This does not mean that the knowledge of God—or even of God as Father—is the exclusive possession of Christians. A long line of Hebrew prophets, called and inspired by the spirit of God, revealed God's Name and will and attributes in different ways and in different portions to generation after generation of His chosen people. It was the special privilege of Israel to receive the oracles of God. Christ Jesus, Whose coming the prophets foretold, took over the revelation of God that each had given, corrected it where it had been misapprehended, endorsed it, set it in order, and completed it. In the fulness of the knowledge of God that had been given them Israel stood unique among the nations. Nevertheless other races had some knowledge of Him also. God has not anywhere or at any time left Himself without witnesses. In our classical studies we heard of Jupiter or Zeus "Father of men and of gods". Greeks of old in their philosophic search for unity, Hindoos in their longing for absorption into the divine, Chinese in the moral precepts of Confucius, Mohammedans in the constant call to prayer which they obey, all bring before us religions that are sincere in their adhesion to one or other of the great truths about God which they have discovered.
I stood one night on the deck of a ship on the ocean. The moon was at the full and was shining in a cloudless sky. The light penetrated everywhere. No part of the wide expanse of water was beyond its reach, and yet straight before me was a broad pathway of light reaching as far as I could see. So bright was this pathway, that compared with it on this side and on that all else seemed to be in darkness.
Some rays of the knowledge of God are recognized in all the great world religions. Along the line of the prophets of Israel the light of God's self-revelation shone with special brightness, sometimes waxing it is true and sometimes waning, until the day dawned and Christ the Sun of righteousness arose.
This is what St. Paul means when he tells the Christians at Corinth that God Who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
WHAT DO WE KNOW OF GOD?
But what is the knowledge of God that has been revealed? We find it in the Old Testament gradually unfolded, in the New Testament perfected. What truths does it contain? We must approach this question with humility and reverence. He of Whom we are thinking is the Living God. We are in His presence while we think and speak of Him. The whole splendour of God's Being is beyond us. He is the Creator and Lord of all. Nevertheless, if we are guided by the Revelation He has given us in Holy Scripture, we can wholly trust our thoughts of Him as far as they carry us, just because they are not our own but have been given us by Him.
GOD IS PERSONAL
"The Lord God is the true God, the Living God and an Everlasting King." He is also our Father. God then is Personal. He is One on Whom we can lean, to Whom we can pray, whose works we can study in the Universe He has made and in the history of men and of nations which He controls. This is the first truth of God our Father that comes home to us when we learn the Lord's Prayer. It is also the last and most profound that we shall rejoice in when we meet Him face to face, and know Him as we are known.
It is a truth of vital and practical importance, affecting our whole outlook on life. Because God is Personal with mind and heart and will we believe that this great world has a plan on which it is being fashioned and a purpose towards which it is tending. Within this plan and purpose we too have a place, and no mean place. We too are persons with minds and hearts and wills. We are not then mere straws on the stream of destiny, or victims of blind fate. We are children of our Father Who is working in and through all mightily in wisdom and in love.
This is not a theory only; it is true to the experience of religious men. In it is found the secret of confidence, strength and joy. It is the infinite and varied record of this experience which the Psalms contain that gives to them their special value for our use today.