It must have shocked Jesus to hear Thomas say, "Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?" (John 14:5). Thomas was really saying, "Jesus, You speak so intimately about going to Your Father, but we don't know Him as You do. How can we know the way to the Father?"
This was a confession. Thomas was admitting, "Lord, we know You. We've been intimate with You for the past three years, but we have no revelation of who the Father is — of His love, His care, His tenderness. Please, before You go, show us the Father." Yet, that is just what Jesus had been doing for the past three years. His disciples had missed the revelation.
If we fully understand that we have a loving, caring heavenly Father, why would we ever be downcast when the enemy comes against us? Why would we despair over a financial burden that seems overwhelming? Why would we wonder why we cannot seem to get victory over a besetting sin?
Listen carefully to Jesus' answer to Thomas. It has everything to do with us: "If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also" (John 14: 7).
Then Philip speaks up: "Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us" (verse 8). Jesus could not believe what He was hearing. You can almost hear the incredulity in His voice as He answers Philip: "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?" (verse 9).
In other words: "Thomas, Philip, my precious disciples, how can you ask this? You say you know Me, that we are intimate. Yet how could you miss the revelation I have spent the past three years giving you? Don't you yet see that all the mighty works I did were the Father in Me revealing who He is, what He is like, what He wants to be to you? All I taught you was from His heart, not Mine."
Jesus' whole life was an illustrated sermon. Day by day, with every miracle He performed and every parable He taught, He was expressing who the Father is. And He sent His Holy Spirit so His followers could do even greater works and keep revealing the Father's love to new generations.
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David Wilkerson (1931 – 2011)
Founder of Times Square Church in New York City with over 100 different languages spoken in the congregation. Wilkerson wrote many powerful books such as: The Vision and Cross and the Switchblade. His ministry was prophetic as God called him to be a watchman to the Church in North America. He gave clear messages on repentance to the Church.Wilkerson also founded Teen Challenge where there are hundreds of centres for Christ-centered drug recovery and addiction recovery. He also organized and spoke at pastors gatherings in many countries where he gave prophetic strong messages to encourage pastors and leaders.
Recommends these books by David Wilkerson:
The Vision and Beyond, Prophecies Fulfilled and Still to Come by David Wilkerson
Knowing God by Name: Names of God That Bring Hope and Healing by David Wilkerson
God's Plan to Protect His People in the Coming Depression by David Wilkerson
David Wilkerson is an American Christian evangelist, most well-known for his book The Cross and the Switchblade. He is also the founder of Times Square Church in New York, an interdenominational church.
Wilkerson is well-known for these early years of his ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in New York City in the 1950s and 1960s. He co-authored a book about his work with the New York drug addicts, The Cross and the Switchblade, which became a best-seller, selling over 50 million copies in over thirty languages since it was published in 1963. The book was included among the 100 most important Christian books of the 20th century.
For over four decades, Wilkerson's ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. He has authored over 30 books.
David Wilkerson is the founder and president of World Challenge, Inc., a nonprofit organization incorporated on September 22, 1971. Reverend Wilkerson, the author of over thirty inspirational books, is perhaps best known for his early days of ministry to young drug addicts and gang members in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn. His story is told in The Cross and the Switchblade, a book he co-authored which became a best-seller. (The story has been read by over 50 million people in some thirty languages and 150 countries since 1963. In 1969, a motion picture of the same title was released.)
For over four decades, Reverend Wilkerson's evangelistic ministry has included preaching, teaching and writing. Throughout that time a distinctive characteristic of his work has been his direct efforts to reach the neediest members of the population with help for both body and soul. Even now, the almost 70 year-old minister often goes out alone or sometimes with an assistant to walk through the streets of New York City, along Broadway and Eighth Avenue or down 42nd Street and nearby "Crack Alley" on 41st Street. His mission is always to seek out the lost, the disoriented, and the addicted , to tell them of the power of the risen Christ to set them free.
David Wilkerson, born in Hammond, Indiana on May 19, 1931, was married in 1953 to Gwen Carosso. The Wilkersons' two sons are ministers, and their two daughters are married to ministers. They have 11 grandchildren. The Wilkersons served small pastorates in Scottsdale and Philipsburg, Pennsylvania, until Reverend Wilkerson saw a photograph in Life magazine of several New York City teenagers charged with murder. Moved with compassion he was drawn to the city in February 1959. It was at that time he began his street ministry to what one writer called "desperate, bewildered, addicted, often violent youth.