By George “Chip” Hammond

An Introduction
Alienation. Separation. Loneliness. Who hasn't felt it? Sometimes we are aware of it even when we are in a crowd.

There's a root to these feelings. The first man broke confidence with God and then hid from Him. Human beings were driven away from the presence of God, content in their perpetual discontent.

But God was not content to leave us there. He called after us: "In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at various times and in many ways." Some heard. Some knew about God. But God was still not content. He didn't want people to know about Him. He wanted people to know Him, for us "to know as we are fully known."

So God robed himself in human nature, body and soul, and came to us to trap us into an encounter with himself. "In these last days he's spoken to us in His Son." We could know about God through the prophets, but God wanted us to know Him.

Face to face with the God-man, he would become the occasion for "the rise and fall of many." He would force the issue with an invitation to come and be reconciled to God through Him. To encounter God in Him, and really know Him.

Not all would accept the invitation. Many would turn away preferring to embrace their alienation, separation, and loneliness.

Although he has now ascended into Heaven, Jesus continues to be with us by His Holy Spirit, in His Word, and through His church. The personal encounters with Him reported in John's Gospel are no mere history lesson, no mere "information about." Through them, God continues to trap people into an encounter with Himself, and calls you to know Him, not just to know about Him.