Knowing God Through Jesus

“Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” — John 14:6 (KJV)

After all his thinking about human greatness and misery, about happiness, the heart and the wager, Pascal arrives at the centre of everything: Jesus Christ.

“Not only do we know God by Jesus Christ alone, but we know ourselves only by Jesus Christ. We know life and death only through Jesus Christ.”

Why? Remember the two mistakes from earlier: pride and despair. Pascal puts them side by side:

“The knowledge of God without that of man’s misery causes pride. The knowledge of man’s misery without that of God causes despair. The knowledge of Jesus Christ constitutes the middle course, because in Him we find both God and our misery.”

If you only know that God is great and good, but don’t see your own need, you get proud. You think you’re fine. If you only know how messed up you are, but don’t know God, you despair. You think there’s no hope.

Jesus shows us both at once. At the cross we see how serious our sin is, because it cost the Son of God his life. And we see how great God’s love is, because he gave it willingly. So Pascal says: “Jesus Christ is a God whom we approach without pride, and before whom we humble ourselves without despair.”

Pascal had another sharp saying about this: “There are only two kinds of men: the righteous who believe themselves sinners; the rest, sinners, who believe themselves righteous.” The people who are right with God are the ones who know they need him. The people who think they are fine on their own are the ones in trouble.

Pascal also thought hard about whether the story of Jesus is true. He spent many notes on the prophecies of the Old Testament and how Jesus fulfilled them. And he made a simple point about the first disciples: “The apostles were either deceived or deceivers.” They said they had seen Jesus risen from the dead. You can’t easily be mistaken about something like that. And if they were lying, why would they keep up the lie through prison, beatings and death? Pascal thought the best explanation was that they were telling the truth.

This is where all Pascal’s thoughts lead. The emptiness in us, the restlessness, the greatness and the misery, the heart’s longing, the wager, all of it points to one person. In Jesus, God is not a far-off idea or a frightening silence. He is someone you can know.

One thing to do this week: read Luke 24 this week, the story of the first Easter and Jesus appearing to his disciples. As you read, ask Pascal’s question: were they deceived, were they lying, or were they telling the truth? Then tell Jesus what you think.