Jesus is God’s revelation of himself.

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

The last time that I visited Mount St. Helens, much of the National Monument was still under development for visitors. The first observatory, the Coldwater Visitor Center (since closed), was as close as you could get to the volcano. The Johnston Ridge Observatory was opened in 1997 and took visitors closer to the decapitated mountain.

Mount St. Helens National Monument, Washington

My first visit to this observatory was in August this past summer.

If you make the trip to Mount St. Helens, and I suggest you do, you will need to watch the movie, “Eruption of Life” in the Johnston Ridge Observatory. After watching the movie, the screen disappears and a large curtain is pulled back for this amazing view of the mountain. Even though I had spent a great deal of time hiking and taking pictures of St. Helens before I saw the movie, my breath escaped me when I saw the mountain.

“My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.”
Matthew 11:27 New Living Translation

The Greek word for “reveal” literally means to unveil. To see Jesus is to see the Father because Jesus has unveiled the Father to us. It’s true that nature teaches us something about God (Romans 1:20), but we will only know the Father as a God of redemption when we see Jesus. Through his passion, his death and resurrection, we see God as a merciful God who desires that we know him and call him “Daddy.”

Jesus has one more unveiling to perform. What you and I see through the eyes of faith, we will one day see in person. When the heavens are opened for the last time, we will be carried into the presence of our Creator, Redeemer God by Jesus, the great unveiler.

Picture and Text Copyright Douglas P Brauner