The Prayer of the Lord, Pt. 16

A lesson on knowing God, and being known by Him. Since the revelation of Himself is found chiefly in the Person of Jesus Christ (communicated to us through Scripture, with understanding given by the illumination of the Holy Spirit) our Lord's seventh and final petition in His High Priestly prayer is that we would know Him. This is how we can be sure that all who are His will come to saving faith, and remain there. Because Christ Himself asked the Father that we would know Him, and love Him, and Christ's will and the Father's will are one. So we can be 100% certain that it will be accomplished. God's purposes cannot be thwarted, and this should cause us to rejoice! Rejoice in the fact that we know the Lord, and more importantly, that He knows us.

A couple questions arise: what does it mean to know God? Or in what sense does God know us? Is it mere intellectual assent? No certainly not, for that knowing has no love! To be known by God is this: that Christ has come to seek and save the lost. In spite of our sin, those whom the Father chose before the foundation of the world would be conformed to the image of His Son, by beholding His glory. This starts when we have been born again by God's sovereign decree, and it continuously flows on in an ever increasing knowledge, love, and enjoyment of Himself which lasts for eternity. And this is the essence of eternal life: that we know God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, by beholding Him in all His splendor, which we can never exhaust the awe of. In light of this lesson, we can be assured that all who Christ knows will come to know Him. Not just by being saved from sin, but know Him as He is. What a wonderful God is our God!