“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (1 John 2:3-4 NKJV)
It is possible to speak about God eloquently and passionately without having a loving and intimate relationship with God or the revelation knowledge of God.
It is possible to experience or receive miracles from God yet not know God intimately or experientially.
The generation of children of Israel that God brought out of Egypt undoubtedly saw and experienced diverse wonders and miracles of God, heard God’s audible voice, and witnessed God descending mightily upon Mount Sinai. Yet, they did not know God intimately (Exo. 32:1, Psa. 78:8-19).
How sad!
What are the valid tests or proofs of knowing God intimately?
Walking in obedience to God and walking in Agape love towards people!
The first actual test of knowing God is “the obedience test.”
You are a liar if you claim to know God and do not obey what God says or commands in the Bible.
The Scripture clearly states, “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” (1 John 2:3-4 NKJV).
Walking in obedience to God’s Word proves that you know God intimately!
Your revelation knowledge of God is revealed in your obedience to God’s Word. A lifestyle of prompt and perfect obedience to God shows that a man truly knows God.
The man who truly knows God is not the man who speaks eloquently and passionately about God, prays fervently and frequently to God, gives generously to God, or receives mighty miracles from God, but rather the man who promptly obeys God’s Word.
While it is excellent to study and teach God’s Word and pray and receive answers to your prayers, these are no valid tests of knowing God intimately.
The actual test of knowing God is obeying or keeping God’s commandments!
The second test of knowing God is “the love test.”
The Scripture rightly concludes, “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:8 NKJV).
Love is essentially God’s nature. Love is an expression of God’s Life. God’s love is divine, pure, perfect, constant, unselfish, undeserving, unconditional, unending, infinite, or everlasting.
The highest and ultimate expression of God’s love for humankind is revealed at the cross where and when Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, willingly offered Himself as a propitiation for our sins.
1 John 3:16 – NKJV
16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
1 John 4:9-11 – NKJV
9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
God’s love for us transcends any human comprehension. God loves us unconditionally, perfectly, absolutely, endlessly, immeasurably, constantly, or perpetually. God’s love does not discriminate, exempt, or exclude anyone.
The Scripture states, “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Matt. 5:45 NKJV).
Therefore, claiming to know God and not walk in love is a contradiction. A believer who truly knows God is known by His love for God and people.
John writes, “If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1 John 4:20 NKJV).
“He who says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness until now.” (1 John 2:9 NKJV).
Paul also admonishes, “Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.” (Eph. 5:1-2 NKJV).
Beloved, enough of deceiving yourself or others; you cannot honestly know God and yet continue to disobey God’s Word and walk in hatred towards the people God loves.
True experiential or revelation knowledge of God is revealed in your godly conduct, lifestyle, and loving relationship with people.
Knowing God intimately starts with putting your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His perfect redemptive work.
You cannot know God intimately nor have a personal, intimate, and loving relationship with God unless you come to God through His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. It is only the Son who can reveal the Father to you!
The Lord Jesus clearly states this truth.
John 14:6-7 – NKJV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
7 “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
Matthew 11:27 – NKJV
27 “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
You can never know God intimately or have revelation knowledge of God through your human effort. You can only know God through God’s Word with the aid of the Holy Spirit.
Knowing God intimately is a gracious gift of God through Christ Jesus. It is called “eternal life.”
John testifies, “And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.” (1 John 5:20 NKJV).
“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (John 17:3 NKJV).
Under the New Covenant, sealed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, knowing God intimately is not an exclusive right or privilege of God’s prophets or ministers as it was under the Mosaic Covenant.
Every born-again believer possesses the mind of Christ, has the unction from the Holy One, and knows God in his born-again spirit. It is the heritage of the new creation in Christ to know God intimately (1 Cor. 2:16, 1 John 2:27).
1 John 2:20-21 – NKJV
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.
21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
Hebrews 8:10-11 – NKJV
10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.
11 “None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.
Friend, your born-again spirit knows God, for it possesses the life of God. The Scripture testifies that you “have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him.” (Col. 3:10 NKJV).
Your soul or mind needs to be taught the truths about God by you reading, studying, listening to, and imbibing God’s Word diligently and continually, thereby renewing your natural mind (Rom. 8:7).
If you claim to know God, show it by your walk of obedience to God’s Word and love towards God and people.
James 3:13-15 – NKJV
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom.
14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 – NKJV
23 Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
24 But let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me, That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight,” says the LORD.
Prayer: My Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for Your gracious provision of the gift of eternal life in Christ Jesus. My Dear Holy Spirit, teach and help me daily to grow in the revelation knowledge of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, in Jesus’ name. Amen.