Articles
I Have Manifested Your Name -John 17:6
“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word.
John 17:6 ESV
I recall reading this passage a number of years ago, as I read it today, and wondered, what was Christ saying when he prayed to God, "…I have manifested your name…"?
Hadn't God revealed his name as the LORD or Yahweh which means "I AM WHO I AM" to Moses at the burning bush in Exodus 3:13-15? How then could Jesus say, "I have manifested (made known) your name," regarding God's name? Was there something about the way in which Jesus referred to God? Did he unfold a different aspect of God which was not previously seen?
I believe that is exactly what Jesus is saying. He had made God abundantly known to his followers through a radically different lens: he had taught them that God is their FATHER.
The Old Testament Scriptures attest to the LORD being the "God of your fathers"or the "God of their fathers", but almost never refer to God as our Father* and this is a huge difference. Of the more than 1200 times the word "father" is found in the Bible, it is found more in the book of John than in any other book of the Bible (114 total references to "father" in the Gospel According to John, of which approximately 101 are referring to GOD as Father).
Look at the things which John reveals and that Jesus tells us about God as his Father or as our Father in John:
- Jesus had glory as of the only Son from the Father -1:14
- Jesus has made the Father known- 1:18
- Jesus called the Temple "my Father's house" -2:16
- True worshipers will worship the Father- 4:23
- The Father, like Jesus, is working - 5:17
- Jesus called God his own Father - 5:18
- The Father has given judgment to the Son - 5:22
- Should honor the Father as we honor the Son - 5:23
- Father has life in himself - 5:26
- The list goes on……
The discovery of insights into the meaning of what Jesus or any other Bible character has said is truly exciting. Especially is this true when it has to do with the name by which we can now approach our God through Jesus His Son. The apostle Paul considered this a marvelous blessing in Christ, "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Romans 8:15
(Consider this as a Bible Study exercise. I recommend that you use a Bible search program for the word "Father" and limit it to the Gospel according to John. Then make a list of all the things which have been manifested about the Father by Jesus.)
(*The passages which refer to God as Father in the Old Testament are Psalm 89:26, Isaiah 9:6 and Malachi 2:10).
Yours in Christ
Michael Franklin
