Chapter 4 -JESUS CHRIST THE KEY TO THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD

YOU are standing at the door, fumbling with your keys.  It is cold and dark, and you are eager to get inside -but the key does not work.  It looks right, yet the lock will not budge.  How frustrating!  You look at your keys again.  Are  you using the right one?  Has someone damaged the key?

That is a fair picture of what this world's religious confusion has done with the knowledge of God.  In effect, many have tampered with the key that opens it up to our understanding -Jesus Christ.  Some religions have removed the key, ignoring Jesus altogether.  Others have distorted Jesus'  role, worshiping him as Almighty God.  In any case, the knowledge of God is closed to us without an accurate understanding of this principle figure, Jesus Christ.

You may recall that Jesus said:  "This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of  you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ."   (John 17:3) In saying this, Jesus was not being boastful.  The Scriptures repeatedly emphasize the need for accurate knowledge of Christ.  (Ephesians 4:13; Colossians 2:2; 2 Peter 1:8; 2:20)  "To [Jesus Christ] all the prophets bear witness," noted the apostle Peter.  (Acts 10:43)  And the apostle Paul wrote:  "Carefully concealed in [Jesus] are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."  ( Colossians 2:3)  Paul even said that all of Jehovah's promises come true because of Jesus.  (2 Corinthians 1:20) So Jesus Christ is the very key to the knowledge of God.  Our knowledge of Jesus must be free of any distortions as to his nature and as to his role in God's arrangement.  But why do Jesus' followers consider him to be central to God's purposes?

Next time: THE PROMISED MESSIAH

The Book - KNOWLEDGE That Leads To Everlasting Life, 1995