The Saving Knowledge of God

Q. What does a person desire most?

A. That he may be saved.

Q. Has that been the desire of all people?

A. Yes! Even a wicked Balaam said, “Let me die the death of the righteous” (Numbers 23:10). They desire, but they know not what they desire.

Q. Was this desire of Balaam not good?

A. It was not enough; he desired only the death of the righteous.

Q. What must a person desire if he desires to be saved?

A. Three things: (1) that he may be converted and live in a reconciled state with God; (2) that when he dies, he with his soul may be with God; (3) that at the resurrection of the dead, he may glorify God with soul and body.

Q. Who has these desires?

A. Only God's chosen children. It is the desire of an upright person. It is an exceedingly great good. Those who desire this, desire that which is most desirable. It is a desire which is given by the grace of God.

Q. Do we find that God's people really desire this?

A. Yes. First, to be converted in time is found in Lamentations 5:21: “Turn Thou us unto Thee, O LORD, and we shall be turned”; and in Song of Solomon 1:4: “Draw me, we will run after Thee.” They greatly desire a tender heart, and they realize that they are sinful and loathsome. When they do not attain this, they conclude that they shall be unhappy forever. The sinner who is going lost has no desire for this. Secondly, they desire that when they die, they with their soul may be with God. Jacob said in Genesis 49:18, “I have waited for Thy salvation, O LORD”; and Paul, in Philippians 1:23, said, “for I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.” The young disciple, the thief on the cross, said, “Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.” Stephen said, “Receive my spirit.” To be able to say this with a humble boldness is the blessedness of only God's children.

Q. Have there also been those who have desired, at the resurrection, to glorify God with soul and body?

A. Yes. In Job 19:25-27: “for I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.” It is like a person who feels an inward longing, as in 2 Corinthians 5:2: “for in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.” God has given means and ways to acquire these great things. The greatest sinner may not say, “It is beyond hope.”

Q. What are these ways and means?

A. To know God rightly and to serve Him according to His holy Word.

Q. Is “to know God” a means to be saved?

A. Yes. “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee” (John 17:3). When God gives a person this knowledge, He restores the lost image in him. This saving knowledge is a gift of the covenant of grace. The Lord says, “To know Me, who and what I am, and what I desire to be for a poor, lost sinner, is your salvation.”

Q. Is there also eternal salvation in serving God?

A. Yes. Paul said, “Godliness with contentment is great gain,” that “godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come,” and that “without holiness no man shall see the Lord.” To go in the path of only one of these ways is not enough, for though I had all knowledge and have not charity, I am nothing (1 Corinthians 13:2). A person can go lost even though he has great knowledge.

Q. If a person were only a godly person, but had no knowledge, would that be sufficient?

A. No, for then a person would establish his own righteousness. The Savior said, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them” (John 13:17).

Q. Has God not given certain books from which a person must learn to know Him? A. Yes, three books. First, there is the book of nature, secondly, the book of conscience, and thirdly, the book of Scripture.

Q. What do you understand by the book of nature?

A. It is all of nature, the entire creation. God wills that we should learn from every creature. It is pleasing to God that man learns to know Him in His providence, in the least as well as in the greatest. “But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?” (Job 12:7-9). “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number” (Isaiah 40:26). Q. What do we learn about God from this book of nature?

A. First, that He is the maker of all things. Each little creature says, “I am not of myself; I have a maker.” There is not a house or a building that does not have a maker. Likewise everything you see has a maker. This maker is God.

Secondly, we learn to know His attributes, which shine like pearls in a crown. Some of these are His great power, His eternity, His perfection, His wisdom which brought all things forth, and His infinity, in that He existed before the mountains were made (Proverbs 8:25).

Thirdly, if we see any good in the creature, then we should look higher and learn to see how much more greatness and beauty there must be in the Creator.

Fourthly, a person must take the creatures as examples of spiritual matters. For example, you see that when the darkness goes away, then there is light. By this you can see how it goes with a child of God; after darkness, light comes into his soul. In like manner, when we arise from sleep, then we may see how we must arise from the sleep of sin. The Savior used the creatures for such examples of spiritual things. He used the parable of a woman who had a little leaven and hid it in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened. if we do likewise, we shall find, even in household matters or physical things, nothing that does not lead us upward unto God to find something spiritual. If we would see all things spiritually as we see them physically, it would be very useful for us.

— from Smytegelt's Monday Catechism

— to be continued —

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