Want to know God?

Highland Baptist Church, Florence

Recently someone made a comment that made me proud and struck fear in my heart all at the same time. The comment was that my 10-year-old son is so much like me. We seem to hear that more and more the older he gets. He can’t help it; it’s who he is and he shouldn’t be blamed for it. In a country song I heard once, the artist talked about the experience of looking in the mirror one morning to find it was his father’s face he was shaving. I’ve had those moments.

It’s the way of fathers and sons. The blood of one flows in the veins of the other and the likenesses are inevitable. No father and son were ever more alike than God the Father and our Lord, Jesus Christ. In fact, the writer of Hebrews described Jesus like this: "He is the radiance of His (God’s) glory and the exact representation of His (God’s) nature …"

If you want to know God, you must get to know His Son. If you want to know about the mercy of God, look at the gentle way Jesus dealt with lepers, blind men and children. If you want to know about the justice of God, listen to the stinging words of rebuke Jesus had for the hypocrites in the religious establishment who heaped burdens on others and did nothing to help them carry the load. If you want to know about the love of God, look at the cross where Jesus died for your sins and you will see the depth of the Father’s love.

In a late night conversation with a very religious man, Jesus made this statement: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). He made clear to that man what is still true today. Knowing God requires that you turn from your sin — and your own efforts to know God — and place your faith in the Son of God.

Shortly before His death, Jesus reminded His disciples of the truth that He is the only way to God. "Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me’" (John 14:6).

If you want to know something of what I am like, look at my son. If you want to know the heavenly Father, get to know His Son.