It Really is Who You Know

“All things are delivered unto Me of My Father; and no man knoweth the Son but the Father: neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him.”  Matthew 11:27

I don’t know where folks get the idea that they can know God yet reject His Son, Jesus Christ.  They surely didn’t read it in God’s word.  I don’t know about you, but if I was on trial, going before a judge, and I didn’t have an attorney to represent me, I might as well plead guilty and throw myself on the mercy of the court.  In our world today, in the legal realm, we have a written document known as a “power of attorney” which authorizes one person to act on behalf of another in legal, financial, and property matters, and sometimes, with specific authority, in medical or life and death situations.  Jesus had, what we might term, the “ultimate Power of Attorney”.  He told His disciples that “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18).  Jesus is the Mediator between God and man.  He is our “Attorney” representing us before the Father.

As the Son of the Judge of all the earth (Genesis 18:25), Jesus is equal in power and glory since He is God.  As Mediator, or the go-between, Jesus receives His power and glory from the Father.  If I had to appear before an earthly judge, my confidence level would be greatly boosted if my attorney just happened to be the judge’s son.  However, on earth, this would not be allowed.  It would be deemed as a “conflict of interest”.  In other words, as the defendant, I would be considered to have special favor before the judge.  But it is different in the spiritual realm, because this is exactly what Jesus does–gives us special favor before a righteous and holy Judge because God gives Him the power to do so.  John 3:35 states, “The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand”.

God has given Jesus the keys of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 16:19) and the keys of hell and of death (Revelation 1:18).  Jesus is also Master of everything between heaven and hell.  He holds the key to the access of His Father for His Father places all trust and confidence in His Son.  As the above verse states, no one knows the Father unless they know His Son.  That makes it crystal clear that to have a relationship with God, folks must come through Jesus.  To put it even plainer, one cannot call God, Father God, unless he or she is a spiritual brother or sister of Jesus Christ and has been born again and adopted into God’s family.  All people are not “children of God”.  Only those who have repented and trusted Christ are children of God.  All others are “God’s creation”.

One cannot separate God from Jesus or Jesus from God.  In the Life Application Concise New Testament Commentary, it is written, “The communion between God the Father and God the Son is the core of their relationship”.  Only Jesus knows and is fully able to carry out the complete will of the Father.  Matthew Henry described the close, intimate relationship between Father and Son as a “mutual consciousness”.  They always know what the other is thinking and the reasoning behind it.  On a much lesser scale, old married folks experience this “mutual consciousness” in that, after being together for several years, they know each other well enough to know what the other thinks about any given subject.  They can even finish each other’s sentences.  That ability comes from God’s intended result of the institution of marriage, in that the man and woman become “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24).

On a much grander scale, as John 10:30 indicates, Jesus and His Father are also One.  This is a mystery to the ordinary mind of man since we are not privy to all the knowledge of the Father.  He is God, and we are not.  However, God allows Jesus to reveal His Father to all those God chooses, the “babes” as Jesus calls them (Matthew 11:25).  That brings up the question, “Does God, through Christ, reveal Himself to all people?  Or only certain people?”  That is one of those questions that we ponder.  We know from Romans 1:19-20, that God has made Himself known through creation.  Paul even wrote, therefore, that man has no excuse to not know God.  However, is being aware that there is a Supreme Being who made the world and having an intimate knowledge of Him the same thing?  I would say, “No”.  Knowing that there is a God and knowing Him personally is not the same thing.

Our human minds think that because God is a God of love and mercy, that He would reveal Himself to all people, but if He did in a personal and intimate way, would not all people be saved?  How could they turn down such a wonderful privilege?  However, there are many who rebel against Him, thus He allows them to continue in the path that free will leads them.  Jesus said that no one could come to Him unless His Father drew them to Him (John 6:44).  This is a hard truth to understand.  However, God has His plans and purposes which are far above anything that we could imagine.  Thus, if God has chosen us before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4-6) to be one of His children, then we should be forever and ever grateful.

For a concise commentary on the doctrine of election, check out the website gotquestions.org.