“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.” (John 10:27)

© Brian Labosier  June 17, 2022

The two most important questions we can ever ask ourselves are: (a) how can we enter into this relationship with the Sovereign God of this universe where we know Him as God and King? and (b) how can we grow in our relationship with Him and experience all that He has for us?

Certainly, God’s Word is clear that not everyone will experience the great joy of knowing God, either in this present life or in the life to come.  And many people by their own testimony have no interest in God and have no desire to spend time with Him.  So, not everyone will become a child of God or be in a right relationship with their Creator.  Jesus even warns us that we can deceive ourselves into thinking we are His children, when we are not: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

How then does anyone come to know God?  We have already seen how God is the One who takes the initiative and reveals Himself to all those who become His people.  As we hear the gospel message (the outward call), God impresses certain key truths on the minds and hearts of those whom He is drawing into a proper relationship with Himself (the inward call).  These truths we need to hear constitute the sum and substance of the gospel message.

What are these truths?  We can discover these essential key truths about God and His plan of redemption in Scripture.   In particular, we can study how He has revealed Himself chronologically in the Bible over thousands of years of time.  There is a certain logical flow to God’s revelation of Himself.  God’s Word begins with (a) a focus on His Creation of both the entire universe and human beings in particular, (b) followed by an account of how evil entered the world through sin and disobedience at the time of the Fall, (c) then there is the long process in which God gradually reveals more and more details about His plan of Redemption throughout many hundreds of years of history, and (d) finally the focus shifts to the ultimate glory of the final Consummation and renewal of all things.  This historical pattern of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation provides a basic structure for understanding all the major emphases in God’s dealings with humanity. 

If we are to come to know God as a Person, we need to learn at least something of who He is and particularly what He is doing in each of these four areas.  We need to know Him as Creator, Ruler and Judge, Redeemer, and finally Restorer and Perfecter.  Let’s look at each of these.

(1) Knowing God as Creator: God begins His Self-revelation of Himself in Scripture by outlining His work in creation.  The creation account is described initially in Genesis 1 and 2 and then picked up and elaborated elsewhere throughout Scripture.  Knowing God as Creator prepares us for knowing His greatness and glory.

(2) Knowing God as Ruler and Judge: He begins by telling us He is our Ruler and Judge.  God’s role as our Ruler is highlighted by how He gave Adam and Eve specific instructions regarding how they were to live here in His world, including even what they were to eat and not eat.  Then God’s role as our Judge shows itself in how God dealt with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden once they had sinned and rebelled against Him.  Knowing God involves—among other things— relating with Him as our God and King.  Yet we also soon discover Him as Judge and how far short we fall of His perfect standards of holiness and righteousness.  Acknowledging our personal failures is also part of the process of coming to know Him for who He is.

(3) Knowing God as Redeemer: Most of the content of the Bible focuses on God’s gradual unfolding of His marvelous plan of redemption, especially as this plan focuses on the person and work of Jesus Christ.  God spends so much time developing this topic for the simple reason that the gospel message inevitably catches us by surprise.  God’s love and initiative are so unbelievable we would have never imagined the marvelous way God has chosen to reveal His grace to us in removing our offenses against Him.  Knowing God as Redeemer doesn’t begin with the story of Jesus’ birth in the Gospels.  Rather it is anticipated as early as the so-called protoevangelium—the first announcement of the gospel message—way back in Genesis 3:15.  Here God tells us of the coming of “the seed of the woman,” foreshadowing Christ’s taking on human nature and coming to this earth in order to accomplish His victorious defeat of Satan and all the forces of evil.  Christ is also anticipated throughout the rest of the Old Testament, announced in the Gospels, and the life-changing significance of His person and work unpacked in the rest of the New Testament.  God describes His amazing plan in such amazing detail in order to bring us as fallen human beings into a proper and restored relationship with Himself.

(4) God as Restorer and Perfecter: Then God completes the work He has begun in the lives of His people through His restoring us and remaking His creation into a perfect new universe.  This the theme of God as Restorer and Perfecter is predicted and foreshadowed by countless people and events in redemptive history.  This grand finale is described in a number of passages throughout Scripture long before its final glorious description of a new heaven and earth in Revelation 21-22. 

As we look at how God reveals Himself in the pages of Scripture, we see that He gradually reveals more and more of Himself and what He is doing in this world through the unfolding pages of Scripture.  Theologians call this progressive revelation.  Thus, we need to read and study the Bible chronologically and systematically in order to see the big picture of the unfolding of His perfect plans. 

There is a certain inherent logic in how God has revealed Himself historically.  We need to know and appreciate God as Creator in order to understand not only His existence, but also His greatness and glory.  The reality of God as Creator and the glimpse of His majesty we see in creation help prepare us to understand that we are accountable to Him as our Ruler, and that He is also the ultimate Judge of everything we do.  Knowing that God exists and how we are accountable to Him as our Judge, in turn, helps us see the crucial necessity of His work as our Redeemer.  His plan of redemption makes sense only if He will complete what He has begun.  Thus, knowing God as Redeemer naturally leads us to appreciate Him as our Restorer and Perfecter. 

Praise God He has taken the initiative to reveal Himself as Creator, Ruler, Redeemer, and Perfecter.  But this raises the question, how can we grow in our understanding of Him in each of these ways so that we can properly relate with Him as our God and King?

Pause and Reflect

(1) God takes the initiative in revealing Himself to His people as Creator, Ruler and Judge, Redeemer, and finally Restorer and Perfecter.  Which of these four truths about God are particularly significant to you at this time in your life?

(2) How could you grow in your understanding of each of these truths?

(3) How do these truths about God and how He is at work in your life encourage you to recommit every area of your life to Him?