They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.
“The disciples being but few, and finding the vast majority of the nation against them, and being but unlearned Galileans, and finding the leaders—the wise, the cultured, the mighty—against them, would be tempted to doubt the correctness of their course, and to ask, ‘May we not, after all, be mistaken: may not those who know more be better judges in this matter than we who are so ignorant?’ To forestall and prevent such questioning, Jesus asserts that the ignorance is with the rulers. Knowledge of himself and of his Father is the great and supreme knowledge, and the apostles having this were wiser than those with all other learning.” (McGarvey)
J. I. Packer tells of walking with a scholar who had effectively lost all chance of academic advancement because he had clashed with church dignitaries over the doctrine of grace. After discussing the matter at length, he turned to Packer and said, “But it doesn’t matter, for I have known God and they haven’t.” Knowing God is the object of our faith and it is from that personal knowledge of Him that all of our religion should flow.
So how do we get to know God? The Father can only be known through the revelation of Jesus Christ, and to be ignorant of one is to be ignorant of the other. The Jews had every opportunity to know Him and yet they didn’t. Their sin would be held against them even though they thought they knew God (Hosea 8:1-3). The only thing worse than not knowing God is not knowing God but thinking that you do.
Hosea 8:1-3 “Put the trumpet to your lips! An eagle is over the house of the LORD because the people have broken my covenant and rebelled against my law. Israel cries out to me, ‘O our God, we acknowledge you!’ But Israel has rejected what is good; an enemy will pursue him.
(The word translated in the NIV as “acknowledge” is the Hebrew word yada’ which literally means “to know”.)