Loved By The Father

​I have revealed to them who you are and I will continue to make you even more real to them, so that they may experience the same endless love that you have for me, for your love will now live in them, even as I live in them! (John 17:26 TPT)
 
Over the last few weeks, I have been looking at how Jesus revealed his Father and how this was the central purpose of his time on earth. John 17 is his final prayer before he is led away to the cross and, as we've looked at it together, I hope you can see how it represents a summary of Jesus' life and ministry. 
 
He has shown us what the Father is like, he has given us the Father's words of eternal life, he has demonstrated how we can live in love and he wants us to be with him where he is. 
 
Now, at the end of his prayer, Jesus concludes with these words: "in order that the love you have for me may be in them".
 
Jesus concludes his earthly ministry by reassuring us that he has made his Father known and that he will continue to make him known. We are not left in any uncertainty, Jesus will continue revealing his Father to us, to you and me. 
 
It's a very powerful statement. You and I are loved by God, the Father, in exactly the same way as he loves Jesus. No if's or but's, just unconditional love which is totally dependent on him and not in any way on us. 
 
We can't earn his love, we can't make him love us any more through our actions or words. We can't stop him loving us. We are loved as he loves Jesus. 
 
Should this revelation make us lazy Christians? Of course not! It changes our hearts so much that we find we are motivated, or compelled, to walk in his ways and therefore to delight in doing his will (Ezekiel 36:27 and Psalm 40:8). 
 
The revelation (or series of revelations) we've looked at from John 17 really do present us with a clear picture of the gospel. To me, it is so simple, we are loved by the perfect Father who wants to be a Father to us. ​