No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the LORD. Jeremiah 31:34
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. John 14:9
Jeremiah’s prophecy that one day we would all know God has not been perfectly fulfilled. It’s not possible now to know God completely and therefore accurately describe our God. If you need a reminder, watch Louie Giglio’s video. Or listen to Chris Tomlin’s song.
One problem is trying to describe the eternal with natural words. For example, we call Him, Father, but we are limited by our own, sometimes negative, experiences with fatherhood. Jesus told His disciples that if they had seen Him they had seen the Father. Jesus is Divine, but packaged in human form so that we might in some small way be able to comprehend and to relate. Since Jesus, we can know God like never before, but still not perfectly.
Our God is indescribable. Our experiences of Him are spiritual and incredibly personal. We can best, and only, describe Him as He has affected us, as we have experienced Him.
Because of our limited ability to describe Him, we need to do so with great humility and with the understanding that our description, like our understanding, is limited. We also need to listen with open minds and respect to the description and understanding of who He is to others.
It’s why Jesus is so important. While understandings and experiences of God are personal and varied. Jesus is the same. He is the standard. Any claimed experience of God, which is inconsistent with the person of Jesus, must be rejected.
The vastness and complexity of God should keep us humble and open to new perspectives about him, and more thankful than ever of the glimpse of divinity we get through Jesus Christ.
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