Why Knowing God Matters (Part I)
In my article, “Understanding Divinity,” I had highlighted the point that Satan has been very successful in misrepresenting God’s character. One of the measures he uses to accomplish this task is by presenting to the world a twisted idea that God’s identity is a mystery. For this reason, most Christians argue that it is not advisable that one should try and seek to know who God really is. By so doing, one is wasting one’s time in trying to get down to the heart of the matter because no matter how hard or how long one tries to know God, God will always be a mysterious Being. So it is wiser to ignore the subject altogether and brush it under the carpet and one should seek to enhance one’s wisdom in other areas. This reasoning is contrary to the teachings of the Bible which is spelled out in plain language in the book of Jeremiah.
“Thus saith the LORD, let not the wise glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD...” (Jeremiah 9:23,24)
The world’s wisdom
All the wisdom, power and riches of the world, put together, cannot come close to the glory that shall be revealed when one comes to know God. In fact, the wisdom of the world is utter foolishness in God’s eyes. One may seek to gather more knowledge and wisdom and yet still be in danger of being forever lost. Why? Because all this knowledge is not accompanied with the knowledge about who God is. Notice what Paul says to the Corinthians:
“For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of the world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.” (1 Corinthians 1:19-21)
Satan’s deadly lies
I have had people come to me and say that whether God is or is not a trinity is not salvational because it takes eternity to know Him and it is only when we get to heaven that this issue will be resolved. I understand why some of these people say this because this is exactly what Satan wants them to believe. The reason that many people hold on to this idea is because they choose to ignore what Christ says about Satan and what He says about knowing God and His Son.
“When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.” (John 8:44)
“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (John 17:3)
Yes, Satan is the father of lies and he is good at it, so good, that many people are easily deceived by his words. He wants us to believe that seeking to know God is a waste of time. But a reasonable and an honest Christian, on reading the above verses quoted from the gospel of John, will conclude that knowing God cannot be a waste of time if it means life eternal. Besides, eternal life begins here, not at the second advent. By then it would have been too late already.
Because Satan knows that eternity partly depends on our understanding of who God is, he has deceived the whole world that God is a mystery. At this junction allow me to remind you that God is not a mystery. The word of God says that Babylon, the mother of harlots, is Mystery (Revelation 17:5) and it worships a mysterious god.
Modern day Samaritans
The prevailing condition of Christendom today reflects the condition of the Samaritans when Christ was here on earth. Being enemies of the Jews, these people also built a temple on mount Gerizim which was equivalent to the temple at Jerusalem built by the exiles who returned to Jerusalem after the seventy-year long captivity in Babylon. These people also shared with the Jews the same hope of the coming Messiah. But their worship of God was mingled with the pagan religion of Assyria. It is therefore not a surprise if the Samaritans had, over the centuries, developed a wrong concept about God. However, in their estimation of themselves, their religion and their understanding of God was true and undisputable. To their ignorance, their beliefs were actually false. This truth was reflected in the words of Jesus when He spoke to the Samaritan woman whom He met at Jacob’s well.
“Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship; for salvation is of the Jews.” (John 4:22)
In a broader sense, these words of the Saviour do not necessarily apply only to the Samaritan woman but they may very well apply to the Christians living today. Christians openly admit that they are worshiping a god they do not know. To me, they sound like the ancient Athenians who built an altar dedicated to the “unknown god.” Paul says that they are ignorantly worshiping a false god. Are not Christians doing the same thing today?
A call to repentance
To pacify their own souls, the people who say that the Godhead issue is not so important, constantly refer to the passage in Deuteronomy where it says that all secret things belong to God. (Deuteronomy 29:29) What they are saying is that, if God’s identity is a secret, hidden from the understanding of men, then we should be content with whatever has been taught to us in the hope that we are worshiping the true God. I find this reasoning to be illogical because the true condition of the Samaritans and the Athenians reveal that their worship was given to a god who is not God. This gives the opportunity for Satan to step in and claim such worship. Having said this, I do not condone the idea that God does not hear and answer the prayers of people who are ignorantly worshiping someone else other than Him. Look at what Paul continues to say to the Athenians.
“Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.” (Acts 17:29,30)
God calls all men to come to the true knowledge of Him. Rejecting and ignoring this knowledge poses a great danger to an individual’s life. Israel, the chosen people of God, was sent a very important message through the prophet Hosea highlighting the need to come to the correct knowledge of God.
“Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land." (Hosea 4:1)
“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6)
What is true with physical Israel, is also true with spiritual Israel – the Christians of today. Spiritual Israel will not be destroyed merely because of its ignorance but because it is intentionally rejecting the opportunities to know who God really is. No matter how sincere our worship may be or, how sincere we are at observing God’s commandments, at the end of the day it would be meaningless if we do not know the One we say we are worshiping.
“For I desired… the knowledge of God more than burn offerings.” (Hosea 6:6)
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