by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
We must “believe that He is<\/em>” (Hebrews 11:6) and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him, but knowing He exists and knowing Him are still two different things. I can know you exist without knowing you. The second is deeper in significance than the former. Knowing you exist is a step in the right direction of getting to know you. I could never get to know you if I did not know you existed, and seeking God, groping for Him, and finding Him in Jesus are key to knowing God more personally and meaningfully.<\/p>\n Jeremiah prophesied that the New Covenant would be different than the Sinia Covenant in that knowing God occurs in a different order. Under the Old Covenant, you were born into the covenant of Israel, grew, and were taught to “know the Lord,” but under the New Covenant, you would be taught first to know the Lord and then would enter the covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34). You don’t enter the covenant without first knowing the Lord. So, there is the answer! You can know the Lord, and you must know the Lord, or else you will never have your sins forgiven and will not be in covenant with God.<\/p>\n Jesus came in the flesh to declare God to us in the most knowable way. If you learn Christ, you learn God. If you know Christ, you know God. So, studying the testimony of Christ and the words of Christ and coming to understand Christ’s love, mission, and righteousness are all the things involved in getting to know God. Jesus was sent to represent the Father to us so we could know God. If you know Jesus, and the Spirit gave us the complete testimony and confirmation of Jesus (John 1:1-14; 20:30-31; 16:13), then you know all you need to know about the Father. Jesus said, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.<\/em>” If you seek God, grope for Him, you will find Him in Jesus, the fullness of the Godhead bodily. Know Jesus, and you will thereby know God. You will know His mind and heart as He so expressed it in Jesus (John 3:16). This will be “excellence of knowledge<\/em>” to your soul (Philippians 3:8-11).<\/p>\n Dive in and learn Christ! There is where you will know God!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton We must “believe that He is” (Hebrews 11:6) and that He rewards those who diligently seek Him, but knowing He exists and knowing Him are still two different things. I can know you exist without knowing you. The second is deeper in significance than the former. Knowing you exist is a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[90,1093],"class_list":["post-66623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-god","tag-knowledge"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":62316,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/on-infant-baptism\/","url_meta":{"origin":66623,"position":0},"title":"On Infant Baptism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 24, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton An Orthodox Church member writes: \"Infant baptism is the new circumcision. We find its parallel to circumcision in the Old Covenant. Infants were circumcised as a sign of being part of the Old Covenant so infants should be baptized as a sign of being part of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":23674,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-it-mean-that-everyone-has-the-law-written-on-their-hearts\/","url_meta":{"origin":66623,"position":1},"title":"What does it mean that everyone has the law written on their hearts?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was debating some people about inherited sin. They all feel it is true. Even in Baptist and Calvinist references when it quotes Romans 7, the part of once alive without the law, they say it was probably when Paul was a child without understanding. Anyway, when it says\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":30238,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-commandments-of-jesus-are-we-to-keep\/","url_meta":{"origin":66623,"position":2},"title":"What commandments of Jesus are we to keep?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In John 14:15, Jesus says, \"If you love me, keep my commandments.\" What commandments would that be? Is Jesus the God of the Old Testament? Answer: The same commandments Jesus told the apostles to teach: \"And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, \"All authority has been given to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42099,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-i-have-to-be-perfect-to-go-to-heaven\/","url_meta":{"origin":66623,"position":3},"title":"Do I have to be perfect to go to heaven?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 7, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: So in order to go to heaven, I must not commit sin or else have repented of all sins I have committed. But doesn't this require perfect behavior and a perfect understanding of the Scriptures? Where is freedom and liberty in this? Where is there room for growth in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":52628,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-nature-and-character-of-the-new-covenant\/","url_meta":{"origin":66623,"position":4},"title":"The Nature and Character of the New Covenant","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Larry Ray Hafley via\u00a0Guardian of Truth, May 17, 1984 Noting and quoting\u00a0Jeremiah 31:31-34, the Hebrew writer (we will assume it was the apostle Paul) said: \"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7844,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-happened-to-the-ark-of-the-covenant\/","url_meta":{"origin":66623,"position":5},"title":"What happened to the Ark of the Covenant?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 20, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My question concerns the Ark of the Covenant. I once read and now finally have found a Bible chapter that says that the Ark of the Covenant was seen in the temple of God, in Heaven. This verse is Revelation 11:19. Many, many people are still searching for the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66623","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66623"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66623\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}