top of page
Writer's pictureTrey Harper

Know Him

1 John 2:3 says, “And by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments.” Jesus desires that we know who He is. In keeping His commandments, we know that we know Him. Assurance. We are certain that He is ours, and we are His. That He is making “propitiation” for us (being our advocate- verse 2). He is working for us because we have been unified.

It may seem a bit odd, but the wording is the same as Genesis 4:1, describing Adam becoming one with Eve: “Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived…”. We are united with our Christ in a death like His and raised to walk in newness of life (Romans 6). We can walk, from that moment on, knowing that Jesus is advocating for us. Jesus has become our biggest supporter. Jesus has been working on us, you and me, since before He knelt on a hillside and prayed to His Father.

John records Jesus’s prayer (John 17) to reveal that eternal life is to know God in Christ (17:3). Jesus prays that we be one in Them (17:21). We know Him by being unified with Him, and that in Baptism. To what end?

Our newness of life is seen in every action we take. From the moment we shake off our liquid interment we do a new thing; “we keep His commandments”. Not to be saved- for we are already saved, but to show our salvation is being advocated for by the one at work within us.

Another place in the prayer recorded in John 17 (verse 17), asks God to “Sanctify [us] in Truth”, and defines Truth as “His Word”. We have been set apart to do the works of the Word. We are raised to be zealous for those good works. Why? To show the lost and dying that a Savior lives! And that they can come to know Him.

“Jesus, let us come to know you. Let us see You face to face. Touch us, hold us, use us, mold us. Only let us live in You.

Jesus, draw us ever nearer. Hold us in Your loving arms. Wrap us, in Your gentle presence. When the end comes, bring us home.” (Song: Jesus Let Us Come To Know You)

Comments


bottom of page