“this is eternal life, that they might know you and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” Jhn:17:3
Several years ago, I was attending a men’s conference in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania and during the course of the conference which dealt with a whole host of men’s issues and responsibilities one of the leaders sang a contemporary worship song called “Knowing You, Jesus”.
The rendition of this song was quite moving and powerful and presented the idea that we can Know Jesus and in our knowing of him we experience all of his life in our very own lives, and put forward the idea that giving up everything of this life would be worth it if by doing so we would be brought to coming into a deeper knowledge and relationship with our Lord.
Seeking God
The question of “can we know God?” has been
asked and pondered for centuries. Many have gone to great lengths to reach out
and enter into a deeper knowing of God. Some left all things which they had to
enter a monastic life or became reclusive in desert places all so that they
might seek God undistracted by the outside would in prayer and in contemplation
such as the desert hermits had centuries ago.
In the early centuries of the Church in the east,
many sought out a union with and a knowing of God, a God whom some believed to
be unknowable or Apophatic, that is beyond
knowing, transcendent.
Some, would employ a somewhat of a mystical
approach to their search for the transcendent God. One method, which came about
to seek this divine union relationship with God was called the Hesychasm which is a type of meditative prayer
which directs the focus of the practitioner inwardly upon their own heart.
This, and other somewhat esoteric practices were used to help Christians find
the God whom they sought.
Knowing God is at the heart of Biblical
Christianity and should be the endeavor of each and all believers. But can we
really know the God of the Bible, a God who is beyond our natural ability of
intellect and the capacity of our minds? A God, so lofty and high, the Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, a God who defies description? Can we truly come to know
him?
That Might Know You
Jesus Christ, in his high priestly prayer
found in the Gospel of John prayed for all believers to know God, even stating,
that knowing God, which is having a relationship with God, is the very essence
of eternal life and the reason which Jesus came; all that we might know God.
“this is eternal life, that they might know
you and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” Jhn:17:3
Jesus is telling us that, God has made a way
for us to know him and that very way is Jesus himself. Now, certain spiritual
disciplines are helpful and should focus our minds upon the person of Jesus for
in Jesus himself we find that God is knowable. That in Jesus, God has
condescended himself to us joining us as one of us, entering his own creation
all that he is knowable, that is relatable.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word
was with God, and the Word was God.” Jhn: 1:1
“and the Word became flesh and dwelt among
us” (14)
Through the Word taking on our humanity he has
in effect joined us all to himself, becoming one of us for all of us. Jesus has
assumed up our humanity that it might be redeemed, but all the more, so that we
can know the great God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit in Christ, this is eternal
life. Eternal life is a relationship with God. Jesus has come to give us a
revelation of God.
“I have revealed you to those whom you gave me
out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed
your word.” Jhn: 17:6
When we come to believe in Jesus and
experience the salvation which he has accomplished for us we are now free to be
who he has created us to be, his children. When we come to Jesus, we are
encountering all of God, he has not left out any of himself in Jesus. Jesus is
the very self of God.
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity
lives in bodily form,” Col:2:9
In Jesus we come to know the very God who
created all things and has reached out to his human children through Jesus all
that we might know him. When we grow in our relationship with Jesus, we are
knowing the eternal all powerful God who has made all things and rather staying
aloft, unknowable and distant from us he has come to us to show us his love for
us and his desire that we might all come to know him all through Jesus Christ
whom he has sent. Yes, we can Know God.
Benediction: May we each all come to Know
our Great God who has reached out to humanity through Jesus Christ, today,
tomorrow and forevermore. Amen
Rev.Todd Crouch, Norman, Oklahoma
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