Secondhand Knowledge!
The world is unable to receive Him because it does not see Him or know Him. But you know Him because He remains with you and in you. John 14:17
I must be careful not to “know” Christ in the natural way. Paul said, “Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet we now know Him thus no longer”. (2 Cor. 5:16). What Paul was saying we do not comprehend Jesus with our head or even with our five senses (flesh). When we know about Him with head knowledge, this is called secondhand knowledge. This is the problem with secondhand knowledge it is all academic studies and not based on having a personal encounter with the almighty God. I believe we must study the Word of God but it cannot take place of the Living Christ.
To know Christ “according to the flesh” is based on sense knowledge as the disciples had before the Lord’s crucifixion and ascension to heaven. The disciples were with Jesus for more than three years, yet they did not believe Him. The disciples were not born again. There were no born-again people until the redemptive work of Christ was finished and the Day of Pentecost took place. But when the Holy Spirit descended upon them and entered them taught them all that Jesus said and did and suddenly it became amazingly alive and true.
No amount of research, or laws of reason, or history will reveal the risen Christ. We must see Him only through our (spiritual) eyes and experience of the Holy Spirit. There are too many so-called Christians who only see Christ naturally. A natural Christ will transform no one.
Also, secondhand knowledge is not living off someone else’s faith. I must not be part of the “me too” movement thinking that I can get to heaven through someone else’s faith. God has no grandchildren, only born-again sons and daughters. If I let the Holy Spirit teach me directly about Jesus through His Word of God that experience and knowledge will grow stronger and sweeter through the years. If I learn of Jesus in any other way my knowledge will decay and rot and I will be lost. Paul’s prayer, “May God give you the spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him” through the word of God. (Eph. 1:17).