“Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am…” John 17:24
Dear Ones:
It has been said that the Gospel of John is deep enough for an elephant to bathe in, and shallow enough for a child to play. Why such a contrast? What is the underlying truth of this Gospel, all four gospels, and the whole testimony of Scripture, which reveals to us the fundamental reason for which we all exist, both child and adult alike? The answer has to do with communion with God.
Many years ago, I remember seeing an inscription over a doorway of a building: “To Know Him, And To Make Him Known.” Is this not the answer to our question? When we consider the gospels, we are faced again and again with the matter of eternal life. What then IS eternal Life? Jesus’ own words tell us: “And THIS is eternal life, that they might KNOW Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” (Jn. 17:3) Man was created in the image of God primarily to know God, to commune with God. The “one thing needful” that Jesus said would never be taken away from Mary, was the knowledge of God. The “one thing” that David desired for which he sought God, was that he might “…behold the beauty of the Lord, and inquire in His temple.” Why? Because herein is the highest calling given by God to man, that he should know, and commune with God.
It is interesting that the true believer in Christ is constantly being conformed to the image of Christ. How? It is by the revelation of Christ by the Spirit to his heart. What is the essence of that revelation according to the truth of Scripture? It is the knowledge of God. One day, when the believer’s sojourn on this earth is finished, he shall KNOW Christ as he is known. He is very limited in this life with regard to how much he can know God, but that does not hinder or restrain the apostle Paul in declaring: “…I count all things but loss for the excellency of the KNOWLEDGE of Christ Jesus my Lord.” (Phil. 3:8) The whole of the gospel message is to reveal to the soul that Christ has, on the cross, dealt with every enemy of the soul, which hinders him from knowing God. Christ has overcome every enemy without and within, in order that, by the power of the Spirit, and according to the truth, one might KNOW the reality of true communion with the Creator and Redeemer.
The question then becomes, “How is it that a child can know God, as well as an adult?” The answer resides in Paul’s words to the Corinthian church: “…the simplicity that is in Christ.” (2 Cor. 111:3) What is this simplicity? It is the whole-hearted committal of oneself to God, to trust in Christ alone, thus surrendering all to Him, to walk and commune with Him. When Naaman, the commander of the King of Syria’s army, was found to have leprosy, with no hope to escape the sentence of death, from a human standpoint, a little maid, the servant of his wife, would tell her: “Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! For he would cure him of his leprosy.” (2 Kings 5:3) Here is a child, a servant, who has such faith, that a commander would respond to go and seek Elisha to be healed, and it was so. The gospel, good news, that provides for a child to play in its shallows, also provides for the “greatest” among men to come and bathe, washing away his sins and his leprosy, that he may know God.
Dear Father, give us grace to see and to grasp, that our highest calling in this life, is to know You, and the Lord Jesus. Give us grace to pursuit You, realizing that if we seek You with the whole heart, we Will find Thee. We will know and commune with Thee. We praise and thank Thee, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Love, Dad