By Teresa Ferraro
I believe humans’ ultimate inner yearning is to know their Creator and to comprehend the big picture of which we all are a part. God put in each one of us a wondering and hunger to find Him.
God laid out the path to know Him in His Word, yet many don’t see it, sadly. It is the way to fulfillment, satisfaction in life, and true peace in heart and mind.
Christ pointed it out a few times:
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3)
“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6)
“Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.” (John 8:19)
“If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.” (John 14:7)
The only way to know God is through Christ; and the only way to know Him as Father is through His Son.
This knowing goes deeper than an introduction or even a relationship, because our relationship with God, just like that between the Father and the Son, goes deeper than our typical relationship between two beings.
Did you know Christ and the Father are one? Two, yet one. No? Never heard this? Christ said:
“I and my Father are one.” (John 10:30)
“Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake.” (John 14:10-11)
Did you know God intended that same relationship for us?!
“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.” (John 17:21)
“Abide in me, and I in you.” (John 15:4)
“He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” (1 Cor. 6:17)
Knowing Christ is more than a history lesson of Jesus of Nazareth. Knowing Christ isn’t knowing about Him; it is knowing Him, and understanding His life lived through us. It’s knowing who He is as God’s Son and who He is today in us. Knowledge is power, and knowing Christ as our life allows us to truly live the Christ-life, the Christian life, rather than attempting to act like Christ. Paul urged believers to learn this Christ:
“Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.” (2 Cor. 5:16)
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Cor. 13:5)
“For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Cor. 2:16)
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 2:5)
Following up on His original design for man to know God, God sent the Holy Spirit as our teacher and comforter. This isn’t for us to have a power trip; it’s for lifelong learning and transforming by renewing our minds. Christ specifically introduced the Holy Spirit as the one who would teach us Christ and everything relating to Christ, for Christ is the center and focus of God’s ultimate plan. Christ said:
“But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me: And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.” (John 15:26-27)
“Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.” (John 16:13-14)
By explicitly laying out the path to Him, God has invited us, welcomes us, into union and fellowship with both He and His Son. He yearns to share Himself with us, to call us sons, to bring us into His family and into His home. He offers us:
To be born of God.
“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God… That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.…Ye must be born again.” (John 3:3, 6, 7)
To come into the Father/Son union.
“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” (John 17:20-23)
To learn of our new union with God.
“At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.” (John 14:20)
God longs for us, patiently waits for us.
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)
He is bringing us to fellowship with the Father and the Son.
“That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.” (1 John 1:3-4)
