Knowing God | The Biblical concept of knowing God

The biblical concept of knowing God
Philippians 3:10

The biblical concept of knowing God
Knowing God is a matter of personal dealing – if you want to know someone, you must try to deal with them directly (no intermediary).
Knowing God is a matter of personal involvement – mind, will and feeling.
Knowing God is a matter of grace. God makes friends with us, not the other way round.

Knowing God is not a joke… but a matter of personal dealing and involvement with God.
Deuteronomy 4:29
Jeremiah 29:13
Matthew 7:7-9
Acts 17:24-28

God desires that we draw near to Him
James 4:8; Psalms 42:1-2; 84:2
But even drawing near to God requires some preparation on our part
Exodus 19:22; Leviticus 10:1-10; Isaiah 29:13; Hebrews 10:22

Knowing God involves
Learning about God
Inspection and exploration – of God’s creation
Revealed secrets or revelation of God
Experience or prior acquaintance
Knowing God through His revealed names.

Learning about God
We need to make effort to learn about God from the scriptures – what has been written about the One we want to know.
2 Tim. 3:16 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God[a] may be complete, equipped for every good work. ESV
The witness of the scriptures John 5:39-47; Luke 16:27-31

Inspection and exploration of God’s creation.
God is revealed in what He has created… nature itself reveals God and His attributes.
Rom 1:20-22 20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse. 21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools..
Job 12:7-12; Ps 19:1-3

Revealed secrets
Revealed secrets – people and God keep secrets- you do not know all that is in someone’s heart.
Thus, the quality and extent of knowing depends more on them than on us. It is them who decide whether we are going to know them or not.
God reveals only what He wants us to know about him a little at a time. Deut. 29:29; Prov 25:2; Matt 13:11; Acts 17:26-27; 1 Cor 2:6-15

Experience or prior acquaintance
Experience or prior acquaintance – one cannot know another person until one knows not merely his/her past history but how he/she is likely to react or behave under specific circumstances.1 Sam 3:1-11; Deut. 32:7; Isaiah 8:20; Job 42:1-6
Knowing God through His names …

Knowing God through his names
In biblical days, a Hebrew person’s name represented his character or described his nature. People’s names gave insight into what they were like.
Similarly, biblical names, titles, and descriptions of God identify how men and women personally came to know God. The scripture is the record of God’s revelation of Himself to people. Each of the names of God represents a different aspect of His nature.
How many of the names of God do you know? When God reveals His nature in a new way, it is always for a purpose… A relationship!
“I Am Who I Am” Exodus 3:13-14; The Lord will provide Gen 22:1-8