"To Know God - Part 3"

"That I may know him..." Philippians 3:10a

A third reason I want to talk about this morning on the subject of why God reveals Himself to us through different names and titles has to do with relationship. There is a difference in having an acquaintance and a relationship with someone. When I am acquainted with someone, I know only a few details about them. But when I have a relationship with someone I know even "deep" things about them. For example, if you're an acquaintance I might know your name, where you live, who you are married to, whether you have children or not. But if I have a relationship with you, I not only know these details about you I also know how long you have lived where you live, the names and birthdates of all your children, what you like, what you dislike, what your favorite color is, your favorite dessert, your least favorite food, the kind of music you like including your favorite song, and so on. I don't just know facts and figures about you, I know personal intimate details. And the more I learn about you the deeper our relationship becomes.

God created us for His pleasure- to have a relationship with us. Because God is love, He created us out of a desire to express His love on someone and have them love Him in return out of a free will. In the beginning God had a relationship with mankind through Adam, but Adam disobeyed God and sin came into the picture. This sin was now an issue that caused a wedge between God and man. But because God does not change, His love for us never changed, His desire to have a relationship, fellowship and intimacy with us didn't change, He sent His Son Jesus to pay the price for our sins- dealing with the sin issue- so that we could be reconciled back to God in a relationship of love.

Because God desires a relationship with us- that we might know Him- He reveals who He is through His names and titles. As we learn who He is through them, it deepens our knowledge of Him which in turn deepens our relationship with Him. Moses wanted to see God- he wanted to know Him in a deeper way. How did God let him "see Him"? How did He reveal Himself to Moses? Through His names- "And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD." (Exodus 34:5)

God desires a relationship with us that's why He is continually revealing who He is to us. It's not so that we will be acquainted with Him through knowing facts and figures about Him- just what He does, but that we will know Him through a revelation of who He is.

Have a great day. Because this infinite God desires to have a relationship with us finite beings, He reveals Himself to us through His names and titles. As He does we learn that He is our source for everything we need. This knowledge should cause us to desire to have a relationship with Him too in return.