A DEAR Christian sailor, writing to a fellow-believer whom he had never seen, winds up a letter, full of joy in the Lord, with the words, “I am a poor scoller; but, prase God, I no Jesus.” The writing and spelling were sufficient to prove that the dear man was a poor scholar, but the whole tenor of his letter bore witness to the fact that he was “wise unto salvation,” and did indeed “know Jesus;” and not only so, but was far in advance of many Christians in the knowledge of that blessed Person in whom “dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”
These are days of great enlightenment, and of wide-spread education; these are undoubtedly days in which the prophecy applies, “Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.” (Daniel 12:44But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased. (Daniel 12:4).) But these are also days of great darkness and grossest ignorance. Where? Amongst savages? Nay; but amongst the highly educated and enlightened inhabitants of so-called Christian countries. And why, but in accordance with that solemn word, applicable to a nation as to an individual, “If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness”?
England has for centuries been favored with light above any other country, but how has that light been treated? Has it not been undervalued, slighted, tampered with, resisted, to such an extent that men are becoming judicially blinded, and are beginning to “put darkness for light, and light for darkness”? (Isaiah 5:2020Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! (Isaiah 5:20).)
Do we not now find men with even the greatest pretensions to knowledge, who pride themselves on questioning or rejecting the Scriptures, and who, shutting their eyes to the light of revelation, go searching for what they call truth in their own minds, or the minds of other men, as expressed in writings where Christianity is either misrepresented or ignored?
They know a thousand things—astronomy, philosophy, philology, geology, ethnology, biology, anthropology, and all the “ologies” under the sun; but with it all they are but “poor scollers,” for they have not the “beginning of knowledge,” which is “the fear of the Lord.”
Most of these learned men believe in a “Supreme Being;” but they know not God, because they do not “know Jesus,” the only revealer of the Father; as He says, “No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me” (John 14:66Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)); and they know not the Lord Jesus Christ, because flesh and blood cannot reveal Him, but the Father which is in heaven. (See Matthew 16:1717And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 16:17).) Many such men profess great admiration for Jesus, and will write large, learned, fascinating books to describe what they call the “Life of Jesus;” but they know Him not, nor see in Him “God manifest in flesh.”
Wise in their own conceits, they are destitute of the only knowledge worth having—the knowledge of Christ. Blind, and yet they say, “We see.”
“Dost thou teach us?” said the Pharisees to the man whose eyes the Lord had opened (John 9); and these wise men would probably say much the same to a man who could only say, “I am a poor scoller, but ‘one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see,’ and I know Jesus.”
“But,” the reader may say, “I am no skeptic; I am an orthodox Christian. I believe implicitly in the Bible, and in all the truths of the Christian religion.”
Well, my friend, that is something to go upon; but let me put to you this simple question, Can you say, with the sailor above referred to, “I know Jesus”?
You reply, “Of course I do; I have always believed in Him.”
Well, I am sorry to contradict you; but if that is your answer, the probability is you do not know the Lord Jesus. You may know a great deal about Him, all the facts recorded in the Bible—but do you know Him?
You know very well there is such a person as the Prince of Wales, but do you know him? If you met him in the street would he give you a look of recognition, as he might to one of his companions or a servant? Surely you see the difference between knowing about a person and knowing the person?
The Lord Jesus says, “I know my sheep, and am known of mine;” and when He comes for His own—His blood-bought and blood-washed people—there will be a meeting and a mutual recognition between Him and them; but many, who think they know Jesus, will hear Him say from within that shut door, “I know you not.” (Matthew 25:1212But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. (Matthew 25:12).) All their knowledge will then be of no avail. They knew the Bible; they knew about Jesus—that He was “the way, and the truth, and the life;” they knew all you could have told them; but they did not know Himself; they could not one of them have said with truth, “I know Jesus.”
“Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me.” (Jeremiah 9:23, 2423Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:23‑24).) “This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” (John 17:33And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (John 17:3).)
Oh, my friend, I beseech you, make sure of this priceless knowledge—the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. He is waiting to make Himself and the Father known to all who come to Him. “Acquaint now thyself with Him.” He is the Saviour of sinners. Rest not until you can say with certainty, He is my Saviour. “He died for all.” Be not content until you can say, “He died for me; He loved me, and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:2020I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20).) Then will your heart rise up to God in praise, as it never yet has done, and, with our sailor friend, you will be able to say, “Praise God, I know Jesus;” and though you may have more “scholarship” to boast of, you will account it of little worth in comparison with the new science—science not falsely so called, but in which “are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”
But is it possible that any, who really know the Lord Jesus as the One who died for them and rose again, can be satisfied with what they know, and not want to know more of Him? Who was it counted all things loss that he might know Him? Was it not that one who had seen Him in the glory, and to whom He had said, “I am Jesus”? And did not Paul know the Lord Jesus better than you or I do? To be sure he did; and that is the very reason why he was not satisfied. He knew all that Christ had done for him, but he wanted to know more of Himself, and he would never be satisfied until he was with Him and like Him in glory. But in order to know Him better here, he was pressing on; and for the surpassing excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus he esteemed everything else but dross and dung.
May the reader be able to say, not only “I know Jesus,” but, I “count all things loss that would hinder me from following on to know more of Him”— “that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection.” (Philippians 3:1010That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; (Philippians 3:10).)
E. B. G.