"Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea 6:3
One of my favorite characteristics of the Lord is that He solicits mankind's active pursuit and participation in seeking Him. He welcomes engagement instead of passive subservience. He's in it with us, even within us--Emmanuel.
Ultimately, in the end times, this knowledge of God will become universal:
"They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea." Isaiah 11:9
"But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.” Daniel 12:4
"And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” Jeremiah 31:34
In a world where people cling to their ignorance and assumptions (myself included), this universal knowledge will bring unity and peace at last.
Matthew Henry comments:
"We shall know, we shall follow to know, the Lord, (so the words are); and it may be taken as the fruit of Christ's resurrection, and the life we live in God's sight by him, that we shall have not only greater means of knowledge, but grace to improve in knowledge by those means. Note, When God designs mercy for a people he gives them a heart to know him, Jer 24:7. Those that have risen with Christ have the spirit of wisdom and revelation given them....When we are designed to live in his sight, then he gives us to know him; for this is life eternal to know God, John 17:3.
"I will give them a heart to know that I am the LORD, and they shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return to me with their whole heart." Jeremiah 24:7
"And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent." John 17:3
Matthew Henry again,
The way and means of obtaining this blessing. We must follow on to know him. We must value and esteem the knowledge of God as the best knowledge, we must cry after it, and dig for it (Pro_2:3, Pro_2:4), must seek and intermeddle with all wisdom (Pro_18:1), and must proceed in our enquiries after this knowledge and our endeavours to improve in it. And, if we do the prescribed duty, we have reason to expect the promised mercy, that we shall know more and more of God, and be at last perfect in this knowledge.
True knowledge of God brings release. False knowledge of God, man, books, learning, is a burden.
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