Hi Patricia,
I missed your introduction, welcome to the forum. There is a lot of study and information on your question here:
http://forums.bible-truths.com/index.php/topic,4472.0.htmlExcerpt from: WHO AND WHAT IS JESUS? & WHO IS HIS FATHER? . . . Nashville Conference 2007
WHO IS THE FATHER?
When we hear of Elohim, El, or Jehovah Elohim, it is as much from the Father as it is Christ, because they are one.
Jesus Christ is the spokesman for His Father. No matter what Christ says, He is the mouth piece for the Father. He’s not Charley McCarthy, He’s not a puppet, but He is the mouth piece for the Father, they are in agreement. I don’t know if the proper phonetics and all that are given to Him by the Father and if He really has no latitude of His own.
But in Spirit... the whole thing has to do with spirit and attitude, they are ONE!
So it says in Acts 5:30 “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus.” But when we read in the OT “the God of our fathers,” it was Jesus. But what I want to show by that is the Scripture themselves gives us the latitude to recognize that no matter who the person is, whether it be the Father or the Son, it’s always God.
It is always God. Even Christ in His humiliation, in His physical form, where He was severely limited as a human being. It may say it’s Jesus Christ speaking, but it doesn’t matter if it says it’s Jesus Christ speaking or the OT it’s Jehovah speaking. We know if someone is speaking it’s NOT the Father. Because He does not speak, except through the Son.
So when Christ said, “I have come to reveal the Father” or in John 1:18 where John says Christ came to reveal or unfold the Father, it doesn’t necessarily mean that now Christ is going to tell us all about the Father. He’s going to tell us how the Father communicates now and in the past. All we have to recognize is the Father communicates through the Son.
So when Jesus Christ said, “before Abraham was, I Am” they should have begun to realize... wait a minute are You saying that was You? You talked to Moses?
Now we know that some of the apostles, got it for sure. Paul understood that spiritual Rock was Christ, that is who it was.
Now at the last supper Philip did not know, he just didn’t know. So He said “have I been with you so long, and you ask who the Father is, if you have seen Me you have seen the Father.” Then He went on in different places to say a number of things.
“I and the Father are One.” (John 10:30)
“I am in Him and He is in Me, We are One.” (John 17:21)
“The Words I speak, I speak of the Father.” (John 12:50)
It’s like, 'ooh, now I get it.' By the time of the crucifixion and the next day after the resurrection, even doubting Thomas, he only doubted that Jesus was raised from the dead. But once he knew it was Jesus and if you talked to him and said Thomas do you believe in God? He would say, 'yes, sure I believe in God.' Do you believe in the God of Abraham and Isaac? He was there at that last supper and he would have said, 'sure I do.' But did he really comprehend who that God was, that he thought he believed in?
george.