*I gave this talk to high school students several years ago.
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Intro: Have you ever talked to someone who doesn’t want to open up to you? Perhaps you asked a question or two and received a brief response or no response at all. For some reason that person did not want to reveal themselves to you.
Now let’s focus on God revealing himself to us and then we’ll look at how we should respond to this divine revelation.
How do we get to know God?
What does God have to do if we are going to get to know him?
I. God must reveal himself to us.
- God could keep himself hidden from us. He could be like that person who doesn’t want to talk to you. Why would he do so? Maybe he doesn’t want us to know him. Maybe he created us just to observe us and not relate with us. If God kept himself hidden from us, no one would know anything about him. We wouldn’t know if he loved us or hated us. All of our talk about God would be mere expressions of ignorance.
II. God must reveal himself to us in words.
- If God chose to reveal himself to us, at least part of his revelation would have to come through words. Why? Because by nature we are highly verbal and rational creatures. A scene or event is not enough. We also need to understand the meaning. We need an explanation.
- But since there are thousands of human languages, which language would God use? (Yes, God could choose to use a non-human language, but that would defeat the purpose of revealing himself to humans.) Would he choose English, Korean, Japanese, etc.? Or would he speak in all languages?
- If God truly loves everyone, he would not discriminate against any language. From the very beginning of the Christian faith, the message was translated from Aramaic to Greek to Syriac to Latin. And two thousand years later the translation process continues. The Bible is the most translated book in world history. Christians do not believe one language is closer to God than another language. God wants the good news to be conveyed in every language.
III. God has revealed himself to us in a human life.
- The Word of God has come to us, not just in audible sounds but in the human life of Jesus of Nazareth. John writes, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (Jn. 1:14). God got up-close and personal with us in the life of Jesus. Consider the following passages.
- Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:5-9)
- The Son is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15).
- The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, (Heb. 1:3)
- Think of these astounding statements. When you look at Jesus, really look at him, you are looking at God. This does not mean that Jesus and God the Father are identical. There is a distinction between the Father and Son seen in the way that Jesus prayed to his Father and taught about his Father. But the Son is the perfect revelation of God because he is in complete harmony with his Father. Jesus said, “I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me” (Jn. 14:31). So the life of Jesus shows us what God is like perfectly. Does God want to share himself with us? Absolutely!
IV. In order to know God, we must receive and reflect on God’s revelation.
- When someone opens up to you and shares something personal, how do you respond? Do you ignore it? Do you laugh? Do you argue? Our first response to God’s revelation should be to reflect, to think about what God has shared.
- So what do we know about God through Jesus’ life? That is a huge question. Let me briefly mention three items.
- God is love. Jesus wept when he saw others weeping. He washed his disciples’ feet. He healed the sick. When you think of God, do you think of an all-powerful Creator who will not descend from his throne or do you think of a servant like Jesus? Remember what Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”
- God is powerful. Jesus demonstrated his power by raising the dead, calming the storm, healing the sick, and ultimately rising from the dead. This corresponds with what we know about God from Genesis 1. But be careful not to allow God’s power to eclipse his love or vice versa. A proper view of God holds on to both God’s power and God’s love.
- God is mysterious. We cannot completely figure out each other, so what makes us think we can fully understand God? In fact, we cannot even fully comprehend the basic elements of our world, such as light or water. In his book Living Jesus, Luke Timothy Johnson says, “Although the social sciences tend to treat people as problems to be solved, people are in fact best learned when they are viewed as mysteries to be experienced” (58). Jesus did many unusual things. For example, when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was for two more days. He was sleeping on a boat during a violent storm. While walking on the Sea of Galilee, he was about to pass by his disciples who were in a boat. After his resurrection, he was not immediately recognized by his followers. For example, Mary thought he was a gardener. Though God limited himself for the sake of revealing himself to us, he goes far beyond what we are able to comprehend.
Conclusion: The God of the Christian faith does not want to keep to himself. He wants us to know him. And he has expressed that desire by speaking to us and by giving us the life of Jesus. These two ideas—God speaking to us in words and through his Son are presented at the beginning of Hebrews: “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe” (1:1-2). Now it is up to us to receive and reflect on this revelation.
After graduating from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, I served as a high school Bible teacher in Asia. I enjoy traveling, writing, and playing the drums. For a deep dive into church history and the character of God, see my book Surprised by Hell.