Knowing God is the essence of knowledge. What God says in the Word and in the past through Solomon is “Knowing Me, God, is the essence of wisdom.”

Believing is not the same as knowing

The people who believed in God did not know the Messiah who was sent by God. When you look at the history of Israel that happened 2,000 years ago, they did not know Jesus. Instead, they crucified him and killed him on the cross. So when you don’t know, you will kill the person you were awaiting. Believing in God and knowing God is the essence of wisdom, but those people did not know. Although they believed in God, they did not know Him. They didn’t know His heart, His thoughts, or His essence. Why? Because they were ignorant. They believed in God, but because they didn’t know, they became foolish people.

So, ultimately, Jesus died. They killed him, the Messiah. They had so desperately waited for the Messiah to come, saying that God Himself was coming. There’s a verse in the Bible that says, “God Himself is coming. He will come riding on a swift cloud.” God said, “I will go to you, and I will destroy all evil.” At that time, in the mind of Israel, Assyria, Babylon, Carchemish, and Egypt were that evil. Israel was completely surrounded by those nations, and they were living in torment. So they said, “If God comes, He’ll solve all of our problems for us.” Not only would He solve their national defense issues, but He would also solve their issues of faith. And so, Israel waited for God; Israel waited for the Messiah to come.

Because they believed in God, the Israelites thought that God Himself was going to come. That was the incorrect understanding of the believers. They thought God was going to come. However, even though they believed in God, God didn’t come. Jesus came instead. A young man from a rural village came. But God had sent him, predestined him, and carried out history through him. Jesus didn’t act according to his own thoughts. He emptied his thoughts, gave himself to God, and God used him as He wished. That is knowing correctly. But to say that God is going to come simply because they believe in God is wrong.

Know the essence

What they failed to understand was that just as God had sent Moses, Abraham, David, and Noah in the past, God would send a great person like them. They failed to believe that God would do as He had done in the past, so they were fools. They were ignorant. They believed, but they didn’t know the essence.

Knowing God is the essence of knowledge; it’s the essence of everything, but they just didn’t understand correctly what that essence was. The truth, the principles—these are the essence. These are the essence of the earth. These are the essence when it comes to living life on the earth.

Even if they believed in God, knowing the essence is to know that God is going to send somebody on the earth just as in the past, and He will carry out history through him. That’s what knowing the essence is. Do you understand?

It’s like a woman who was foretold to receive the crown prince. It was prophesied, but then she failed to receive him. Why? Because even if it’s predestined, if you don’t know, you will come to ruin. If you don’t know, you will incur losses every day. You must know the essence.