What Jesus Taught

by Osborne J. P. Widtsoe

Abraham's determination to serve God.

What does it mean to know God and Jesus Christ whom He hath sent? About two thousand years before Jesus was born, there lived in a land called Ur of the Chaldees, a young man whose name was Abram. Abram seems to have been a very intelligent and serious-minded person. Like many another good man in ancient and modern times, he strove to find out the true and living God. But it was very difficult to do so in Abram's time, for most of Abram's people had forsaken the worship of Jehovah, and had turned to the worship of idols and graven images. This grieved Abram very much. He determined that he would serve the true God; and that if necessary, he would move away from his father's house to a strange place, in order that he might worship as his conscience demanded. The priests who served the strange gods worshipped by Abram's kindred, heard of Abram's righteousness, and his refusal to worship the images of wood and stone and metal they had set up. They determined, therefore, to seize Abram and to sacrifice him on the altar of Elkanah.

God Himself.

But Abram had found a true friend. It was the true and living God Himself. He delivered Abram from the hands of the false priests, and the Lord God said to Abram, "I am the Lord thy God; I dwell in heaven, the earth is my footstool; I stretch my hand over the sea, and it obeys my voice; I cause the wind and the fire to be my chariot; I say to the mountains, Depart hence, and behold, they are taken away by a whirlwind, in an instant, suddenly."

The God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.

This was the true and living God, the God Almighty, creator of the heavens and the earth and all that lives therein. In the midst of the worship of idols and graven images and strange gods of many lands, Abram had learned to know God—that is, he had learned to recognize the true God, the living God of power. He was not confused. He did not mistake an image of stone for the true God.

Afterwards Abram's name was changed to Abraham. He became the father of Isaac, and the grandfather of Jacob. These three men all served the true God. From them sprang the Children of Israel, all of whom learned also to worship the true God of heaven and earth. That is why He is often spoken of as the God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob.

The first commandment.

In the days of Moses, God gave a commandment in these words, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." That commandment was still in force at the time of Jesus, and is still in force today. Of course, there are not many idols or graven images held up to worship today; but there are still many different kinds of God worshipped even in the Christian world. To some, God is merely a spirit; to others, He is merely an influence, or a power; to others still, there is no real God, but the name is used merely to designate the forces of nature—and so on. Naturally, we cannot gain eternal life through any such conceptions as these. Like Abraham we must learn to recognize the true and living God. We must not be deceived by false doctrine. This is life eternal, to know—to recognize and to worship—the true God, the living God—of heaven and earth.

We know now the meaning of the first part of Jesus's statement. We know what it means to know God. But what does it mean to know Jesus Christ, whom God sent?