Spiritual Vision

Therefore he is good without qualification, great without measure, eternal without [limit of] time, pre-eminent without position. Since he has no [fixed] place he is imparted to all his creatures and embraces all his creation. No creature holds him, no intelligence comprehends him.

  - Anonymous, Liber de Ordine Creaturarum (Irish, 7th century)

"And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent."

  - John 17.3

Because Celtic Christians had a profound appreciation of the wonder of creation, and closely associated God and His glory with all created things, they "read" the revelation of God in lakes, trees, hills, and creatures as eagerly, and almost as clearly, as they read of Him in Scripture.

This description of God, from an unknown Irish scholar, takes my breath away. God is the very definition of goodness. His greatness is beyond anything we can imagine, much less measure. He exists outside of time and yet makes Himself known within it to all His creatures, and offers them participation in Him by grace through faith. He is pre-eminence; He does not occupy it, as in some office. None can restrain Him; none can fathom His infinite understanding and wisdom.

He is therefore beyond what we can know, awesome, fearsome, such as to make us swoon in fright, yet One Who reaches down to us in compassion and says, by the blood of His own Son, "I have called you by your name, and you are Mine" (Is. 43.1).

He is God beyond knowing; and yet we know Him. We know Him because it pleases Him to make Himself known to us, both in the things He has made and in the Word He has given. But above all He makes Himself known in the Son, our Lord Jesus, Who is the exact representation in human form of the eternal and almighty God (Heb. 1.3).

Do we really grasp the enormity of this privilege? We may know God! Not just about Him, but Him! Personally! In our presence and us in His! Chillingly, frighteningly, warmly, safely, and truly! All of eternal life consists in this - to know God and Jesus Christ.

If we know Him, and if we are pressing on to know Him better, He will form us into the image of His Son, and others - unspeakable wonder! - will be able to see the reality of God in us.

If this does not incite us to seek the Lord daily and fervently, then we simply do not understand how or why, by what means or to what end we have been saved. If we are only living this Christian life for the sense of security and relief it affords us day by day, then we do not truly know the Lord.

For if we know Him, we will hunger for Him, and if we hunger for Him and seek Him earnestly, we will know Him more. When the Lord is our portion and our cup, and when in His presence we know fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore, then we will understand what it means to be saved.

And then we will joyously, gladly, and urgently plead with others to come along with us.

T. M. Moore, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.