Years ago someone was describing a lady in the church to my wife. “You know,” they said, “that short, dumpy, homely lady that sits in the back.” Well, what this person did not know was that they were insulting a very close friend of my wife’s. What that person did not know ended up hurting them both.
One of the great tragedies of world history is that, when the Creator visited our planet, most people did not know who He was. He was a stranger in his own country. The Apostle John put it this way: “He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him” (John 1:10). In other words, the One who made the world actually entered the world and came face-to-face with mankind. But what John is saying is that when people looked at Him, they just saw a Jewish man – not the Creator of the universe.
The word, “know” is a Greek word that means “to recognize or acknowledge.” But it also carries the idea of perceiving clearly or understanding.
Actually, it was somewhat difficult to see God in a man – to figure out who He really was. John 1:18 says that nobody has seen God at any time. But the verse goes on to say, “The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.”
The point here is that even though the world didn’t see God when they looked at Jesus, they still should have known who He was by listening to what He said, and by observing what He did.
Even Jesus’ disciples struggled with this, though. In John 14, Philip said to Jesus, “Lord, show us the Father.” Then Jesus said, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” Then Jesus added, “Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; otherwise believe on account of the works themselves” (NAS). What Jesus said and did were the works that revealed who He was. No question! The world should have recognized its Creator.
Now you know the real meaning of the word.
Say – Recognizing who Jesus is, is only the first step. You must then receive Him as your Savior.