Jesus is the direct representation of God, not a glimpse taken through another lens

Previously, I have talked about how we can catch a glimpse of God through the lenses of nature, music, knowledge, friendship, and more. I talked about how it's a little bit like in the Harry Potter books when Hermione seeks the basilisk through indirect means such as a mirror, so as not to stare at it face to face.

Jesus, however, is not one of those other lenses. Jesus is instead a direct representation of God. This is made abundantly clear in this verse from the Bible where Philip asks Jesus to show him God the father.

Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves.

John 14: 8-11

Here we can see that Philip doesn't quite understand that Jesus is a form of God. He thinks instead that Jesus's familiarity with God means that Jesus can find God and show Him to Philip. Jesus explains very clearly that that Jesus is in the Father God and the Father is in Jesus.  

I suspect that we, as humans, don't have the exact terminology in our language for such a relationship, but the closest I can come is that Jesus is a representation of God, and to see Jesus is to see God.

So Jesus is not a lens through which we can see God, but instead is a direct and clear representation of God. If you see Jesus you are going to see God clearly. By contrast, if you had merely looked through a lens such as nature, music, and so on, you will catch a sort of brief sideways glimpse of God - which is still better than no glimpse at all.

If you wish to get to know God better, to see and hear Him better, the answer is through reading the Bible and praying. Not because of the idea that God will then "reward" us with his presence, but because as humans, our God detection sensors are bad, and the only way to make them work better is with practice - reading the Bible and praying.

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