Often, I wonder if I really know who God is. Do I know him, can I know him? So many times God is thought of as mysterious, beyond total knowledge. When bad things happen it is often said that we just need to accept that it is all part of God's bigger plan. But is this correct? Is this how God wants it to be? Does God want to be known? I believe God does want to be known and that there is a way by which we can know him.
John 14:7-11 NRSV
If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." (8) Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." (9) Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? (10) Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
"Show us the Father". I wonder if you have ever prayed in asking God to reveal himself to you. Many have. I have read of peoples desire to know God. I am fairly certain that I have heard people pray this way. It is definitely an excellent request. We should desire this, just as Philip did. Jesus responds to him then, and the Father might be responding to us now, "do you still not know me?". They did not. They had yet to see the greatest work that the Father, through the Son, would perform. It is in that work, coupled with the body of work performed during the life of Jesus, that we truly know the Father, know God. That work was the cross. Through the cross we know God.
John 14:19-20 NRSV
In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. (20) On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
Philip, and everyone else that comes to the Father, through Jesus and his cross, will be in Jesus the Christ who is in the Father. Jesus the Christ will be in them, in us. Does this give new meaning to God "all in all"? On that day you will know. On that day you will know me, you will know the Father. That day was coming "in a little while". It was coming very soon and they would know it and experience the reality that is the Father, the reality that is true life. We can know.
We can know God through our experience as children of God on this earth. I believe we can know God today if we could only put the cross before every experience, no matter how small or inconsequential we think it might be. Paul thought of teaching nothing else than Christ and the cross to the Corinthians. Paul spoke in Philippians about being able to know Christ and his sufferings and resurrection. Knowing Christ means knowing God. We can know God, through Christ, just as he said to the disciples in John 14.
Philippians 3:10 The Passion Translation
And I continually long to know the wonders of Jesus more fully and to experience the overflowing power of his resurrection working in me. I will be one with him in his sufferings and I will be one with him in his death.
To be one with him in his death means life as it was meant to be lived (read Philippians 2:5-11). This perfectly illustrates the Shema (Hear O' Israel). Love of God, to be experienced through every part of life. Love of others, to be experienced in every relationship, in every interaction. God is our reality. We are in God. God is in us. So, I think asking God in prayer that we might know him is not asking for a mysterious revelation, it is asking that God would make himself known to us in our everyday experience by showing love through us. That, I believe, is the reality set before the believer and follower of Jesus Christ. Not easy for sure, but those moments we are in the reality of knowing God we will know it and will want even more. That is what Paul was saying, "I want to know him". That is what Jesus wanted us to understand, a simple reality.
John 14:7-11 NRSV
If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him." (8) Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." (9) Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? (10) Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
"Show us the Father". I wonder if you have ever prayed in asking God to reveal himself to you. Many have. I have read of peoples desire to know God. I am fairly certain that I have heard people pray this way. It is definitely an excellent request. We should desire this, just as Philip did. Jesus responds to him then, and the Father might be responding to us now, "do you still not know me?". They did not. They had yet to see the greatest work that the Father, through the Son, would perform. It is in that work, coupled with the body of work performed during the life of Jesus, that we truly know the Father, know God. That work was the cross. Through the cross we know God.
John 14:19-20 NRSV
In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. (20) On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
Philip, and everyone else that comes to the Father, through Jesus and his cross, will be in Jesus the Christ who is in the Father. Jesus the Christ will be in them, in us. Does this give new meaning to God "all in all"? On that day you will know. On that day you will know me, you will know the Father. That day was coming "in a little while". It was coming very soon and they would know it and experience the reality that is the Father, the reality that is true life. We can know.
We can know God through our experience as children of God on this earth. I believe we can know God today if we could only put the cross before every experience, no matter how small or inconsequential we think it might be. Paul thought of teaching nothing else than Christ and the cross to the Corinthians. Paul spoke in Philippians about being able to know Christ and his sufferings and resurrection. Knowing Christ means knowing God. We can know God, through Christ, just as he said to the disciples in John 14.
Philippians 3:10 The Passion Translation
And I continually long to know the wonders of Jesus more fully and to experience the overflowing power of his resurrection working in me. I will be one with him in his sufferings and I will be one with him in his death.
To be one with him in his death means life as it was meant to be lived (read Philippians 2:5-11). This perfectly illustrates the Shema (Hear O' Israel). Love of God, to be experienced through every part of life. Love of others, to be experienced in every relationship, in every interaction. God is our reality. We are in God. God is in us. So, I think asking God in prayer that we might know him is not asking for a mysterious revelation, it is asking that God would make himself known to us in our everyday experience by showing love through us. That, I believe, is the reality set before the believer and follower of Jesus Christ. Not easy for sure, but those moments we are in the reality of knowing God we will know it and will want even more. That is what Paul was saying, "I want to know him". That is what Jesus wanted us to understand, a simple reality.
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