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Eye-Witness
Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me? This disciple had been with the Lord for over three years. He has seen Christ’s beautiful life. He had felt His gentle touch. He had witnessed His strength and His kindness. He had been an eye-witness to His works of power and His words of wisdom.
Wrong Perception
Surely after such a length of time, this disciple should have known his Lord? Surely after such intimacy, he should have a greater awareness of Who He was? How this must have saddened the heart of the Saviour to say.. hast thou not known me, Philip? Yes, Jesus had to tell him that he did not really know Him at all. How could Philip have been with the Lord so long and yet not know Him? How was this possible?
Warning Word
What a warning to each of us to examine our own walk with the Lord. What a caution for each of us to take note of our spiritual journey with Him. What a lesson to find we can walk a long time with the Lord and not know Him.. not really know Him – not know Him as intimately as He desires to be known.
Gentle Reproof
Jesus loved Philip with a godly love that is impossible to understand. Jesus commanded His disciples to love one another as I have loved you.. and yet His gentle reproof to this precious disciple was: have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me? John 14:9
Know or KNOW
Philip ‘knew’ the man, Jesus of Nazareth. He knew He was the son of Mary, brother of James and Jude. He watched this performer of miracles with incredibility. He listened to the lovely words that poured like healing oil from His lips and agreed:- never a man spoke like this man, and they wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. John 7:46. He observed His glorious character His compassion and His grace. Oh yes, Philip knew a lot about the Lord Jesus – but as yet he did not ‘know’ Him.
God Incarnate
He did not know Him as the One that was revealed of the Father. He did not know Him as the Divine glory, full of grace and truth. He did not recognise the radiance and life that streamed from Him. He did not know that: this is My beloved Son in Whom I Am well pleased. Matthew 3:17
Intimate or Afar
Not to know the Lord in this capacity is not to know Him as all. Not to know as the Son of God’s love is to miss out on intimacy with Him. We may be quite familiar with the facts of Christ’s life – His birth in Bethlehem; His marvellous miracles; His ascension from Olivet. We may know the prophecies that tell of His life and death and even His return. We may accept Him as our Saviour and read the Bible and pray as well, but we may be walking ‘afar off’ from His presence. We may be following Him at a distance. We may follow Him from a long way away.
Our Need
We need to be close to the Lord and really get to know Him. We need to bathe ourselves in intimate fellowship and communion with Him. It is not the fault of the Lord if He seems far off from any one of us. This divine love is close to each of us perpetually.
His Grace
His grace is poured over us in great abundance. His holy correction is administered to us with infinite tenderness, but we need to take time to get to know Him. May the deep desire of each of our heart be: “Lord, make yourself KNOWN to Me”.
Bible References
9 Jesus saith unto him, 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, Show us the Father?
10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
46 The officers answered, Never man spake like this man.
17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
5 And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground.
6 But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
8 And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
9 And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
10 And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.
11 The name of the first is Pison: that is it which compasseth the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold;
12 And the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.
13 And the name of the second river is Gihon: the same is it that compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.
14 And the name of the third river is Hiddekel: that is it which goeth toward the east of Assyria. And the fourth river is Euphrates.
15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:
17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
18 And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
19 And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
21 And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
22 And the rib, which the Lord God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
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