Known of God

Jesus answered him, “I have spoken openly to the world. I have always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where all Jews come together. I have said nothing in secret.

(John 18:20) ESV

“You can only be fully loved when you’re fully known,’ is heartwarming sentiment and it’s used as an exhortation to participate in small groups which meet between church services on week days.

You can only be loved to the extent to which you’re known.

You can only be fully loved when you’re fully known.

– Heart-warming sentiment

There’s nothing wrong this sentiment. We (that’s me and the Holy spirit) just have a twinge of sadness whenever we hear it because it hasn’t been our experience. The common thread that runs through our life is that the better people get to know us, the sooner they don’t want us around. This isn’t a new lesson which we’ve just had to learn. We developed a strategy of dealing with this when the pattern first emerged in 1999-2000. The pattern has repeated at varying intervals ever since. Like, say, yesterday.

• IF sentiment is that we need to be known to be loved (conditional),
  • BUT we find that when we’re known we’re despised,
• THEN it’s a good thing that we’re “known of God” who’s love is unconditional.

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We all have the same evidence. Our choice of paradigm determines what we think it’s evidence of.

– Matty’s Razor

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Back in 1999 we were hired as the custodian at University Presbyterian Church in Chapel Hill, NC. Shortly after that Star Wars The Phantom Menace was released. There was a mixture of anger and excitement in the Church community because of the obvious parallel between the immaculate conception and virgin birth of Jesus Christ vs. Anakin Skywalker. Out of pure interest we decided to find out if the word Jedi is a Hebrew word and, if it is, where is it in the Bible and what can we learn from it?

This is what it took to get us to learn to use Davidson’s Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon. We got stuck trying to find what the Hebrew looked like (pre-Google etc.) until we found a hard bound set of the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) at one of the second hand bookstores in Chapel Hill. It connected us to the Hebrew and that opened up the Lexicon. It was a big step.

There isn’t an actual word, jedi, in the English Bible or in the Hebrew text but it occurs as part of a few names such as Jedidiah, Jedidah, and Jediael. Finding Jediael was one of the first times we were able to locate a word in Davidson’s Lexicon by recognizing Hebrew characters although, technically, we weren’t really reading Hebrew. Jediael is a name held by three different people, one of whom was among King David’s top 30 warriors, his hand-picked elite guard. Another was a Korahite porter in the temple.

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Faith is believing in something that you can’t see, because of evidence.

– Faith, definition

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Jediael: יְדִֽיעֲאֵל֙ – yediael

1. to know, perceive, discern, be aware of.
2. to know, be acquainted with; part. acquainted.
3. to know, recognize, acknowledge.
4. to know carnally.
5. to regard, care for.
   • Nipth
     1. to be or become known.
     2. to be made to know, Jeremiah 31:19
        • Pi. to make to know, to appoint, Job 38:12
        • Pu. part. known, acquaintance, familiar
        • Poel to show, appoint, 1 Samuel 21:3
        • Hiph. to make known, show, inform, teach.
        • Hoph. to be made known,
        • Hithp. to make oneself known.
          • (knowing) pr. name masc. 1 Chronicles 2:28, 32
          • (known) pr.name masc.
            1. Nehemiah 10:22
            2. Nehemiah 12:11, 22
     • (whom the Lord knows) pr. name masc. 1 Chronicles 9:10; 24:7
     • (known of God) pr. name of a son of Benjamin.
       1. wizard, soothsayer.
       2. spirit of divination, Leviticus 20:27.
     • masc. dec. 1a, knowledge, opinion.
     • fem. pl. knowledge.
     • fem. dec. 13a
       1. knowledge, the act of knowing. without knowing, unawares.
       2. intelligence, understanding, wisdom.
     • masc. acquaintance, friend, Ruth 2:1; Proverbs 7:4.
     • fem. id. Ruth 3:2
     • masc. with suff.
       1. knowledge.
       2. thought, mind, Ecclesiastes 10:20
     • Ch. dec. 1a
       1. knowledge.
       2. intelligence, intellect, Daniel 4:31, 33
     • adv. iterrog. why? wherefore?

Davidson Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon page CCXCVIII

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Salvation

1. Call upon the name of Jesus Christ,
   • believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead,
2. confess your sin.

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This was an important part of the working out of God’s will in the early days of our spiritual life. It’s 2021 now and Matty’s Paradigm, as such, is in its fifth year. We’re 23 years into our Bible study. It’s become a vast body of work which stands alone as a refutation of all that was, and as a harbinger of what’s to come. We can look at it with deep satisfaction and give thanks to God for his unmerited grace and favor.

There was a time when none of it was written yet, but during which time we had to believe that it was written. 23 years ago when we had written nothing at all, it was known of God that we would write it all. That’s why Jediael was important. That’s what keeps us going.

God knew everything that we had to do, even though we didn’t. We are known of God. Now, to tie this back into the sentiment: if we can only be loved to the extent that we’re known then we’ve poured out our soul, wringing it out for 23 years, to make ourselves fully known. That’s what the written word is for. But that’s extent of what we can do. Now the only way for us to be fully known, is for you, Pastors, to make us known. You need to be warning your people about what’s coming upon the world, and we’ve given you everything that you need to do it. No more excuses.

Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

(Galatians 4:16) KJV

We don’t feel welcome in your church. The backs that turn against us suggest that showing up at someone’s house for a small group is a really bad idea. Fortunately, because of our discipline and training, it doesn’t cause us to be discouraged. It’s an affirmation. Haven’t kicked the dust off our shoes yet, we’re getting soft in our old age.

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