To know God Himself is the greatest blessing and the greatest glory in the new covenant. God Himself cannot be known by the flesh, but only by the intuition. Let us see what the Scriptures say about knowing God in our intuition. John 17:3 says: “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Him Whom You have sent, Jesus Christ.” This verse tells us that every one who has eternal life knows God and the Lord Jesus. In other words, when a man receives eternal life he receives a knowing of God in the intuition which he did not possess before. This eternal life has a function which enables man to know God. We know God, the One who has been made known to us, by the life within. We are not like the people of Athens who, by reasoning and inference, worshipped an unknown God (Acts 17:23). Therefore, if someone says that he has eternal life and yet has never known God, then his claim to have eternal life is doubtful—it is only in the letter. To put it even stronger, this kind of person does not have eternal life. If we want to know God we must first have eternal life.
First Corinthians 2:11-12 says, “For who among men knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man, which is in him? even so the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God. But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us of God.” This verse tells us that it is the Holy Spirit, who is in our spirit, who enables us to know the things of God. The things of God cannot be known by man’s mind; man cannot figure them out by his own thoughts, nor can he comprehend them by his own wisdom. Therefore, the Scriptures say, “Now the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; and he cannot know them” (1 Cor. 2:14).
Ephesians 1:17-18 says, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Him, the eyes of your heart having been enlightened, that you may know...” These verses tell us that the Apostle prayed for the believers at Ephesus who had been regenerated, that they might receive the spirit of wisdom and revelation, and that they might have the full knowledge of God in their intuition. Whether this spirit of wisdom and revelation is a function which has been hidden in the spirit of the believer and which will be uncovered by God through prayer, or whether it is through prayer that the Holy Spirit causes the believer to receive anew the wisdom and revelation in his spirit, is difficult to say; in any case, this spirit of wisdom and revelation enables the believer to have the full knowledge of God. Our intuition needs wisdom and revelation. We need wisdom to know what is of God and what is of ourselves. We need wisdom to know the false apostles and the false angels of light (2 Cor. 11:13-14). When God gives us wisdom, He does not give it to our mind, but He gives it to our spirit. God wants us to have wisdom in our intuition. He wants to lead us to the path of wisdom through intuition. We need revelation to truly know Him. The spirit of revelation means that God moves in our spirit and enables our intuition to know the intent of God and to know God’s movement. It is only by receiving revelation in the spirit that we can have the full knowledge of God.
When God gives us the spirit of wisdom and revelation He not only causes us to have the full knowledge of Him in our intuition, but He also enlightens the eyes of our heart. The eyes of our heart here refers to our understanding, the dianoia, found in Ephesians 4:18. This is simply the faculty of perception and understanding. In Ephesians 1:17-18 two knowings are mentioned. The first one is the knowing of the intuition, while the second is the knowing or the understanding of the mind. The spirit of revelation is in the deepest part of our being. God reveals Himself in our spirit so that we may have a full knowledge of Him through the intuition. This knowing, however, is only the knowing in the intuition—only the inner man knows; the outer man still does not know. Our spirit still needs to enlighten our mind with light so that our mind can understand the intent of the spirit, bringing the outer man to know as well. Therefore, revelation begins in the spirit, and then it arrives at the mind. Revelation is in the intuition of the spirit, while enlightenment is in the mind of the soul. In the intuition we know by sensing, while in the mind we understand by seeing. Thus, God gives us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, that we may truly know Him and truly understand Him.
Colossians 1:9-10 says, “...that you may be filled with the full knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, to walk worthily of the Lord unto all pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work and growing by the full knowledge of God.” This passage shows us that we need to have spiritual wisdom and understanding in order to know God’s will, to do the things which are pleasing to Him, and to have the full knowledge of Him. We have seen that it is God who gives us spiritual wisdom in our spirit, but at the same time we must also have the spiritual understanding to understand the revelation which God has given to us in the intuition of our spirit. On the one hand, the intuition of the spirit enables us to know God’s movement, while on the other hand, spiritual understanding enables us to know the meaning of the movement in our spirit. If in all things we seek God’s will in our spirit, the result will be that more and more we will know God Himself. We will grow by the full knowledge of God. This will cause our intuition to grow indefinitely. The growth of the intuition is simply the growth of life. The more the life grows, the more God will occupy us. Therefore, we must go along with the moving of the law of life and train our spirit to know God in a deeper way. What we need is the full knowledge of Him. We must ask God to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation, and to give us spiritual understanding, so that day by day we may grow by the full knowledge of God.
Matthew 5:8 says, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.” Here again we see the matter of the heart. If our heart is pure and not doubleminded, as mentioned in James 4:8, we shall see God. If our heart desires and covets things other than God Himself, there will be a veil inside. Thus our perception of God will be blurred. Therefore, whenever we feel blurry inside, the most important thing to do is to ask God to show us whether or not our heart is pure.
The Lord Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make an abode with him” (John 14:23). This verse tells us that if we love and obey the Lord, God will make an abode with us. God will give us the sense of His presence. This corresponds with 1 John 2:27 where we are told to abide in the Lord according to the teaching of the anointing. This means that when we walk according to the teaching of the anointing, we keep the Lord’s word. Then we will abide in the Lord and God will make an abode with us. This kind of obedience issues forth out of our love toward God and not out of coercion by others.
Brother Lawrence said that if our heart can in any measure come to know God, it can do so only through love. He also said that the pleasures of man’s heart are different from his sentiments. The proper outlet of sentiments is love, and the object of love is God. Therefore, we should sing:
What e’er thou lovest, man,
That too become thou must;
God, if thou lovest God,
Dust, if thou lovest dust.
Go out, God will come in;
Die thou and let Him live;
Be not and He will be;
Wait and He’ll all things give.
O, Cross of Christ, I take thee
Into this heart of mine,
That I to my own self may die
And rise to Thy life Divine.
To bring thee to thy God,
Love takes the shortest route;
The way which knowledge leads,
Is but a roundabout.
Drive out from thee the world,
And then thy heart shall be
Filled with the love of God,
And holy like as He.
(Hymns, #477)
Love is surely the most proper outlet of sentiments. Love is not reluctant. We love God because He first loved us (1 John 4:19). The more we love Him, the more we will draw close to Him. The more we draw close to Him, the more we will know Him. The more we know Him, the more we will love Him, and the more we will long after Him.
The saints of old wrote in the Psalms: “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God” (Psa. 42:1). This is the longing of those who have tasted God. One of the Lord’s children has said that God gave us a heart which is so great that only He can fill it. We perhaps thought that our heart was small, but those who have tasted God will testify that the heart is so big that it cannot be filled by anything less than God Himself. Only God can fill our heart. Brothers and sisters, how much does your heart long after God?