³ “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.”

Ignorance is no excuse, so goes the popular saying. And that’s true in spiritual things as well, if you think about it carefully. There is no excuse for not knowing God, for He actively seeks out every single human being. Beginning with Genesis 3:8 where God came to walk with Adam and Eve “in the garden in the cool of the day,” He has been actively revealing Himself to humankind.

In Romans we find this assessment: “That which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse” (Rom 1:19-20). God made creation, including humankind, to reflect His glory plainly. His existence is “self-evident” within mankind who, made in His image, has the innate capacity to know God. God’s glory in nature resonates with God’s image in the human. Therefore, there is no excuse. Paul goes on to say, “For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks (Rom 1:21).

Ignorance not only brings guilt, but it also explains why non-believers persecute believers. They are doing what comes “naturally” to them, as sinners fallen away from a God whom they have rejected. If they reject Christ, then it logically and naturally follows that they will reject those who follow Him. It is not that the unbelieving world rejects us because we believe in Christ. It is that we follow Christ, that we pattern our lives after Him. There is a difference. Believers, like Christ, seek to carry out His mission in the world. We cannot settle into a comfortable pluralism of ‘live and let live’ with other religions. That is not an option. We have a message of love and freedom from legalism that does nothing to stem the tyranny of sin, a message of humility and forgiveness. Of submission to God.

“Forgive them for they don’t know what they do,” said our Master on the cross (Luke 23:34). Sin blinded his executioners. Had they known who He really was, in the believing sense of the word “to know,” they would not have put Him on the cross. The solution, again, is love; thus His desire to forgive them. The disciples in the Upper Room are being prepared to love their persecutors the way Jesus loves sinners. Like Him, we need to be unwilling that any should perish but that all would have eternal life.

Lord, I remember how I lived in ignorance of You and Your perfect love for sinners. You have forgiven me for my ignorance. Thank You!