ON ONE occasion Philip, a disciple of Jesus, asked: “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied.”a (John 14:8)

The request, “Lord, show us the Father,” suggests that Philip wanted Jesus to provide for his disciples a visible manifestation of God, such as was granted in visions to Moses, Elijah and Isaiah in ancient times. (Ex. 24:10; 1 Ki. 19:9-13; Isa. 6:1-5) However, in such visions God’s servants saw, not God himself, but symbolic representations of him. (Ex. 33:17-22; John 1:18) Jesus’ reply indicated that Philip already had something better than visions of that type. Since Jesus perfectly reflected the personality of his Father, whom only the Son fully ‘knew,’ seeing Jesus Christ was like seeing God himself.—Matt. 11:27.