In His earthly ministry the Lord Jesus never spoke His own word. Whatever He spoke was the Father’s speaking. On one occasion He said, “My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me” (John 7:16). In not speaking from Himself the Lord did not seek His own glory but the glory of the One who sent Him (v. 18). Instead of speaking His own words, He spoke God. When He spoke God’s word, God was expressed through His speaking. God came forth from Him through His words. He lived a life of speaking God, a life of expressing God for His glory.
In John 12:49 and 50 the Lord Jesus says, “I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who sent Me has Himself given Me commandment what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is eternal life. The things therefore that I speak, even as the Father has said to Me, so I speak.” This clearly reveals that in His ministry the Lord spoke the Father’s word. In particular, the commandment that the Father gave Him to speak was eternal life. Therefore, He came with living words, and whoever receives His words will have eternal life.
In John 14:10 the Lord Jesus goes on to say, “The words which I speak to you, I do not speak from Myself; but the Father who abides in Me, He does His works.” Once again the Lord makes it clear that He did not speak His own word but the Father’s word. While the Son was speaking in this way, the Father was working. The Son’s speaking was the Father’s working.
A number of times the Lord Jesus declared strongly that He did not do His own will, but that everything He did was the Father’s will. One day He said to His disciples, who had returned with food and were urging Him to eat: “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34). The Lord’s food was to do the will of the Father. In John 4 this means that, in particular, His food was to save and satisfy sinners. The Lord Jesus had come to Samaria with a purpose-to find a sinful Samaritan woman and satisfy her. In doing this He did God’s will, and doing God’s will was His food and satisfaction.
In John 6:38 the Lord Jesus says that He came down from heaven not to do His own will but the will of the Father who sent Him. In John 5:30 He says that He did not seek His own will but the will of the Father who sent Him. These verses indicate clearly that in His earthly ministry the Lord Jesus did not carry out His own will but the Father’s will.
We know from the Gospel of John that Christ the Son came in the Father’s name, did the Father’s will, spoke the Father’s word, and sought the Father’s glory (7:18). He also expressed the Father (John 14:7-9). He did not express Himself but expressed only the Father. During His earthly ministry the Lord Jesus spoke much concerning the kingdom of God and the dispensing of the Triune God. But in all that He spoke He expressed the Father, not Himself.
The fact that the Son expresses the Father is proved by the exchange between the Lord Jesus and Philip in John 14. In verse 7 the Lord pointed out to the disciples that if they had known Him, they would have known the Father also. Then He said, “Henceforth you know Him and have seen Him.” However, Philip replied, “Lord, show us the Father and it suffices us” (v. 8). To this the Lord Jesus answered, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father” (v. 9). In the Son the Father is expressed and seen, for the Son is the expression of the Father. The Son does not express Himself; instead, He expresses the Father. The Son’s expression is the Father’s expression. Hence, when we see the Son, we see the Father.
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