Bible For Foreigners

Knowing God

John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might
know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom thou hast sent.

It may be difficult for some of us to believe that we can
really know God, yet it is true that we can. What does God look
like? When we think of God, what kind of image comes to our
mind’s eye? Do we see God as some sort of superpower that hits
us over the head with a big stick when we have been bad? Or does
our image of God seem so ethereal that we cannot even imagine
that, as humans, we could possibly see Him?

Perhaps we see God in the flowers, the birds, the blue sky,
the tall pine trees and the mountains, and that is God to us. Some
may even view Him as a kindly old man with a white beard and
robe, sitting on a golden throne someplace out there called heaven.
Maybe our position is that it is impossible to see God.

What is the real truth about God? What does He look like?
Recently, numerous people, who have died and gone to heaven,
have come back to life and returned to give us testimonies of how
God appeared to them. Can we really see God?

To answer this question, I want to share with you from my
own personal experience. Not only have I seen God, but He is my
dearest friend; and as His friend, I want to introduce others to
Him. We can see and know Him if we turn to Him with our whole
heart. Jeremiah 24:7 says, And I will give them an heart to
know me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people,
and I will be their God: for they shall return unto me with
their whole heart.

How did I discover Him? Like a lot of other people, I was
told about Him. You see He wrote a book--the Bible--and I was
given a copy to read. While reading it I discovered that God had
a son named Jesus. He sent Him to this world on the greatest
mission of all time. The Book He inspired was unlike any book I
had ever read. Many things I did not understand, but some of the
lines actually seemed to be “alive,” and seemed as though someone
were speaking directly to me through that Book.

Now after many years of reading the Bible, I am very well
acquainted with that “Someone;” He is the Holy Spirit. He has
been a real comfort and a tremendous teacher in my life. I found
the Bible was written for the very purpose of answering the question
posed at the beginning of this section, “What does God look
like?” We truly can know what God looks like, and not only that,
we can know Him very intimately. By reading His Book, the Bible,
we can also find the answers to all of our questions and problems.
The first thing we must realize about God is that He loves
us. The book of John in the Bible reveals His love in a very beautiful
way. He loves us, He created us, and He has a plan for our
lives. It is a very exciting and fulfilling plan, and we can know
what that plan is for each of us individually. To understand God’s
plan, we must read His Word, or guide Book. Most of our problems
in understanding God stem from things we have heard other
people say about Him. Since there are so many people with so
many different ideas, we then end up with a multitude of misconceptions
about God.

Here in the United States, we are blessed in that we hear
more truth about God than many others throughout the rest of
the world. Yet, much of what we hear is still contaminated with
man’s ideas and traditions. People in many of the foreign lands
are seeking to know God, but because they have never read or
heard His Word or received Him in their hearts personally, they
have devised gods of their own. We see this prevalent in the idolatrous
religions of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, etc.

If we are going to know God, we must give His Book and
His Word the final authority over every issue in our lives. There
has to be one way, and one standard for man to follow. Confusion
results when one voice is saying, “This is the way,” and another
says, “No, this is the way.” Each man has a different way -- his
own way.

The Bible tells us about this in the book of Proverbs. Proverbs
21:2 says, Every way of a man is right in his own eyes:
but the Lord pondereth the hearts. In Proverbs 16:25 we find,
There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end
thereof are the ways of death.
What is the right way to find God? What does God look
like?
Perhaps the most simple answer to this question is, “God
looks like Jesus.” We see God by looking at Jesus. How do we
look at Him? We accomplish this by studying the record of His
life as recorded in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
John 14:1-9 records this account of Jesus’ words:
Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe
also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if
it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come
again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye
may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.
Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou
goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I
am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known
my Father also; and from henceforth ye know him, and have
seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father,
and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long
time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he
that hath seen me hath seen the Father....
The way to see God is by looking at Jesus. This does not
mean to look at His physical appearance because God is Spirit,
and He says in John 4:24 these words: God is a Spirit: and they
that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
Therefore, we must have spiritual eyes to see God since He is
Spirit.