João 14

21 The one who has my commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves me. Now the one who loves me will be loved by my Father; and I will love him, and reveal myself to him."*The Lord gives an important insight on spiritual growth, here: our love → our obedience → His love → His self revelation. Can you love someone you don’t know? Perhaps in theory, but not really. The more you know someone the more you love him/her (especially if they are nice). As we come to know the Lord we grow to love Him, which translates into obedience, which leads Him to reveal Himself to us, which increases our knowledge of Him, which increases our love for Him, which increases our obedience, which increases His self revelation, which increases our knowledge, love, obedience, and so on. It is an upward spiral which takes us ever closer to Him.

Judas' question

22 Judas (not the Iscariot) says to Him, "Lord, just how is it that You are going to reveal Yourself to us and not to the world?" 23 Jesus answered and said to him: "If anyone loves me he will keep my word. So my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.*Like, wow—did you get that? We have always been taught (correctly) that the Holy Spirit indwells the true believer, but here the Lord says that the Father and the Son can be at home with us as well. That is all three persons of the Trinity! There is a condition, however—we must keep Jesus' word, which is really the Father’s (next verse). The indispensable evidence that we love God is to obey His word; this stimulates His love in return. There is evidently some sense in which we influence the manifestation of His love, at least. The answer to Judas' question is that the ‘revealing’ is one on one, and is triggered by one’s obedience. So the world is out. 24 The one who does not love me does not keep my words;*In verse 23 "my word" is singular, here "my words" is plural; I take it that these phrases are being used interchangeably. further, the word which you hear is not mine but the Father’s who sent me.