THE train from Aberdeen to Edinburgh was plowing its way through deep masses of snow, which had fallen, and were still falling, one forenoon in winter, nearly forty years ago. A keen wind drove the icy flakes through every crack, and with all the comfort which a first-class carriage, and plenty of rugs and hot-water pans, could supply, it took me all my time to keep myself warm.
At one of the stopping stations in Stirlingshire an elderly gentleman entered the carriage, which hitherto I had had to myself. His silvery hair and attenuated frame could only speak of greatly advanced age, and I wondered why he should select so stormy a day for traveling. A remark from him as to the inclemency of the weather led me to say that I rather wondered that a man of his age should be traveling on such a day. To this he replied, “Your observation is very just, but business calls me to Edinburgh today most important business.”
“It must indeed be such,” said I, “to cause you thus to brave the elements.”
“Yes, sir,” he rejoined, “my business is most important. I am proceeding to Edinburgh in relation to the publication of a book of the deepest possible interest to me.”
“And what may be the subject of the book?” I ventured to inquire.
“It is a book on which I have labored for a great many years, to prove the existence of God,” was his emphatic rejoinder.
“That indeed is a subject of surpassing interest,” I replied, “and may I inquire, sir, Do you know Him?”
The effect of this question almost startled me. The old gentleman-drew a long breath, pursed his lips, fell back into his seat in deep and serious thought, and then said, “That is a very serious question, sir.”
“Undoubtedly,” I replied, as I waited for an affirmative response which had not yet come; “but it would never occur to me that a man would sit down and write a book to prove the existence of a Being he did not himself personally know, and know well.”
“Ah, therein lies the difficulty. How can we be sure that we know Him?”
“Well,” I replied, “we already possess a book which declares and proves His existence most emphatically and most blessedly, and if you have drawn your evidence from the scriptures of truth, your ground is sure, and your arguments will be conclusive. But I venture to think that unless you know Him yourself personally you will fail to convince your readers.”
A long conversation followed, and I was greatly interested in this elderly stranger, who long since has passed to his rest, while his exhaustive and logically conclusive book (which came into being soon after this conversation) is still to be had for the buying.
Far be it from me to say that the old gentleman did not know God; but the hesitancy in the confession thereof was what struck me greatly at the moment, because to know God and to enjoy Him is the vital question for every soul of man.
The Shorter Catechism opens well with, “What is man’s chief end?” And the answer is also good, “To glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.” But how can any man glorify and enjoy God if he does not know Him? Sad indeed is the state of the man who, like Pharaoh, has to say, “Who is the Lord?” evincing thereby ignorance of Him, and then follow it by the bold confession, “I know not the Lord” (Ex. 5:22And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. (Exodus 5:2)). That man is in a condition of darkness, distance from God, and spiritual death.
My reader will very probably say, “But Pharaoh was a heathen.” True, but what better is the professing Christian who, more responsible, but not more enlightened, has also to say, if he speak honestly, “I know not the Lord”? To such an one would I fervently and affectionately say, in the words of Eliphaz the Temanite: “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart” (Job 22:21, 2221Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. 22Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. (Job 22:21‑22)).
Not to know the Lord is confessedly to admit that you do not know or believe the gospel. Now the gospel is wrapped up in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moses brought the Law to man—the revelation from God of what man ought to be. Jesus has brought the revelation of what God is to man. He declares God, and the revelation of what Ile is perfectly meets man’s condition. Hence we read: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:17, 1817For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 18No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:17‑18)). Jesus has interpreted the heart, the nature, the thoughts, the desires of God. God is love, and that love has shown itself in Jesus. The attitude as well as the disposition of God toward man at this moment is absolute grace, which blots out his sins through the work of the cross, and brings the hitherto lifeless sinner into the knowledge of Himself, through the effectual work of His Spirit, quickening the soul, and leading it to believe on Jesus, once dead for sins and sinners, but now alive before God, and the life of all who trust Him. To know Him there is life eternal “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)). This eternal life Jesus communicates to all who believe in Him.
Did you never ponder, my reader, the words which He spake to His Father: “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent”? (John 17:2,32As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:2‑3)). Life eternal here, you notice, consists really in knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent. Eternal life, therefore, is not so much the thought of being, as of knowing.
We can only know God as He is seen revealed in Jesus, and if brought to know the Lord Jesus the revelation of God is made good to our souls, and eternal life is possessed. “And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life” (1 John 5:11-1311And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. 13These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. (1 John 5:11‑13)). All who thus know the Son of God are entitled to say: “And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life” (1 John 5:2020And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life. (1 John 5:20)). Reader, do you know Him?
Tell me not that He cannot be known; rather listen to the testimony of an unimpeachable witness, Paul the Gentile apostle: “For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Tim. 1:1212For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. (2 Timothy 1:12)). Were I you I would not lay my head on my pillow tonight till I could say, and say truly, “I know whom I have believed.”
W. T. P. W.