Knowing about God vs. Knowing God

This is eternal life, to know you, the only true God,

and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

Jesus, in John 17:3

As it is written, “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered

the heart of man the things God has prepared for those who love Him.”

But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit,

for the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of man that is in him?  And likewise, no one knows the things of God; just the Spirit of God.

Now, we have not received the spirit of the world

but the Spirit that is from God,

so that we might understand the things freely given to us by God.

1Corinthians 2:9–12

There is a difference between knowing about God and knowing God.  The whole world knows about God, but knowing God Himself is impossible without knowing His Son, Jesus.  When Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father but by me,” he meant coming to the Father by any means, whether coming to Him spiritually by being born again, coming to know Him intellectually, or coming bodily to stand on the glassy sea in His holy presence.  No one can by any means come to the Father except by the Son, who holds the key to entering into the Father’s presence.

Paul said that it is by the Spirit that we have access to the Father, and the Son is the one by whom we receive the Spirit.  It is also by the Spirit that we may come to know God.  Only the Spirit of God knows the things of God, Paul said.  Even the Son came to know God by the Spirit.

We know God, then, only to the extent that we are filled with His Spirit, and the Spirit is given to us only in the name of God’s Son, Jesus.  Most of the human race is content merely to know about God.  Just a few, Jesus said, would ever find the way of life and truly come to know his Father.  When he returns for those who are in the Way, which road will he find us on?