To "KNOW" God!

There are so many verses in scripture that talk about 'knowing' God; but in our western culture there is a common misconception about what these versus connotate.  Generally, when we hear or read the word 'know', we consider it to be an intellectual knowledge; and belief we consider to be an intellectual assent to a truth statement. Yet this is not what the scriptures allude to.  In many passages we bring in our 'western' understanding of the word 'know', but really knowing God means an intimate experience with Him.  It is the same kind of knowing as a husband and wife 'know' each other, a sexual knowing.  To know God so intimately that sex is the closest metaphor we can give to describe it.

The actual definition is : ginṓskō – properly, to know, especially through personal experience (first-hand acquaintance). 1097 /ginṓskō ("experientially know") is used for example in Lk 1:34, "And Mary [a virgin] said to the angel, 'How will this be since I do not know (1097 /ginṓskō = sexual intimacy) a man?'"

This is different then other words that in English translate as know. In Greek there are different meanings that we have made singular into one definition. For instance:

eídō (oida) – properly, to see with physical eyes (cf. Ro 1:11), as it naturally bridges to the metaphorical sense: perceiving ("mentally seeing"). This is akin to the expressions: "I see what You mean"; "I see what you are saying."

            -This is used in passages such as Matthew 24:36 "For no one knows the day or the hour." 

There are many places in scripture where the experiential 'to know' used.  Understanding its true definition radically changes the meaning of these passages.  Dwell on the following passages, think about the implications of what they mean with the new revelation of what it means to truly experience God! 

"Know the truth and the truth will set you free (John 8:32)."

"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord (Philippians 3:8)."

"For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known (1 Cor. 13:12)."

                  -This is beautiful because every 'know' in this passage is an experiential knowing.  But the passage points to the future where we will 'know' God completely!

"He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him (John 1:10)."

This is not an intellectual knowledge!! This is an intimate knowing that only comes through relationship, from first-hand experience! 2 Timothy 3:7 says, 'Always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth.' This is what we need to grasp! We need an intimacy that surpasses understanding and is fulfilled in experience.  "To have peace that surpasses understanding you need to give up your right to understand (Bill Johnson)." Go after that place, that intimacy with the Lord.  Spend time in the quite place and be refreshed through streams of living water. 'For in Him we live and move and have our being.' -Acts 17:28

The Presence of God!!

            We need the presence of God!! Sadly so much of the church does not dwell with the Lord, and many believers cannot recognize His presence. That is why Jesus came and died, so we could be with God! Since the time of Adam to the time of Moses the presence of God was absent from mankind.  From the time of Moses to the time of Pentecost, the presence of God was limited to the Holy of Holies in the temple.  Jesus then gave us access through faith to the father, tearing the curtain that separated us from the presence of God.  Now we can be in relationship with Him and experience his presence.  We are the temple that God now dwells, the Holy Spirit is inside of us!  No one since the time of Adam and Eve has anyone been so close to the father!

            Experiencing the presence of God is at the center of what it means to be a Christian.  The mark of a believer is that we have been reconciled to God and have access to him through the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 5)!!! This is no small thing.  In Exodus the Israelites were afraid because they new that they would die if they came in contact with the raw presence of God.  This is because their sin would not allow them into the Holy presence of light and truth.  Moses was so overwhelmed with the presence of God that his face literally shown with His glory and he had to veil it for the sake of the people; but even Moses was not allowed to see the whole Glory of God for he would perish (Exodus 33:20-23).  But we experience God in an even greater measure, because of the access we have to the father we reflect even greater glory than Moses did, ever increasing glory.

                      

"But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.  For this comes form the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:16-18)."

         Paul writes in Philippians 3 that he considers all lost for the sake of 'KNOWING' Christ.  In the Greek this knowing is not an intellectual knowing, it is actually an experiential knowing.  That one actually knows God through experience, not through thought! His grace and forgiveness, accepted through faith, brings us into an experience with God!  Because we are counted as Righteous in the eyes of God we have full confidence in accessing His presence .

"For through Him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.  So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.  In Him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit."

        

      It is God's desire that we Know Him and be with Him.  This is more important than anything else, more important than obedience or human relationships.  Moses desired the presence of the Lord so much that he refused to go the promise land unless God went with him (Exodus 33:14).  We need to be imbued with this same desire, that we cannot function unless we are filled and empowered by spending time with God.  So abide in Him and He will abide in you.  Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Experience Him and rest in his presence! Be filled with His glory and shine for all the world to see!!