Knowing God – by Pastor Chandler
Posted on February 16, 2016 by No comments
I have been obsessing, really, over the “High Priestly Prayer” of Jesus in John 17 lately. To search out this prayer is to search out the very heart of the God-man Savior, Jesus Christ. This prayer reveals His desire for His church and His supreme desire to glorify the Father. Take this as an encouragement, dive in headfirst and read John 17 with eyes wide-open.
One particular part of the prayer that has received much of my attention as of late is the very beginning. Here’s how John records Christ’s prayer:
“When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, ‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (John 17:1-3, ESV).
Eternal life in Christ hinges on this idea of knowing God. Perhaps this reality is why J.I. Packer entitled his book on God Knowing God. What does Jesus mean, however, when He appeals to knowledge?
Of course there is an element of intellectual knowledge. The day I met Kimmi for the first time I told my mother, “I want to marry her.” Before this dream could become a reality I had to get to know her. I had to know what she was about. I had to learn what her passions were. I had to learn her birthday, which took some time. I had to learn her history. I had to learn about her family. This desire to learn facts about Kimmi served to grow me in my relationship with her (my life with her), and showed that I truly did care about her.
However, Jesus is not only appealing to an intellectual knowledge. Knowing God is not simply about knowing truths about God. Knowing God is about more and it results in eternal life.
I was recently reading a book by a mid-19th century theologian named Geerhardus Vos. In his book about Biblical Theology, he makes an interesting statement about John 17. He wrote, “But the concept of “knowledge” here is not to be understood in its Hellenic sense, but in the Semitic sense. According to the former, “to know” means to mirror the reality of a thing in one’s consciousness. The Semitic and biblical idea is to have the reality of something practically interwoven with the inner experience of life. Hence “to know” can stand in the Biblical idiom for “to love,” “to single out in love”” (17).
You see Jesus was not just talking about intellect. What we know to be a true about God must do, at least, two things. One is that it must cause us to cherish, adore, desire, pursue, and savor above all else God Himself because we love Him. We have come to know Him and what we have learned about Him drives out a love for any other idol or false god and supremely places God as the affection for our love.
— It must cause us to cherish, adore, desire, pursue, and savor above all else God Himself because we love Him.—
Secondly, the knowledge we have been given by God, as Vos said, becomes “interwoven” into our lives in an experiential sort of way. This is to say that the knowledge Jesus was speaking affects the way we live our lives. Obviously this affecting is not for earning favor or for achieving salvation. Instead this affecting is a result of loving the God whom we know so well.
What I learned about Kimmi affected the way I perceived her and the way I related to her. I learned that Kimmi loved music and particularly enjoyed a band that I, too, enjoyed. Instead of just keeping this knowledge in my mind, driven by a desire to know her even more, I took her to see this band in concert. The knowledge I had about Kimmi became an experience.
My illustration falls drastically short, but I hope it gives the right idea. My experience with Kimmi, while it was driven by love, was also meant to achieve something. I wanted Kimmi to like me too. I wanted to get a ring around her finger.
Our knowledge of God is a free gift of grace given to us by the Son, Jesus. Only faith in Jesus reveals the eternal-life-giving knowledge of God. Then, the application of that knowledge is not to earn anything. It is purely an expression of love.
Do you want this knowledge? Then you must turn to Jesus Christ and Him alone. Bring nothing with you except faith in Jesus. As a beautiful song puts it, “Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to the cross I cling.” Is your knowledge of God increasing your love for Him and altering the way you live?
All glory to God,
Pastor Chandler
Vos, Geerhardus. Biblical Theology: Old And New Testament. Grand Rapids: WM B Eerdmans, 1948. PDF.
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