Reply To: Knowing God, Chapters 3 & 4

[Nayara Jordan]

I have been reading through John, and it was so timely that this morning’s reading included chapter 17, which Packer quotes at the beginning of chapter 3. It really is the gift and grace of God, that eternal life doesn’t just mean being rescued from hell, but it means to know God and to know Jesus. It returns our focus to the point that the purpose of our lives revolves around relationship with the Father, and this is what comprises a lot of Jesus’ prayer in John 17; the time has come for Jesus to be glorified and reunited with the Father.

It is both humbling and comforting to be reminded regarding our relationship with God: “It is a relationship in which the initiative throughout is with God- as it must be, since God is so completely above us, and we have so completely forfeited all claim on his favor by our sins.” I thank God, that in his abounding grace, he has extended his hand and opened the door to friendship. “I know him because he first knew me,” and because we are known, “no discovery now can disillusion him about me… and quench his determination to bless me.”

“For some unfathomable reason, he wants me as his friend, and desires to be my friend, and has given his Son to die for me in order to realize this purpose.”