That I May Know Him Philippians 3:10

That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His death.



Paul tells the church at Philippi, "I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord that I may know Him." More than anything else in the whole world, Paul wanted to know Jesus in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering. Paul was willing to suffer for one reason; he wanted to be found faithful and to finish the course that had been set before him and nothing was going to keep him from finishing the race for Jesus' sake.

The truth is we cannot know Jesus aside from the power of the resurrection. It is the resurrection of Jesus Christ that gives His whole its meaning and its significance. It is the news of the resurrection that brought the disciples back from their homes that they had gone to when Jesus was crucified. When Jesus bowed His head and cried out, "It is finished" that is exactly how the disciples all felt. When Jesus died so did all of the dreams that the disciples had die with Him. However, when the news that Jesus was alive and not dead got to them, they all received new life themselves and they came to see Him.

It was at Pentecost that the Holy Spirit came down and moved into their hearts and the world was forever changed by the power of the resurrected Christ. This power that they received was a power that would help them and even cause them to be able to endure various sufferings for the advancement of the gospel. Paul Himself had met the resurrected Lord on the road to Damascus and as he surrendered His life to this risen Lord, he came to know the fellowship of the Lord's sufferings. Paul came to know what it meant to "take up his cross and follow Jesus."

If you and I are to know Jesus, we must be willing to come to Him in the power of His resurrection as it is revealed to us in His Word. We cannot know Him as we want Him to be. We must come to know Him as He has revealed Himself to us and as we discover Him as we walk with Him in obedience to what He has written to us in His Word. Paul knew this fellowship and you and I can know it as well if we will just determine in our hearts to "know Him" at all cost!