Something about this verse completely captivated me when I was reading it, and my reading turned into studying. It seems like such a short verse, and fairly simple to understand, but it seemed to me like there was more beneath the surface of it than what I was getting by simply reading it on my own understanding. What first caught my attention is that in the amplified Bible the word know is expanded on...to perceive, recognize, become acquainted with and understand. As I read these words - PERCEIVE. RECOGNIZE. ACQUAINTED. UNDERSTAND. - they all felt a little empty to me...like I wasn't really getting the full meaning. And I can't imagine Jesus praying an empty prayer - seems contrary to Who He is. So, I decided I should look into it further. I got out the dictionary that has been tucked in a drawer in the basement for years, and I looked up each of these words. What I found blew me away. These words are not empty at all, and in no way do they indicate a casual knowledge of God. In fact, some of the definitions flat floored me. I had no idea the depth of what was meant by this short line of scripture. Here's what I found...
According to Websters dictionary, here are a few of the definitions of KNOW:
- to have a clear perception or understanding of
- to be aware or cognizant of
- to have perceived or learned
- to have a firm mental grasp of
- to be acquainted with/ familiar with
- to experience
PERCEIVE:
- to take hold of; to feel; to comprehend
- to grasp mentally; to observe
- to become aware of through sight, hearing, touch, taste or smell
- SYNONYMY - to discern
RECOGNIZE
- to be aware of from familiarity or previous encounters
- to know by some detail or characteristic
- to be aware of the significance of
- to acknowledge the existence, validity and/or genuineness of
- to accept as fact; to admit or confess as true
- to acknowledge as worthy of appreciation or approval
ACQUAINT
- to let know; to give/impart knowledge to
- to cause to know personally; to make familiar
UNDERSTAND
- to know thoroughly
- to grasp or perceive clearly and fully the nature, character, etc. of
- to be informed; believe
Everything about these definitions implies a personal, experiential knowledge of God. A familiar, intimate relationship. It is His intention that we have a clear mental comprehension of Him, and that we experience Him with our senses and our observations. It is His intention that we are continually aware of Him and can feel His presence in our lives. That we know Him so well, and so personally, that we begin to know His very character, and the details of Who He is...that we know Him thoroughly and perceive Him clearly and fully. He does not intend to remain hidden from us, but it is His desire to acquaint us with Himself and His ways - to let us know Him; to impart to us knowledge of Himself. We have only to seek Him to find Him.
I cannot look at these definitions of these few simple words without getting totally excited about how incredible God is. This is what Jesus was praying - that we would KNOW Him this way. This was the prayer of the heart of our Savior. Why? Because this is eternal life - to know Him. And eternal life is what He died for.Eternal life does not come through religion, through deeds, through good behavior, or even through belief alone (faith without deeds is useless - James 2:20). To have eternal life, we must know God (and likewise Jesus). To know Him the way He intends requires us to seek Him, to spend time with Him, to talk to Him, to listen to Him, and to learn about Him through His Word and through teachings. It is an active process that we must do on purpose. It is not possible to know God by merely passively acknowledging Him. We cannot accidentally, or casually come into the kind of knowledge and familiarity He intends for us. Eternal life is a relationship with Him, and we must seek it. This is the prayer of Jesus for each one of us.
Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' (Matthew 7:21-23)
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