“Then You Will Know The Truth, and The Truth Will Set You Free” (John 8:32)
Greetings once more Friends everywhere!
We have often heard the saying, knowledge is power. Prasad Nanda in his essay bearing the title says, “Knowledge helps us make informed decisions. Knowledge is not necessarily gleaned from books in a classroom. It could come from experience, sometimes it can come from just watching other people’s lives.” That’s about as good an answer as any. Yes, it’s not just knowledge per se but true knowledge which gives us the power to do good and not evil to our neighbors. We watch people live their knowledge and see their understanding about life in real time. Lasting and constructive knowledge has to stand the test of time and the whole perspective of the human experience, where knowledge gives birth to ideas which are believed through real-life experimentation and hopefully to promote good in humanity.
But the Christian understanding of the human experience is that since Adam man has sat and searched for knowledge under the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” and have eaten and made full from its fruits (Gen.2:15-17). The “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” was not corrupting of itself. It symbolized knowledge that’s necessary for humanity to make wise decisions where they understand the difference between good and evil. God used it to teach our first parents. However, in this particular instance, God used this tree as a prop to prove our first parent’s faithfulness to His purpose for them. Their unfaithfulness did not put a stop to the human thirst for knowledge. What we must realize is there is a difference between human knowledge and intellect and God’s truths as represented in the “Tree of Life” and generated through God’s Spirit. As Jesus said, “A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit.” Paul explains that on one hand human knowledge vainly puffs humans up, while God’s truths Lovingly builds us up. (1 Cor.8:1) Wisdom is recognizing the difference between the two trees, and applying oneself wisely.
The human knowledge derived from the tree which gives birth to “good and evil” essentially means that every good will always be cancelled out by evil, so our good intentions are forever nullified, no matter what. It seems like the seeds from which human actions are produced carries this genetic mutation which has positives but is always countermanded by negatives. The history of human experience bears out what the Scriptures attest.
The Bible goes into detail, “For there is not a just man upon earth, that does good, and sins not” (Eccle.7:20, KJV). Interpretation: “We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous (good) deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind” (Isa.64:6, NLT). What does this tell us, our knowledge and ideas no matter how good will always be found wanting. Man, who discovered the penicillin also developed the nuclear bomb capable of destroying every man, woman, and child, from this earth. That’s “good and evil” in a nutshell. Albert Einstein said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” Human problems are simply the product of ignorance. Metaphorically speaking, we have to get up from sitting under the “tree of the fruit of good and evil,” and sit under and eat the fruits from the “the tree of life.” (Gen.2:8-9) The “tree of life” represent God’s Spirit, God’s Love. (Rom.5:5; 1 Cor.13)
So what’s the answer? From what we have read and “know” about man, only God can answer that question. It is He who will give us to sit under the “tree of life.” The reason man has a brain and mind with a fund of knowledge is because he was created to replicate God’s divine image and likeness. (Gen1:26-27) No other living creature has a mind like a human capable of discerning knowledge, develop ideas and concepts upon which to base his decision and conclusions. I wonder if we ever ask the question, If a divine Being created the human mind, did He not also create a fund of knowledge to go with it? The answer is a resounding, Yes! The foundation of God’s knowledge is founded upon one ingredient and one only – Love – that’s who He IS! “God IS Love” (1 John 4:8). Love is the substance into which man is formed into His divine image.
Graduation Day – A Day We Memorialize As A Focal Point of Scholarly Attainment – Note Emblem of Power in The Sky Above (Photo: Wiki Commons)
Before man’s creation, God existed in Love in His Tri-Personal Being. (John 17:24) Out of the three Persons of the Father, Son, and Spirit, it is the Son who was called the Logos or Word. “Word” simply means “knowledge.” John was inspired to write, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-5). In this passage it is made clear that “true knowledge” is a Person not some impersonal dogma man writes up and keep on his book shelf. This Person, Jesus, is the light and is true knowledge who swallows darkness and ignorance.
The Bible can become dangerously legalistic and impersonal if we allow it. The purpose of the Bible is to point us to a Person, and not become an end in itself where it becomes a legalistic code. So knowledge is not some written information in a book, but first and foremost, knowledge is a Person. It is the utterance of a Person – Jesus, the Son of God, the Word of God! Paul said this of Jesus, “In Him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col.2:3). Not in a book, but in Him! Paul said he wanted people to understand the mystery of God revealed in Jesus, who was “the Word who became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing Love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son” (John 1:14, NLT). Jesus is the fund of knowledge for the human mind, hence we read Paul say to the Ephesians, “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in Love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; the Love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Eph.3:17-21; also Rom.8:29). To become like His Son is to possess true knowledge of Love and become glorified humans like Him in a future resurrection, and to have immortal life consummated in the divine Love of God.
Each of us has a choice to make, that’s how God made humans. He endowed humanity with freedom, even to rebel against Him, as Adam did. Freedom is the flip side of God’s nature of Love. There is no Love without freedom, and no freedom without Love. The two are inextricably bound in a single expression of who God is. As we consider the freedom of choice God has conferred upon us, we’ll do well to remember the example of Adam and Eve, and that at the end of the day, we will certainly lie in the bed we make for ourselves. But God says to each of us, “Today I have given you the choice (freedom) between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!” (Deut. 30:19, NLT). God is practically pleading, almost to the point of begging, that we should freely choose Him.
Jesus – Personification of True Knowledge and Power. Jesus walks on Water – Wiki Commons
So, remember true knowledge is the utterance of a Person who is the repository of knowledge that will produce only good, not good that’s undone by evil. He is Jesus Christ! This is the essential meaning of the Gospel Jesus brought from the Father and proclaimed to man.
So, in closing, what would be the most important knowledge a human ought to have his mind faithfully dwell upon and live out? We understand that in every age and epoch, God has given man who are willing a dispensation of the knowledge He wants human to understand and to align with and carry out His work. For Adam, it was to keep the garden and not eat of the forbidden fruit. For Noah it was prepare for the flood. For Abraham it was an unshakable faith to trust God’s word for him. For Israel, it was to keep God’s covenant with them. For us today, it is to enter a new covenant to take the Gospel of immortality in Jesus Christ to every living creature. (Matt.28:18-20; John 3:16; Heb.8:8-12). Today, knowledge is about becoming the living, breathing, walking, Gospel of Jesus. (You may read my segment titled, “Preaching” The Gospel – You’re Answerable.” Posted on 9/29/2014)
I sincerely hope God will give you the heart and insight to receive Jesus as your Savior and the fund of knowledge for you mind. He is the Personified Word of God, as He is the literal Word of God, the Bible.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or email me on bulamanriver@gmail.com. Thank you for visiting!
Blessing:
Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always. May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you possible as you live the “Triune Life” as a Bulamanriver.* Be strong in the Lord’s joy.
Kiang,
* Bulamanriver” is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. To read the many facets of life of the Bulamanriver, go to my website www.bulamanriver.com where you can order a copy of my book.
All scriptures are taken from the NIV Version 2011, unless stated otherwise.