Third Way Christians
God is mysterious, and He works in mysterious ways.
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I think in a broad sense, this can be true. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isa 55.9), so we don’t always understand Him, and we may not understand everything in this lifetime.
Yet in another way, God isn’t mysterious at all.
He is fully accessible and approachable.
And He has made Himself, His will, His nature, and His ways, very, very clear.
How did He do this?
Sunday School answer (and the right answer):
Jesus.
Hear the Word of the Lord:
No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made Him known. (Jn 1.18)
(Jesus said) “Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father.” (Jn 14.9)
15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in Him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. 18 And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, 20 and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through His blood, shed on the cross. (Col 1.15-20)
3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. (Heb 1.3)
Sometimes God’s Word is very, very simple.
Jesus, who reveals the Father God and makes Him known, who is the physical image of the invisible God, who is the exact representation of God’s being.
God is not far off or unknowable; in Jesus, God has come near and made Himself known.
If we want to know God, we just look to Jesus.
Jesus is everything that God is.
God cannot be anything that Jesus is not.
In Jesus, we get the full picture of the fullness of God.
So if we want to get to know God, we just need to get to know Jesus.
If we want to know what God is like, we need to see what Jesus is like.
If we want to know what God cares about, we need to see what Jesus cares about.
If we want to know what God sounds like, we need to hear what Jesus sounds like.
If we want to know God’s heart, His thoughts, His priorities, His actions, then we just need to see what Jesus looks like in these areas, and we’ll have our answers.
If we’re not sure how, or if we need a refresher, I suggest picking up a Bible, turning to the Gospel of John, and starting to learn there. All Scripture is good, but John’s Gospel brings a particular beauty and clarity to who Jesus is.
Wherever I’m at in my spiritual journey, whatever season I am experiencing, whatever ups and downs I am going through in life, I still believe wholeheartedly that the life, the character, and the words of Jesus are pure, life-giving, and God-breathed.
His is the best possible life to emulate, His teachings are the best possible way to live, the hope He holds out is the best possible thing to set our hopes on.
I have never encountered anything like it. For me, Jesus unquestionably bears the stamp of the Divine, and therefore is worthy of my devotion.
In Jesus, I have encountered the Living God.
So yes, God can be mysterious.
But Jesus came to make God known, to remove that feeling of hopeless mystery and to make God and His will clear to the world (Eph 1.9).
When it comes to God, we all likely have questions.
But figure out Jesus first, and the rest will follow.
That’s our job.
Get to know Jesus.
And as we do, we get to know God at the exact same time.
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