That they might know thee

“And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” (St. John 17:3). To every Christian it has become his/her duty to know God and his son Jesus Christ. As we come to know God we can best prepare ourselves to overcome the here and now but also to have life eternal in the hereafter. As a Christian myself, I strongly believe that we must “know” who God is, for surely he would desire that we may know our relation to him. To know from where we have come we to may know where we may go. My attempt with this article is not to cover every aspect of whom God is, but to share one truth in particular. There is much to “know” about God, although it confuses me that in the Christian world that we have not yet come to agree on the physical nature of God. I have taken several references from the Holy Scriptures that describes God. My goal here is to bring you, the reader, to this small yet life altering truth so you may come to “know” God more fully.

Let us turn to the New Testament to the Book of Revelation 1:14-15. For many, the Book of Revelation is hard to understand because of the symbolism given. But much of the symbolism begins with chapter 4 with the visions of the history of the Earth past/future. The first 3 chapters is council delivered to the 7 churches which are Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. I wanted to point this out so that we won’t misinterpret verses 14-15, for God is as he is described. Okay so let’s look at these verses,

[14] His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire.

[15] And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.

Obviously to anyone who has or had seen God would have a difficult time explaining to another the Glorious experience that had been beheld. Here we see John the Divine giving us comparisons to Gods features. Take note that God possesses a head, hair, eyes, feet and a voice. We too know that throughout the New Testament Jesus Christ, the Son of God was as a man among men. If your mind is still not at ease with the Doctrine that God and Jesus Christ were in the stature of man, let us take a careful study of the Old Testament. Genesis 1:26-27 to begin,

[26] And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness…

[27] So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

And one more from the New Testament in Luke 3:38,

[38] Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

To this last reference I say, to where do you have a son that doesn’t resemble his Father? Last but not least, we have the description of God from the lips of the Prophet Joseph Smith in this last dispensation, “We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us; and under his feet was a paved work of pure gold, in color like amber. His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters, even the voice of Jehovah…” (D&C 110: 2-3)

It is vital to our Salvation to “know” our God. We are created in the image of God, we are his sons and daughters. As we come to understand that we are his sons/daughters we know that we were not fabricated to be puppets danced by a imageless being. We truly have a Father Child relationship to him. May we always be found engaging our souls in the understanding of who God is and what it is that he expects of us.

I so testify that of what I have said here is true and also bear witness to the words of Paul when he by the Holy Spirit spoke, “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”