Why Did Jesus Come To Earth ? - Part 2 - Pursuing Intimacy With God

Why Did Jesus Come ? – Part 2

In Part 1 of this 4 part Bible study series we began to look for the answers to Why did Jesus come to earth ? We began in Part 1 and will continue in Part 2 to discover the 1st of 2 reasons why Jesus came.

It is obvious that Jesus came to save lost sinners. Which would include everyone. But why did Jesus come to save us ? Salvation is only the very beginning of why Jesus came. Salvation is only the minimum that God wants for every believer. God has much more planned for His faithful followers.

Why Did Jesus Come To Earth ?

Is God A Personal, Relationship Oriented God ?

Can you really know God in personal & real ways ? There are a great number of believers that only know about God. They are saved, but they have not developed and grown in their fellowship with God.

Can you really have close fellowship with God ? Being a Christian is a lifelong process of growing closer to Jesus and more like Him. Jesus wants you to know Him in real & personal ways. Not just know about Him.

Knowing Jesus in real and personal ways happens as we faithfully trust, follow, and obey Him in our lives. And as we invest the time and effort to seek Him with all of our hearts.

To Know God In The Bible

There are Hebrew words in the Old Testament and Greek words in the New Testament that describe knowing God. Many times the Hebrew words and Greek words have a much wider and more descriptive meaning than the words translated into the English language.

“…. So that you may know and believe Me (God), and understand that I am He.” – Isaiah 43:10

“Teach me your ways so that I may know you and continue in your favor.” – Exodus 33:13

Old Testament Hebrew Word “yada” – To Know God

The Hebrew word “yada” is used in the Old Testament and is translated in English as the word “Know” or “Knowledge”.

What does yada mean ? The Hebrew word yada has a much wider meaning than the English word know. The Biblical Old Testament word for Know God personally means the following.

Know God means:

to Perceive
to Learn
to Understand
to Recognize
to Believe
to Accept His Claims
to Conform
to Be Willing
to Perform or Live
to Obey
to See or Experience

New Testament Words “oida” or “ginosko” – To Know God

The Greek words “oida” and “ginosko” are used in the New Testament. They also have the wider meanings as the Hebrew word “yada”. But in the context that they are used in the New Testament, they also have the following additional meaning. To know God means:

to Believe & Accept Jesus
to Know Truth
to Know Jesus is to Know God
to Respond in Faith

“I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things.” – Paul (Philippians 3:7-10)

“This is Eternal Life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.” – John 17:3

“O, the fullness, the pleasure, the sheer excitement of knowing God on earth.” – Jim Elliott

People In The Bible That Knew God Personally

Can you think of examples of people in the Bible that walked closely with God ? Here are a few examples.

Enoch – Genesis 5:21-24 – When Enoch had lived 65 years, he became the father of Methuselah. After he became the father of Methuselah, Enoch walked faithfully with God 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Enoch lived a total of 365 years. Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away.

Abraham – Isaiah 41:8 – But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend.

James 2:23 – And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”and he was called God’s friend.

Moses – Exodus 33:11 – The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend.

David – Acts 13:22 – After removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him: ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.

Language In The Bible That Indicates God Wants A Personal Relationship

Excerpts from Jeremiah 2:2 to 3:20 are a good example of how personally God is involved with His people. When Israel turned their backs to God in the Old Testament, God uses language to describe how personal it was to Him.

God took it personally. He describes His people as a bride that loved and followed Him. But later they left God. God describes this as though He was feeling like a person that was cheated on. God uses the word adultery to describe the act of Israel turning their backs to God, and leaving Him for other idols or false gods.

Jeremiah 2:2 – I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert.

Jeremiah 2:11 – Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their glorious God for worthless idols.

Jeremiah 2:13 – My people have committed two sins: they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.

Jeremiah 3:6-9 – During the reign of King Josiah, the Lord said to me, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. 7 I thought that after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. 8 I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. 9 Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood.

Jeremiah 3:12-13 – Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ” ‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will frown on you no longer, for I am faithful,’ declares the LORD, ‘I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt– you have rebelled against the LORD your God, you have scattered your favors to foreign gods under every spreading tree, and have not obeyed me,’

Jeremiah 3:14 – Return, faithless people, declares the Lord, for I am your husband.

Jeremiah 3:19-20 – How gladly would I treat you like sons and give you a desirable land, the most beautiful inheritance of any nation. I thought you would call me Father, and not turn away from following me. But like a woman unfaithful to her husband, so you have been unfaithful to me.”

God Often Uses Marriage To Describe Our Relationship With Him

What is the most intimate relationship people can have ? Marriage. The Bible uses many examples of marriage to describe our personal relationship and fellowship with God. That is because God intended our relationship and fellowship with Him to be deeply personal.

Isaiah 54:5-6 – For your Maker is your husband— the Lord Almighty is his name— the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth.

Revelation 19:7 – Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.

*All of these use Marriage as a symbol of our Personal Fellowship with God

Another Example – The Use Of The Word “Abba”

Jesus used the word “Abba” when He spoke of His Father God. He was the first to ever use “Abba” to speak of His relationship with God.

Abba is a very personal and endearing word for father. More accurately it stands for “Daddy”. It is a word that a child would use to describe his or her father. The one he or she trusts completely. And knows that Abba will protect and take care of him or her.

Luke 11:1-2 – One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, “Lord, teach us to pray. He said to them, “When you pray, say: “Father…”

No one in the Bible referred to God as Father until Jesus came. Paul is the only other person in the Bible that used the word Abba.

Romans 8:15 – For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father”.

The first reason that Jesus came to earth to save lost sinners is because He desires to have the closest possible fellowship and unity with us. God is a personal relationship oriented God that longs for you to spend time with Him. And to grow closer to Him and more like Jesus.

And to know Him in real and personal ways, as you faithfully walk closely with Him. It is a lifelong process of trusting and obeying Jesus. And walking closely with Him throughout your lifetime.

In Part 3 we will begin to look into the 2nd reason why Jesus came to earth to save us.

Pursuing Intimacy With God

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