ONLY ONE WAY TO KNOW GOD.

“All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” Mat11:27

Jesus taught that there is only one way for anyone to know God the Father or God the Son. He said it was only by revelation. The first time I came across this verse in this context I really struggled to believe it. You see like many people I genuinely thought that I knew God. I had done several studies and courses, prayed, meditated, fasted and so forth. I could answer questions, explain scriptures etc. But I couldn’t say that I had a revelation of God. I had information, data, scriptures and quotes from great preachers. But it was just information. Jesus said that the only way to know God is if the Son reveals Him. This is a big deal!

You can’t know God with your natural mind, with your ideas, your reasoning, your study, your zeal or any other natural way. You can’t approach God naturally. He dwells in inapproachable light

“Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.” 1Tim6:16

But God can and will approach us with His light if we will humble our hearts and let Him reveal Himself to us. This is what revelation knowledge is. Let us look at other scriptures that make this point;

Matthew 16

15 He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

16 Simon Peter answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

17 Jesus answered and said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.

To many of us this is just a random answer that Peter gave to Jesus. We feel that he was stating the obvious. Of course everybody knew that Jesus was the Christ. However that is until you consider the context in which Peter gave this answer and what He was declaring. Calling Jesus the Christ the Son of God was equivalent to calling Him deity!

As we saw earlier in our LIVING UNDER LORDSHIP series, the term ‘Christ’ (Christos) which means God’s anointed one was a Greek translation of the Hebrew word for Messiah. It is used interchangeably with the term ‘Son of God’ many times in the New Testament for example in Mt. 16:16, Matthew 26:63, Jn 6:69, Jn11:27, Jn20:31, Acts 8:37, Acts9:20, 2Cor 1:19, Gal2:20, in Mark 14:61 He is called the ‘Son of the Blessed’ and in 2Jn3 ‘Son of the Father’.

It was considered blasphemy by the religious people for anybody to claim to be the Son of God or the Christ because that meant that one was claiming to be deity just like God. This is why at Jesus' mock trial before His crucifixion in Mt. 26:63-66 and Mk14:61-64, He was asked by the high priest if He was the Christ. When He answered ‘yes’, the high priest tore his clothes and said He had spoken blasphemy (which meant He had claimed to be deity or God) and thus condemned Him to death.

Peter was therefore proclaiming Jesus to be God just like God The Father. This is a big deal when you consider that Peter walked with Jesus every day and saw Him do the things that normal people do. He saw Jesus sleeping, getting tired, getting hungry, going to the bathroom, sweating after a long walk. Remember that the area they lived in is arid and very hot. They didn’t have the luxury of taking a bath in the morning and evening every day. Many times they would go without. So of course their body odor wasn’t very good. Including Jesus.

Most of us don’t understand that Jesus was a normal human being like everybody else. For Peter to see Jesus to be the Christ, the Son of God required seeing past all these obvious natural things and beholding the spiritual reality of who He truly was. It had to be by revelation. That is why Jesus told Him that ‘flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.’ The only way that it was possible for Peter to see and know Jesus truly was by revelation. It is the same way for us. He has to be revealed to us. This is what the Holy Spirit came to do for us;

John 16

12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now.

13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you.

15 All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you

The Holy Spirit wills to reveal Jesus to us so that we know Him and experience Him as He truly is. Our Lord, our life and our purpose. We constantly need to be praying and receiving from Him the revelation of Jesus. Our prayer should always be ‘show me Jesus’.

“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.” Jn14:26

Indeed this is what eternal life is all about. Truly knowing God and truly knowing Jesus.

John 17

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

6 I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast given me are of thee.

8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me.

Of course the kind of knowing that Jesus is talking about here is more than mere head knowledge where we accumulate information and facts and scriptures about God and about Jesus. He is talking about personally experiencing and encountering God. He is talking about being in close intimate personal relationship with God where we know Him and experience Him as our very life. It is a knowledge and intimacy that is not natural and goes far beyond our natural understanding and brains. It is only possible by the agency of the Holy Spirit. We will discuss eternal life in more detail later in this series.

John 6

60 Therefore many of His disciples, when they heard this, said, "This is a hard saying; who can understand it?"

61 When Jesus knew in Himself that His disciples complained about this, He said to them, "Does this offend you?

62 What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?

63 It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.

67 Then Jesus said to the twelve, "Do you also want to go away?"

68 But Simon Peter answered Him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

69 Also we have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God."

Again we see Jesus explaining that there is more to this than mere information and facts. He tells His disciples that His words are not mere words. They are spirit and they are life. And to experience them we have to be in the spirit and not in the flesh. Knowing His word in the flesh (naturally) profits nothing. This is what the disciples were doing in this passage. They were interpreting whatever He was saying about eating His flesh and drinking His blood naturally. That’s why they were offended and left Him.They thought He was talking about cannibalism.

This is true of many of us. We know and hear the word naturally. We get information and facts and answers to questions. We don’t really connect to the spiritual reality of these words so that by the spirit they are quickened to us and give us life. The Holy Spirit opens our understanding to understand and experience the true living Word of God just as Jesus did for His disciples; “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures” Lk24:45

Romans 16

25 Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

26 But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith

The revelation of the mystery of God’s purpose in Christ is now being made manifest and revealed to us through the scriptures by the Holy Spirit. This mystery as Colosians1:27 tells us is ‘Christ in you, the hope of glory’. This is what God seeks to make known to us by the revelation knowledge that the Holy Spirit gives us. This is the revelation we should be pursuing. Not just knowing scriptures but knowing and experiencing Christ in those scriptures.

1 Corinthians 2

9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.

11 For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.

12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.

16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

The things that nor natural eyes has seen (nor can see) and the things which nor natural ear has heard (nor can hear) and the things which natural people have not understood (nor can understand) with their heart are the things that God has revealed to us. How has He done this? By His Spirit.

God has given us His Spirit who knows everything about Him and knows whatever He has freely given us in Christ. The purpose for this is so that ‘we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.’ Revelation knowledge is God’s will for us. God wants us to receive it.

He further goes on to explain that these things cannot be known naturally because they are spiritual things. These things are spiritual wisdom which only the Holy Spirit teaches. And He doesn’t teach them to a natural mind that can’t understand them, He teaches them to the spiritual man that has the ‘mind of Christ’ and has learned to live in the spirit and fellowship and worship God ‘in spirit and in truth’. This is why we need to go beyond our natural minds and learn to know God in spirit. God is a spirit and that is the only way to truly know Him. This is possible for every believer. It is the reason we have a spirit (the new creation) and the Holy Spirit inside us. It is to the end that we fellowship and relate with God in truth.

2 Corinthians 4

3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake.

6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

This is what revelation knowledge is. God shining His light in our hearts by the Holy Spirit to enlighten us so that we may know the glory of God which is in Jesus. Notice that this is even in the past tense. In other words God has already done it. We are not begging Him to reveal Jesus to us. We are receiving this revelation and allowing the Holy Spirit to show us Jesus. This is not about convincing God to do something for us that He doesn’t want to do already. It is about us becoming aware of what is available in Christ and receiving it by faith.

“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints” Eph1:17-18

Revelation knowledge is what we need. It is the only way to truly know and experience God personally. No man or woman can give you a revelation of God. Only the Holy Spirit (the spirit of wisdom and revelation) can do this. We need to be pursuing this with all our heart. To experience and know God by the spirit and not in the flesh or naturally.

This is how Paul got to know and experience God. It is how He got the gospel of grace that He preached;

Ephesians 3:

1 For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,

2 If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to youward:

3 How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words,

4 Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ)

5 Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;

6 That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel:

7 Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.

8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:

Paul further explains that this is the way God is making known His mystery to us today. By revelation knowledge given to us by His Spirit. I hope you now see that this revelation knowledge is not just some isolated interesting concept in scripture. It is a foundational issue. It is how we know God.

Ephesians 4

17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

19 Who being past feeling have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

20 But ye have not so learned Christ;

21 If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus:

22 That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;

23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind

When we walk naturally as the Gentiles do, we do so in vanity of mind with a darkened understanding and a blind heart. However when we put off the old natural nature (which is corrupt and deceitful) and embrace our new nature in Christ through the renewing of our mind then we are able to experience God and His life.

2 Timothy 1

9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

10 But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel:

11 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.

God’s purpose and grace unto us is now made manifest unto us by the appearing (revelation) of Jesus Christ. When we hear the gospel and receive revelation knowledge from the Holy Spirit then we are able to know, experience and walk in the purpose and grace of God for us. This enables us to experience the eternal life and immortality of God as we commune with Him. Do you realize why this is so important?

Hebrews 8

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

Revelation knowledge is not just an issue for preachers. This is for everybody. It is the way that God has ordained for us to know and experience Him. Through our inner man. Through an intimate relationship without human mediators. God wants to be personal with us. He wants to be intimate with us. Christ has made this possible by the Cross. Now the Holy Spirit enables us to experience God and abide (live) in Him.

“But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” 1Jn2:27

Finally let me conclude by saying that revelation knowledge is God’s will for every Christian. Revelation knowledge is what enables us to go beyond the words written in a book to experiencing the true inspiration for those words. The one of whom they speak. The reality inside those word packages. Revelation knowledge is not just receiving an answer to a question or understanding a scripture that you hadn’t understood before. That you can get by simply asking somebody who knows.

Revelation knowledge goes far beyond that. It is us seeing and experiencing God Himself in His Word. It is the Holy Spirit opening our hearts and enabling us to see, perceive and understand God in a way that is far beyond natural means. This is the only way we can know God truly and spiritually. 

And the good news is God has made it possible for all of us. He has already given us this understanding. This ability to experience Him spiritually. You don’t need any special credentials to experience revelation knowledge or spiritual understanding. All you need to be is a Christian who has humbled Himself and is open to the working of the Holy Spirit.

“And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.” 1Jn5:20