THOUGHTS ON THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

The great puritan of the 17th century, John Owen, wrote a seminal book on sanctification titled "The Mortification of Sin in The Life of the Believer". In his twelfth chapter, Owen suggests that the more thoughtful you are about the excellence of who God really is, the more you realize your own distance from Him.

John Owen challenges us to "think greatly of the greatness of God." The apostle Paul encourages us in 2 Timothy 2:7 to "think about these things and the Lord will give you understanding." Oh how much God wants us to think about Him and as we do, He will help us to understand who He is and what He does by His Holy Spirit. We think, He helps. Think about this. This infinite, self existing, holy other, creator and sustainer of the universe, wants us to know Him and has revealed Himself all sorts of wonderful truths about who He is to us His creatures in His Word. I am full of awe and wonder at such condescension and relational love for us.

Oh, how little we really know of God! When I contrast what I know of Him in comparison to who He really is I know just enough to be utterly humbled in the little knowledge and understanding that I really have. The more I learn of Him, the more I am humbled! There is an infinite chasm between my knowledge of God and who God really is! Since I am finite, no matter how much I learn about Him, I have only begun to scratch the surface of knowing Him. Therefore, this lifetime is a movement of vision quest to continue growing ever increasing in the knowledge of Him. Like Paul, "I want to know Him..." (Philippians 3:10)

Owen says, "We speak much of God, can talk of His ways, His works, His counsels, all the day long; the truth is, we know very little of Him. Our thoughts, our meditations, our expressions of Him are low, many of them unworthy of His glory, none of them reaching His perfections."

The apostle Paul says that we are able to "behold the glory of the Lord...as in a glass or mirror" (2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV). What this means is that in the New Covenant , by the sovereign grace of God through the power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, we are able to "see" the beauty, worth, and excellence of the glory of God but infinitely limited "as in a glass". That is why in 1 Corinthians 13:12 Paul says, "we see through a mirror dimly...we know in part" (ESV). Jonathan Edwards speaks of God like an ocean. Well, if God is like an ocean, then my knowledge of Him is like a little tea cup of ocean water. When I was a young man I was such a foolish know it all I when it came to knowing God. Thankfully, as I have grown older, I realize how foolish and childish were my notions of God. Owen says, "all our notions of God are but childish in respect to His infinite perfections...we may love honor, believe, and obey our Father; and He accepts our childish thoughts, for they are but childish. We see...but know very little of Him."

Why is it that no matter what we know of God that we know so little of Him? Because it is GOD that we claim to know. Remember Paul praying that we would know the love of God which is unknowable (Ephesians 3:19)? What an amazing paradox, we are called to know what in this life we cannot know and we press into it. No wonder, He is God, we are creatures; He is immortal, we are mortal; He is infinite, we are finite; He is unlimited, we are limited; He is independent, we are dependent; and so on.

Paul says of God in 1 Timothy 6:16, "who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen." In this light, a wise Christian can only say that as he considers God and all He is and all that He does, he realizes that he knows nothing. Nevertheless, oh how wonderful it is that at least we are able to know something of this unknowable being.

He has revealed Himself in the light of His glory in the face of Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:4,6; John 1:14,18). Therefore, we can know, see, understand, and speak about His ways and His works because we can see Him in Jesus. He is not a God who is hidden but rather a God that wants to be seen and savored by His creatures. Though we see Him dimly or limited, we see Him in the illuminating light of the Spirit of God, as Owen puts it "In a saving, soul transforming light, and this is what gives us communion with God." With that knowledge, we can love Him, enjoy Him, delight in Him, serve Him, worship Him, believe Him, obey Him, and speak of Him in a soul saving, soul transforming light. Owen concludes that "notwithstanding all this, it is but a little portion we know of Him."

J.I. Packer says, "The people who know God think great thoughts about Him." John Owen tells us that the revelation of God and His great love “deserves the severest of our thoughts, the best of our meditations, and our utmost diligence in them...What better preparation can there be for our future enjoyment of Christ than in a constant previous contemplation of that glory in the revelation that is made in the gospel." May we dedicate ourselves to be ever increasing in the grace and knowledge and contemplation of our Maker, our Redeemer, and our God.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen" (Romans 11:33-36)

Longing to know Him more and more,
Pastor Bill