A trinity of revelation III. His Spirit to my spirt.

There is a big difference between knowing about somebody and knowing them as a person.  The Bible uses the same word 'ginosko' for knowing God as it does for the intimate knowledge of a man and a woman.  There is mystery in how the Bible describes the relationship we can have with God.  There is the intimate unspoiled Father (daddy) child  relationship we all needed and at one stage longed for with our earthly fathers (Romans 8, see “Not like my Father”) , there is friendship with God (John 15:15), there is God as comforter, and greatest of all,  we are the Bride of Christ.

We come to know a person, as they allow us into their life. The wonder of it all it that that is exactly what God wants to do for us.  He wants to invite us into the intimate relationship and fellowship of the Trinity.  It is a cause and a reason to wonder, that the Creator of the Universe, the One who spoke and stars were flung into space, is interested in, and is crazy about little  old me, and little old you.

Our concept of knowing in the West is dominated by rationality. There is however a trinity of ways of knowing. We can know by  reason, by intuition and by experience (see the July post 'Is Reason is the unique pathway to knowledge?').   When we come to truly know a person we know him or her, in all three of these ways of knowing. We will know things about the person that can be stated as facts, we will have gathered intuitively aspects of her character, and we will experience him in relationship.  Most of us have this experience  a “kindred spirit”.  It is much much more than a purely rational thing. 

We are meant to experience God. Paul describes God as the God of all comfort,  who comforts us in all  our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God (II Corinthians 1:3).   How can we comfort others with God's comfort if we have not experienced it ourselves?  We are intended to experience His comfort then, but there is so much more of Him that we are meant to experience too.

There are some in the body of Christ for whom the word “experience” is a dirty word. 'We cannot rely on experience' they tell us. I agree that we cannot rely on experience alone.  We need to test all things from the Word of God. Is it Biblical to receive the experience of comfort from God? Yes it is! Do we need to beware of experiences that go outside the Biblical norm? Yes, but we also need to be careful that we do not reject signs and wonders that are from Him.  I need to ask a question. “Is God allowed to surprise us?” For too long we have put God in a box. I fear that without realizing it we have posted signs on our churches “God keep out”.  Rumour has it that God wants His church back!

I understand though that there are lying signs and wonders, and again, yes we do need to test all things.  I also understand  that it is safer to reject it all, but if we do we should not be surprised that finish up with we an impoverished even boring Christianity, that has little attraction to the World.  I remember one  preacher saying in a sermon that heaven is going to be like one long Church service. My immediate response (tongue in cheek) was “Oh no, what's the other place like?”   I have not always experienced church as  I believe it is intended to be. There are times when an hour and twenty minutes seems like an eternity, but there are also times when five hours have passed with my hardly noticing the time. At such times I am aware of the healing presence of God.  Such times bring reality to the Hymn writers words that talk about being “lost in wonder lover and praise”.  

There is a promise that comes to mind where Jesus tells us of the one who has and obeys  His commandments “I ... will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him” (John 14:21 Amplified Bible) . It is a promise with a condition to be fulfilled.  In a related point, we are intended to become more and more like Jesus. This is His goal for our lives (Romans 8:29).  Here is another question. Does God expect us to become more like Jesus but without the resources, in particular the affirmation,  that He gave Jesus? That would not be just. Jesus clearly experienced the tangible presence of God.  The audible voice comes from heaven “You are my beloved son,   I am some proud of you my son  (Phil paraphrase of Mark 1:11). 

Most of us have not received that level affirmation that the Father gave to Jesus before He even started His ministry.  But that same affirmation is there in the Word “He has given us the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry “abba” daddy Father, and He calls those of us who have received His salvation “saints”.  He intends that we move into the realty of this relationship with Him, as His Word becomes more and more real in our lives.  His Spirit witness to our spirit that we are His beloved sons and daughters (Romans 8:16).  It is intended to be tangible. But we do not have because we do not ask, and most of us are probably afraid of it too. I myself would prefer not to be knocked off my horse (Acts 9). I'm pretty safe, I don't own a horse!

So then this third strand of revelation is much more than a revelation of propositional knowledge, it is a giving of Himself to us. As He said to Abraham all those years ago “I am your exceedingly great reward”. He is ours too, if we will seek Him, and if we will allow it.