Readers of the Bible–Old Testament and/or New–who do not believe in (hence, “know”) Jesus Christ, cannot and do not “know” The Father. The God of the Old Testament, and the God of the New Testament is the same God; and this God is Triune. YHWH of The OT is YHWH The Father, YHWH The Son, and YHWH The Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ Himself is the Great “I AM,” (see Jn. 8:58). In reality, every saint who knows One Person of The Trinity knows all Three of Them.
Sometimes we Christians mistakenly (perhaps even accidentally) say that some unbelievers “know” The Father (the First Person of The Holy Trinity), even though we grant that they do not “know” The Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. This is a mistake that is easily understood; and we should not be too hard on people who (perhaps offhandedly) make it.
The brutal truth–and this is often hard for people to accept–is that The Father, the true First Person of The Holy Trinity, is ONLY known by those sinners who, because of sovereign grace, have become atoned-for saints through their God-given regenerative faith in The Son, Jesus Christ the Redeemer.
With regard to this, three important things should be stated right up front. . . . First, that Jesus Christ (with The Holy Spirit) is the *Proper*, if you will, (initial) “Know-er” of The Father. He intimates this, in Jn. 6:46. Secondly, that only those who are given access to The Son, by The Father, can know Him (The Father), (Jn. 6:37, 44, 65); and then, correspondingly, The Son’s atonement then grants sinners access to The Father, (Jn. 14:6b). And thirdly, that once we are *in* The Son, by grace through faith in Him, we also “know” The Father, even as The Son knows Him, (Jn. 16:15, 26-27). This final truth is rather startling and amazing, to say the least.
What this means, is that *no* one, (I will say that again, “*no* one”), who does not know Jesus Christ “knows” The Father.
Subscribe to Free “Top 10 Stories” Email
Get the top 10 stories from The Aquila Report in your inbox every Tuesday morning.
