“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Rev 21:2 NASB)
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Journal,
All who believe in the God of the Bible, that His Word is true, and that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God, of whom they have received and accepted as their own Lord and Savior, these have secured for themselves an eternal and blessed destiny, and an eternal and blessed life. God gives all these precious believing ones the path of life they are to follow.
Jesus said,
”I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” – John 8:12
Now lets talk about this Light of life that Jesus came to give us.
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The essence of life from God
In Biblical Christianity there is one issue that determines whether a person is truly a Christian or not. It has nothing to do with our religious affiliation. The crown of a believer’s walk is summed up in the term, ‘Knowing the Lord.’ That term should never be taken lightly. It is the very essence of what Christianity is all about.
The apostle Peter shares insight into the life that true believers enjoy:
“Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” (2Pe1:1,2)
Peter has much more to say, but for the moment let me point out two important principles the apostle is presenting with regard to the covenant of Christ. First, Peter is saying that all believers participate equally in the kingdom of God. We have all “received a faith of the same kind as [the apostles.]”
The term ‘of the same kind’ is the Greek word ‘isotimos.’ This is a political term and speaks of equal honor. Peter’s point is that all believers share in equal honor before the throne of God. There are no second class citizens in the covenant of Christ. We are equal in standing. (This is not an issue of stewardships, or gifting, or placement, or maturity, etc. It is a relational term.)
For the second principle pay close attention verse two;
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.”
The word for knowledge here is ‘epignosis.‘ This word has to do with a more perfect or a fuller knowledge. The word is very expressive. It speaks of consciousness, and recognition. It especially speaks of knowing something with a degree of thoroughness. In the new covenant it would include the idea of coming to know God’s heart. Epignosis is what a believer acquires through faith in Jesus.
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To Know the Father as the Son knows the Father
To appreciate how wonderful this word is in regard to our Christian walk, listen carefully to Jesus:
“All things have been handed over to me by My Father, and no one knows [epignosis] the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know [episnosis] the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” (Matt11:27)
Did you catch it. The only ones who can truly know the heart of the Father are those to whom Jesus reveals Him. If we take this to its logical conclusion, Jesus is saying that in the new covenant, all born again people will have innate within them this ‘conscious, definitive, recognition’ of the Father.
This knowing experience of God is the crown of a believer’s life. It is a growing knowledge. And it comes to us from Jesus Himself.
(To appreciate how the word ‘epignosis’ is used in relation to the new covenant pass your cursor over the following Scriptures. Where you see ‘knowledge‘ the word is epignosis. – Cf. Eph1:17; 4:13; Phil1:9; Col1:9,10; 2:2; 3:10; 1Ti2:4; Phm1:6)
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The cry of the children
The very heart of the new covenant is the ‘Abba! Father!’ experience. It really doesn’t matter your church affiliation. You cannot tell a person who knows the Lord that they don’t know the Lord. The promise of the new covenant is,
“They will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them.” (Heb8:11)
Jesus placed eternal life on the basis of knowing God.
“This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (Joh 17:3 NASB)
The apostle Paul had this to say:
“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” (Gal3:26)
“Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Gal 4:6,7)
“And He was saying, ‘Abba! Father!’ All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.” (Mar14:36)
“Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge [epignosis] of God and of Jesus our Lord.”
As the truth [reality] of God reveals itself in our hearts, the result is a multiplying of grace and peace. This is why believers go through these experiences of, “I must have been born again, again.”
No, you weren’t born again, again. Truth is at work in your life. And truth always works out the freedom of Christ in us. Paul spoke of this as ‘Christ being formed in us.’ In another place, Paul says,
“That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed ot His death.” (Phil3:10)
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The believer’s protection
But we have to yet go a step further. To know the Lord is the greatest protection that a believer has. This is why we can call ‘knowing the Lord’ the crown of a believer’s life. In this knowing the Lord, the believer is protected from the false prophet.
It is this knowing that causes a believer to distinguish false teaching. It is this knowing that gives the believer the deepest of assurance that he or she is in the will of the Lord. It is this ‘knowing‘ that is the sign of a person who is truly born again.
Jesus nails this down in John 10:26-29. Follow this through:
“But you do not believe because you are not My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish.” (John 10:26-28)
Jesus says there is a knowing relation between both Him and His sheep. In verse 5, He says of the sheep,
“A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not *know* the voice of strangers.”
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He calls us one by one by one – He calls us by name
In the new covenant Jesus did not leave it up to the efforts of man to establish people in His kingdom. He calls us one by one by one. And He still speaks into our lives in that manner.
Our walk with the Lord is very personal. But for a believer it is a ‘knowing’ walk. We know that we are children of God. We carry that testimony in our hearts. We know that this world is not our home. We also carry that testimony in our hearts.
With that in mind I’ll conclude this journal entry with the song, ‘Jerusalem‘ by the Hoppers. Take time to listen. The Lord may have something for your heart.
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In love with Jesus,
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Buddy
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