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I’m Sorry, You’re Relating To A Dead Jesus

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I love to talk about Jesus; I can’t hide that. But I had no idea over time that it would become one of my greatest deceptions.



There was a time in my life when I noticed I talked more about Jesus than to Jesus. That’s a slippery place to be.


Knowing more about Jesus and teaching others about Him should not be mistaken for knowing Him. If Jesus, with omniscience, will someday say to some people, “I never knew you” (Matthew 7.23), then, when He describes eternal life as knowing God and Him, He must be looking for more than being well acquainted with the Bible accounts of Him.


“Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” — Jesus (John 17.3)


Let’s set the record straight. Even demons know God, believe God and fear God. They “believe there is one God…and tremble” before Him (James 2.19). Likewise, demons know Jesus, and acknowledge and confess He is “the Holy One of God!” (Mark 1.23–24; Acts 19.15). I dare say many Christians don’t even show God and Jesus that much reverence these days. The way we live these days, you will think even demons do bett… Anyway I digressed.


The role of the Biblical accounts of Jesus “are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20.31). Now, if Jesus stayed dead, as every other dead President, then the story ends there. But if Jesus is still alive — which I believe is the case — then knowing and trusting in Him must be a current ongoing occupation. And it should be never-ending, since “He always lives” (Hebrews 7.25). In one word, it should be: eternal.


To constantly know the always-living Jesus is to have an ongoing friendship with Him. Your active knowing of Jesus, therefore, must go beyond the passive knowledge of the recorded Jesus, into one borne out of “fellowshipping-knowledge” with the always-living Jesus. But note that, since “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13.8), knowing Him beyond the biblical accounts shouldn’t be taken as learning something new per se about Him. It means a perpetual never changing but ever-deepening knowing of Him — His heart, His mind, His character, His desires, His joys, His sorrows, His Majesty, etc — as you become more and more intimate with each other. This is eternal life! That is the knowledge demons don’t and can’t have!


At this point, it makes more sense for the omniscient Jesus to say, “I never knew you”. He’s not saying he didn’t have records about you. He’s saying something like, “We were never friends. We were never in constant fellowship. We were never engaged in a perpetual never changing but an ever-deepening relationship”. Jesus is seeking that He and you will know each other by fellowship. But if your knowing Jesus begins and end with His history in the Bible, then I’m sorry, you’re relating with a dead Jesus, I dare say! You and the living one don’t know each other yet. You have to use Biblical accounts of Jesus, not as an end in itself, but as the means to begin a never-ending relationship with Him — and you have to do that quickly; as soon as today!


“Whoever comes to me I will never drive away. — Jesus (John 6.37)



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