“THE UNKNOWN GOD”!!

 Text:  Acts 17:22-23: Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill and said, “You men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious.  For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD, whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him I declare unto you”.  

ACTS [shows Christ as “the Living Lord”] (date) 63 A.D.  Luke the beloved physician, is the writer.

Theme:  the acts of the Holy Spirit in the apostles in confirming the Word of God, the spread of Christianity, or the Gospel of Jesus Christ.   We see the ministry of Apostle Peter in Acts chapters 1--12, witnessing to the Jews telling them to “REPENT” (Acts 2:36-38).  Why? Because they needed a definite change of mind about the Messiah:  and the ministry of Apostle Paul in Acts chapters 13--28, witnessing to the Gentiles saying “BELIEVE” (Acts 16:30-31).  Why?  Because the Gentiles needed not to change their minds concerning the Messiah; they needed to “BELIEVE” on Him!

Here in Acts chapter 17 (Paul and Silas in Thessalonica):  Vs 1-3:  They passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia and came to Thessalonica, where was a synagogue of the Jews:  as was Paul’s manner he went in unto them for three days and reasoned with them out of the scriptures; opening and alleging that Christ needed to have suffered and rose again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is CHRIST!  Vs 4: Some of them “believed” and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks a great multitude and of the chief women not a few.

Vs 5-15 (the unbelieving Jews became moved with envy gathered some lewd fellows of the baser sort and set all the city on an uproar and assaulted the house of Jason [where they had taken security] and sought to bring them out (Paul and Silas) [those that had turned the world upside down with the gospel] to the people.  [In the minds of these unbelieving Jews] what Paul & Silas were doing was against the decrees of Caesar, saying, “There is another king, one Jesus”.  So Paul & Silas left and went to Berea and when the Jews of Thessalonica heard of the gospel being preached there they went to Berea and stirred up the people against the apostles there.  So they sent Paul to Athens but Silas and Timothy stayed at Berea.  But even in Athens they couldn’t shut Paul up.

Athens was the political, cultural and economic center of Attica in eastern Greece during the Mycenaean era (c.1400-1150/1100 B.C).  It went through several defeats and being rebuilt from that time down through the 3rd and 2nd century.  Then it fell under Roman control.  It was under the control of Rome when Paul stopped on his 2nd missionary journey and saw the inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.

Acts 17:16-21 (Paul disputes with the Greek philosophers):  [He had sent for Silas and Timothy to come to him in Athens and while he was waiting for them in Athens, his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry (idol worship; an image; heathen god].  

• Vs 17: Therefore disputed he in the synagogues with the Jews and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. 

• Vs 18a: Then certain philosophers (philos’ophos) [fond of wise things] of the Epicureans and Stoics encountered him:

EPICURIANS:  [followers of Epicurus 342-279 B.C.] did not believe in any gods except in name.  They denied that they exercised any government over the world or its inhabitants.  They held that the chief good consisted in gratification of the appetites and that pleasure was the only end in life.

STOICS: [Followers of Zeno - 270 B.C.] believed in gods, but that all human affairs were governed by fate, and that no good came from various deities.  They held that no supreme good was virtue, and that man should be free from passion, and moved by neither joy, nor grief, pleasure nor pain.  They were the Fatalists (the belief that all events are predetermined and therefore inevitable) and Pantheists (a doctrine which identifies God with the universe, or regards the universe as a manifestation of God; worship that admits or tolerates all gods) of that day.  Both these sects denied the resurrection of the body; the former (Epicureans) denied immortality of the soul.

• Vs 18b-21: And some said, “What will this babbler say”?  Other some, “He seems to be a setter forth of strange gods”:  because he preached unto them, Jesus and the resurrection.  Vs 19: And they took him and brought him unto Areopagus [the hill of Mars where the great council of the Athenians was held.  It was the most sacred and reputable court in the Gentile world], saying, “May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speaks is”?  Vs 20: For thou bring certain strange things to our ears:  we would know therefore what these things mean.  Vs 21: (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell or to hear some new thing).

 Vs 22-23: Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill and said, “You men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious (deisidaimones’teros) [more religious than others].  For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD, whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him I declare (kataggel’lo) [proclaim; preach; show; speak of; teach] unto you”. 

[Vs 23-31]:  [Paul preached and taught God to them as Creator; His purpose in creating man; and righteousness for all men through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  God was “NOT KNOWN” to them]!

Unknown is the Greek word ag’nostos’, meaning unknown.  In Webster unknown is defined as unfamiliar; not identified.

An Agnostic is a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.  It means having a doubtful or noncommittal attitude towards something.

So for these Epicureans, Stoics, and these unbelieving Jews, God was quite unfamiliar to them and wasn’t identified by them at all.

My question is, “How does a person claim unbelief or disbelief in something, without belief first being present”?  That’s like giving a fruit basket as a gift without the fruit.

• Psalm 14:1: The fool (nabal) [stupid; wicked; vile; impious; ungodly] hath said in his heart (leb) [the feelings; will and intellect; midst; mind; understanding] “There is no God”.  They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.  (Psalm 53:1).

There are many today that God is “UNKNOWN” too!  Meaning, they are “UNFAMILIAR” with Him, and He’s not “IDENTIFIED” by many!  And I’m speaking of many in Christendom!

How is God “UNFAMILIAR” (not well known), to them?

First of all, they have Him out in the sky beyond the blue.  One must spend time with something to become familiar with it or spend time with someone to become familiar with or get to know them.

Many believe that “the Spirit of God” is in them, but they have God Himself sitting out in the sky in “heaven”.  I use to believe the same thing.  But when God revealed to me that I don’t just have the “Spirit of God” in me, but “The Spirit God” is in me and in you, it was then that I knew with no doubt that the Spirit God dwells in me!!   John 4:24, “God is Spirit”!  So that takes Him out of the sky and places Him in you and in me!!  So He’s not a man that sits high and looks low, but He is Omnipresent (present everywhere at the same time)!

• St. John 14:23: Jesus answered and said unto him [Judas (not Iscariot), an apostle; the brother of James], “If a man love me, he will keep my words:  and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode (dwelling place) with him”.

• 2 Corinthians 6:16: What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?  For you are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

• 1 John 4:4: Greater is he that is IN YOU, than he that is in the world.

If people could get heaven out of the sky that would be a “milestone” accomplishment!  The good news about that is you can be in “heaven” right here without going by way of a dirt grave to get there.  All it takes is accepting and believing in Christ!

• 2 Corinthians 5:17: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature:  old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

• Ephesians 2:5-6: Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved); and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Heaven whether in the Hebrew or Greek, is a high place or an elevated place (the abode of God); eternity; power.

The first heaven (dwelling place) God was in was the tabernacle He instructed Moses to build:

• Exodus 25:1: And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying:  vs 2: Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering:  of every man that gives it willingly with his heart you shall take my offering.  Vs 8: And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them.  Vs 9: According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall you make it.

With that tabernacle God dwelt behind the veil and no one could go in there but the high priest, for himself, his house, and for the people, and that was only once a year.

The second heaven (dwelling place) of God was the body of Jesus:

• St. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  Vs 14: And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.

For God to deliver man from corruption He had to become what man was and that was flesh!

• (Speaking of Christ Jesus):  Philippians 2:6-8: Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 

We are still talking about “THE UNKNOWN GOD”!

This will take us to the third heaven (dwelling place) of the Father:  

Jesus’ body was the body of the Father that He chose to suffer and die in.  But Jesus had “another body” that couldn’t be manifested until after His death and resurrection!  That’s why Jesus said:

• John 14:2: In my Father’s house are many mansions (dwelling places).

Get this:  Jesus’ body was the “house of the Father” and in that house (Jesus) was “many dwelling places”.  But the “many dwelling places” couldn’t be manifested until Jesus died and rose from the dead, then the many mansions (dwelling places) were brought forth, that was called CHRIST!  Therefore when Jesus said, "I go to prepare a place for you", the place of preparation was not out beyond the blue, but it was in the Spirit.  It was the Cross that differentiated between Jesus and Christ! It was the "Man Jesus" that was on the Cross, but when He got up (was resurrected), He was a many-membered body called Christ!

So the third heaven (dwelling place) of the Father is in us the Church of which Christ is the Head!

• Romans 12:5: So we being many, are one body in CHRIST and everyone members one of another.

• 1 Corinthians 12:12: For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members (limbs; parts) of that one body, being many are one body:  so also is CHRIST.

• Colossians 1:18: And he is the head of the body, the church:  who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead:  that in all things he might have the preeminence.

Take a look at what Jesus said in John 12:

• Vs 24: Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone:  but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.

With vegetation, the seed that’s planted in the ground, when it comes forth it doesn’t have the same form it had when it was planted.  But what was in the seed is what’s manifested in that vegetable, tree, etc.  It’s just that it (that seed) has taken on another form.  (I have to get my praise on right there)!!

• Genesis 1:11: And God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth”:  and it was so.

• Vs 12: And the earth brought forth grass and herb yielding seed after his kind and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself after his kind:  and God said that it was good.

We, God’s people are His “offspring” (gen’os) [kind; stock; generation; nation], that He has (gin’omai) [generated; produced] brought into being to glorify Him in the earth through Christ.  That is if He is your Father, because we are not all His children.  We are all His creation, but not all His children.  1 John 3:9-10: Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.  In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil:  whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loves not his brother.

• Acts 17:28: For in him we live and move and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, for we are also his offspring.  

• 1 Peter 1:22: Seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently:  vs 23: Being born again, not of corruptible (phthartos’) [decayed; perishable] seed, but of incorruptible (aph’thartos) [undecaying (in essence or continuance); immortal], by the word of God, which lives and abides forever.  Though we are His seed, yet God is still "unfamiliar" to many!

Remember what “unknown” means, it is that which is “unfamiliar, and not identified”.  This will bring us to the last definition of “unknown”, that which is “NOT IDENTIFIED”.   

IDENTIFY is defined as to establish or indicate who or what (someone or something) is; to recognize or distinguish (especially something or someone); regard oneself as sharing the same characteristics or thinking as someone else. 

That was the one “Man Jesus” that died on the cross, but when He rose, He was resurrected a many-membered body, called CHRIST!  When He rose, He was never that same body that was on the cross.  Matthew 1:16: And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.  But He wasn’t just called Christ He was also “made Christ”!  Acts 2:36: Therefore let all the house of Israel, know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ!  Made in Greek is poie’o, meaning, brought forth; committed; shown; fulfilled; appointed; worked; ordained; raised up].  After Jesus' resurrection, He was raised up and brought forth as Christ, a many membered body!! 

Luke 24:13-35 (Jesus appears to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus):

He walked and talked with them but they hadn’t yet “identified” Him as Jesus.  Had He appeared to them as He was before the crucifixion they would have recognized Him, but He had taken on another form, yet it was still Jesus, but in another one of the “many-membered body"!

• Vs 30: And it came to pass, as he sat at meat with them, he took bread and blessed it and brake and gave to them.  Vs 31: And their eyes were opened and they knew (identified) him:  and he vanished out of their sight.  Vs 35: And they told what things were done in the way and how he was KNOWN (IDENTIFIED) of them in breaking of bread.

They didn’t “know Him” by how He looked, but in the “breaking of bread”!   That’s how He’s “IDENTIFIED” in us, by “what we do”!

• Luke 6:43: A good tree brings not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.  Vs 44: Every tree is known (identified; recognized) by his own fruit.

John 20:11-18 (Jesus appears to Mary):

• Vs 13: And they (the two angels) say unto her, “Woman, why weep thou”?  She said unto them, because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

• Vs 14: And when she had thus said, she turned herself back and saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was Jesus.

• Vs 15: Jesus said unto her, “Woman, why weep thou”?  Whom seek thou?  She supposing him to be the gardener, said unto him, “Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him and I will take him away”.

• Vs 16: Jesus said unto her, “Mary”.  She turned herself and said unto him, “Rabboni”; which is to say, Master.

Mary didn’t “identify” Him as the Jesus she knew before the crucifixion, because He was appearing in another of the many-membered body!  But she was able to “identify” Him by what He said! That’s how He’s “IDENTIFIED” in us, by “what we say”!

• Colossians 4:6: Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man.

He’s appearing “today” still, is in His many-membered body, and many people, don’t know (unfamiliar with) who He is or hasn’t as yet “IDENTIFIED HIM”, because they’re still looking for the Jesus that walked the shores of Galilee, but He will not appear in that body again!

• 2 Corinthians 5:16: Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh:  yea, though we have known (past tense) Christ after the flesh, yet NOW HENCEFORTH (from here on), “know we him no more”!

When Jesus died on the cross, God was finished with that body as it was as one man!  Now He has another body that He is dwelling in that has many members and that body is called CHRIST!!

• Romans 12:5: We being “many” are “one body” IN CHRIST!

• 1 Corinthians 12:12: As the body is “one” and hath “many members”, and all the members of that one body, being many are one body:  so also IS CHRIST!

• VS 13: By one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.

• Vs 14: For the body is not one member, but many.

Of which CHRIST is the HEAD:  Colossians 1:18: And he is the head of the body, the church.

Thanks to God our Father, we have “IDENTIFIED” Him!  When we see one another, “we see Him”!

• Ephesians 5:30: We are members (limbs; parts) of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones!

• 1 John 4:17: As he is, so are we, in this world.

• Colossians 3:9: Lie not one to another, seeing that you have put off the old man with his deeds; vs 10: And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.

We the church is Christ’s body in the earth today and will continue as such forever because that’s how God manifests Himself in “men” (male and female)!

• Galatians 3:27: As many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  Vs 28: There is neither Jew nor Greek (Gentile), there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female:  for you are all one in CHRIST JESUS!

God is not “THE UNKNOWN GOD” to those of us that have gotten the revelation of who He is by the Spirit and are no longer waiting for Him to come back because He’s already here dwelling in us!   

• 1 John 4:4: Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.  

He’s only “THE UNKNOWN GOD” to those that don’t know (unfamiliar with) Him by the Spirit and are still waiting for Jesus to come back and get them and take them to where they “think” God is!

Those that “KNOW (is familiar with and identify) HIM” are those that are in the “Peter class”:  those that see Christ by the Spirit!  Matthew 16:13-16, Jesus is questioning His disciples as to “Who He is”!!

• Vs 15: He saith unto them, “But whom say you that I am”?

• Vs 16: And Simon Peter answered and said, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God”!!  

What was Jesus’ response to Peter after Peter got the revelation?

• Vs 17: And Jesus answered and said unto him “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona:  for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven”.

• Vs 18: And I say also unto thee, “That thou art Peter, and upon this rock (this type of faith) I will build (construct; make; fashion; erect; found) my church (ekklesi’a) [a calling out of a people out of a people]; and the gates of hell, shall not prevail against it!

• Vs 19: And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven:  and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven:  and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

And we’re part of those in the “John class”:  that’s walking in the Spirit!  

• Revelation 1:10: I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day:  [And that day is every day and not just Sunday as most people believe].

• Psalm 118:24: This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it!! 

The “Lord’s Day” is an eternal day!!!  THIS is the DAY!!

Those that “KNOW (is familiar with and identify) HIM” have “eternal life”!  John 17:3 (Jesus said):  

• This is life eternal, that they might “KNOW” thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.  

This word “know” is the root word ginos’ko, meaning to (absolutely) perceive; understand completely; recognize; be aware of; can speak; be sure of.  Meaning those that can accept, take in and understand completely that the Father and you, the Father and I are all one through Jesus the Christ and the power of the Holy Ghost are familiar with and do identify Him!!!   Jesus said:  

• John 8:32: You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free!

THANK YOU JESUS, that you are no longer "UNKNOWN" to me and so many others, but "KNOWN", those that have taken hold of the revelation truth!  WE KNOW HIM because we are now FAMILIAR with and do IDENTIFY Him!  We not only "identify" Him but we are "identified as Him"!  As he is, so are we, in this world (1John 4:17).   

Pastor Gracie Perry