12.29.

10

Knowing and Being Known

Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom you have sent. ~ John 17:3

Seeing the Knowledge and Knowing of God as Our Purpose:

Jeremiah 9:23; Hosea 6:6; John 17:3; Hebrews 8:11

Defining “Knowing” – What is it to Know Something or Someone?

How does one come to know something abstract, e.g., a foreign language, and something inanimate, e.g., a painting?
What methods are employed to know them?
Foreign Language: ___________________________________________________________________________

A Painting: __________________________________________________________________________________

Now, what‟s the difference between knowing something living vs. knowing something inanimate? What
different methods need to be employed in this case? _______________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________

How about knowing a dog vs. knowing a person? What is different about knowing a person vs. a living animal?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________________

One of the amazing things about God is his self-discloser, i.e., he chooses to open up to Notes:
us and reveal himself; he invites us into relationship and covenant partnership with him.

Biblical Imagery Used to Express the Invitation to Know God Relationally:

As a son knows his father – Luke 15
As a wife knows her husband – Revelation 19
As a sheep knows its shepherd – John 10
As a subject knows his king – Psalm 47

The Biblical Language of God Knowing Us:

‫ – ע‬transliteration: “yada”
The Hebrew word ‫ ע‬is most often used when you see the word “know” in our English
translations. It means to learn, discover, experience, and can often imply intimacy.
Hosea 6:6
For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than
burnt offerings.
Genesis 4:1
Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have gotten a man with the help of the
LORD.”

So, passages which express God‟s knowing of us are expressing far more than knowledge of us, they are expressing
God‟s covenantal love and electing grace toward us!
See Galatians 4:9; Exodus 33:17; Jeremiah 1:5; John 10:14-27

“…What matters supremely therefore, is not, in the last analysis, the fact that I know God, but the larger fact that
underlies it – the fact that He knows me. I am graven on the palms of His hands. I am never out of His mind. All my
knowledge of Him depends on His sustained initiative in knowing me. I know Him, because He first knew me, and
continues to know me. He knows me as a friend, one who loves me; and there is no moment when His eye is off me, or
His attention distracted from me, and no moment, therefore, when his care falters.
This is momentous knowledge. There is unspeakable comfort…in knowing that God is constantly taking knowledge of me
in love, and watching over me for my good. There is tremendous relief in knowing that His love to me is utterly realistic,
based at every point on prior knowledge of the worst about me, so that no discovery now can disillusion Him about me,
in the way I am so often disillusioned about myself, and quench His determination to bless me. There is certainly, great
cause for humility in the thought that He sees all the twisted things about me that my fellow – men do not see (and am I
glad), and that He sees more corruption in me than that which I see in myself (which, in all conscience, is enough). There
is, however, equally great incentive to worship and love God in the thought that, for some unfathomable reason, He
wants me as His friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given His Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.
We cannot work these thoughts out here, but merely to mention them is enough to show how much it means to know,
not merely that we know God, but that he knows us.”
~ JI Packer, Knowing God

A Comparison between the Disciples Knowing of Jesus and Ours:

Schools were associated with the local synagogue in first century Galilee. Apparently each community would hire a
teacher (respectfully called rabbi) for the school. Children began their study at age 4-5 in Beth Sefer (elementary
school). Most scholars believe both boys and girls attended the class in the synagogue. The best students continued
their study (while learning the family trade) in Beth Midrash (secondary school) also taught by a rabbi of the community.
A few (a very few) of the most outstanding Beth Midrash students sought permission to study with a famous rabbi often
leaving home to travel with him for a lengthy period of time. These students were called talmidim in Hebrew, which is
translated disciples (talmid is disciple).

There is much more to a talmid than what we call student. A student wants to know what the teacher knows for the
grade, to complete the class or the degree or even out of respect for the teacher. A talmid wants to like the teacher, to
become what the teacher is. That meant that students were passionately devoted to their rabbi and noted everything
he did or said. This meant the rabbi/talmid relationship was a very intense and personal system of education. As the
rabbi lived and taught his understanding of the Scripture his talmidim listened and watched and imitated so as to
become like him. Eventually they would become teachers passing on a lifestyle to their own talmidim.

Jesus was a rabbi; a unique rabbi, but a rabbi nonetheless. He called 12 men to become his talmidim and as he taught
them the way of torah, he also gradually revealed to them he true indemnity as the Messiah (Matthew 16:16). After his
talmidim (the 12 Disciples) were trained, he commissioned them out make more talmidim (i.e., the Great Commission).

Through the Great Commission we are all Jesus‟ talmidim, called to follow him and live as he lived and teach what he
taught. But there are several differences between our knowing of Christ and the 12 Disciples:
1. His presence with us a spiritual presence.
2. We know from the start Jesus‟ true identity as the Messiah.
3. We experience the words of Christ not through freshly uttered words but through the Holy Spirit applying the
written words to our hearts.

But knowing Christ still involves follow after his way. That will never change.

So, What is Knowing God like – How Do We Define iI? How Do We Know We Know Him?
“What are we talking about when we use the phrase, „knowing God‟?” Packer asks. “A special sort of emotion? Shivers
down the back? A dreamy, off-the-ground, floating feeling? Tingling thrills and exhilaration, such as drug-takers seek? Or
is knowing God a special sort of intellectual experience? Does one hear a voice? See a vision? Find strange trains of
thought coursing through one‟s mind? Or what? These matters need discussing, especially since, according to Scripture,
this is a region in which it is easy to be fooled, and to think you know God when you do not. We pose the question, then:
what sort of activity or event is it that can properly be described as „Knowing God‟?” ~ JI Packer, Knowing God

Is coming to know God similar to coming to know someone else? _____ Explain ______________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

As we come to know, experience, and learn more about God…

What are his interests? ____________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What are his Hurts? _______________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What are his ambitions? ___________________________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________