Those who know God are called by God to be His disciples. His disciples must always be ready to give an answer for the hope that is in them. That answer is impossible to give if we do not know God. The church is called to promote, proclaim, and protect the truth of God’s Word but it cannot do that if it does not know God and His Word.

So he answered, “Do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” II Kings 6:16 NKJV

I am currently reading a book called “The House of Morgan” by Ron Chernow detailing the history of the company we now know as J.P. Morgan Chase. Chernow spent great energy, time, and resources collecting and reading thousands of pages of historical documents about the company, its founders, directors, and the economic and political events of the past 150 years. After carefully reading, researching, and studying the historical documents, Chernow narrowed his work into a book of 848 pages. What was the point of his work? That the reader might know something of J.P. Morgan and the company that bares his name.

Why do we study the Scriptures so closely? Is it so that we can boast in our knowledge of Scripture? Is it so that we can win theological debates with our friends? Or is it primarily that we might know the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent?

We have had many devotionals centered on just one verse of one chapter in II Kings. Several more are planned applying the text to our daily lives. All of it is for this purpose: that my readers and I might know the only true God!

Perhaps you are familiar with the analogy that has been made to husbands getting to know their wives. They listen to their wives, observe their interests, understand their personalities, and spend much time with them. As they do these things they get to know their wives better and united to Christ and His Word might love them more. While knowing God may have some analogy, knowing God is of far greater consequence. For to know God truthfully is to have eternal life.

As Jesus was praying before His crucifixion He said, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent” (John 17:3). Jesus was likely making reference to several Old Testament passages including Proverbs 8:35, “For whoever finds me finds life, And obtains favor from the LORD.” To know Christ truthfully, that is, by faith, and in accordance with His Word, is to have eternal life.

We study God’s Word, meditate on His works, and ponder His ways so that we might know God, believe in God, and in knowing and believing God, have eternal life. Paul said, “Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ, and be found in Him…” (Philippians 3:8-9).

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