KNOWING GOD Through His Word

If someone asked you the question “do you know God, what might your answer be?  And if your answer is yes, what would you say is the basis for your answer – how do you know you know God?

Would it come out of your own human wisdom and reasoning, your feelings or imagination?  Would it be based on some private, personal religious experience you believe you had at some time in your life?   Would your answer be informed primarily by the explanations and opinions of the TV and radio talk show hosts, TV and radio preachers or so-called religious experts you might find on the History or Discovery Channel, or the Trinity Broadcast Network? Would it come from what you have heard in churches you have attended or from family and friends who profess to be religious?  Would it come from books or articles you have read on the internet, written by men and women about their understanding of God? Or might it come from so called “holy” books such as the Koran, the sacred book of the Islam religion, or the Book of Mormon, the sacred book of the Mormon religion, or the Veda, the sacred scripture of Hinduism?  Maybe you have determined for yourself that there is no God – and if so, what is that determination based on ((Psalm 14:1)?

There are reportedly thousands of religions in this world, each with their own truth claims about a god or gods.  They each present their god or gods to be of a certain nature and character, with certain attributes and abilities and specific requirements for how one is to relate to and be accepted/approved by that god and merit or earn a desirable afterlife – heaven if you will.

There are religions such as Hinduism and Mormonism and what is referred to as “New Age” religions that would imply that ultimately, we are all “gods” with our full divinity to be revealed in the ages to come (the devil’s lie in Genesis 3:4-5).

In our present politically correct society, there are many so called religious “experts” and media celebrities who would have us believe that all of these religions and their distinct truth claims about God and how one comes into right relationship with that God are all equally valid.  Those who believe that their truth claims regarding God are superior to others are chastened and judged to be arrogant, ignorant or oppressive.

Now the belief that we all know and worship the same God might have some credibility if all of these religions answered the question of who is God? in the same or at least similar manner.   But they don’t – not even close.  The god of Islam is very different than the gods of the Hindu and the gods of Taoism are very different than the God of the Orthodox Jew. And, most certainly, the devoted followers of these and many other religions would vehemently affirm this about their god/gods.

And this would be true of those of us who identify as Christians, who believe that we know and  worship the one and only true God (Exodus 20:2-3) (Isaiah 45:5-6), fully persuaded that the  knowledge and understanding of God is revealed authoritatively and inerrantly by God in the words of the Bible, and ultimately in the person and work of God the Son, Jesus Christ, who is revealed to us in the Bible, as the Word made flesh – the brightness of His (God’s) glory and the express image of His person, (John 1:1-5) (John 1:14) (Hebrews 1:1-4).

As finite beings, we cannot know and understand God who is infinite through our own limited wisdom, knowledge, intellect and senses unless God chooses to reveal Himself to us – which He has in the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17) (2 Peter 1:20-21) (2 Timothy 3:14-15).    

There, God calls us to love Him, to fear Him, to obey Him, to trust Him, to worship Him, to delight and rejoice in Him, all of which require our knowing Him intimately and personally, and it is only through the diligent study of His written word and the work of God the Holy Spirit in our hearts that we enter into relationship with the living word – Jesus Christ, our Lord, and come to know and understand God (Jeremiah 9:23-24) (John 17:2-3) (Jeremiah 24:7).

The Bible is thus given by God, to be received by faith, as God’s gracious self-revelation of His glorious person and purposes in creation (Hebrews 11:6) (Romans 10:17).

It is given to reveal to us the glory of the eternal God – that we may come to know, fear, love, trust, obey and worship Him for who He is – the most glorious, most desirable, most essential, most awesome, most valuable being in the universe – the eternal, self-existent, self- sufficient, infinitely wise, infinitely powerful, infinitely good creator and sovereign ruler of His universe (Genesis 1:1) (Genesis 1:31) (Psalm 19:1-6) (Psalm 103:19-22). (Exodus 15:11).

 It is given to us that we may know God’s purpose in creating mankind, which is for His glory (Isaiah 43:7), creating us in His image and likeness that we would share in His glorious existence, finding our greatest joy, pleasure, satisfaction and eternal significance in knowing, loving and being loved by God, under his fatherly rule and authority (Genesis 1:26) (Psalm 16:11).  

It is given so that we can understand how mankind has rejected God’s purpose for and rule over our lives (sin), willfully suppressing the knowledge of God’s glory, and in doing so have come under God’s wrath and judgement which has its ultimate expression in Hell (Romans 1:18-31) (Psalm 9:17).

It is given that we may see and understand our sinful condition, why we and the world are the sin corrupted mess that we are, and our helplessness in ourselves to do anything about it (Hebrews 4:12-13) (Romans 3:9-17) (Ephesians 2:1-3) (Jeremiah 13:23).

It is given so that we may know and put our faith in what God has graciously done and is doing in and through the person and work of Jesus Christ, God the Son, to rescue believing men and women from the eternal consequences of their sin and reconcile and restore them to the glorious life and relationship with God for which we were created (Ephesians 2:4-10) (Romans 6:23) (1 Corinthians 1:30-31).

 It is given so that all who would repent of  our sin and put our faith in Jesus and all that He accomplished in His first coming on our behalf may, even in the most difficult and dire circumstances that we may face in our sojourn through this present evil world, find comfort (Romans 15:4), peace of mind (John 16:33), ease of conscience (Romans 8:1), rest for our soul (Matthew 11:28-30) and joy in our heart (Luke 10:17-20), as we look forward to the glorious second coming of our great God and Saviour, and the glorious life we will enjoy with Him, forever (Galatians 1:4) (Titus 2:13-14) (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18).

 More on knowing God through His word in my next post.

Grace and Peace ×