44 Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. 45 And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.
Verses 44-50 are a summary of Jesus’ manifestation of Himself to Israel. He now gave the consequences of the nation’s rejection of Him as the Messiah. These verses are an epilogue on rejecting the Light of the world.
The faith that Jesus wanted people to have in verses 42 to 46 is both faith in the Father, and especially in His Agent and His Agent’s words. This section is another appeal to believe.
12:44
Then Jesus cried out and said,
Jesus’ loud calling out to the nation indicates the importance of the following statements.
“He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me.
Jesus’ point was that people were to believe in Him because He was an emissary of the Father. Believing in Jesus is to believe in the Father. To believe in Jesus is to believe in God.
12:45
And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me.
Christ and the Father are one; they are equal and one in unity. Jesus in His incarnation was the clearest display of God on earth. There are no two objects of faith—the Father versus Jesus.
PRINCIPLE:
Jesus personally represented the Father on earth.
APPLICATION:
The Father and Son operate in perfect unity. The Son was sent on a mission to make the Father known. In this sense, it is true that “seeing is believing.” Seeing is a bridge to believing.
Those who believe in God’s Agent believe in the Father who sent Him. It is impossible to separate the Father from the Son. Faith in Jesus is no mere faith in a human agent. Jesus was more than a prophet; He was the God-man, the unique Son of God. To believe in the Son is to believe in the Father, and to hear the Son is to hear the Father.
