In this study, we shall look at what elders of God did in their pursuit of God and the premium early men of God placed on the knowledge of God above all their efforts in ministry.
A. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO KNOW GOD?
Jn 17:3, Phil. 3:10, 2 Pet. 1:2-3 (KJV, AMP)Read each of these in other versions you may have, but study it in amplified version quoted hereunder:
“And this is eternal life; (it means) to know (to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with, and understand) You, the only true and real God, and (likewise) to know Him, Jesus (as the) Christ (the Anointed One, the Messiah), whom you have sent” (John 17:3 AMP).
“(For my determined purpose is) that I may know Him (that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly)”... (Phil. 3:10 AMP).
“May grace (God’s favour) and peace (which is perfect well being, all necessary good, all spiritual prosperity, and freedom from fears and agitating passions and moral conflicts) be multiplied to you in (the full, personal, precise, and correct) knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (2 Pet. 12 AMP).Discuss each of the words used in the amplified version to explain the essence of Knowing God. Knowing God means more than knowing about Him. It means a deep and intimate acquaintance with Him. It involves being able to perceive, recognize and understand the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly. Knowing God is not a “once and for all” issue. It must be progressive. This in essence is eternal life.
B. NECESSITY OF KNOWING GOD
We shall examine the lives of elders gone before us to discover the necessity they placed on the matter of knowing God.1. Jesus Christ, our Lord
a) Knowing God is eternal life… Jn. 17:3, 2 Cor. 3:18, Jn. 8:55. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself declares that eternal life means knowing God and He confessed that He knows God. The matter of knowing God is of primary importance in walking with Him.
It is our first encounter with the Lord in knowing Him and what He did for us on the cross of Calvary that brings us into the experience of the new birth. That is what launches us into life, abundant and everlasting life in Christ Jesus. No one can be safe except by a definite knowledge of the saviour (1 Jn. 3:6). You may know about Him but if you don’t know Him, you will not have eternal life.
Everyone who experienced the new life must thereafter continue to know the Lord more and more 2 Pet. 3:18.
b) Knowing God is the way into abundance of grace and peace. 2 Pet. 1:2-4, (KJV, LB, AMP)
When you grow in your knowledge of God, grace and peace will be multiplied to you.
“Do you want more and more of God’s kindness and peace? Then learn to know Him better and better” 2 Pet. 1:2 LB.
In addition, all that pertains to life and godliness come to us through our knowledge of God. This knowledge must however be a two - way knowing: We knowing Him and He Knowing us. None of the two must be assumed, lest on the last day the Lord says to you, “I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity,” Matt. 7:23.
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