Knowing God

Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you...I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them (Jn. 17 25-26).

No one has ever seen God, but God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, has made him known (Jn. 1:18).

Jesus came to make known the Father, and His promise at the Last Supper was that He would "continue" to make Him known.  That "continue" applies to us to this very day.  All of His teaching, His miracles, His ministry to us even today reveals to us Who God Is.  

When Jesus washed the feet of His disciples, He was telling us Who God Is -- He who washes our feet, Who cleanses us from sin, Who anoints our wounds and prepares us to sit at table with Him.  When Jesus restored Peter as head of the church after Peter's betrayal, He was revealing to us the love of the Father, Who restores all things even in the face of our betrayal of Him.  

The atheist denies that God exists, but even he cannot deny the historic presence of Jesus Christ, whose very purpose was to "reveal the Father."  If Jesus had not come in the flesh, we might have excuse not to know the Father, but He has come -- and He has revealed the Father.  In the words of C.S. Lewis, if Jesus is not Who He claimed to be, then He is either a liar or a lunatic -- but his life and death testify to the Truth.

The agnostic also claims that we cannot know God.  But Jesus, whom we can know, at least historically, said that we can know the Father:  Have I been among you so long and you still do not know Me?

Is it possible that Jesus is no longer doing His work -- revealing to us the Father?  And how is it that we still do not know God?  How can it be that we are still afraid of God?  If we want to know what it means to "fear God," let us approach Jesus' reverence for His Father --- and more than approach, let us get ourselves into Jesus's love and reverence for the Father.

It is not only possible to know God; it is possible to "learn" God by "learning" Jesus Christ.  In Romans 13:14, we are told to "put on Christ Jesus and make no provision for the desires of the flesh," (sinful nature) (or the natural man).  Ignatius of Antioch wrote to the churches of Asia Minor, telling them to "learn Christ," and to be "bearers of God."  He called himself "God bearer."

Ever since I heard about Ignatius' advice, I have wanted to "learn Christ."  He did not say to "learn about Christ," or even to "learn from Christ," but rather to "learn Christ."  The goal of every Christian is to learn Christ.  And in learning Christ, we also learn His Father.  We cannot say God is beyond our reach, for we have been given His very Son in the flesh.  In Him, and with Him, clothed in Him, we shall reach God Himself.