TO KNOW HIM
Barri Cae
Nov 21, 2009
TO KNOW HIM
“That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death.” Phil. 3:10
The word ‘know’ in Hebrew is yada (yah-dah) and Webster’s definition includes “to be aware of the truth or factuality of, be convinced or certain of, to have a practical understanding of, and the archaic meaning is to have sexual intercourse. Rabbi Sh’aul Paul exclaims that his desire is to know his Messiah Yeshua Jesus in this way. To be aware of the Truth or Factuality of Jesus; to be convinced of or certain about Jesus; to have practical understanding of Jesus and to know Yeshua Jesus so well that there would be intimacy with Him, that Paul would yada His LORD.
Paul gives the Good reason first, to know Messiah Yeshua Jesus in His resurrection. That is the Good news. We all want the power of the resurrection. That same power that brought Jesus out of the grave is that same power that brings us out of our distresses, pains and troubles. To be revived, to be resurrected, to be promoted -- Ah, to know Jesus like that is Glory!
Yet, in order for us to truly know our Messiah, we must know Him; we must be intimately acquainted with Him in the fellowship of His sufferings. This is not such easy content to digest. It is interesting that Paul chose first to say the Power of the Resurrection BEFORE the fellowship of His sufferings.
There is a certain restaurant that I love to visit. The food is wonderful and I love taking friends there. I can send photos, email the menu listing, pour over the selections yet unless my friends actually TASTE the meal, savor the food; they have no idea regarding the content of the meal. In the same way, we must partake of our LORD’s crucified life, we must learn of His pain, His shame, His torture – physically and emotionally, or we cannot say that we really know Him.
All of us have acquaintances – people with whom we share pleasantries. We may be familiar with their families; we may know their favorite sports team or movie and even share similar views. But we do not really know them. Our closest friends are those with whom we have shared our inside lives. We have been ‘real’; we have shared our hurts, disappointments, joys and sorrows with them. They have unconditional love for us as they love us just as we are.
Yeshua, Jesus, our Beloved, desires for us to know Him, not as an acquaintance, but that we come intimately acquainted with Him. Spiritually intimate with Him. There are many types of intimacies. I can admire a painting at an art gallery. A total strange can walk up, we can chat of our admiration of the brush strokes, the way the artist captured the beauty of the scene. This is one intimacy. Our Messiah Yeshua Jesus desires that we know Him. That we have union with Him intimately. And to know Him in the power of His resurrection is impossible unless we have also been in union with Him in the fellowship of His sufferings.
This is not so easy. Who likes pain? Who likes sorrow? If we were honest, most of us would want sunny days, perfect health, all to be well with everyone. This fellowship of His sufferings is a deep divine mystery. God did not make us to be comfortable. If we know Him personally, our next life will be comfortable. In this life, we are to be conformable to His death.
If life were always easy, if the seas were always calm, how would we know that our faith could actually endure the turbulent seas of life? If sunny days were all we knew, how would we know that our faith could persevere through the raging storms of life? We must embrace the Cross, we must embrace the One who was Crucified. Should we expect any less? His death is the way of life. The way down is the way up. To fellowship with Him, to know Him in His sufferings, eventually brings forth resurrection. Dear saint, if you suffer today, if you have endured loss, pain, rejection, turn to your Beloved, throw yourself into His arms, embrace Him and find comfort and an intimacy with Him not found anywhere else. There you will learn that when you are weak, your strength can be found in Him.
But we preach Messiah crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Messiah the power of God and the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
1 Corin 1:23-25
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