That We May Know Him

"Now THIS is eternal life {wait for it ... Jesus is about to blow the lid off of what we think of when we think of eternal life}: that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent." (John 17:3) Wait a minute...what?? Eternal life=knowing God? I thought it was about mansions, harps, clouds and streets of gold! What is this about knowing God? How can we know Him? And how is knowing Him eternal life?

This past summer I had the privilege of attending the Gospel Coalition Women's Conference held in Orlando, Florida.  I am pretty sure I could spend hours regaling you with tales of early morning fire evacuations, the chaos involved in 4,000 women all trying to eat dinner at the same time and in the same place, taking a risk and going on a "blind date" to meet a new friend for coffee, the opportunity to meet a "spiritual mentor" face to face, sitting in the front section with my new friend and suddenly finding ourselves as special guests in the speaker section during the Getty concert, sitting for hours under incredible teaching which saturated us with deep truths from Scripture...all of which lent itself to a wonderful weekend filled with memorable moments and spiritual refreshment. But as I have reflected throughout the summer on this time and tried to put into words all that I learned and experienced, I began to realize that the way that this one weekend  most impacted me was that it stirred within my heart a deep gratitude for the Word of God and a deeper realization of what a treasure it is. I walked away from this weekend with a longing to study it, a longing to understand it.

But why? Why does Scripture matter? Why does it matter if it's the truth or not? Why do we need to take the time to study it and know what it says? What does this have to do with knowing God? After all, being a Christian is all about Jesus, right? And Jesus is a person. We need to just focus on Jesus. Believe in Jesus. We don't need to worry ourselves about a book that is ancient, not relevant in our modern and educated world, and not to mention confusing...who really can understand it anyway? Just look to Jesus.

And on the surface that reasoning sounds very spiritual and right and true. But there's a huge problem with that thinking. If not for Scripture, where would we hear about Jesus? If not for Scripture, how would we find out who He is and what He is like? If Scripture cannot be trusted, how can we know that JESUS can be trusted or that He even really existed?

Here's the thing, God chose to tell His story in a book. What we now call The Bible. God used humans to write down His story, but because this book is God-breathed, because this book did not come about "by the prophet's own interpretation, for prophecy never had its origin in the will of man but men spoke from God, as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:20-21), because Jesus Himself believed in the Old Testament Scriptures and honored them, all these things wrap themselves together that this ancient book, The Bible, is God's Word to us and is fully trustworthy, absolutely truthful, and has full authority over our lives. And because God has chosen this venue to speak to us, we would do well to sit up and pay attention and submit ourselves to it.

It is through the Bible, all of it...from Genesis to Revelation...that God has chosen to reveal Himself to us. It is through the Bible that God tells the history of creation, of sin and His plan to redeem sin. It is through the Bible that we are introduced to the character of God. We see in the stories of the Old Testament how He interacts with people. We see how He calls out a people to be His own. We begin to understand through these stories, what He likes and what He doesn't like. We see what He considers just. We see what He considers righteous. We see what He considers holy. It is through the Bible that God slowly, over time, peels back the layers of His grand plan of redemption until finally, finally we are introduced to the One...to the Hero of the story...to the One our eyes should be fixed upon. Jesus Christ.

It is in the Bible that we again learn about this One who has come to be the fulfillment of all that God has promised. It is through the eyewitness accounts that we can "see" Him in the pages of Scripture. It is through the Bible that we can "hear" what Jesus taught, we can "see" what He is like. Through the eyes of those who lived with Him, day in and day out, we begin to catch glimpses of the character and nature of the God/man Jesus. We begin to see the fulfillment of all those Old Testament prophecies as He teaches, as He touches people, as He walks the road of suffering to the cross. It is through the men who saw Him, and touched Him, and heard Him after His resurrection...these eyewitnesses to the greatest event in human history, that we see the whole story brought together... It is through the writing of the apostles, that we can now understand the connection between the Old and the New Testaments. It is through the writing of these eye witnesses that we can begin to know and understand how we can KNOW God through Jesus Christ. It is in the pages of Scripture that we learn that Jesus is the mediator between God and man. It is in the pages of Scripture that we see that Jesus is the atoning sacrifice on behalf of sinners. It is in the pages of Scripture that we can learn that Jesus, alone, is our Advocate, our High Priest, our Righteousness. It is in the pages of Scripture that we can begin to understand what love really is: while we were still in our sins, Christ died for us. It is in the pages of Scripture that we learn that the only way to know God is through His Son Jesus. It is in the pages of Scripture that we can turn our eyes upon Jesus...who is the way, the truth, the life.  It is in the pages of Scripture that we are told to put all our trust in Jesus...to believe in Him...so that we can be reconciled to God.

This is why to Bible matters. This is why the Bible is a treasure for us. This is why we should study it, meditate on it, value it...in personal time and with our church communities. This is why many throughout the ages have died for it. Because the Bible points us to eternal life. The Bible shows us the way to know God. The Bible shows us Jesus...for HE is Life!

Oh that we would be renewed in our passion to KNOW the One True God and the One that He sent, Jesus Christ, as we faithfully study His Word!