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In the Knowledge of God
by
Mark Baker
2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the
knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
3. as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life
and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and
virtue,
4. by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious
promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Much is said here in this section of Scripture but I would like to point
out something that I think is important. God’s Word is not haphazard
about the way it is written. When a phrase or word is repeated, it is
for emphasis. We see that here in this section of Scripture; in the
knowledge of God, and through the knowledge of Him. There is emphasis
given here so we should not take what is being said lightly. It is
significant enough for the Holy Spirit, through the Apostle Peter to
repeat it for our sakes. It goes on to say that by this knowledge we
have been given exceedingly great and precious promises by which we have
escaped the corruption that is in world through lust.
This Scripture is talking about revelation knowledge and by this we
receive the promises of God.
I would like to take the time to define knowledge at this point.
W. E. Vines Greek dictionary says knowledge is understanding, the
opposite of which would be ignorance. Nave’s topical Bible Dictionary
says of knowledge. -Knowledge, a divine gift. So we can see that this is
not just talking about the kind of knowledge you get in a book. The Holy
Spirit reveals it; it is the only way we can get it.
Through this divine revelation knowledge grace and peace is multiplied
to us. Not just given to us but multiplied to us. I have found this to
be true in my own faith walk, God doesn’t just give, He exponentially
multiplies unto us. That’s the kind of God we serve.
I love His kind of math.
When we take the effort to seek after Him and spend time in His Word
seeking His direction, and walking in His Precepts, or we could say
acting on His Word, He reveals or manifests Himself to us. When we are
faithful in this we are given the peace and assurance we need to see a
situation through.
John 14: 21. "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who
loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will
love him and manifest Myself to him.''
22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, "Lord, how is it that You will
manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?''
23. Jesus answered and said to him, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My
word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our
home with him.
We also have grace multiplied unto us. I think of grace among other
things as the God given ability to fulfill His divine will. The very
first time we are given grace is when we get saved.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that
not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
We know that it is God’s will for all men to get saved and come to
repentance don’t we?
(2Pt: 3:9).
If we could get saved without grace God would not have had to give it to
us would He?
This may sound like an obvious question but without God’s grace we could
not even get born again. Without grace we could not fulfill His divine
will in any area of our life.
Romans 10:13 for, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall
be saved.
14. How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And
how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher?
In other words in order to get saved we have to hear the word of God. We
received this knowledge by the Holy Spirit through God’s Word. If Satan
could have stopped us from getting born again don’t you think he would
have done so? He could not stop the fulfilling of God’s promise to us to
get born again any more than he can stop any of God’s promises from
coming to pass once we have received His revealed knowledge and act on
what we have received. That’s what grace is for. Glory to God. We were
given the grace to take this first step of faith and fulfill the will of
God by getting born again. When we receive more knowledge in other areas
of God’s will, we will get the grace to fulfill that as well. He never
leaves us hanging. He always gives us the ability or enables us to
fulfill His purpose and will for our lives. Fulfilling His purpose and
will is another way of saying fulfilling the revealed knowledge we are
given.
Thank God for His grace, it is an essential part of our faith, and the
key to walking in victory. I would like to point out that grace is
totally God given. It comes when we receive His knowledge.
God wants us to enter into the provision he has made for us. He even
tells us how in His Word. The second part of our opening Scripture says;
“by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises,
that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
God is saying by the Apostle Peter that His promises are precious and
exceedingly great.
They are precious for several reasons; first of all He went to great
lengths to get them to us. He wants us to be partakers of them. If we
are not partakers of them then what a waste. He wants us to be partakers
of them so that we will escape the corruption that is in the world and
not succumb to it.
Secondly, this is all for our benefit. His promises are precious because
He wants us to succeed. He loves us greatly and went to such great
lengths for our benefit. He didn’t do it just for His benefit, He did it
for us. What good would an inheritance be if you did not know about it,
or if you knew about it but didn’t act on what you knew? Even worse, if
you knew but couldn’t fulfill the requirements to receive the
inheritance. In the spiritual realm we don’t have to worry about that
part of the deal because God gives us the ability to receive His
inheritance by giving us the grace to receive His exceedingly great and
precious promises. He’s given us the knowledge by where the grace will
come that will enable us to receive the inheritance by faith.
We just read Ephesians 2:8 For by grace you have been saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
This is such an awesome revelation; it truly takes the load off of us.
We hear the word of God and faith comes.
10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
When we hear God’s Word we also receive the faith to walk in His
promises. We are given
God’s grace to enable us to fulfill the will of God in our lives.
It takes faith to do this, we know that without faith it is impossible
to please God. We could say it like this, receiving His promises by
faith is what pleases Him.
I want to please Him don’t you? He went to extraordinary lengths to
fulfill His Covenant so that we could inherit these very precious and
great promises; so you can understand why receiving the Covenant
blessings that He went to such extraordinary lengths to get to us
pleases Him.
The very least we could do is begin to thankfully acknowledge His
promises so that we can begin to walk in the inheritance He has freely
given to us.
1 Corinthians 2:12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world,
but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have
been freely given to us by God.
Isn’t God good? He’s given us His Word, and faith comes when we hear His
Word. On top of that we are given the grace to walk in and fulfill His
Word as we read in our opening Scripture. He’s also given us the power
to walk in all these things that pertain to life and Godliness.
2 Peter 1:2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God
and of Jesus our Lord,
3. as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life
and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and
virtue,
4. by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious
promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature,
having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust..
Glory to God. Amen.
Do you want to be a joint heir with Christ? You can take this first step
now and make Jesus Christ your lord.
If so, I urge you to earnestly pray the following prayer.
Dear Heavenly Father, I come to you in the name of Jesus. Your word
says, “…and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.”
(Jn.6:37),
So I know You won’t cast me out, but You take me in, And I thank you for
it. You said in your Word, "whoever calls upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved.'' (Ro. 10:13).
I am calling on Your name, So I know You have saved me now, You also
said, “…that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe
in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
For with the heart one believes to righteousness, and with the mouth
confession is made to salvation.” (Ro.10:9,10).
I believe in my heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I believe He
was raised from the dead for my justification. And I confess Him now as
my Lord, Because Your Word says, “… with the heart one believes to
righteousness…” and I do believe with my heart, I have now become the
righteousness of God in Christ. (2 Cor. 5:21),
And I am saved! Thank You, Lord!
I can now truthfully say, I see myself as a born again child of God!
Glory to
God!!!! Amen.
About the Author:
Article by Mark Baker.
Mark is the webmaster of The Olive Branch
http://www.olivebranchministries.us a site dedicated to
helping all that are seeking to come into a deeper understanding of what
God has done for us through Christ Jesus. Please visit his site for more
free studies and resources to help you in your search.
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