Know God

The God of Christianity is a relational God. He is not like other gods, for even within himself there is relationship – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit eternally turned toward one another in a dance of self-giving love. This love is fundamental to God’s nature for he is Three-in-One. God, as the apostle John (who was also called the “beloved disciple”) tells us, is self-giving love. God is the love that gives of himself for the good of others. He is self-giving love to the fullest extent for there is no fear in God. Fear, which is the opposite of love, is what causes us to withdraw back into ourselves rather than give ourselves to others. God gives himself fully, not only to himself, but also to his creatures, particularly those who bear his image. God wants to give himself fully to you. God is eager to have a relationship with you.

As already discussed, one of the primary difficulties of having a relationship with God is that he is invisible. Humans aren’t designed to relate well to that which they cannot see.^[1] This means that, at least in this life, a relationship with God is an exercise of faith. But it is not a complete leap in the dark because, despite his invisibility, God is knowable. We can know God because he has made himself known to us, and knowing God is the first stage in the process of developing a relationship with him. Remember the key phrase: To know God is to love God is to obey God.

The three most important ways by which God has made himself known are Nature, Scripture, and Jesus Christ. Nature demonstrates the power and glory of God, often moving us to silent awe and wonder. In nature we see God’s form, though the picture is blurry. We can see important things about God, but not enough that we can know him personally. In Scripture we learn God’s name, “I am that I am,” and we see his character and learn his ways. The picture of God becomes clearer as he reveals his nature to us through the Bible, but at least in the Old Testament, he still seems far away from us. Finally, in Jesus Christ, God’s Son, we see the face of God. We know God completely in Jesus because he is the full revelation of God. Let’s unpack this.

Knowing God through Nature

A pastor was invited over to a couple’s house for dinner one night because the wife was worried about her husband. He refused to come to church with her, and instead would go for Sunday morning nature walks alone. When the pastor asked him about this, the husband defended himself, “I experience God just as much in nature as she does at Sunday service.” The pastor replied, “No kidding! Of course you can experience God in nature; he made it! His fingerprints are all over this planet and in the skies. But how, from only nature, can you learn God’s name? How can you know if he loves you or couldn’t care less about you? You can take a hike anytime; there’s only one hour a week that you can go to church with your wife.”

God created the world and called it good. There are sights all over this planet that take our breath away. My favorite is Yosemite Valley. Do yourself a favor and go there in the springtime, when the waterfalls are in their full glory. There’s nothing quite like it. But if you poll a hundred people you’re likely to get a hundred different answers about the most beautiful places they’ve been on this planet. The world is full of beauty, and perhaps the canopy of lights God spread over the earth is the most awe-inspiring of all.

The Psalmist wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” (Psalm 19:1) When was the last time you saw the full night sky? It’s been over thirty years for me. If what the Psalmist says is true, perhaps there is no greater hindrance to belief in God than urban light pollution. We have shut up the heavens and silenced the testimony of the skies, and thus have forgotten that it is the glorious God who has made the heavens, the earth, and us. The safety created by street lights is a poor substitute for the wonder induced by the Milky Way. We make ourselves ignorant by shutting out the stars with the lights of our commerce and safety. God speaks in the stars; let us hear their testimony of him again.

Paul added, “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20) Creation doesn’t tell us the whole story about God, but it does reveal his eternal power and his divinity. Nature tells us that there is a God, and that anybody who can look up to the stars or to the wonders on earth has no excuse for atheism. In his book Man Is Not Alone, Abraham Heschel makes the case for God from the starting point of ineffability, which is that experience of speechlessness we often have when presented with the overwhelming beauty of creation. The creation testifies to its Creator.

Knowing God through Scripture

Nature can get you some of the way there, far enough for Paul to say that nobody has an excuse for atheism, but the Scriptures are a special revelation of God. The Bible teaches us so much about God that it’s hard to even summarize, but I think it’s safe to say that one of the most important things the Scriptures teach us is that God is good. He is nothing like the other gods of ancient pantheons who often demonstrated the worst of human failings but on a divine scale. He is patient, longsuffering, committed to his people, loving, humble – this list could go on forever. The overall impression that we get from the Bible is that God will do whatever it takes for the good of his people. He is the source and definition of goodness, and the Bible, passed down through hundreds of generations and translated into thousands of languages, is our constant testimony to God’s character.

The Psalmist said of Scripture, “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” (Psalm 119:105) The Bible lights up our dark world by showing us the path that pleases God. We know where and how to walk because God has revealed it to us in Scripture. The Bible comforts and reassures us in times of trial. It both shows us the way and strengthens us to walk in it.

The Bible is God’s primary way of speaking to us today and is also the standard against which any special revelation is to be judged. There have been many times in my own life when I thought that God was speaking directly to me, whether as an answer to prayer, a nudge to do something, a personal correction or conviction of sin, or in words to say to another person. Whenever this happens it’s important to compare the content of this voice with what God has already revealed in the Bible, for we know that God will never contradict himself. I believe that God speaks through a still, small voice in our minds, but I also believe – and know from experience – that I can easily replicate that voice with my own desires and thoughts. The Bible is our objective source of God’s revelation that we can rely on in our highly subjective world.

Knowing God through Jesus Christ

Jesus is the clearest and fullest revelation of God. The author of Hebrews begins the letter by building a bridge from the Scriptures to Jesus. “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” (Hebrews 1:1-3a) In the past God spoke to his people through prophets, some of whose words were written down and preserved as Scripture for all generations. What a wonderful act of grace! And yet, there came an even greater act of grace: God spoke directly to his people through his Son, Jesus Christ. The author calls Jesus “the exact representation of his being.” Paul concurs when he writes, “The Son is the image of the invisible God.” (Colossians 1:15)

In other words, Jesus shows us everything that we need to know about God. Jesus is who God is. God is who Jesus is. God’s nature is fully revealed in the Son. God’s image is perfectly manifested in Christ. Everything that God wanted to say and do was said and done in Jesus. There is no further revelation required. You can know God by knowing Jesus. He told his disciples as much when he said, “If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. …Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14: 7, 9)

Jesus goes on to tell them that he and the Father are one. There is no plainer way to put it: Jesus is God. The apostle John says as much in the remarkable introduction to his Gospel. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. …The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” (John 1:1, 14) The Word, which in the Greek is logos and is understood as something akin to “the organizing principle of the universe,” is Jesus Christ. You can know God by knowing Jesus. You can know Jesus because he is alive, risen from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. He has sent his Spirit to live within every believer and among every community of believers.

God can be known. If we humble ourselves and accept his self-revelation through Nature, Scripture, and especially through his Son Jesus, then we can begin to have a relationship with him, even though we can’t see him. God is there. He is not silent. He is not asleep. He is eager for you to know him, and for you to know that you are both known and loved by him.

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[1] Perhaps God was not always invisible to us. It is our sinful state that has caused God to hide himself from us, but this was not the case in the Garden of Eden before the Fall. It is quite possible that Adam and Eve, in their innocence, saw God face to face.

Yosemite Valley Photo by Aniket Deole on Unsplash