Whom Ye Know Not
In Jn 1:26, John the Baptist said, “… there standeth one among you, whom ye know not”. He was referring to Jesus. Jesus was among them but they didn’t know who he was. Even when John announced him, and Jesus did all the miracles, they still didn’t know him. Many thought he was “that” prophet, or one of the old prophets. Others thought he was just the son of Mary. Some even thought he was a devil
Yet, the woman at the well knew him after he told her that he was the Christ, Jn 4. She believed him. The impotent man by the pool Bethesda knew him after he was healed and Jesus later found him in the temple, Jn 5. He believed Jesus. And the man whom Jesus healed, who was blind from his birth, knew him after he was cast out of the synagogue and Jesus revealed himself to him, Jn 9. He believed that Jesus was the Son of God.
In each of these cases, the people believed Jesus after they had a personal encounter with him. That’s when they “knew” him.
Today, Jesus is among us. We know this from his promise in the Bible to two or three people that are gathered together in his name, Matt 18:20. He’s in our midst.
However, I wonder how many are here that know Jesus is here, but, to them, he’s Jesus “whom ye know not”. In other words, you know the name. You know about him. But you just don’t know him.
We teach children about him in Sunday school and Bible Clubs. We teach teens and young adults about him in Sunday school. And we preach to the people who are here on Sunday morning and on Sunday and Wednesday evenings.
They hear us like the people heard John. And because they listen and they can repeat stories about him, we think that they really know him. I’m afraid that some of them don’t.
They can repeat verses like kids in school recite the pledge of allegiance, or the multiplication tables, or their abc’s. Just because they know some of the words and some of the details doesn’t mean that they know the man.
We have to be careful not to be content that our children prayed a prayer, or that they can repeat the Romans road. We must:
- Talk about the real experiences that we have with Jesus. Our families need to see that he’s working in us, and answering specific prayers. They need to see us really living by faith.
- Get our families to read the Bible and dig for themselves so that Jesus can reveal himself to them through his words.
- Pray that our children have real personal encounters with the Lord. They need to experience the fellowship of his sufferings to begin to really know him, Phil 3:10. We have to let them go through these things and find out who Jesus is for themselves.
Conclusion: this way for them it won’t be Jesus “whom ye know not” but rather Jesus “whom ye know”.