Smoodock's Blog

If the supreme purpose of mankind is to see God, i.e. to know him, love him and serve him with all of our being, where is he that I might discover him (Job 23:3)?[1] Surely, if it was God’s foremost purpose in creating man that we would know him, he would reveal himself to us, for how can we know or find an invisible God? We might say he is found in his creation, and certainly this is partially true, in that, it is illogical that such order should arise out of chaos. Certainly, nature itself points to a Creator. Men have even worshiped creation, believing God is all and all is God. Yet, in the end we can only say with Job that though the creation does point to a Creator (Romans 1:20), these are but the “extremities of his ways, and we hear only a whisper of him in these” (cp. Job 26:14).

Unless God reveals himself, it is impossible for man to fulfill his purpose of knowing God. Therefore, if God hasn’t changed his mind about the purpose for which we were created, then it is his responsibility to show himself to us. This would only be logical—and he has, in the person of Jesus, the Christ. The Scriptures testify that the very One whom the Jews worshiped would come to them as their Savior (Hosea 1:7). God is speaking in this verse, yet he says he will save his people by the Lord their God! The targumist translates or paraphrases the verse:

“But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and I will save them by the Word of the Lord, their God” (Hosea 1:7 ~ Targum Jonathan).

Again from the book of Isaiah the targumist has it:

“…But Israel shall be saved by the Word of Lord with an everlasting salvation. By the Word of the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified. (Isaiah 45:17, 25 ~ Targum Jonathan).

The Jewish targums are Aramaic translations/paraphrases of the Hebrew Scriptures. They represent the legitimate Jewish understanding of who God is and who the Messiah would be in the 1^st century CE. When the New Testament claims: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:1, 14), it is speaking of the fulfillment of the then current Hebrew tradition. God hadn’t changed his mind from Eden to Jesus. In fact the New Testament reveals Jesus as the Word or Expression of God. Knowing Jesus is how we are able to know God, because Jesus is the full expression of God in human form. Later, the writer of Hebrews wrote that Jesus is

“…the Radiance of the glory of God and the Exact Imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3 ~ ESV).

Therefore, to see Jesus is to see God (John 14:9); to know Jesus is to know God (Matthew 11:27; John 1:18).

The Scriptures describe life without God as living in darkness, and there is absolutely no way we who live in darkness could ever come to know God on our own. Nevertheless, God has come to us just as Paul wrote:

“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined into our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (Webster ~ 2Corinthians 4:6).

Truly, Jesus is the Light of the world. He is God made visible for us to see. God is Light (1John 1:5), and light, by its very nature, is invisible, unless it shines upon a physical object. Jesus is God made physical or flesh (John 1:14), so that the light of the knowledge of God radiates through Jesus. How bright is God’s glory? The glory of God is as bright as Jesus. What is God like? The nature of God is known in the character of Jesus. How can I see God? God has expressed himself fully in his Word, made flesh—Jesus! Where is God? I have found him in the face of Jesus.