When the prophet Jeremiah spoke of the coming age of Christ and Christianity he framed it as a contrast between the way religion worked in his day vs the way religion would work in Christian age:
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.Jeremiah 31:31-34
The first indicator this the new covenant is different is right there in the language God uses to introduce it: He calls it a new covenant (v31). He says it’s not like the original covenant he made with them at Sinai (v32); He says that this covenant will be written not on stone tablets but in the heart and mind of the worshiper of God (that implies a personal relationship). Note also that he says (v33) “I will be their God and they shall be my people” (personal relationship).
But the big change involves conversion. Whereas under the Old Law you were born into the family (or prostyleted into it) and then were taught to know God, things are different under the New Law. No longer do you go to your Gentile neighbor and say “hey you need to know God; why don’t you become a Jew and I’ll teach you about God!” It’s not done that way anymore, as Jeremiah predicted. No more does a parent instruct his child (who was born into that covenant relationship with God) the ways of Jehovah. Now everyone who is in the family of God will already know God, because now you have to learn and THEN you become part of the family (not “born” into it, but “born again” into it).
As a member of this new family, Jeremiah writes that you can “know God.”
That’s an amazing thought, is it not? It’s not very incredible to think that God knows me; after all He made me. What’s amazing is that He makes it possible for me to know Him! The question we need to be asking is “Do I?” Have I taken advantage of what is available to me; do I really know Him?
If you are a Christian then you can and should say “God the Son knows me” as a human, as an individual, and if I’m a Christian, He knows me as a brother. But…do I know Him? Do I know Him as God, as MY personal God and as my Brother?
HE KNOWS ME…
…AS A HUMAN
He ought to, since He created me:
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Genesis 1:26
God made man different from all the rest of creation. We’re not like the stars He created; we’re not giant globes of hot air (well some of us are). We’re not like the plants and trees and vegetation: yes they intake oxygen; they age; the grow and they die, but still we’re not like the plants and trees. We’re not like any variety of animals on the planet. Those are beasts who act on pure instinct, some of whom are intelligent enough to mimic human life but therein lies the difference: they merely mimic human life. We’re not animals.
God made us like Him.
God is a three part being (we call Him Father, Son, Spirit) and we also are three part beings (body, mind, and soul). He knows me as a human, because He made me:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.John 1:1-3
And that same divine being, Himself became a human (John 1:14) so that He could die for me.
HE KNOWS ME…
…AS AN INDIVIDUAL
He knows everything about ME, personally. He knows MY fears, MY needs, MY weaknesses, MY worries, and so He knows, like the song says, “My Jesus knows just what I need…”
No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.Matthew 6:24-34
Consider another word of comfort from the Master Who knows our needs…
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.Matthew 10:29-31
Almost everything in those two statements could be said of anyone in general. Things like “don’t worry about tomorrow” or “everyone is more important to God than the birds.” Those sorts of statements aren’t very person-specific.
But there’s one line that makes it all about me the individual: “The hairs on YOUR head and numbered (known by God).” He knows ME the individual; and He’s looking out for ME.
HE KNOWS ME
…AS A BROTHER
Just listen to Paul
The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Romans 8:16-17
None of that should demean the deity of Christ: We shouldn’t drag Christ down to our level nor should we try to prop ourselves up to His. He is God, we are not. BUT…if you are a Christian you are a son of God, adopted into His family. That makes Jesus your Brother. As a brother He knows you. You’re in His family and like any good older brother, He will protect you when you’re in danger. He will rebuke you when you do wrong. He will love you at all times. And ike any good older brother He will take the
He knows you as a human, as an individual and as His brother.
BUT, DO I KNOW HIM…
…AS GOD?
When you read your New Testament, there are a few very obvious things that a person must do before Christ adds Him to His body, the church:
He must believe, he must repent of sins, he must confess Christ, he must be baptized into Christ.
But of those four, I think the one that is emphasized the least is confession. We talk about belief and what that word means: it’s an acknowledgment of the superiority of Christ over me. Bible belief leads leads to repentance – which we talk about a lot. It deals with how a person can’t just go through the motions, but must have changed his heart and mind to serve Christ. Certainly we here at Guy talk a lot about baptism, namely because it’s so often argued against by so many (despite the countless references to it as an act to be done before salvation).
Confession, on the other hand, has been kind of dumbed down and whittled down: “before we put you in the water you need to tell all these Christians who love you and are supporting you that you believe in Jesus.” As though that’s the idea of “confession” that the Bible teaches. That’s really not what Jesus meant when he commanded confession.
As a matter of fact, listen to Jesus. We’ve already looked at a few of these verses, but keep reading and see the larger context…
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.
But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.Matthew 10:28-33
Jesus is talking about dying. Are you willing to make the confession of your faith in Christ…not just in here where it’s easy but out there, where you’re life may be on the line? That’s what Jesus demands.
Do I know Jesus is God? Am I willing to tell others?
I better be!
DO I KNOW HIM
…AS MY PERSONAL GOD?
It is true that genuine New Testament Christianity is based on intellect: There are commands given that I have to learn and obey. But is not true to say that the emotion has no part to play in it. If my emotion is not in my faith then I might as well not bother with it. The problem comes when people go too far and say that it doesn’t matter what you do in religion as long as you mean well; “if your heart is in the right place it’s okay.”
That’s basically saying “if it feels good do it” and that’s about as ungodly an idea as there is. On the contrary, if it IS right, do it. How do I know if something is right? I study what God says to me (intellect) and then I do it with the right attitude (emotions).
I have to have a PERSONAL relationship with God.
It’s unfortunate that the term “personal relationship” has been co-opted and turned into something un-Biblical, because it really is an idea taught in Scripture (Jeremiah 31:31-34). It doesn’t mean “you do whatever you think is right.” It means “you do what God says because YOU have a relationship with Him that isn’t dependent on the faithfulness of others, like mom or dad or husband or wife.”
The reason people fall away, especially young people around the time they leave high school, is because their faith wasn’t their faith; it was their parent’s faith. Parents brought them to church, parents made them go to class, sit quiet in the pew and then go home when it was over. And in the days between Sundays parents offered no godly instruction at home. There was no discussion of Christ in those homes to help mold the child to grow into his own faith. The child ended up just piggybacking off his mom or dad. And then when he was on his own he had no support, spiritually, and he fell away. Why? Because he never understood the importance of a PERSONAL relationship with Christ.
But it doesn’t stop there: Because that young person, who never developed his own faith, will grow up, get married and have kids and then he’ll say “Hey you know what…we need to get our kids in church.” Notice: OUR KIDS – not US. No, it’s always “we need to do this for our KIDS.” And so they take the kids to church, they sit them in the pew, they tell them to be quiet. And the child gets no godly instruction from the parents because the parents have no faith. There is no Christ in the home, so the child has no faith, and the cycle continues.
We have to have a personal relationship. He desires that relationship with us, after all:
Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
Jeremiah 23:23
He wants that relationship, but we need to turn our lives over to Him, turn our heads over to Him and turn our hearts over to Him. Christ is God…but do I know him as my PERSONAL GOD?
DO I KNOW HIM…
…AS A BROTHER?
I can be His brother by adoption. We already studied the verse: the way I am adopted into His family is by obeying His will. That means…
to believe that He is God – Mark 16:16
to repent of my sins against Him – Acts 2:38
to confess my faith in Him – Acts 8:36-38
to be immersed into Him for the forgiveness of sins – Acts 22:16
When I do that I am added to the family of Christ. Then I can know Him as a brother.
He knows you; He knows whether you’re lost are saved. If you’re lost will you let Him know you as a brother?
Think about it,
have a great day!
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