TO KNOW THE UNKNOWN GOD

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

Paul was in a situation not unlike some of the things we see today.  He was in the city of Athens Greece, he had journeyed  to a place where all the philosophers and learned men of the day came to meet.  They spent their days discussing and even arguing about what they considered the important things of life. As is true in many parts of the world today, the Greeks had a large number of gods.  There was Zeus who was considered the chief god, Athena, the goddess for whom the city of Athens was named, and a god for everything from the god of war to the goddess of love and fertility.

Each god was considered important in the daily lives of the Athenian people and they built huge temples and statues to their favorite gods.  In many countries of the world today, we see people that worship a myriad of gods and goddesses just like the Greeks.  The Hindus have hundreds of gods, as do the various other religions in that part of the world.

There is something in man that seeks to explain the things that happen in this life.  Man has a desire to believe in a power that is higher than himself, someone or something to which he can communicate his problems, pains, love and wishes.

The people of Athens were no different that many people of today. We are faced with situations and tribulations in life that defy human understanding.  There is something inside of us, that one writer described as a “God shaped hole in our heart”, that needs to be filled.

We try to fill that hole with material things, stuff that we can purchase and sometimes even the people in our lives. We try everything in the world, yet we are never satisfied. 

Paul started out talking to the philosophers of that great city by fluffing their feathers.  He said “gentlemen, I see that you are very superstitious”.  Some of the modern translations of the Bible have translated that word as “religious” but the actual Greek translation of the word means “a fear of demons or the devil”.  What Paul is saying to them, is that they appear to be people who are covering all their bases and not taking any chances.  Just in case they had missed a god, in their building shrines and temples, they had erected a monument to the “Unknown God”.  Better safe than sorry, they had decided.

I had a guy in my unit in Vietnam who was a lot like the people of Athens.  On a chain around his neck he had a Star of David, a Christian Cross, a Buddha, and an Egyptian Ankh. His reasoning was simple.  He wasn’t a firm believer in any of them, but he wasn’t going to take a chance if the next bullet got him. 

Paul told the people that the God to whom the monument was dedicated was the God that he, Paul represented.  He told them that this God was the God who actually created the whole universe, and was the Father of all mankind.  This was the God who was so near to them that, were they to reach out, He could be found, because He was so near.

The Bible tells us that God does not change, that Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.  The same God that Paul preached in that city of Athens so long ago is the same God that is still alive and well today, in the hearts of His people. We can search, and call out to any number of gods that man has created, But the only one that hears us, is the God that created man.

If you do not have a personal relationship with God today, I encourage you to call on the name of the one the Greeks called the Unknown God.  He has a name, and it is Heavenly Father, Wonderful Counselor, and the Prince of Peace.  It’s as simple as calling on Him and asking Him to come into your heart and life!

In the Wind,

Double D