In Search of the Holy Grail?

People have searched for centuries for the "Holy Grail". What's so amusing is that they're seeking to find that which they know not what it is! Some say it's the cup from which Jesus drank at the Last Supper. Others say that its the plate on which the bread was placed at the same meal and others say it's Joseph of Arimathea's cup which he used to catch droplets of Jesus' blood. Not only do people seek this grail, but they seek another grail as well. Paul spoke knowledgeable of that quest!

Acts 17:23 ""For as I passed by, and beheld your (Athenian Greeks) devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.

In Greece they worshiped twelve main Gods:  Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Dionysus, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Athena, Ares, Aphrodite, and Hephaestus. The Romans had the same twelve Gods who went by different names. However, the Greeks had another God, Agnostos Theos, "the Unknown God". They even swore by his name! This "Unknown God" was not a God who was defined, but a name reserved for an undiscovered God. It was a title used as a placeholder when and if a new God was discovered.

To this day Agnostos Theos has not been identified by the world. "Agnostic" means "without knowledge" hence this God is one which is unknown. There are now and have always been groups of people who worship this God.  Whereas theists believe and atheists disbelief, agnostics would say "I do neither". Their approach is "prove it to me". They are skeptics and actually "reason" is their belief. That's the human faculty of thinking things through using facts, experience, and logic on which to base a belief. It's the opposite of faith, and I believe. is one of the fruits of "The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil'. (Faith being a fruit of the Tree of Life).

I believe that humans are born with a "hole in the heart". That's the need to find something fulfilling in life! It's a "vacancy" between our existence and what we hope for. Christians fill that vacancy with "faith". Those who are agnostics seek to find "something" to bridge that gap. However, rather than hope in what they believe, their hope lies in what they seek. Seeking doesn't guarantee finding, so it's a deterministic type of faith. This "vacancy" in the hearts of all humans is what I believe is "the Unknown God". He's worshiped by those who have a faux hope. That's the type of hope offered by the serpent in the statement:

Genesis 3:5 "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil."

Here's what the serpent meant: "Use reason which I will give you and you shall find that 'Unknown God!'"

That's where man went wrong and that's where men are still wrong. That "Unknown God" was also there in the midst of the Garden and was called "The Tree of Life". However, the way to find god was camouflaged by the devil. It was through reason, "knowing good and evil". Satan fooled man by telling him that god can be found through the human method of logic.

Man is born with three faculties. It's the "Trinity of the "Self": mind, body and soul. God competes with this "self-trinity" for worship. Here, the "Self" takes the place of the the Godhead: "Mind" the Father, "Body" Jesus and "Soul" the Holy Spirit. Consequently in becomes very important who we prioritize in our own lives!

The "soul" is the vacancy in the emotional heart screaming to be filled with hope. The Holy Spirit is that hope fulfilled! Without the Holy Spirit indwelling within, the soul still screams for filling. The prevenient grace of God says" I'm the Holy Spirit; fill yourself with me!" while the demons yell out "No; that's no fun and is stupid, be fulfilled and let me in!"

When we're born there is something in that soul which is a barrier to fulfillment. It's "original sin". That's Adams's wrong choice. The soul's shell is bonded by "self" and only by grace is that shell penetrated, sometimes a little at a time and sometimes it ruptures with immediacy!  How quickly the soul is penetrated depends on how much we love the self. Those who have indulged pleasure and knowledge the most, however, love God the most because they have been forgiven the most:

Luke 7:42 "And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most? 43 Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged."

Some who are submissive by God's grace allow the Holy Spirit to fill that void. Others long for its filling, but are looking in the wrong places. Those "wrong places" are "wrong God's" and is what's worshiped as an "Unknown God".

"Ism" are some of the "Unknown Gods"! "Isms" attempt to fill the vacancy in the human heart. All isms offer a false hope which are in the secular called "Utopias". That's a place where all needs and pleasures are met, but there is no God there to interfere with what pleasures are sought after. Unlike those who have an impossible dream in Utopia, dreaming of eternity in heaven is possible. The search for fulfillment is called "self-actualization" by those humanists in the religion of psychology, but that goes back to the the worship of "Self" and peace within isn't found there. It's just another "ism" (humanism).

The search for the Holy Grail is in reality an attempt to find that "Unknown God".  Roadblocks to the search are the fruits of the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil". Wealth, pleasure and reason interfere with finding the grail. The "mind", the "god" of man thinks there is another way. The "body", the "god" of man seeks pleasure and the "soul" part of man lacks fulfillment because the other two of the"Trinity of Man" foils discovery. The soul remains empty because of disillusionment of the mind and body.

Yes, we all still seek the Holy Grail. It's not the cup for the wine nor the platter for the bread, but it's what those are emblematic; the belief in the propitiation of God's own blood, not to fill the platter nor the cup, but to fill the soul. Belief in Jesus fills the "cup", or the grail, if you prefer, with Spirit. God's loving Spirit.

Luke 22:42 "(Jesus) Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done."

Here's the find; the end of the search. The Holy Grail is a "cup"!  However, the cup is much more. It's the body of Christ, the cup which was emptied for us all!  The cup was filled with blood, but it was spilled for me... all of us in fact. That spilled blood filled our souls, taking the place of that longing for the divine. That happens as a result of belief and is called faith:

Ephesians 1:13 (ESV) "In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit..."

Belief called the Holy Spirit to fill that grail within you, the soul. And then the cup was filled:

Ezekiel 36:26-27 (ESV)  "And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules."

Ta Da!  The grail is found! Your cup is filled with belief in Jesus Christ! The search is over. Others are still looking. They still search for the Holy Grail, but what they search for has been found. The grail knocked at the Christian's door and if the door was opened, the grail was there all the time.

How about the other grail? Your own cup? Your soul becomes spirit and that is because the soul is now a temple:

1 Corinthians 6:19 (ESV) "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own..."

You mind and soul lives within the body. The body is the whole of the "god" of your "trinity" called "Self". Within the body, we also find "flesh", commonly referred to as body. They are not to be confused. The flesh is or blood, water and mass; but the body is made up of flesh, mind and soul. With the spirit filling the empty cup within the body, you become a complete being. The search for "completeness" is finalized when there is faith in Jesus! Self-actualization is a lie and a fraud. Those who self-actualize worship another God, and their "peak experience" is without merit, because salvation (a peak experience) when worshiping oneself is idolatry!

Those searching for the Holy Grail are many, but few find it. But it's there for all. It's on the other side of a narrow gate. It's somewhat hidden because "reason" obscures it and "pleasure" impedes the search. The Holy Grail truly is a mystery. It's a mystery of God.

1 Corinthians 2:7 "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: 8 Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory."

The search for the Holy Grail has always been a mystery. Those in the Old Testament era failed to realize that the Holy Grail was hidden in plain site, the Greeks sought the Holy Grail by worshiping and "Unknown God" and those deceived today are looking for "isms" for inner peace! The Holy Grail is "the crucified Lord of glory", the One and Only God who came to earth in human form (the cup) and spilled the blood from the cup which was his body! Jesus is the chalice everyone seeks, but few find!

In search of the Holy Grail. Seek where I found it. Do you want to know the "Unknown God"? Find him where I did.  "The Unknown God. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you." The Search for the Holy Grail is identifying the "Unknown God" and believing in him. Believe that "his cup" was emptied that you might live and now your empty soul is filled with the Holy Spirit! You know that the Holy Grail has been found by this evidence:

Galatians 5:22-23 (ESV) "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control..."

The "Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil" has fruits of reason, pleasure and wealth. There are laws against these.  The fruits of "The Tree of Life" are many and among them are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control; "against such things there is no law" (Gal 5:22b). Those fruits fill the soul. They are stockpiled in the Temple and provide the juice which fill the Holy Grail.

A good puzzle is rewarding to solve. Mysteries revealed are enlightening. A search for something sought is joy to the soul. The "Search for the Holy Grail" was looking for that which was always there!