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DEVOTIONAL ARTICLES.
The Knowledge of God.
Col. 1: 10. p. 13 15
When the Lord in His great intercession of John 17: spoke of aionian life, He also
spoke of its object:--
"And this is the aionian life, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom Thou hast sent" (verse 3).
The word rendered that in this verse is in the original hină, "in order that", "with the
object that"; and therefore allowing this meaning its force and significance, we discover
that aionian life is the glorious opportunity provided by the God of all grace to get to
know Himself and the One He sent Jesus Christ our Lord.
This passage is not alone in the suggestion that during the present life we do not know
GOD. In the prayers of the apostle, as recorded in the three epistles of the mystery,
Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, there is progress observable in this knowledge.
First in Eph. 1: 17 the goal is stated:--
"That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit
of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him."
Then the steps to that end begin to be enumerated, viz., (1) That you may know what
is the hope of His calling. (2) That you may know what is the riches of the glory of His
inheritance in the saints. (3) That you may know what is the exceeding greatness of His
power to usward who believe.
Until we know these three manifestations or objects of God, the knowledge of God
Himself cannot be ours. But these three items of knowledge, gloriously full as they are,
are not sufficient qualifications to pass us into the higher school where we may learn to
know GOD. Chapter 3: places all its emphasis upon knowing the love of Christ, "to
know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge"; this special aspect of knowledge has
its own peculiar goal, "in order that you may be filled unto (R.V. not with) all the
fulness of God". The fulness of God is the goal unto which the apostle's prayers are
directed; he does not pray that the believer may be filled with all the fulness of God; such
is reserved for One and One only the Lord Himself, for in Him dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead bodily, and we are filled to the full in Him. The prayer of Phil. 1: deals
with another phase of spiritual growth, another factor in the progress of the saint to the
desired goal:--
"And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all
discernment, that ye may try the things that differ (and so approve the things that are
excellent), in order that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ:
being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the praise
and glory of God" (verses 9-11).