Want To Know God? Look At Jesus

Oct

17

Want To Know God? Look At Jesus

Today I was reading in the Gospel of John and I came across this verse:

“No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God [Jesus Christ] who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” (John 1:18, NASB)

Another translation puts it like this:

“No one has ever seen God. But God the only Son [Jesus Christ] is very close to the Father, and he has shown us what God is like.” (John 1:18, NCV)

As I pondered this verse I thought about two things. First, I was reminded that the only way to know God is through revelation. What I mean is this: God does not exist inside of our universe. He created the universe, and He exists outside of it. We, being inside the universe, can know nothing about God except what He chooses to reveal to us.

The Bible teaches that the ultimate revelation of God is found in Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was God in human form (Matt. 1:23; Isaiah 9:6; John 1:1, John 1:14; Philippians 2:5-6; Col. 1:15-17; Col. 2:9). The Book of Hebrews says that:

“The Son reflects the glory of God and shows exactly what God is like.” (Hebrews 1:3a, NCV)

So if the Bible is accurate—and I believe it is for reasons that I will not go into here—then the only way to truly know who God is and what He is like is to examine Jesus Christ. And the best way to examine Jesus Christ is to read the four gospels that describe Him: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

I must admit that I often forget to spend time in the gospels. I find myself reading other parts of the Bible. Reading any part of the Bible is good, of course, but it is easy to ignore the gospels and to forget what Jesus Christ is really like. But Christianity is nothing without Jesus Christ. Remove Jesus and all you have is a set of rules and guidelines. In other words, if you remove Jesus then all you have is religion. And Christianity was never meant to be about religion, it was meant to be about relationship.

Speaking of Christianity, the second thing that I was reminded of today is how sad it is that people judge Christianity by looking at Christians. Let’s face it: We Christians mess up. A lot. And we’ve messed up Christianity all throughout history.

This is why I encourage non-Christians to not judge Christianity by the Christians. Judge Christianity by Jesus Christ. I will be the first one to admit that atrocities have been committed in the Name of Christ. For the first 300 years Christians were pacifists, but starting with Augustine of Hippo’s concept of “just war” Christians started happily killing each other and everyone else. I will be the first to stand up and denounce the murder of Muslims and Jews by so-called Christians.

Today we still have activist Christians calling for bloodshed in the Name of Christ. In addition to that, thanks to the idea of “cheap grace”, the West is filled with Christians who no longer have any concept of discipleship. In other words, the West is filled with people who call themselves Christians but bear no fruit of the Spirit (and bearing fruit of the Spirit is the evidence of being a Christian) (cf. Gal. 5:19-26).

Again, I will be the first to stand and denounce the actions of Christians throughout history and the un-Christ-like actions of Christians today.

I will confess: If I just had other Christians to look at then I would not be a Christian. For that matter, if I just had myself to look at then I would not be a Christian. God knows that I’ve made plenty of mistakes. I can only pray that none of them have turned people away from Christ.

But the reason I am a Christian is not because of other Christians and not because of any innate goodness in myself. No, I am a Christian because of Jesus Christ.

So, to return to John 1:18, if you are a non-Christian, please do not judge Christianity by the Christians. Judge Christianity by Jesus Christ. For He truly “reflects the glory of God and shows exactly what God is like” (Heb. 1:3).