Rejecting knowledge

God Himself knows the difference between ignorance of His will and defiance – a short blog by Jason Shiels

6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
“Because you have rejected knowledge,
I also reject you as my priests;
because you have ignored the law of your God,
I also will ignore your children. Hosea 4:6

Just prior to going to India on ‘mission’ years ago I had a moment of great confusion. I believe completely that both heaven and hell are real and not fictitious. As I understood it, by proclaiming Christ and Him crucified in India this would render many who had never heard the Gospel utterly accountable for their response to the Lord. Those who would receive Christ as Saviour alone and turn away from all other gods would be born again (saved and rescued from the dominion of sin and darkness) and those who rejected or remained passive over the message would be condemned to outer darkness (a euphemism for hell) unless they believed on Him and repented placing their trust in Christ’s atoning work alone. I still believe and proclaim this today. However, in my mind, in my meandering thoughts I wondered whether there might be a place in the mercy of God for those who have never ‘heard’ about Jesus and the Gospel (still sadly many in India and elsewhere) to be spared from hell if they died. I wondered if it would be better for us not to go at all on mission! My thinking was of course muddled. I came to the conclusion that although I found this all hard to fathom, I would trust in the goodness and divine judgements and justice of God. I would leave Him to judge with the justice that is just and proper according to His own will. My angst was wondering whether it would be better to leave the people in ignorance, without knowledge of Christ and His Gospel, rather than bring them to the point of accountability and inevitable damnation if they rejected this gracious and uncompromising offer. Such small and compromised thinking which thankfully I changed!

I felt the Lord remind me that it is His will to bring Knowledge of, and intimacy with, God to the four corners of the earth,

For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. Habakkuk 2:14

It has always been His will for people to know Him the one true living God. It was His will from the beginning and until the end that people would not reject ‘knowledge of God’ and His will, and in the process despise themselves for eternity. I was also reminded that in Hebrew thought ‘Knowledge’ and intimacy are entwined. To know God is an invitation to be loved and to love. It is no box-ticking exercise! As such, I understood that while many would reject ‘Knowledge’ it was still His will that the Gospel rings out to every nation, tribe and tongue. His love is so great that He sent Jesus….

As such there is a contrast between those who have never heard of Jesus Christ and His Gospel (ignorant), and, those who have heard this message along with the implications thereby ‘rejecting knowledge’ of Him, His law, and the penalty for sin – to be eternally separated from God. The former is desperately sad, the latter is a tragedy. Ignorance is not bliss. Jesus Christ is the way to the Father. He is the way, the truth and the life. The relationship we can have with God is true bliss. He is our eternal search – found! On the other hand, ‘rejecting knowledge’ by insisting on whatever we feel to insist upon is a most profound mistake. We are utterly accountable and there will be no excuses accepted. The knowledge of God and self (according to John Calvin) are inextricably interconnected.

To reject knowledge of God is to reject an invitation to be our true self, born of God, yet still ‘us’, made new.

Will we be destroyed from a lack of knowledge based upon our rejection of God, His ways (law) and Gospel (Christ and Christ alone)? For most who read these words there can be no trying to hide behind ignorance. To accept Christ on His terms is what it means to love Him. Everything else is fluff. So let’s accept the knowledge (and intimacy with) of God without all our self-made distortions and excuses, and let everything else be a wide-eyed response to His glory and grace.

Don’t reject knowledge. His invitation is too important, and far too good….

Jason Shiels, August 26th 2022