Greetings people of the Kingdom!
There is this song we often sing during worship in church, and at home: “You are bigger than what people say, Jehovah you are bigger than what people say”. Another version renders it thus: “You are greater than what we call you, Jehovah you are greater than what we call you.”
So, basically, the song admits that God is actually greater than what we say about Him or call Him. This could imply that what we know about God is mostly what we were told in church, or just assumptions.
How can an imperfect man with limited knowledge teach us about a perfect God? On what basis should such teaching or knowledge be acceptable?
There are many religions in the world claiming “true knowledge” of the Divine. But why is there only one God but multiple religions? Is God divided? One would say “No”, then why many different versions of Him, even in Christianity?
Having asked all these questions, where and how are we going to get the answers?
I cannot say for other religions, but if you are a Christian you should know that you cannot have the answers to these “God questions” if you aren't looking in the right place. There is only one reliable source — The Bible!
Now, there're various theories and arguments about the authenticity of the Bible but I know that that is just one of Satan's ploy to disprove God.
I will like to start from the Gospel book of John 1:18 and the Epistle of 1John 1:12. The opening sentences of these two verses reads:
No man hath seen God at any time.
The first declaration was made by Jesus himself, while the second one is an emphasis made by the Apostle John.
If “no man hath seen God at any time”, then where do men get their knowledge of God from?
Jesus told the woman at the well in John 4:24:
God is a Spirit..
and rightly so. So if He can't be seen, how then can He be known?
Well, Just like we cannot see air but we know that there is air. So even if it cannot be seen, it can be known. God can be known even if He cannot be seen. How? Deuteronomy 29:29 (KJV)
The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever..
So we can know God by what has been revealed about Him. But revelations, especially from humans, can be faulty or fabricated. Many people have claimed to receive revelations from God which prompted them to go about establishing “ministries” or they call their “calling”. The Bible again tells us, in 1 John 4:1 (KJV)
Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
You can only have discernment to try these spirits if you already have accurate knowledge of God. You see, God cannot lie, neither is He an author of confusion. Many people read the Bible and still find contradictions in it because they cannot understand it. No one has explained it better to them or they have refused to sit patiently and enduringly under sound doctrine.
Here is the truth: God revealed Himself once and for all in the person of Jesus Christ. He has been demystified. John 14:6-9 (KJV)
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.
Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?
How else could Jesus have said it? He is the perfect representative of the Father(God). He even said in John 8:56-58 (KJV)
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad.
Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.
Apostle Paul tells us that Christ is the express image of God in Hebrews 1:1-2 (KJV)
God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,
Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
Also in Colossians 2:9 (KJV) Paul says,
For in him (Jesus) dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
Jesus is the beloved Son in whom God is well pleased. In Him, God chose to reveal Himself to the world. So whoever seeks to know God outside of Christ, is going to end up in another religion. For us Christians, God is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, not Moses nor Elijah nor any other figure.
Once you understand this, you have come into His rest. Once you get the revelation of Christ, your search for God is concluded. You have found Him. It is in Christ that Apostle Peter admonish us in 2 Peter 3:18 (KJV) to
... grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.
Friends, no knowledge is greater than that!
We can only grow in the knowledge of Christ because in him is God the Father revealed. The more of Christ you know, the more of God you will understand.
Glory!