All shall know God. In the heart of his sermon, the Preacher assures his listeners and us of a New Covenant relationship with God. The split between head and heart resulting from the Fall is being healed. God writes his Word on our hearts and minds. His will is no longer imposed from without, but lovingly obeyed from within (Romans 6:17).

This relationship also includes a new and universal knowledge of God (Hebrews 8:11). All will know him with no need of teachers or teaching. Really? Not so fast.

This promise speaks of a spiritual knowledge of God that cannot be learned from books and scholars, but is revealed to babes (Luke 10:21). The Hebrews still need human teachers and teaching. In fact, they themselves ought to have been teachers by now (5:12).

Jesus commissioned his Apostles to teach others everything he taught them (Matthew 28:19–20). This command is binding to the end of the age. The perfect and universal knowledge of God must wait for the age to come. Only then will we know him fully as he knows us (1 Corinthians 13:12).

So, then, is the promise of knowing God without books deferred to the Age to come? Thankfully, no. Today, everyone from the least to the greatest can know God personally and intimately through Jesus Christ. How? Approach him directly. Spend time with him daily. One on one.

This is what Hebrews is about. Jesus has opened a new and living way for us to enter the Holy of Holies (Hebrews 10:19-20).

We can commune with God spirit to spirit, heart to heart, mind to mind, anywhere, any time. Why do we entertain diversions? Why do we settle for substitutes?

Our New Covenant relationship with God also includes the permanent cancellation of our sin-record: I will remember their sins no more (:12). Not that they escape his memory. But he will never hold them against us. The record is deleted. Nailed to the Cross with Christ (Colossians 2:14).

Jesus paid it all. All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow (Elvina Hall).

Prayer Track

• Theological education is worth a fortune if you choose the right school, that is. But knowing God goes beyond scholarship and seminary degrees. God is relational. Open your heart to know him personally and intimately through Jesus.
  Here’s a passionate appeal from a father figure in the global church. Turn this into prayer for yourself and fellow believers: You will never develop a close relationship with God by just attending church once a week or even by just having a daily quiet time. Friendship with God is built by sharing all your life experiences with him. Of course it is important to establish the habit of a daily devotional time with God, but God wants more than an appointment in your schedule. He wants to be included in every activity, every conversation, every problem, and even every thought. You can carry on a continuous, open-ended conversation with God throughout your day, talking with him about whatever you are doing or thinking at that moment (Rick Warren).

• The world needs a God who is personal and knowable. We owe our world the Gospel. This generation must get to know God deeply so that we can testify of his grace and mercy personally and powerfully.
  Pray: Jesus, the Scriptures bear witness of you (John 5:39). You are the Living Word spoken once and for all in these Last Days. Cause me to crave your Word. Reveal yourself to me on every page. Let my heart burn like fire as you open my mind to understand the Scriptures (Luke 24:32, 45). Inscribe your Word on my heart. Increase my capacity to store your Truth deep within me so that I won’t sin against you. Train me to detect and decode every distortion of Scripture by Satan and his legion of false teachers (2 Timothy 2:15; 2 Peter 2). I want to know you more in your Word and by experience in my daily life.
  

• Commit to love the Word and live the Word:Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matthew 4:4). I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread (Job 23:12). 

• The weary soul needs to know that God cares. Our sacred time in the secret place is not just for our own soul care. God also wants to show us things so that we can minister pastorally and prophetically to the weary all around us. The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed (Isaiah 50:4).
  As the world spins into chaos, may we shine as a faith community that knows God: Solid in the Word. Strong in spirit. Sacrificial in lifestyle. Strategic in thinking. Servant in posture. Sterling in integrity. Superb in performance.

• This Election, ask God to position his Issachars. Wise leaders who discern the times and know what Singapore ought to do (1 Chronicles 12:32).

Read the devotional from Day 7 here.

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