads, and dads who don’t seem to care.

God is not like that.

Rather,

• He is a caring, sensitive Father.
• He is the kind of Father who loves to spend time with His son or daughter.
• He is the kind of Father who makes life fun and enjoyable.

He enters the world as a real person

God, our loving Father, wanted to do more than reveal Himself through the words of Scripture.

He knew that a person we live with is much more real to us than someone we only hear about or read about in a book.

So He decided to enter our world as a real Person.

God came down to our level—He became like us—so He could teach us how to live and be happy, and how to have eternal life.

It enabled us to see what God is really like.

How did God visit the world as a Person?

God came down to our world in the Person of Jesus

A small boy and his older brother were standing before a large portrait of their father who had died when the younger boy was a baby.

“Tell me,” the younger brother said, “just what was Father like?”

The older boy attempted to tell his little brother something about their father. He described his strength. He said he was a good man, kind and handsome. He was friendly, and people liked to be with him. He was always gentle with Mother. He made people happy.

In spite of all the older brother could say, the small boy could not form a satisfying picture of his father. He wanted so much to know what his father was like.

At last, he interrupted his brother with the question, “Tell me one thing, Henry, was Father anything like you?”

The older boy hesitated a moment, then said: “Well, friends of ours who knew Father best say that I’m the living image of him. And even Mother says the same.”

With his heart all aglow, the small boy walked away, saying: “Now I know exactly what my dad was like. He was just like my brother, Henry.”

The portrait of our heavenly Father

Jesus came to our world as God in human flesh.

Jesus is “the Son of God” (Mark 15:39)—God made visible, the thought of God made audible.

Jesus Himself said, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). So if you have seen Jesus, you have seen God Himself.

Do you want to know what God is like?

Whenever you want to know what God is like, just look at Jesus as the Bible reveals Him.

As you read the story of Jesus in the four Gospels, the first four books of the New Testament, you will discover a fascinating portrait of our Heavenly Father.

• Rough, self-sufficient fishermen dropped their nets to follow Jesus.
• Small children flocked to receive His blessing.
• He could comfort the most devastated sinners and disarm the most self-righteous hypocrites.
• He healed everything from blindness to leprosy with the quiet assurance of a doctor prescribing a couple of aspirin.
• His two-word command: “Be still!” forced a violent storm to calm down like a disobedient child brought suddenly to his senses.

In all His actions, Jesus demonstrated that God is love

He met human needs in a way no one had ever done before Him—or has since!

Jesus’ final glorious revelation of what God is like happened at the cross. That’s where He died for us.

How do we benefit from Christ’s death?

Jesus died not only to give us a happier, fulfilled life now but also to give us eternal life.

Jesus is God’s “only begotten Son”—He is unique, one of a kind.

He is the one and only Being who is both fully God and fully man.

For many ages, people wondered about, hoped for, and dreamed about God.

Many thought to themselves, “If only God were like this!” or “If only God were like that!”

The cross revealed God more clearly than ever

But the beautiful, self-sacrificing life of Jesus and His death on the cross revealed God more clearly than ever.

People found themselves looking into the very face of God, seeing Him as He really is: love—eternal and immortal love!

You can discover God right now as Jesus reveals Him in the pages of the Bible. That discovery has led many people to decide:

“I want a personal relationship with the One who created me and loves me.”