How Can I Know God?
By Yourself: No! In Christ: Yes!
John begins his revealing of the vision received from Christ via a heavenly messenger, angel, by acknowledging Christ as the Faithful Witness above all other qualities. At first blush one may assume that Christ is faithfully transmitting the revelation He received from the Father and is giving to John. However, it is this type of narrowly focused thinking that gets readers confused when reading the Revelation of Christ. My mind wandered back to John’s Gospel, which I had studied a couple of years ago, and I realized that there was a much larger concept at work in this passage that transcended this apocalyptic revealing of Revelation. Indeed, it lay at the foundation of the Bible and the question of this post.
The Bible specifically states it is possible for Man to grasp the truth that God exists (Ps 19:1; Ro 1:20). There are two witnesses verifying this as true (De 19:15). The outer witness is Creation from the heavens down to the tiniest organisms and even to the very biological mechanisms modern man has so far perceived. Every aspect screams the plain truth of divine design. The inner witness is the consistency of man’s moral code accompanied by the feelings of guilt when it is violated (Ex 20:1-17; Ro 1:22-23). Regardless of the culture, the society and place in history; it has always been wrong to lie, steal, murder, etc. However, knowledge that God exists is not salvation! Satan and his minions, demons, know this and tremble (Ja 2:19)!
The leading question is both directive and contains the seeds of a False Dilemma logical fallacy. Historically this has been Satan’s favorite tool to lead with as evidenced by his question to Woman, “Did God say…” (Ge 2:16-17; 3:1-3). In the Gospels, Christ’s detractors often posed questions patterned after this to force Jesus to commit Himself to a logic trap. Instead, Christ simply asked them a question in return which placed their motives, and His biblical truth, in the proper frame of reference (Mt 22:23-33). People also violate the First Law of Logic, Identity, by not having terms defined or clarified. I have shown it is possible to know God exists; but that does not answer one’s real need which is salvation. One may indeed believe God exists but remain in sin and spend eternity in God’s wrath (Re 19:20; 20:7-15).
Natural Man is Bounded by Creation;
Infinite God Exists Outside of Creation!
Natural Man is of the Flesh and after Man’s and Woman’s sin is conceived in sin (Ge 6:3; Ps 51:5; 1Co 1:28-29; 2:9-14). This natural mind rejects God and any reference to Him and His Truth (Ro 1:18). Instead, the natural man seeks to build a god from what he knows; i.e., empirical Creation. Thus, the very Creation that declares God exists is twisted to justify man’s belief in himself through his gods and later through his Reasoning. The misnamed Enlightenment actually ended in the French Revolution where people of science and reason dressed a woman in the guise of Liberty and goddess of reason then worshipped her {Reason, Cult of Goddess of. Encyclopedia.com.}. The Enlightenment did not bring Light; it brought darkness and terrible death tolls unknowing to ancient peoples; especially in the 20th century.
God, through Paul, stated this would occur and its terrible degrading influences upon sinners (Ro 1:18-28). On the one hand people complain that God is the author of evil and on the other hand make free will their highest virtue. They ignore the fact that they are not free but enslaved to sin with its degrading passions that produce violence, disease and rampant death (Jn 8:34; Ro 6:16). Modern man continues to make existential gods even while claiming to be from gods. Every depiction of God is an image which only screams of His finiteness; hence, the word to not make images. God is infinite! He exists outside of this Creation. He created matter out of nothing and then Christ, the Light, entered this Creation and made order from chaos (Ge 1:3-5; Col 1:16). Therefore, from empirical or scientific reasoning it is impossible to know God who is spirit, and truth (Jn 4:23-24).
Thus, we are back to our original question with caveats: Is it possible to know God exists enough to be saved from one’s sin? Lost Man does not want or care to be saved. Man only wants to avoid judgment both in this life and the next. Yet, God sent One to be His Faithful Witness about Himself and our need for salvation.
Christ is not a Man Who Died for Sin;
He is God’s Son Proclaiming God’s Love
John makes a bold claim in the opening of his Gospel which I call the Opening Hymn (Jn 1:1-18). He reveals the Creator as Christ who is both the Light of God and the Logos of God. Logos in this context is more than a word but the very essence of God which finite Man could grasp. John also stated that no one had ever seen the Father; ever (Jn 1:18)! What can be known about God, the Father, can only be revealed by the Son. Jesus continues this thought several times in John’s Gospel (Jn 5:37-40; 8:17-19). He came to bear witness about His Father’s salvation who would provide for Himself the sacrifice for sin negating any thought of human sacrifice (Ge 22:7-8). Christ, as the very image of the Father, preached and healed to those who were supposedly His people and then humbly submitted Himself to a horrible death at their instigation demonstrating the difference between God’s Love and Man’s sinful Hatred! He brought Life while they chose Death! His works verified the truthfulness of His message sealed by His death. Upon His resurrection, He sent His apostles into the world to make disciples of all who come to the Gospel message in simple faith (Mt 28:18-30).
God Revealed Himself as the Existent One;
He has Always Existed and Will Always Exist
Man has heard the Father’s voice like at the speaking of the Ten Words (Ex 20:1-17). The people could not bear the holiness of the Holy Father. They needed and begged for an Intercessor (Ex 20:18-20; He 12:18-25). Christ is that Intercessor (1Ti 2:5-7). The name the Father gave to Moses, the voice from the Burning Bush, was Yahweh, the One who ever exists and from whom all existence springs. Sinners would have you die for them; Death is the essence of sin (1Co 15:12-26. God sent His Son to die for sinners so they may have life (Ro 10:13-15; Ep 1:3-14). All are born in sin but all do not have to die in sin; some will be saved! The call goes out into the World; but, only a few hear the call and cry out for salvation (Jn 3:16; Mt 22:8-14).
How can I or you know God? By knowing Jesus as presented in the Bible. People demand concrete proof yet they live their daily lives in nebulous faith thinking they have concrete proof for their sinful worldviews. They live by the faith of scientism. Science never claims to reveal truth let alone absolute truth. It cannot by its own definition! The Lost live by a faith that has no hope. Christians live by hope based on the revealed works of Christ in His Bible and the new nature that changed one’s wanttas from selfish fleshly cravings to humility seeking after Christ (Mt 5:2-12; Ro 8:22-27). The real question is: Do You Want to Know God through Christ? Do You Want Life instead of Death?