Knowing God is eternal life
Knowing God is what differentiates those who will dwell eternally in the presence of God in the New Earth from those who will dwell eternally absent from God in the Lake of Fire. Jesus said, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." John 17:3. The word translated “know” in John 17, 3 is the greek word “ginṓskō” – properly means “to know, especially through personal experience (first-hand acquaintance).” ginṓskō = "experientially know". It is used for example in Lk 1:34, "And Mary [a virgin] said to the angel, 'How will this be since I do not know (1097 /ginṓskō = sexual intimacy) a man?’”. To eternally live with God is to eternally come to know Him, the bible says, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known.” I Corinthians 13:11-12.
One day we will get to know God as He knows us, this is very exciting! No more distractions, not more shadows, no more limitations, we will be able to know Him fully, like He knows us fully. Of course, it takes eternity to know God, He is infinite, but we will have all the "time" then to do it, provided will still have some sort of notion of time. However, knowing God is a process that can start now. You can begin knowing God now and walking in your eternal calling. John 17:3 says "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” This is the essence of eternal life Knowing God, but John 17:3 doesn't stop there, it also let us know that eternal life is knowing Jesus Christ whom God sent because we cannot know God except through Jesus Christ.
Jesus said, “I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight. All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” Matthew 11:25-27. No one can know God unless Jesus reveals God to him. Think about this, God dwells in heaven, in a place of unapproachable light, and no man has seen or can see Him (I Timothy 6:16), therefore no man can reveal him to us, except Him that is Jesus who came down from heaven. Jesus said, "'No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.'" Moreover, in John 3:11-13, Jesus said “Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness. If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.”
As mentioned before the word know is the greek “ginṓskō” – properly means “to know, especially through personal experience (first-hand acquaintance), thus, only someone who dwells with God from eternity past can be His first-hand acquaintance or know Him intimately to the point of being able to reveal Him fully to others. The angels don’t qualify because they have come to know God only the moment they have been created, not to talk about human beings who have been created far after the angels. There is only one person who can reveal God to us, Jesus Christ, who dwells with God from the beginning. The bible says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. [...] And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. [...] No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.” John 1:1-2,14,18.
To say that eternal life is to know God is not wrong since Jesus who in the beginning was The Word is God (John 1:1-2); however, per John 17:3 it is incomplete because God is one in essence but three in subsistences or persons. God became flesh, men in the person of Jesus Christ and dwelt among us so we could know see His glory, so we could see Him. The glory of God we saw was the glory of the only begotten of the Father; thus, we cannot know God except through Jesus Christ, He is the way to God. It's written, "'Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.'" John 14:6. Paul got a glimpse of the surpassing blessing and wonder of knowing God, in the person of Jesus that he said, “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14.
Jesus was with the Father from the beginning, John 1:1 says "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Jesus knows God in the true sense of the word because He was with Him and He is Him, therefore His testimony about God is faithful and we can trust; Jesus knows Him from first-hand experience, that is “ginṓskō”. No one else has come down from heaven to reveal God to us, but Jesus, He is the faithful witness, Revelation 3:14 says “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:” John 10:7-10 says “Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”.
Jesus is the foundation, the chief cornerstone in which every building, person who wants to know God must be settled on (Ephesians 2:20-23). Thus, knowing God shall always be understood as knowing Jesus also whom He has sent, for we cannot know God except through Jesus Christ. It takes knowing Jesus and then The Father, to receive eternal life; the order matters. This is life eternal knowing God and you can begin this journey here from the earth.