Known God and unknown god

“O sons of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you cannot succeed.”

John 4:19  The woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet.  Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.”  Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.  You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.  But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him.

Isaiah 2:3     and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

2 Kings 17:27   Then the king of Assyria commanded, “Send there one of the priests whom you carried away from there, and let him go and dwell there and teach them the law of the god of the land.”  So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel and taught them how they should fear the LORD.  But every nation still made gods of its own and put them in the shrines of the high places that the Samaritans had made, every nation in the cities in which they lived.

Acts 17:23    For as I passed along and observed the objects of your worship, I found also an altar with this inscription: ‘To the unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.

Zephaniah 3:16     On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.  The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.

Do you see the words of Jesus “You worship what you do not know”;  and those of Paul “What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you.”  Do you ever think about how you perceive God?  It is a direct reflection of what you know about Him.  The words of Jesus and Paul are easy to understand for us and we would tend to interpret this is speaking to others who worship false gods and false religions.  Is it possible that we may fall into this same category because we neglect knowledge of God.  We hold on to a few verses and do not spend time in His word to know Him more. We give little to no time thinking about Him.  We only seek Him for help rather than seeking to know how we might better worship, serve, honor, and obey Him.  In essence worshiping a God we do not know.  God gave us a precious recorded history so that by this and with a heart, mind, and soul, we might continually grow in knowing Him more and more each day.

Author: Daryl Pint

Saved by Grace, living by faith

Leave a Reply