Knowing God

By James Tarter

Mankind has many conflicting ideas about what God is really like. God created the whole material universe by His Word, and then the Word of God emptied Himself to become a speck in a tiny part of it. Why? To show people exactly what God would be like if He lived in a limited human body like our own. This also allowed Him to become a perfect Example of how we should live on earth and to pay a just price for the sins of mankind, His creation. This book provides a foundation for understanding the character and nature of God, showing how God's provision in Jesus is very different from what any religion provides. This difference is vital for preparing us for all eternity. God's way to save us through Jesus helps us to grow in true love and cuts through a deadly self-righteousness that, if God allowed it, would even lower the quality of heaven. This book was first written for people in South Sudan, but can help people anywhere who want to find meaning and purpose for their lives on earth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Apr 7, 2011
• ISBN: 9781257441594

Book preview

Knowing God

Knowing God 

Seeing the Unseen

Dr. James M. Tarter

Copyright Page

14th Edition

ISBN: 978-1-257-44159-4

Copyright 2005, 2018 by James M. Tarter.  All rights reserved.  Permission granted to make copies for purposes consistent with furthering the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Kingdom of God.

Unless noted otherwise, Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE® (1995 Updated Edition): 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation.  Used by permission.  (www.Lockman.org).

A Scripture marked TEV comes from the Today’s English Version, American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976.

I call the New American Standard Bible the NAS.  I boldface or underline specific words and phrases in Scriptures to add my emphasis for discussion.

Introduction: Jesus’ Revelation of Invisible God

Before we knew where we were going the summer of 2005, the Lord told my wife, Tell them about the Father’s love and Tell them who Jesus really is.  This book comes out of these instructions.

These instructions fit together.  Since the beginning of mankind in Genesis, all mankind lived in darkness, with very little knowledge of the true nature and character of God. John 1:18 tells us clearly that no one has ever seen God except for Jesus.  And then the Father sent Jesus to show us God’s nature in a most practical way.  Instead of using only words to describe His nature, Jesus had the very nature of God and showed us exactly what God would be like if He were living in a limited human body like our own.

We cannot fully appreciate the Father’s love unless we realize our own condition: how unfit we are without Him.  Then we can realize that His loving provision for us in Jesus goes far beyond anything that we could earn.  This book discusses our condition and our calling in Christ Jesus.  We see that God is so good, so much better than anything we could imagine.  Before the end of Chapter 2, we can realize His wonderful and unique provision in Christ for mankind.  We see more about what this means in the rest of the book.  In fact, on earth He is preparing us for a wonderful eternity with Him and with other loving people that is far beyond our best imaginations.

Chapter 1: Almighty God and His Great Love

God created everything that we can and cannot see.  The mighty lion, the huge mountains, the whole earth, and the much larger sun are only a tiny part of His creation.  He has created a wonderful heaven that no one sees before he dies physically.  God also created every person, including you.

God works on a larger level than any of us can imagine, and also in the tiny details.  He numbers the hairs on your head – He knows you far better than you know yourself.  And God is very interested in each person and his or her development and growth for all eternity.

God is good to us, but life on earth is full of problems caused by the willful, greedy nature of mankind and the devil.  This has brought much sickness, pain, and death to people.  People have treated other people without any regard for what is good for them, sometimes even causing pain for the pleasure of hurting others.  Every one of us has also done some bad things that have hurt others.  The devil (Satan) works through invisible demons to stir up evil desires and deeds.

God knows that mankind has been unable to overcome all this sin, this evil that has caused so much pain and suffering.  God wants good for us now and in all eternity, and so He has done something wonderful.  He has come to mankind as the man Jesus Christ, so that He could pay the just penalty for all of our sins, our evil deeds.  This equips us to be justly restored to God in righteousness.

God provides even more for us in Christ.  God wants us to take on Jesus’ wonderful, loving nature while we live on earth, so that we will continue to grow and develop in Him.  This helps us to be well prepared to live with God and with other loving people for all eternity.

Where is this wonderful God?  No one can see Him, but He is everywhere: He made Himself invisible to us.  He made us unable to see Him for a good purpose: so that we could learn what He is truly like much more deeply.  As we shall see, He provides special ways for us to learn His real nature and character, so that we can love Him and will want to be with Him and want to be like Him.

We have big problems that work against seeing the true nature of God: what He is really like.  From the beginning of mankind in the Garden of Eden (Gen. 3:1-6), the devil’s primary goal against people has been to separate them from God, so that he can further destroy them.  The devil – a masterful deceiver – needs to badly distort God’s nature to us in order to separate us from Him.  Our own hearts can also distort what we believe to be God’s real nature.

But if we truly turn to God, then He will reveal Himself and His true character and nature to us, so that we will come to know Him.  As we