Know God as you are known by Him

Galatians 4:1-11 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, ² but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. ³ So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. ⁴ But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, ⁵ so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. ⁶ Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” ⁷ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

⁸ However at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature are no gods. ⁹ But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? ¹⁰ You observe days and months and seasons and years. ¹¹ I fear for you, that perhaps I have labored over you in vain.

Some of those in the early church were turning back to the law and religious tradition rather than living in the freedom of the grace of the cross of Christ. Although they had heard and received Christ, they were turning back and holding fast to the regulations and traditions of men. In today’s text, Paul asks:     But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?    Under the old covenant, the law, God was known as righteous and holy. He was the provider and protector of His people, but no one could see Him. Sin separated man from the holiness of God. Even Moses, who spoke with God, was told by God:  "You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!" (Exodus 33:20) Moses spoke with God, he was physically changed by being in the presence of the glory of God. In Exodus 34:34-35 it says:     But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take off the veil until he came out; and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded,  the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone. So Moses would replace the veil over his face until he went in to speak with Him.       Still, Moses could not see God face to face. Yet Paul says to the Galatians:   you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God

What does it mean that we have come to know God under the new covenant, through Jesus and the cross? What is different about God that we know and those under the old covenant, the Law did not know? Does it mean that God is no longer righteous or holy? God is still and always will be the same holy and righteous God, He is unchanging. Through the cross though, we now know another aspect of the character of God. An aspect of God that has always been there but could not be seen and know because of sin. The text says:   God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,  so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.  Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”       God sent forth His Son. John 3:16 says: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His  only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”     The redemption that Paul speaks of results in the eternal life we have through Christ and the cross. If redemption and eternal life were all that we received through the cross, it would be much more than we deserve. But there is much more that we have through the cross. We are also reconciled to God. Before Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, they walked with, talked with and saw God face to face. We too have been reconciled to God, that we might see Him and walk with Him. When God created man, in the beginning, He said:  "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness” (Genesis 1:26) Created in the image and likeness of God. That too, is part of what we have through the cross of Christ. We are restored to the way God created and intended that we should be, like Him.

We are though, not gods ourselves. Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. We though, through the cross, “receive the adoption as sons.”       God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”    Because of the cross, we know God, the same righteous and holy God who Moses could not see, as Abba, Daddy. Under the law there was a veil in the temple which separated God and His holiness from man and sin. In Matthew 27:50-51 it says:  Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit.  Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split,      John 19:30 tells us what it was that Jesus cried out:   "It is finished!"      Because of the finished work of the cross there is no longer a need for separation between man and God. That doesn’t mean though that God is no longer holy and righteous. It means only that by God’s grace, through the cross, we have been redeemed, reconciled and restored. It is only by grace though. Ephesians 2:8-9 says:   For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;  not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.     The law, our works cannot redeem, reconcile or restore, it is only by grace, through the cross. Hebrews 4:16 says:   Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

Because of grace we can come boldly to God. We can know Him as Abba, as Daddy. God is still righteous and holy. If we choose to know Him through religion, through tradition and through our own works, we will only know Him as a holy, righteous and unapproachable God. We though can choose to know Him as we are known by Him, through the cross, redeemed, reconciled and restored to all that God intended from the beginning. We can know Him and go to Him boldly as Daddy.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit, Your word says: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you”(Jeremiah 1:5) By grace You know me as redeemed, reconciled and restored. Thank You Daddy!   Amen