Knowing Christ

My wife and I have been married for many years. We have both recently been made aware that after so many years of living together in the deepest intimacy a marriage relationship can offer, there are still things about each other that we don’t understand. Is it possible to ever know all there is to know about your spouse?

Likewise, many have enjoyed an intimate spiritual relationship with Jesus Christ for many, many years yet hardly know him. Do you really know him? Not just as a personal savior but do you really know Him for who he is? We can know him through the word he has given us but we cannot know him by accident. Just as it takes effort to know and understand a spouse, it also takes effort to know and understand Christ. He is so vast in his nature and so complex in his person that he can never be fully known. It will be our greatest challenge throughout eternity to try to know Him.

But we do know a little about Christ. We know that he is exalted about all others. We know that he is supreme.

Christ is Supreme in His Diety – He is equal with God in all of his attributes. He is radiant in His glory. Christ is the exact image of the nature of God the Father.

“If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.” – John 14:7

Christ is Supreme in His Eternal Nature (eternality) - This is incomprehensible. Think long on it and it will drive you crazy. Jesus Christ never had a beginning. It is an imponderable truth.

“He was with God in the beginning” of the creation.” – John 1:2

Jesus is God! The whole world and all the worlds unknown and all of creation and its creatures are frail and vulnerable and fragile and could be shattered into a million pieces by a simple word spoken by the eternal One.

He lived eternities before the beginning and he will live eternities after the end.

Christ is Supreme in His Unchangeable Nature. Is Christ holy? He shall always be holy. Is Christ love? He shall always be love. Is Christ good? He shall always be good. His holiness will never be overcome by carnality. His love will never be replaced with hatred. Throughout all of eternity, his goodness shall reign and he shall never, never be touched with the darkness of evil.

His character is constant.

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” – Hebrews 13:8 The seasons come and go. The sun shines and then the sky darkens. Friends change. Families fluctuate. Circumstances are unpredictable. Relationships evolve. The cards are always being shuffled. Transition is a norm in the American lifestyle. But Jesus Christ never changes. His feet are firmly fixed in some unknown foundation of the vast universe and he cannot be moved.

Christ is Supreme in His knowledge. We revel in our knowledge. The information age makes available a never ending source of knowledge. There seems to be nothing Google does not know. Gather all the billions and trillions of bits of information together and compare it to the knowledge of Christ and it’s like comparing a single drop of water to all the water held in all the oceans of earth multiplied by a trillion quadrillions. His knowledge knows no limit.

Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, why would you ask me any question at all. You know ALL things.” – John 21-17

“His understanding is infinite.” – Psalm 147:5

There are some things God has never experienced. He has never been confused. He has never been perplexed. He has never been puzzled. He has never been surprised. He could never be a scientist who searches out the meaning of natural laws. God is the source of all those laws. He could never be a historian to search out the story of man. God wrote the story and he knows every single detail. God could never experience the thrill of the archeologist finding a buried artifact. God hid all those pieces and he knows exactly where they are and what story they tell. God has never made a mistake. He has never experienced sickness. He has never explored anything. He has never investigated. He has never discovered. He is infinite in all his knowledge and wisdom.

Supreme wisdom flows like a great river from the heart of God. Those who drink of its waters are blessed with understanding and they comprehend His eternal truth. Americans find themselves in terrible moral decay: our financial system is in ruins, our legal system is plagued with unfairness, our leaders are diseased with the cancer of greed and corruption, our population is blinded by a lust for material things. Why have we murdered 51 million unborn babies? Why do Americans incarcerate more or its population than any other nation on earth? Why are 35% of our children born out of wedlock? It is because we do not drink from the waters of everlasting wisdom made available by an omniscient God.

Christ is Supreme in His Authority. He is qualified and he is worthy to have all authority. He is all wise, he is all powerful and he is morally perfect. No other can offer those qualifications. He can never do the wrong thing. He can never make a wrong decision. He can never be corrupted by flattery or bribed by money. It is not possible for him to show favoritism. He cannot be selfish and self-serving.

He never seeks a majority vote. He never has to seek approval or get permission. He never has to sit down and ponder and reason regarding a solution to a certain problem. He knows how to end warand poverty. He knows how to cure cancer. Christ is supreme in his authority because he is worthy.

Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” - Matthew 28:18

Ten thousands of angels sang, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” – Rev. 5:12

Jesus does as he pleases and we must be forever grateful that what he pleases to do is always good and honorable.

“All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: "What have you done?" – Daniel 4:35

Christ is Supreme in His Providence. God knows everything there is to know about you. “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” – Luke 12:7

Christ didn’t just plunk you down on this earth and make some provisions for you and then walk away. He has a plan for you. You may not know his plan. It may take time for you to understand and you may sometimes experience doubt. Rest assured and do not doubt that God has a plan.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” – Jeremiah 29:11

Do you sometimes feel he has forgotten you? Do you sometimes feel he isn’t listening? Know this; He knows every time a bird falls from the sky. He is fully aware every time one of his creatures becomes more road kill along the highways. He is fully aware of the smallest fish in the most remote area of the ocean where the eyes of men have not yet seen.
“Look at the birds of the air…your heavenly Father feeds them.” – Matthew 6:26

We have not yet scratched the surface of what it means to know Christ.


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.

My Life Didn't Turn Out the Way I Expected

Robert Redford played a character named Roy Hobbs in The Natural. His promising baseball career tragically ends prematurely when he is shot by a deranged woman. Hobb's dream of being a successful baseball player is revived and he attempts a late-in-life comeback. His statement to his wife summarizes his feelings: "My life didn't turn out the way I expected."

The quote resonates with nearly everyone who has lived enough life to have experienced the disappointments that are inevitable. A forty-five year old man made a contact with a former high school classmate, a girl he had once dated and even discussed marriage with. It was fun and interesting to catch up after a couple decades of no communication. But her revelations to him failed to bring him any satisfaction, instead, he felt depressed. She had finally married. Her husband was a very successful entrepreneur. She found great fulfillment in her three children and lived in an upscale home in California. She had traveled abroad, in fact, she and her husband owned vacation homes in Ireland and Italy. In contrast, her former beau was a simple man who lived a simple life. He drove an old truck. He never married and he had no children. The conversation caused him to say to himself, "My life didn't turn out the way I expected."

Maybe you have said as much. Did your life take an unexpected detour? Did you think that you would always be beautiful and athletic looking? Did you dream that one day you would be financially independent? Did you fail to marry or did your marriage fail? Did you think your drug addicted child was going to be a doctor or a lawyer? Did you lose a parent or child to an unexpected death? Do you now have health problems that have detracted from the joy in life you feel you deserve?

It's hard to come to terms with the fact that we bring a lot of pain upon ourselves. We often end up where we are because we made a choice back at the fork in the road. We are often warned of this in scripture: "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life." (Gal. 6:7-8) "I have observed that those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it." (Job 4:8) Roy Hobbs, The Natural, said, "Some mistakes you never stop paying for." When we find ourselves reaping the consequences for our former decisions the best we can do is repent and seek God's forgiveness. When our lives are all twisted because we trusted in our own plans its time to trust the Master Architect to reveal a better plan that will bring us satisfaction and contentment.

One thing we should have all learned from Harold Camping's recent false prophecy, "You can't put God in a box." When God shows us a new direction we are tempted to try to put limitations on him. We say things like, "this is too big for me to handle" or "this is impossible." So you feel doubt and defeat when God asks you to travel an unexpected path? Paul resisted these feelings when he said, "I can do all things through him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:13) If you hear God whispering something unbelievable, something that seems impossible know others have heard him whisper in the past. "Noah, build a boat in the desert." Say what!?! "Moses, lead 2 million slaves up out of Egypt." We tend to offer excuses because we approach God's request in our own humanity and envision attempting to accomplish his directive in our own strength. He wants us to trust him as he miraculously turns our weakness into his strength.

If we can muster the courage to say, "Here I am, Lord, send me" when we hear his whisper then Satan will immediately attempt to waylay us. It was during the fourth watch of the night when Jesus approached the boat holding a group of fearful disciples. He comforted them by saying, "Take courage! It is I. Don't be afraid." Peter, the impulsive disciple replied, "Lord, if it's you tell me to come to you on the water." Peter stepped out of the boat and did a miraculous thing. He walked on water.

But then things began to go badly. Peter took his eyes off Jesus and began to look at the wafting waves and he began to feel the buffeting wind. As he was going under he cried out, "Lord, save me." Jesus immediately reached out for him to offer rescue.

God will ask us to do some great things but to be successful we must keep focused on him. When we begin to focus on trouble and problems we begin to fall away from Christ. Satan wants us to focus on money problems, faulty policies and weak-minded, critical people in our lives. Jesus wants us to rise above these things and focus on kingdom work. Above all, he wants us to have courage like Peter and step out of the boat. How sad will be the day when many will answer to God for their failures to accomplish any significant thing for him. How dreadful to hear the Savior say, "You did so little because you were too fearful to step out of the boat."

T. S. Eliot said, "You have to risk going too far to discover just how far you can really go." Truly great men of God who have been used mightily in his service are those who were willing to step out of the boat. If your life didn't turn out the way you thought it would, its not too late to choose another path. Abraham was seventy-five years old when God asked him to go on a journey that seemed to have no destination. At the end of that journey lay the Promised Land.


Kevin Probst - Teaches History, Government and Apologetics at the high school level in Columbus Georgia.