The God who delights in being known

One of the reasons Jesus came to this world was to make God known to the world. He not only wanted to redeem sinners and give them a relationship with God, but he also wanted God to be known fully by men. He said that eternal life was to know God (John17:3), to have life was to know God. God is life and Jesus embodied that life fully. Throughout the bible, we see a God who delights in making Himself known to people, a God who is present and a God who reveals how to know Him. No wonder God is the greatest evangelist of all, He delights to bring light to darkness, He has been doing that from the very beginning at creation when He said “let there be light” (Genesis 1:3) and continues to do so today.

It is beautiful to see that God is consistent with Himself throughout the scriptures. Before a word is on our tongue, He knows it completely (Psalm 139:4). Before we can express a concern or have difficulties, God knows it. That is also why He is always steps ahead in bringing good to us. Before Adam could think that he needed a helper, God said “it is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (Genesis 2:18). He told Jeremiah that before He formed him in his mother’s womb, He knew him (Jeremiah 1:5). It shows the depth of His knowledge, He is truly omniscient. Before we could cry out to God, God had already prepared a way for us to know Him. The same is true of the people of Israel, before they could call God their God, He had already made a way for them to become His people. That is what we see in the mountain of Sinai, God appeared to Moses to show the way to come to Him, to approach Him, to know Him. I have always read the story of Moses being in the presence of God as simply an encounter that God had with Moses but I now see that it was much more than that, it was not just for Moses but for the entire people of Israel. God was making Himself known to man! Thousands of years later, God will perfect this plan of His by bringing Jesus, His one and only son whom He loves and in whom He is well pleased to make the way for all men to know Him; the invitation was no longer for the people of Israel but it was for all people groups. Moreover, the way God decided to make Himself known was by having people believe in His son Jesus. Jesus was the great high priest, better than Moses, or Aaron and other priests that used to perform sacerdotal duties in the temple of God. Jesus, being without sin did not need a sacrifice to enter the presence of God, instead, by giving himself as a sacrifice for all men, he secured a way, a canal through which all men can enter God’s presence and know Him. You could say that Jesus made approaching the powerful and dreadful God simple. Ordinary men and women could now stand in the presence of the Most High God simply because they had trusted in the sacrifice of Jesus and were covered by his righteousness. Like Colossians says, Jesus made a spectacle of the powers and authorities that stood against us by nailing them to the cross (Colossians 2:15). What was impossible to do became possible in Christ. This truth deserves continuous pondering, it is a marvelous one.

As we celebrate the triumph of Jesus at the cross over Easter this weekend, I am reminded of the truthfulness of God, His immutability and His great love. To think that our Father in heaven would want to have a relationship with me is incomprehensible, I should be desiring a relationship with Him not the other way around. Indeed, Christ died for us while we were still sinners, not after, but during our ugliness. Why would the God of the universe who needs nothing from me to survive or be cares so much to know me? The psalmist was right and is still right to ask “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8:4). I pray to never get tired of beholding God in all His beauty and rendering unto Him what is due Him. Happy Easter!