To an unknown God ∙∙

To an unknown God ∙∙

God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.” – Exodus 3:14

Acts 17:23-31

 23 As I was walking along, I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: “To an Unknown God.” This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.

 24 He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples,

 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs – for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.

 27 His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him – though he is not far from any one of us.

 30 God overlooked people’s ignorance about these things in earlier times, but now he commands everyone everywhere to repent of their sins and turn to him.

 31 For he has set a day for judging the world with justice by the man he has appointed, and he proved to everyone who this is by raising him from the dead.

Would it be too far-fetched to propose that, throughout history and across various cultures, irrespective of their geographic location, most people have held some notion of God? Individuals everywhere have pondered the question, “Who or What is God?” When we refer to God, we are somewhat constrained by the English language, which uses a single word, “God,” to represent both the abstract idea of God and the person of God.

The predominant Western understanding of God is known as theism. Theism posits that there is a God who created and sustains the universe, possessing unlimited knowledge (omniscience), power (omnipotence), presence (omnipresence), and moral perfection (International Encyclopedia of Psychology).

It is crucial to distinguish the things that differ, separating the wheat from the chaff. Is there a distinction between the concept of God and the living God depicted in the Scriptures? Absolutely.

When God appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai, Moses inquired about God’s name. Moses believed in the concept of God, but he also believed in a personal God. He understood that the living, personal God was present at Sinai, revealing Himself to him.

Moses was not a pagan. As a member of the Nation of Israel, he spoke with the God of his ancestors. The truth about the living and true God had been handed down through generations via oral tradition and a few written records. These accounts detailed the accurate history of the people who lived them: men like Adam, Noah, Abraham, and Jacob. However, these stories had yet to be compiled and written in Hebrew. That was a yet future project still on the Father’s drawing board. At the right moment, Moses would be assigned to gather and document these narratives in a book that would eventually be named Genesis.

Driven by curiosity and caught up in the moment, Moses found himself in direct contact with the God of his fathers. He was coming to terms with the living, personal God. Heretofore, He was known as “He-Who-Has-No-Name” (The Ten Commandments) or simply “The Unknown God.” Moses needed to know God’s name because the people would eventually ask him. How would Moses answer them? God revealed His name to Moses: “I AM WHO I AM. Tell them that I AM [Yahweh] sent you.”

Persons have names; abstract concepts of God do not. The Father God revealed in the Scriptures is not merely a force, idea, or higher power. He is a personal being who can be known, loved, and experienced through a personal relationship.

Exodus 3:13-14

 13 Then Moses said to God, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?”

 14 God replied to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM. Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.”

Moses came to know the name of the personal God: I AM [Yahweh]. Through Moses’ writings, the name Yahweh has been preserved and passed down through the millennia to all who believe and seek a personal relationship with Him.

In contrast, those who hold only an abstract concept of God are not concerned about names. After all, why would they be? They are dealing with an idea, not a person.

REFLECT & PRAY

“Nothing twists and deforms the soul more than a low or unworthy conception of God” (A.W. Tozer)

Father, thank You for being more than an idea, a man-made concept. Thank You for recognizing and forgiving my ignorance and seeking me out.

INSIGHT

The ancient Greeks were renowned for their extensive pantheon of gods, with names that remain familiar in Western culture today: Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite, Hermes, and Hades. However, their understanding of divinity was significantly flawed. They worshipped numerous gods, but what if they overlooked one? To ensure they didn’t offend any deity they were unaware of, the Athenians constructed an altar dedicated “To an Unknown God.”

When Paul addressed the Athenians, he used this altar as a point of connection. It provided a shared reference and common ground, allowing him to introduce the true and living Father God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Paul adeptly used their concept of an unknown deity as a bridge to explain the personal God, seizing the opportunity to convey his faith.

Acts 17:23-27

 23 I saw your many shrines. And one of your altars had this inscription on it: ‘To an Unknown God.’ This God, whom you worship without knowing, is the one I’m telling you about.

 24 He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth . . .

 25 and human hands can’t serve his needs – for he has no needs. He himself gives life and breath to everything, and he satisfies every need.

 27 His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him – though he is not far from any one of us.

“On the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, there are the tremendous frescoes by Michelangelo. Among them is the magnificent picture of the creation of man. God is reaching out His finger, and man, just having been created, reaches out to God as well. But their fingers do not touch. This is a true Christian insight” (Francis A. Schaeffer).

The Father God of Scripture is personal yet infinite, close at hand yet distant. Being a person, He thinks and feels and seeks to enter into a personal relationship with sentient creatures made in His image. Anyone can have a personal relationship with the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul sought to know Him.

Philippians 3:10 That I may know Him.

“A literal rendering of to know Christ is liable to be misunderstood as merely ‘knowing about Christ.’ Accordingly, in some languages, it may be preferable to translate this phrase as ‘to experience Christ,’ or even as ‘to be associated with Christ’” (UBS).

Knowing Christ isn’t about mastering theoretical or theological knowledge; it’s about developing such deep intimacy with Him that we become as united with Him as we are with our loved ones on earth, sharing in His experiences just as we share in theirs. (Barclay).

Believing in God is good. But it is not good enough for eternity!

Knowing about Him is not enough. He created us to know Him, and He seeks us out.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 5-18-1

© Dr. H 2024