Knowing God

John 10:25-30 Jesus answered them, I told you, and ye believed not: the works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.

²⁶ But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.

²⁷ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:

²⁸ And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

²⁹ My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.

³⁰ I and my Father are one.

John 14:9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?

I have gained a new respect for the Old Testament in these past few months.  As I thought about the above verses this morning I came to realize that to truly know Christ, we must truly know who God is; while I have been saying we need to accept God is God, we also must accept Christ, on earth, is the human personification of God – all of who God is, all.  This cannot be just a mouthed phrase, it must be acknowledged and accepted as fact; in doing so it drives home the need to have a clearer understanding of both Persons and their true role in our salvation. 

When Jesus talked to the Jews and the spiritual leaders, He proved Himself through the verses of the Old Testament and confirmation by the miracles He performed – Christ told them He did everything in GOD’s name – at His directive, not His own. Having known the scriptures they should have seen who He is, but they were unwilling to do so.

When we look at the actions of Christ we all often think how much ‘gentler’ He is than God.  While it is a fact He did not call down the violence against the Jewish nation that had been rained down upon them through the centuries while He was here on earth, it does not mean that His message is different from God the Father.  Throughout the New Testament the fact Jesus was giving God’s message to us – and not His own - is declared by Him and the apostles.  He was clear that He was fulfilling, not condemning the Old Testament commands of God.  Many forget that He was bold, that He challenged the established rulers of the synagogue, that He chased the money changers out with a whip – not something done by an altogether ‘gentle’ person.   That He openly defied ‘established’ traditions and those that enforced them.  While He corrected Peter for cutting off the ear of Malchus, the High Priest’s servant, the fact Peter had a sword at all, was because Jesus told His apostles to bring one.

Luke 22:36-38  Then said he unto them, But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one.

³⁷ For I say unto you, that this that is written must yet be accomplished in me, And he was reckoned among the transgressors: for the things concerning me have an end.

³⁸ And they said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And he said unto them,  It is enough.

I don’t know why, but He did.  But it does say to me that He did not want them to go without one. 

Hebrews 13:8  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.  

God did not become suddenly ‘gentler’ in Christ, His gentle manner is shown throughout the Old Testament, we just seem to focus on His judgments and the ferocity of His wrath in the Old Testament – but there are plenty of verses that tell us He loved the Jewish People and held them close to his Heart.  He has always loved His people and only wanted the best for them. However, it is also important to note that He does hate sin and if they don’t accept His corrective discipline, eventually He will hold people accountable for those sins.

If Jesus is God and God is Jesus – then all of God’s personality and being is manifested in Christ.  If Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, then so is God.

“Saint Augustine is the one who said that the New Testament is concealed in the Old Testament and the Old Testament is revealed by the New Testament. In fact, about three-fourths of the material of the New Testament is either a quotation from or allusion to what went before it. I don't think we can really understand the New Testament until we have made a very serious study of the Old Testament.”   R.C. Sproul, Christian Pastor

Studying the Old Testament gives us insights into why Jesus did what He did.  It confirms that place God holds in this world, confirms His creation and confirms that Christ was there from the beginning.  The Old and New Testaments do not need to be reconciled one with another; they are both the truth about God and who He is.  The main difference is that through Christ we no longer have to go by many of the traditions and sacrifices that the Jews had to conduct – Christ took the place of those sacrifices.  He is our High Priest, incorruptible and always advocating for us.

We have instant access to God through Christ, through His death on the cross we not only have forgiveness, but He opened the gates of heaven to us – not only to us, but to those Jews who had faithfully served Him and were resting in Abrahams bosom waiting for Christ to open the gates.  He had not forsaken nor forgotten them – which, again, shows that God had them close to His heart.

We are right to want to grow closer to Christ, we are right in wanting to thank Him and worship Him.  We are right in following His commands and His directives.  We are right in accepting His deity, and His transforming power in our lives.  But we must never forget that we are right about Jesus because God is God; Christ and the Father are the same and neither has changed since Creation.  So as we rightfully proclaim the love of Christ to mankind – which is the love of God of mankind - we must also be clear that to reject Him, is rejecting God Himself – and that will not be forgiven when we come to the judgment seat.

I do thank God for sending us His Son, but as I follow Christ, I realize I need to learn more about both of them so I can better apply His Words to my life and more effectively serve Him.

From the ColumbiaRiverGorgeous