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How Can I Relate to God? (How can you have a relationship with a God you can’t see, touch, hear, or feel?) “I pray, but I don’t know if my prayers are going beyond the walls of this room!” “I don’t feel God’s presence, is there something wrong with me?” These are questions that a goodly number of us have asked at some point in our lives. With these concerns on my mind, I want to address the issue of how we can relate to the only God that I believe really exists - the God described in the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel, and the Father of my Lord, Jesus the Messiah. My purpose here is not to explain in detail why I reject all of the other gods worshipped by people, although that issue is also worthy of more treatment than a sweeping assertion, as I gave above. This article is written for people who already believe that the God described in the Bible is the true God, but they don’t know Him very well and don’t know how to relate to a God that we cannot “experience” with our physical senses. For Most of Us, God is Hidden If these concerns are very real to you right now, let me assure you that they are also very real to many people and have been so over the centuries and millennia. When Gideon was called by an angel to deliver Israel from Midianite oppression (ca. 1350-1200 B.C.), the angel said “the Lord is with you” and Gideon replied “If the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us?” He goes on to ask “why don’t we see miracles happening like our fathers told us about?” (Judges 6:12-13). When Samuel was first called by God (ca. 1100-1050 B.C.), the record tells us that revelations and visions were rare in that time (1Samuel 3:1). In the synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus noted that of the many possible situations for Divine intervention were present in the time of Elijah and Elisha (9th century B.C.), only one widow and leper were miraculously helped by God (Luke 4:25-27). King David (1010-970 B.C.) was called a “man after God’s own heart” (1Samuel 13:14), a prophet of God (Acts 2:29-30), and a man who “served the purpose of God in his own generation” (Acts 13:36), yet there were times when David “felt” far from God, Why dost Thou stand afar off, O Lord? Why dost Thou hide Thyself in times of trouble? (Psalm 10:1) How long, O Lord? Wilt Thou forget me forever? How long wilt Thou hide Thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, Having sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me? (Psalm 13:1-2) The Prophet Isaiah (ca. 735-700 B.C.) noted that God would eventually present Himself visibly to Israel (Isaiah 30:20), however in general we find even Isaiah saying, Truly, Thou art a God who hides Himself, O God of Israel, Savior! (Isaiah 45:15) The Prophets Hosea (3:3-5) and Micah (5:3) predicted a period of Divine silence before the Messiah arrived and from Malachi to the events surrounding the appearance of John the Baptizer and Jesus Israel had no prophets or new revelation for 400 years (400-4 B.C.). God seemed and was a bit distant from these people - are you beginning to feel like its not just you? In His High-Priestly prayer before His death, Jesus made note of the His concern for the disciples (who would become His Apostles) and also those who would believe in Him through their word (John 17:20). Thus, while one generation was able to see, hear, and touch God incarnate, most Christians should expect to gain our knowledge about God from the Apostles’ teaching rather then direct personal contact and messages. The Apostle Peter taught that Jesus had returned to heaven and would not be seen again until the time when all would be restored, the New Heaven and Earth to follow Jesus’ return (Acts 3:20-21) and after His resurrection Jesus did not appear to everyone, but just to those who were chosen to be witnesses (Acts 10:40-41). The Apostles Paul listed the rather limited number of Jesus’ post-crucifixion appearances and declared that he had been the last to see Jesus after the Resurrection (1Corinthians 15:1-8) - the appearance to Paul was to qualify him for Apostleship as a witness of the resurrected Christ. Paul also noted to the Corinthian believers that Christ was no longer knowable in His fleshly form (2Corinthians 5:16), thus, most Christians have not seen Jesus, are absent from Him in the physical sense, and must “walk by faith, not by sight” (2Corinthians 5:6-7). To be sure, Jesus will be visibly revealed again someday, but Peter was confident that none of the believers scattered throughout the provinces of Asia Minor (1Peter 1:1) had seen Him nor were they getting tangible visits from Him at that time (1Peter 1:8). From this information, I find it highly unlikely that any of those who have claimed to see, hear, or talk with Jesus directly between Jesus’ appearance to Paul and the 2nd Coming are telling us the truth. God is not doing “cameos!” - It is my conclusion that most Israelites living under the Law and most Christians living under the New Covenant have not seen true miracles, have not heard direct objective revelation for God, and have not seen, heard, or touched Jesus. There is nothing particularly wrong with their faith or lives that causes God to not appear to them, talk audibly to them, or give them a “warm fuzzy feeling” when they are spiritually in-tune” with Him. That is not how God works and the Bible does not teach that we should expect these things, nor should we think of them as “normal”! “Feeling” God’s Presence - Look up the words “feel/feeling” in an exhaustive concordance - you will hardly find them used in the Bible, because this is not how faithful covenant-keeping people over the centuries nor the Bible writers conceived of God and His relationship with people. If we did read numerous times in the Bible where “they believed God and prayed to Him and received a warm and wonderful feeling all over,” then we would have some justification in expecting this. Unfortunately, many people in western Civilization have adopted the free-swinging, privatized, and personal emotional experience concept of what “religion” is all about and keep their Bibles closed (where they might learn some truth about God and how He operates). The Lure of Idolatry - God's invisible nature is also probably a prime reason for idolatry (worshipping physical images made to represent a god). Since we are physical, material beings it is only natural that we tend to think that we relate best to things that we can deal with by our physical senses - sight, touch, hearing, smell, and taste. From the beginning, God told Israel to not attempt to represent Him in this kind of form, "You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. "You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. (Exodus 20:4-6) While I can appreciate the fleshly human desire to have God in some tangible form, I think I also have some idea as to why God is opposed to this. First of all, God is an eternal invisible Spirit (John 4:23-24) and His spiritual presence fills created space (1Kings 8:27; Jeremiah 23:24). How could anyone produce an idol that could even come close to accurately representing God's form, not to mention the inability of a statue to represent God personality and character (justice and covenant-keeping faithfulness)? Second, the Creator does not want to be represented in our minds by something made by human hands. The utter folly of trying to represent God by a statue of human design is blatantly exposed by the prophets (see: Isaiah 44:9-20; Jeremiah 10:3-5; Habakkuk 2:18-19; Psalm 115:2-8). Third, only God Himself could provide us with a tangible representation of what He is like and this is what He did in the incarnation - Jesus is the only approved "icon" or physical representation of what God is like, And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14) "If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him." Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, 'Show us the Father'? (John 14:7-9) And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. (2Corinthians 4:3-4) God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:1-3) If you want to know what God is most like in a tangible form, look at Jesus - there you will see God's personality portrayed in the context of a human mind and body. In Jesus, we have an "exact representation of His nature" - not the eternal Spiritual universe-filling presence (that was given up for awhile to be in our midst (John 17:5; Philippians 2:5-9), but an exact representation of God's personality and character. I conclude that God has forbidden idolatry because it does lead us spiritually astray, causing us to conceive of and focus our worship of the Creator of the universe on a small item created by man. No idol formed by man's hand could even come close to representing what God is truly like - our imaginations, working from Scriptural information, are capable of producing a mental image closer to what God is really like than any physical item that we could manufacture. While it requires some effort to conceive of an eternal Spirit that created and fills all created space (and beyond?), how could you ever begin to represent that in a man-made physical object? Truly, idolatry is foolish! God has Not Always Been “Hidden” Before we conclude that a God not testable by my own physical senses might be an imaginary (fictitious) God, let’s remember that the Bible tells us that God has made a few appearances in history to people. Before their sin, Adam and Eve had a direct experience of God’s presence as they “heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the Garden” of Eden and had a very direct conversation with God about their sin (Genesis 3:8-19). Although the distance between God and humanity increased rapidly after the first sin, God still occasionally spoke quite clearly to selected individuals - God warned Cain about sin (Genesis 4:6-7), told Noah to build an ark (Genesis 6:8-22) and for his descendants to disperse after the flood (Genesis 9:1); several contacts with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3; 15); Isaac (26:1-4), Jacob (28:10-14); Moses, Joshua, Judges and Prophets. When Israel was at Mt. Sinai around 1446 B.C., they experienced quite a show (Exodus 19:18-20) and, after they entered the covenant being offered a group of more than 70 Israelite leaders went up on the mountain and saw God (Exodus 24:1-11). Around late 5 or early 4:B.C., an angel visited a Jewish girl of the tribe of Judah and told her that she had been greatly favored by God and would be the mother of the Messiah (Luke 1:26-38). For 33 years, God’s divine nature was incarnated in the Son born to Mary and Jewish and Roman folks living in Palestine between 26-30 A.D. had opportunity to see God’s nature embodied in a human life. Some were aware of it in the child’s infancy: baby John still in the womb (Luke 1:41), some shepherds the night He was born (Luke 2:8-20), Simeon (Luke 2:21-35), Anna (Luke 2:36-38), some Arabian or Babylonian wise men (Matthew 2:1-12). When Jesus was 30 years old, John the baptizer recognized Jesus as the Messiah as the Promised One (John 1:29-34), a group of disciples began to gather around Jesus in the belief that He was the One Promised in the Law/Prophets/Writings (John 1:45). A number of the powerful men in Judaism concluded that Jesus’ growing popularity threatened their position in dealing with Rome and decided to put Jesus to death (John 11:47-57). Thinking that he would make 30 pieces of silver, one of Jesus’ disciples arranged to betray Him to the officials when most of the crowds in Jerusalem would be unaware of it. However, after His divinely-planned crucifixion, Jesus fulfilled His own prediction (Matthew 16:21-23) and re-appeared alive to His disciples. One of them, Thomas, heard what the others said but demanded physical proof of Jesus’ resurrection and was given the opportunity (John 20:24-28). Jesus commented to Thomas, Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed." (John 20:29) So, the question remains, “How do we relate/have a relationship with an eternal, invisible Spirit?” We Relate to God by Faith The thing that stands out most about how humans relate to God - throughout the entire Bible and regardless of whether they did see and hear God directly - is that it is “by faith” rather than sight or sensibly testable means. After repeated sin, God’s presence (that had been demonstrated in a sensibly-testable way) left Samson and he had no awareness in his physical senses of this until he was in a situation where the strength God provided was not present (Judges 16:20), Samson did not “feel” God’s presence (or sense its absence), but that presence did produce observable results in his life for awhile - great physical strength. All of the noteworthy “heroes” of the Old Testament related to God by “faith” and lived lives that generally (they did sin at times) demonstrated they were on a better path than their sinful neighbors (Genesis 4:4; 6:8-9; 15:6; Hebrews 11). What is “faith”? Beyond the examples described in Hebrews 11, we do have rather pointed definitions of what “saving faith” is. In hope against hope he believed, in order that he might become a father of many nations, according to that which had been spoken, "So shall your descendants be." And without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah's womb; yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief, but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform. Therefore also it was reckoned to him as righteousness. (Romans 4:18-22) Although he was an old man and his wife had been barren and was now physically beyond the age for having children (even if she had been fertile), God promised Abraham that he would have many descendants through Sarah and Abraham believed God was able to do what He promised. When asked to sacrifice his own son Isaac (at the time unmarried and childless), Abraham was going to go ahead with it in the belief that God was able to raise the dead (Genesis 22 & Hebrews 11:17-19). Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. . . . And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (Hebrews 11:1-3,6) The common thread running through the lives of all those mentioned in Hebrews 11 was the assurance and conviction that God exists and rewards those who seek Him. Everybody “lives by Faith” In Western culture we have bought into a very faulty set of definitions and concepts. It is now common to see the word “faith” associated with religion, creationism, personal/private, feelings, irrational, values, closed-minded, no evidence, etc. On the other hand, the word “science” is usually associated with knowledge, reason, objectivity, evidence/facts, educated, open-minded, etc. Actually, “faith” has to do with unobservable and non-provable foundational assumptions that all of us employ at the beginning of our reasoning processes. All of us operate on the basis of some things we assume and believe about reality, but haven’t seen and can’t prove. It is not that religious people operate by “faith,” while scientists operate only by evidence, reason, and observation. In fact, scientists believe a number of things for which they have no evidence or observational support. Beliefs not rooted in observation and hard evidence originate from philosophical and/or religious systems and scenarios that we “adopt by faith.” The nature of “faith” is one of the elements truly misunderstood in Western civilization today. Whereas “faith” is a reasoned conviction about how things really are - Christians believe that God really does exist and acts - the skeptics and atheists that now control education and the media want to portray “religion” as a private and personal thing (an irrational fantasy about how things are), but totally separate from “science” and history. The joke in all of this is that evolutionists, who arrogantly ridicule and marginalize “creation/Intelligent Design” as religion versus “evolution” which they claim to be science, themselves fail to recognize the difference between religious/philosophical belief and empirical science! How ironic it is that evolutionists believe that life arose from non-living chemicals in a “warm little pond” by natural process totally on faith (assurance and conviction about things not seen) - nobody has ever observed such a process actually occurring in nature nor has anyone ever duplicated this alleged process in a laboratory. They do the same thing on the issue of where all of the major “kinds” of life (phyla?) came from - they assume lots of slow Darwinian adaptation must have accumulated to turn protozoa into sponges, sponges into fish, fish into amphibians, amphibians into reptiles, reptiles into birds and mammals, mammals into tree shrews, and then tree shrews into some kind of “apelike common ancestor” that branched off into chimps and humans. However, when you turn to the fossil record (in hopes of finding some hard evidence actually portraying the reality of such a grand, slow transformation process), you find nothing resembling the dogmatically asserted gradually branching Darwinian “tree of life” - that is a fairy tale existing only in the textbooks. Evolutionists have evidence for variation within established body types, but they hold their larger transformation story (chemicals to chemists) on the basis of faith, the same kind of faith that Hebrews 11:1 describes - assurance and conviction about things not seen/observed. However, since the mid-1800’s and using some bogus evidences and a lot of confident bluster, they have managed to hoodwink most of the intellectuals in Western civilization to believe that “faith” based on materialistic/naturalistic philosophical assumptions is “rational/scientific” and the only story that school kids should hear, while belief in the story portrayed in the Bible (intelligent, simultaneous, and abrupt creation of major kinds of life - which better fits the evidence) is “irrational/religious” and must be kept out of reach of school-children (for political reasons)! This is pure baloney and a number of evolutionists understand this, for open discussion by the experts of all of the evidence (and where it is missing) makes evolution look much less convincing than it is in their propaganda and artwork. This is why “creation/Intelligent Design” are demonized as spelling the end of American education and asserting that kids will all be messed up for life if they are even exposed to anything other than Darwinism. This is also why the promotion (and protection) of evolution has been turned over to the bully-boy tactics of the ACLU and Federal Courts - good ideas eventually win on their own merits, but false dogmas have to be protected and promoted by powerful institutions playing on the superstitious fears of people and suppressed by the Courts (yes, there is more than a little bit of similarity between how Medieval Catholicism and the modern Darwinian Academic establishment operate!). Something has gone seriously wrong in America when Federal Courts are in charge of what may and not be discussed in Public Schools - that sounds more and more like Red china and Russia before the Wall came down - an atheistic elite controlling society. “Faith” is not necessarily blind - “Faith” is an “assurance/conviction” about something unseen, but that does not mean that it is an irrational leap into the dark without any evidence to point you in the most likely direction. Why do I believe that God created the life on earth? The Bible says so (Genesis 1), but such a statement (just like “Evolution is a fact”) is an assertion without any “evidence” provided. However, what scientific research has been done on the issue (to determine if flies and rats materialized out of garbage) demonstrated that life does NOT spontaneously generate out of inanimate matter, but comes from pre-existing life - flies come from eggs laid by previous flies. On the basis of evidence and research, the most “reasonable” view is that life on earth came from pre-existing life. Biblical Creation begins with an intelligent, powerful Living God, whereas evolution begins with non-living matter and unguided natural processes. Given what is known about how nature works, evolutionists who propose that life “spontaneously generated” from inanimate matter in a “warm little pond” or a “hot ocean floor vent” hold such a view for purely philosophical reason, not on the basis of scientific evidence. In truth, evolution DOES need to be critiqued more objectively, for there is a lot more materialistic/naturalistic philosophy blended into it than most people (even many scientists) realize. Why do I believe the Old Testament historical material is valid history? Well, a good bit of my college training was in history and I have a pretty good idea of what the ancient world was like. The Bible is really very much in tune with what ancient people believed and did. However, the Bible is seriously different in one major element. Ancient people often did edit and glorify themselves in their history - unflattering truths about important people were generally not mentioned and if you went out to war with somebody and got a good whuppin’ it was not uncommon for your history to not mention the war - at all! Why is the Bible different? Simple, all of its heroes are described as real people, sins, mistakes, bad reasoning and all are recorded. the OT historical books, written by Jews, generally record how poorly the Jewish people did at keeping their covenant with God. It is primarily a record of human failure and this is not at all what people produce who are concocting a falsified “history” to make themselves and their ancestors look good! Where secular historical records intersect with Biblical history, the same kings and events are described in both, while sometimes secular information fits well with what the Bible is saying about what happened. This kind of information is often suppressed by those already committed to marginalizing the Bible as a credible guide for life. Why do I believe that Jesus is the Messiah promised from Genesis 3:15 onward? Simple, the Old Testament provides many predictions about this coming messiah: His genealogy, His birthplace, the time of His appearance, the nature of His ministry, etc. Jesus fits the Old Testament material very well. So why did the Jews generally reject Jesus as their Messiah? Again, rather simple - while He fit Old Testament prediction rather well, He did not fit popular expectations and threatened the Jewish power structure. Why do I believe that Jesus arose to life again? It was foreshadowed in the Old Testament and predicted by Jesus Himself. It was a historic fact witnessed by over 500 people. Those in a position to promote a fraudulent story, the Apostles, are those with the most to lose and the least to gain by doing so. The body of Jesus was placed under guard so that it would NOT be stolen and a fraud promoted - why did neither Jewish nor Roman authorities simply produce the body of Jesus and shut down the church in its infancy? The alternatives to the resurrection story are harder to believe than the orthodox story! Why do I embrace Biblical moral boundaries and guidelines? These boundaries claim to come from God, the Bible warns that there will be a great day of judgment in which every human will give an accounting of how he/she lived this life, and afterward humans will be divided to eternal fates. Also, these moral boundaries make good rational sense. The Ten Commandments forbid polytheism, idolatry, blasphemy, over-work, disrespect for parents, murder, adultery, theft, and out-of-control desires. You don’t need Ph.D.’s in logic, philosophy, and history to know what these things do when loosed in human civilization and individual human lives. God’s moral boundaries are not His way of keeping us from having fun, but His way of warning us away from things that will ruin our lives and human society. More police, more medical research and condoms, and more laws and money spent on programs will never be as effective in stopping crime and sexually-transmitted disease as individual morality and self-control! As one Roman poet noted during Rome’s decline “New Laws will never replace the Old Morality.” Finally, I believe the Biblical story because it has made better sense of everything that I know by education and experience than did the materialistic evolution story. I found hope, meaning, better moral and psychological health, a better marriage, and greater intellectual accomplishment when I embraced the Biblical system as my personal philosophy for understanding life. A Relationship with the Invisible God Relationships are, largely, based on information and communication. Before sexual activity became the only element of human relationships, young men and women went on dates to get to know each other - as people. We learned about each others view of life, what we liked and disliked, our emotions, and how we reacted to trouble. Before marriage, couples should also talk about having and raising children, handling money, relating to other family members, etc. Many people get divorced with the admission that “I guess we didn’t really know each other very well and have now found that we are not compatible.” I know of cases where a couple met and went on one date and then, without ever seeing or talking to each other on the telephone again, still wrote letters to each other for quite a period of time - a relationship based on very little direct contact, but a lot of information passing back and forth and emotion arising around just information. A number of relationships arise from Internet chat rooms, email pen-pals, doing business over the internet/telephone, etc. in which information is exchanged, but we don’t see, hear, or touch the people we are dealing with. The online dating service called “E-Harmony” has people fill out information forms so that they can try and match people on the basis of a number of characteristics that enhance the chances of a lasting relationship on down the line. The same is true of having a relationship with God. In both the Old and New Testament, we don’t find people being told to take a leap into the darkness, but rather people are encouraged to seek God, consider what they have seen and experienced,[1] give God a chance, learn about Him, O taste and see that the Lord is good; How blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him! (Psalm 34:8) All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My load is light. (Matthew 11:27-30) However, as much as we think we would have stronger faith if we saw more miracles and obvious evidence, the rather sobering fact is that the two generations of Jewish folks that saw the most obvious miracles as God was initiating covenants - the generation of Jews led by Moses and the later generation during Jesus’ lifetime - generally did not wind up having much faith and did NOT make it to the “promised land!” Seeing miracles and signs may not be the best foundation for faith. In spite of the plagues, miracles, and freedom from Egyptian work projects, Israel under Moses never really did, by faith, set their hearts on the great promised land ahead in the future, but focused on the present wilderness discomforts and to the Egyptian food they enjoyed in the past (Numbers 11:4-6). In Jesus time, many of the common people were attracted to Jesus, but the Jewish leadership was more concerned about losing their control of society (John 11:47-53) and pressured the common people to reject Jesus.[2] The Bible as God’s “Data Sheet” - We know people, to a large degree, by the amount of information we have about them. Before marriage, people should date for awhile (the longer the better up to a point - my wife and I dated 5 years before marriage) to get as much information about each other as possible. When most people seek employment, one of the first things businesses do is gather information about the person: a resume or data sheet, an interview, and then check with others who have known them for awhile (references). Unless you are alive and present at the rather limited times and places to see God’s “mighty deeds,” your only source of information about God’s past workings will be in the recorded and preserved records that are available. In the Bible, we have three kinds of information available to us. First, the Bible tells us about great things that God has done at select times, but these have less impact on the rest of than they should have had on those who saw. Anyway, we are told that God is powerful and has done some powerful things in the past, thus giving us some reason to believe that He can do the mighty acts predicted to come in the future. Second, the rest of us who did not witness Creation, the flood, the Tower of Babel, Israel’s exodus/Sinai experience/conquest of Canaan are more impressed by cases is fulfilled prophecy - where specific things are predicted and then we see these things happen later on. Third, we have descriptions of God’s nature and non-miraculous ways of relating to people, which gives us an idea of what God is like as a personality and how He has related to other people. Finally, we have information about the covenant in force now and what is required to be a part of it.[3] So, what does the Bible tell us about God’s nature and how He functions? There is quite a bit of information and the following list is certainly not complete. Some things we can know about God: 1. God is an eternal (Deuteronomy 33:27; Isaiah 9:6; Romans 1:20; 16:26; 1Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 9:14) Spirit (John 4:23-24) 2. God’s normal state is invisible (Romans 1:20; Colossians 1:15; 1Timothy 1:17), although he has “appeared” in several ways over the centuries. 3. we were created in His image (Genesis 1:26-27), but He is not a man (Numbers 23:19 1Samuel 15:29) 4. He is not far from any of us but we must seek and grope for Him (Acts 17:27) 5. Is loving, patient, and compassionate, a covenant-keeper, but also will judge rebels (Exodus 34:6-7; Deuteronomy 4:31; 7:9-10) 6. God is Love (1John 4:8), Light (1John 1:5), Faithful (1Corinthians 1:9; 10:13; 2Corinthians 1:18), a consuming Fire (Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12;29), a dwelling place (Deuteronomy 33:27), a righteous judge (Psalm 7:11), my Helper (Psalm 54:4); true (John 3:33); the head of Christ (1Corinthians 11:3); not unjust (Hebrews 6:10) 7. He is the Highest God (Deuteronomy 10:17), King over the earth (Psalm 47:7)
How can you have a relationship with such a God? It will be on His terms, the connection will be on a spiritual rather than physical level, it will be a personal relationship rooted in truth and based on covenant principles. How important is it to see, hear, touch, and fully understand God before I can have a relationship with Him? I can’t sensibly detect ultra-violet light, radio waves, sounds too high in frequency, etc. but I have no problem believing in their reality. Most people have no idea how electricity travels along a wire, but they eagerly let it into their house. We interact with things we don’t really know much about all of the time. I don’t think I have ever seen or touched a representative of the power company that supplies gas and electrical power to my home, but we have a relationship - they supply something and I respond in gratitude by paying my bill. Although they do this with God, nobody has ever suggested to me that this power company and its customer service people don’t really exist, although I have never seen any of them and don’t know much about them except that my power needs are supplied and I send some money to an address each month. Actually, from the Bible, we have more information about the God we are dealing with than many of the humans we have various kinds of relationships with. You can have a very real relationship with someone just based on supply & need, exchanged communication, encouragement from others that it is a good thing, information and imagination, etc. We approach new doctors/dentists with confidence or fear based on nothing more than someone else’s recommendation, thus we should not be too quick to dismiss the power of a personal recommendation - “trusting God has worked for me.” Many people today are “turned-off” towards God on the basis of some bad experiences with some people or organizations that claimed to represent Him. I have had some bad experiences with auto repair services, but I didn’t give up driving a car altogether because of it - I just looked for better representatives of the auto repair business. So, how do I communicate with God? He gives us information by revelation to selected humans that is recorded and passed on - the Bible. If I believe that the Bible is inspired, then as I read and interpret it sensibly and in context, I view this as God-breathed information to guide my thinking and actions. We read things all of the time with trust and confidence that what we are reading is “the truth” - many people probably approach the Bible with more skepticism than it deserves, while not applying enough caution and skepticism towards human literature. Why isn’t Darwin’s “Origin of Species” worthy of as much critical investigation and skepticism as has been thrown at the Bible? Which of these two books has been on the “best-seller” list for the longest time? Which has received more testimonials that it has improved people’s lives? Which of these two books would you read to someone on their deathbed? We communicate with Him in prayer and meditation, in the belief that He exists and hears. Ok, so we don’t hear God’s voice in return, but I know women who talk a lot to their husbands and all the husband does is sit and listen, maybe nod occasionally. I have had people want to talk about a problem and they did all of the talking, but then got up with a better expression on their face and said “thanks for your help” as they walked away - I did nothing except sit there and listen. Parents and kids at a sporting events - the kids are just glad to know that we are there, while parents watch them more than they look at the parents (God sees everything we do, while we are busy looking at our immediate surroundings). We must “believe that God is there and cares” (Hebrews 11:6; James 1:5-8). Once we have a settled conviction/assurance that God exists and cares, then the rest falls in place. Doubt kills relationships - with other people as well as with God. Faith needs some evidence to function, but none of us wait for “total knowledge’ about something before making decisions and interacting - God gave Israel sufficient evidence of His existence and presence with them in the plagues, exodus, and wilderness wandering, just as Jesus gave Israel sufficient evidence, but they did not want to believe it. However, at some point we have to move beyond a consideration and suspicion that God exists to an assurance and conviction of such. Staunch advocates of evolution at some point accepted it as fact, truth, reality, and now function on the basis of this conviction/assurance. Commitment requires “faith” that the cause is true and worth the price, whereas half-heartedness keeps us from reaping the benefits offered. A relationship with God? - At some point, you will need to yield your heart and mind to God, convinced He is there. However, by all means, read His resume (the Bible) until you are very familiar with the information provided - it will give you a pretty good idea of who you are dealing with. When you understand that Jesus is the messiah promised since the beginning (Genesis 3:15; John 1:45), that His crucifixion was God’s atonement sacrifice providing forgiveness for all human sin, and that He arose from death and was seen by many witnesses to verify our hope for life after death, then are ready to become His disciple and follow in His footsteps until your own death. To understand how to become His Disciple, the best information available is to be found by: A. examine Jesus’ instructions to His disciples (the 12 Apostles) about the worldwide Disciple-making project He was commissioning them to begin (Matthew 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-16; Luke 24:46-48) B. examine the Book of Acts to see how these same Apostles carried out this commission, what they proclaimed and taught, what they told people that wanted to be forgiven and become followers of Jesus C. for further information, then read the New Testament Letters (Romans thru Jude) to see what the Apostles and their close associates wrote to Christians in the first century, elaborating on what salvation items meant and also about other issues
Follow these instructions and you will be well on your way towards having a solid relationship with God through His Son, Jesus of Nazareth. Can I have any “Assurance” of the Relationship? Actually, although our relationship with God is rooted in faith rather than sight, we very definitely can have some assurance of our standing with God. Remember a couple of basic matters. First, God relates to mankind through covenants.[4] Our relationship with God is more a matter of entering and being faithful to the covenant rather than a day to day whimsical “mood” thing on God’s part. It is like marriage - ask someone if they are married and they won’t hem and haw and “well, maybe I am, uh, I don’t know”! How sweet and fulfilling your marriage is may vary from day to day according to your moods and circumstances, but most people have no problem knowing if they are/are not married. We are missing the joy of having an assurance of our salvation if we think our standing with God varies day to day on the basis of our performance of Law. Our relationship with God is rooted in our faith in: His existence and reward to seekers (Hebrews 11:6), His ability and faithfulness to do what He promises (Romans 4:19-24), the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice to cover and atone for all sin (2Corinthians 5:21), and that by placing my hope in Jesus and walking in trust and obedience to Him, that when we were “baptized into Jesus/into His death” (Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:8-13; Galatians 3:26-27), our sins were forgiven and we received the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:37-41; 22:16), and entered into the new covenant and received our “saved” status (1Peter 3:21). Once in this New Covenant relationship, we do have reason to be assured of our standing before God, For I want you to know how great a struggle I have on your behalf, and for those who are at Laodicea, and for all those who have not personally seen my face, that their hearts may be encouraged, having been knit together in love, and attaining to all the wealth that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God's mystery, that is, Christ Himself, (Colossians 2:1-2) The writer of Hebrews stressed this also, For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end; (3:14) . . . And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, (6:11) . . . let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. (Hebrews 10:22) . . . Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1) Paul’s “fruit of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23) is also a good checklist to see if you have the Holy Spirit in your life - just check from time to time and see what kind of “fruit” is growing in your life. If the Holy Spirit is present and active, you should see at least a gradual change from the “deeds of the flesh” to more love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control growing in the garden of your life. If not, you need to be sure you have obeyed the gospel and have the Spirit, then do some weeding, cultivating, and fertilizing to get the right crop growing in the soil of your life (see Luke 8:4-15). You can “fall from grace!” - While there is good reason to have assurance of salvation while willing and seeking to maintain that covenant relationship, covenant relationships must be maintained - covenant violation can be repaired (1John 1:6 - 2:2), but covenant abandonment is deadly (2Peter 2:20-22; Hebrews 6:4-8). New Covenant salvation is not so secure and assured that there is no way that you can forfeit it (i.e. “once saved, always saved”). Paul warned the believers in Galatia that buying the Judaizers’ line would cause them to “fall from Grace” by turning back to trusting fleshly circumcision and Mosaic law-keeping, It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. (Galatians 5:1-4) The Apostles Paul also taught repeatedly that continuing habitually in sin would bring you to a state in which Christ’s sacrifice no longer covers your sins and you no longer have access to the Kingdom of God, Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21) But do not let immorality or any impurity or greed even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. (Ephesians 5:3-6) Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is on account of these things that the wrath of God will come, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth. (Colossians 3:5-8) Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge His people." It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:23-31) The Apostle John’s “Assurance Checklist” - How can we be sure that we “know God” and are in a close relationship with Him? In addition to the information discussed above, we also have a checklist applying to this very issue in John’s first letter. You can identify some of the markers by the phrase “by this we know . . .” (1John 2:3,5; 4:6,13; 5:2) and some variations on that. The tests of spiritual life/knowing God are these: (1) do you obey Jesus’ commands and try to walk like He walked? (1John 2:3-6) (2) is the general course of your life practicing righteousness and loving others? (1John 3:10,14) (3) is your conscience clean or are you aware of sin you haven’t repented of? (1John 3:19-21; cf. 4:17-18) (4) do you follow the Apostles’ doctrine? (1John 4:6) (5) do you have God’s Spirit within you? (1John 4:13) (6) do you truly believe and confess that Jesus is the promised Messiah, come in the flesh? (1John 4:15) (7) do you love other Christians and keep God’s commandments? (1John 5:1-2)
There is also a negative checklist (like Paul’s in Galatians 5:19-21). Those who claim to “know God” but do not obey Him (1John 2:4; see Matthew 7:21-23), those who continue to hate others and especially other Christians (1John 2:9; 3:10-15; 4:8,20), those who do not show benevolence to other Christians (1John 3:17), and those with reason to have a guilty conscience (1John 3:19-21) are in serious spiritual trouble.
In conclusion, we can have a faith-relationship with God when we come to the conviction that God exists & rewards seekers, has offered pardon and eternal life through Jesus, and seek to walk faithfully and close to Him. In that state, we also have assurance, not because of our performance, but because of our assurance and conviction that God is good, merciful, and His grace is greater than all of our sin. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Charles E. McCoy 2005/12/22 Notes: [1] during Moses’ time, the ancient nation of Israel was able to see a good deal of evidence about God’s existence and power and they were called to remember that, make a decision upon that, and build their faith on it - Deuteronomy 3:21; 4:3,9; 10:21; 11:7; 29:3; 1Sam. 24:10 [2] Jewish leaders pressured people away from Jesus for political reasons - John 7:13; 9:22; 12:42-43; Matthew 27:20 [3] Unbelievers have attempted to discredit all of these in the following ways: (1) deny the historical validity of the accounts, declaring them to be myths and legends, or explain the events by naturalistic means. (2) declare “predictive prophecy” to be impossible because it is supernatural and “late-date” Biblical writings to make them appear to be “after-the-fact” history instead of predictions fulfilled). (3) Ignore Biblical descriptions of God and declare Him to be a “wrathful and vengeful deity invented by human beings to justify their deeds. (4) ignore, ridicule, or mishandle the information involved in the covenant. [4] A Biblical “covenant” is a blood-sealed agreement between clearly defined parties that establishes and regulates a relationship between them, spelling out the ongoing terms and promises/curses involved in keeping/abandoning the covenant. For more, see my article on “Understanding Biblical Covenants.” A Ministry of Severn Christian Church (Severn, Maryland) Unless otherwise noted, all material produced by Charles E. McCoy All Scripture citations/quotations from New American Standard Bible To send a question to Chuck: chuck@severnchristian.org
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