God is Spirit, but we are material creatures.
John 4:24 (NIV) says, "God is spirit…" But friends, we are material creatures living in a physical world. Everything we know has a certain height, width, depth, mass,and a certain physical composition.Consider our bodies, for instance, which are 65% oxygen, 18% carbon, 10% hydrogen, and 3% nitrogen. We can know and relate to one another because wehave amaterial, physical existence. But God is Spirit, and herein lays a major obstacle to faith.If we can’t see it through a telescope or under a microscope,if we can’t hear it with our ears, or taste it, or smell it, or feel it, if we can’t detect it with scientific instruments or verify it through our scientific methods,we assume it doesn’t exist.
So Romans 1:20 (NIV) speaks of God’s, "invisible qualities— his eternal power and divine nature." 1 Timothy 1:17 (NIV) describes God as the, "King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God." We can relate to someone we can see, hear, touch, and know through our senses. But how can we know a God who is Spirit and invisible?
Some attempt to know God through science. But science will never prove nor disprove the existence of God. God isn’t a thing or a physical object. He doesn’t dwell in a physical place. He can’t be seen under a microscope or through a telescope. God is Spirit. He is not bound by the laws of physics, gravity, motion, space, or time. His composition is spirit— not oxygen, not carbon, and not hydrogen. So we need another way to know God, a non-scientific way.
God has made himself known in a variety of ways.
Throughout history God has made himself known through a variety of means. One way is through creation. Romans 1:20 (NIV) says, "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities— his eternal power and divine nature— have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."
At other times God spoke audibly as he did toJacob in Genesis 46:2. In Exodus 3:2 the Lord appears to Moses in a burning bush. In Exodus 3:21 he appears to Israel in the form of a cloud by day and as apillar of fire by night. In Psalm 103:7-10 the Lord made his character known through physical, tangible deeds.
The most extreme measure God took to be known was sending his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, into the world. In the person of Jesus of Nazareth, God who is Spirit took on a human existence.Jesus was born into a physical body, in material space, in time, in actual history. Colossians 1:15 (NIV) says that Jesus is the, "image of the invisible God." Colossians 2:9 (NIV) says, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form." Hebrews 1:1-3 (NIV) says, "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being…"
In John 14:6-11 (NIV) Jesus tells his disciples, "… I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."Pretty strong statement! SeeingJesusis equal toseeing the Father.
In 1 John 1:1-4 (NIV) Jesus’ closest disciple writes, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched— this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us. We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. We write this to make our joy complete."
I’m incredibly thankful for the word of God, for the Old Testament, and for the gospels which vividly capture the life of Christ. But we live at a different time and in a different place. And God is still Spirit, and we are still material! We would love for our eyes to see, our ears to hear, and our hands to touch the word of life, but Christ has ascended to the Father’s right hand in glory. And we’re not content to live vicariously through the experiences of others. We long to know God just as personally as the men of old.
We don’t want to just close our eyes and imagine God, do we? We want to know God personally and tangibly. We want to see him, taste him, touch him, and feel his presence.
The key to knowing God is through the Holy Spirit within us.
The key to knowing God, who is Spirit, is found in John 4:24 (NIV) where Jesus says, "God is spirit, and his worshippers must worship him in spirit and in truth." The only way to know God is "in spirit" through the Holy Spirit of God. We must approach God in Spirit and in truth. Knowing God through his Holy Spirit isn’t inferior to knowing God scientifically through our senses. It's just different, and perhaps superior to knowing God through our senses.
In Acts 5:32 (NIV) the apostles are asked to stand before the Sanhedrin and defend their belief in Christ’s resurrection. It’s Peter who says, "We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him."
Peter is telling the Sanhedrin that you don’t have to be persuaded by our first-hand experiences alone. You don’t have to believe vicariously through the experience of others alone. You can also be persuaded through the witness of the Holy Spirit within you. You don’t have to have experienced what we experienced. You don’t have to have seen, tasted, and touched. The Spirit of the living God can bear witness to these truths within you, or at least within, "those who obey him."
I spent my first years of Bible College seeking scientific confirmation for a belief in God’s existence, Jesus Christ, and the resurrection. No scientific argument absolutely persuaded me of God’s existence.But no scientific argument disproved God’s existence either. For the longest time I teetered back and forth, wavering in my faith, wavering in disobedience, and holding out.
But one night I cried out to God, "Show yourself to me. Make yourself real. I want to know you. I believe you exist. I will serve you and obey you, but please show yourself to me."
When we try to know God in our way, on our terms, he proves quite ellusive. When we cry out to God and seek to know him in his way, through his Holy Spirit, suddenly he becomes quite real. We begin to taste his goodness, see his hand at work, touch him, hear his voice, feel his presence, and sense his power. There is nothing more powerful than the Holy Spirit of God within us bearing witness to the truth of Christ. It'sas good and real as if we’d lived inthe first century and walked with Christ ourselves.
The Bible speaks to the power of the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds.
I want you to consider a few passages on the power of the Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds and help us know God personally.
Do you ever wish God would lead you?
I saw this prayer in Psalm 143:7-10 (NIV)."Answer me quickly, O Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit. Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul. Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord, for I hide myself in you. Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground."
Do you ever wish you could be assured of God’s love?
You have sinned, you have sought forgiveness, but you feel far from God. I saw this in Romans 5:5 (NIV). "And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
Ever feel confused about how you should pray?
Romans 8:26-27 (NIV) tells us,"… the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will."
Do you ever find yourself full of doubt?
Are you questioning whether God will truly rescue you from the grave, or are you trembling in fear upon hearing bad news from the doctor? Romans 15:13 (NIV) advises, "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."
I’ll do you one better! 2 Corinthians 5:1-5 (NIV) says, "Now we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile we groan, longing to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling,because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now it is God who has made us for this very purpose and has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come."
Do you ever just want God to reveal himself to you?
Ephesians 1:17-20 (NIV) says,"I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength,which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms..."
2 Peter 1:20-21 (NIV) says, "Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit."
Acts 7:55 (NIV) says, "But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." We cannot see the glory of God or Jesus standing at the right hand of God apart from God’s Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit has the power to illuminate your mind.
Or course, the most compelling statement in scripture on the power of God’s Holy Spirit to illumine your mind is in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16 (NIV) which says, "We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God’s secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written: 'No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him' —but God has revealed it to us by his Spirit."
"The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment: 'For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?' But we have the mind of Christ."
The Holy Spirit gives us assurance in our salvation, assurance of our resurrection hope, and assurance of God’s boundless love. The Holy Spirit persuades us of God’s existence, his mighty working, and God’s power. The Holy Spirit enables us to see the glory of God, and Christ standing at God’s right hand. The Holy Spirit gives us wisdom, guidance, and insight into the personality of God. May we humble ourselves in obedience that God’s Spirit might fill us.