Many people assume they know at least some things about God. They have many ideas about God and some strong opinions on the subject. They assume that God must fit in with the best human logic and the highest human ideas about what is good. John tells us, “No one has ever seen God… (John 1:18). That means all human talk about God is just making it up.

Knowing God is vital for us, so we must deal with the real God, not the one we would like or imagine. The real God might not be what we want him to be! He might be many things we don’t want Him to be.  So where do we find knowledge of the real God? John says, “No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.” (John 1:18).

The only Son is close to the Father’s heart simply because he has always been with God as the Father’s unique Son. And this one who was always with God became human showing us what God is really like.  We might say that we see God in Jesus and through Jesus, but we can say more. For we actually see God as Jesus. The only God I know is the man Christ Jesus.  He is God.  So, we do not try to see God apart from Jesus.  Nor do we begin with Jesus and then move on to see the real depths of God beyond Jesus.  For we only learn the deepest truths about God himself as we look at Jesus. He is the only God we know.