Most people 'know' about Christ as an historical figure, and many people believe,
think or 'know' that there is a god or some sort of cosmic force out there.
But also among church-goers, theologians, and Bible scholars they also 'know'and
can reliably recite the teachings, doctrine, and the thinking of Christianity, but that
is not the KNOW that Jesus is talking about in today’s verse.
Like the word LOVE in English which has many shades of meaning (e.g. I love my mother,
-vs- I love coffee) the word KNOW in this context goes beyond intellectual understanding
or recognition of a fact or possibility. Jesus is saying that we would know God in the sense
of an intimate relationship and bond with a person, much like in marriage or in family
to a person. It is a personal relationship and communion with God that has nothing to do
with intellectual knowledge or theology.
Christ’s prayer here in John 17 is subtitled in most Bibles as The Prayer Of
Intercession where He is praying that those that are His followers and lovers of
God would draw close to Him and “Be ONE, even as we are one” [ John 17:21 ]
Friend, are you “ONE” with God? Do you know Him not just intellectually or as
a matter of fact or history or by what you have heard but KNOW HIM as you would your closest
friend, parent, or spouse? If not, please don’t re-think about who God is or what the
Bible words written simply say, but draw closer to him, be cause He promises to
“Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.” [ James 4:8 ]
Then, and only then, will you fully KNOW HIM.
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