KNOWING THE LORD
Anita Clark – PastorGrace Chapel, Carbondale, Kansas
Do you know the Lord? This question is often asked by a believer in Christ to someone we are not sure may know Jesus as their Savior. Every believer starts their Christian life by accepting Jesus. This is the first step of growing in our understanding of Who He really is. As we progress in the Lord, we need to learn Christ in a deeper, fuller way.
The word “know” in the Greek New Testament means. “To see, to understand.” We see Jesus with Spiritual eyes of understanding - a revelation by the Holy Spirit. We first must see Him as our Deliverer, and our Savior. In Hebrews 2:9-18, “But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” Sometimes in the New Testament the word “know” means - “to recognize, be fully acquainted with, or to acknowledge.” Coming to know Him as our personal Savior is the first step of knowing Christ.
God knows you personally. Jesus knows you personally. That’s the relationship He wants to have with you - deep and personal. He knows our name. We are His “offspring” Acts 17:29. Psalm 94:11 says God even knows all our thoughts. Even when we pray, He knows our thoughts before we ask. Think about this. He is away up there in the heavens, and yet He knows the thoughts of every person living on the earth.
Isaiah 6:1 says, “He is high and lifted up and His train fills the temple.” He is the Majesty on high. Romans 11:33 says, “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.” How do we come to understand this? It is by divine revelation, a revelation of Who God is? This is all through Jesus, the Son of God. Jesus is God personified or in a human form.
I Corinthians 2:9-14 states, “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of the God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now, we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.” How are we going to be able to know the things of God? As the Scripture says, “By the Spirit of God.” This is in agreement with Jesus’ words in John 14:26, “... the Holy Ghost , whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”
So it is plain that Jesus said we need the Holy Spirit in our lives to enlighten us to know God and His Son better or more fully. Yielding our minds to the Holy Spirit of God will cause us to have a revelation of the Word of God. We will come to know Jesus in a deeper way as we grow in Him. II Timothy 2:15, admonishes us to “Study to show thyself approved unto God.
Apostle Paul in Ephesians 1:16-21 prays for the Ephesians believers to know the Lord in a greater way. “I ... cease not to give thanks for you making mention of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him” (V. 17). A study of the word will give us this advanced knowledge. Many Christians never delve into the depths of the Word. I challenge you to study and dig deeper where you will find the meat of the Word. Verse 18 says, “The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling and what the riches of glory of His inheritance in the saints.” Do you know from this verse that Jesus will gain an inheritance, when His yielded people come up to glory to be with Him? He will have a bride, made up of fully yielded Christians, who have prepared themselves to rule and reign with Him. In Thessalonians 2:13, Paul speaks of God’s divine work, “... in truth, the Word of God which effectually works also in you that believe.”
In Ephesians 3:17-19, Paul prays, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye ... May be able to comprehend ... what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height. And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with the fullness of God.” This is what God desires to work for each of us. There is depth of knowledge for us to know. So many of God’s people stop and wade in the shallow places, rather than launching out into the depth of His Word. There is greater understanding for those who seek it. Ezekiel had a vision of the waters coming out from under the house of the Lord. (Ezk. 47). The waters got deeper and deeper. Finally the waters were deep enough to swim in.” This is the way that a revelation of the Word of God in truth happens. His Holy Spirit will open our minds and view to deeper teachings that were never revealed to us before. Apostle Paul states in Romans 11:33. “O the depth of the riches of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out.” Of course with the revelation that the Holy Spirit gives when we study the Word and ask Him to show us the meaning of the text, we will receive a revelation of all the truth. However, there are some secrets of God that we may not know until we are in His presence.
II Timothy 1:12 says, “...I am not ashamed; for I know Whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day.” We will grow into a place where our knowing Jesus becomes a deeper experience, i.e. Know Him not just as Saviour, but Keeper, Deliverer, Healer, Victor and coming Bridegroom. Knowledge of Him should grow deeper and deeper and greater and greater. Ephesians 4:13, “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”
