The Gospel of Intimacy
“No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not
know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things
that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you.” John
15:15
It seems evident to me that
from the time that God’s Spirit brooded (Heb.
râchaph) over the surface of the
waters (Ge.1:2), God purposed to create a being, with whom He could be
intimate. He expressed it in the profound communication that exists in the
trinity: “Let Us make man in Our image,
according to Our likeness” (1:26). After the travesty that outweighs all others
that ever occurred, God walked in the garden in the cool of the day and called
to Adam, “Where are you?” (3:9).
Adam’s relationship with his Creator was overshadowed by a thick cloud, because
of his disobedience, and he hid in fear and shame.
Can anything be done to remedy an act of
rebellion against the supreme authority over the universe, whose command cannot
once be slighted in the smallest measure? Is there a way to erase a blemish
caused by sin and the following, innumerable offenses by Adam and his
descendents against a thrice-holy God? The problem of the ages could only be
resolved in the mind of the Omniscient, and the means would be accomplished
through his beloved and only Son. Therefore, the eternal Son of God stepped
down from His unfathomable glory and became Man, with one purpose in mind and
that purpose was to reconcile man to God. It would be accomplished through the
sacrificial death of this God/Man. Peter sees it and teaches us: “Christ also died for sins once for all,
the just for the unjust, so that He might
bring us to God…” (1 Pt.3:18). The purpose was reconciliation.
This was the desire and design of the Spirit
of God behind the writing of a unique Gospel, different from the three
wonderful accounts penned previously. He prepared an author and preserved his
life, after all his fellow-apostles had given theirs in martyrdom. Sixty more
years were required to equip and endow him with the wisdom to proclaim a Gospel
of restored intimacy between God and man.
This writer was the former fisherman, John,
who called himself the disciple that Jesus loved. He was the one, who reclined
on Jesus’ bosom after the last supper.
An unpleasant
deviation
Would to God I could continue my attempt to
write concerning this wonderful subject without interruption. But because man’s
mind has been perverted by the fall, I am obligated to address a filthy lie
concerning the relationship between John and Jesus. “To the pure, all things are pure; but to those who are defiled and
unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are
defiled” (Titus 1:15). Amazingly, the Scripture informs of things born in
the heart, which come to the surface in the forms of doctrines and practices
over the passage of time.
Therefore in our time, the homosexual, who
has no intention of repenting of his perversion, yet wants to lay claim to
Christianity, tries to find in Jesus and John a justification for his unnaturally
twisted mind. The implications are too blasphemous for us to consider any
further. His Queen James Bible, altered in all parts that refer to the sin of
homosexuality, bears a triple curse from Deuteronomy 4:2, Proverbs 30:6 and
Revelation 22:18-19. The criminal founder and false prophet of the Mormons,
Joseph Smith, was no better. In his sexual gluttony, he attempted to make Jesus
a polygamist. I pity the person whose stomach doesn’t turn sour over such
suggestions.
Having necessarily cleared the air of some
foul pollution, we continue to consider a pure and beautiful love, such as
there is in a holy heaven, without a trace of sexuality (Mt.22:30). “Love is patient, love is kind and is not
jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it
does not seek its own… (etc)”. This
is the love of God, donated as a precious gift to man, overflowing with
tenderness and compassion (1
Co.13:4,5). Though it is, in first place, volitional and not sentimental, it
also has emotional content. Can anyone doubt that after reading the account of
Naomi and Ruth or David and Jonathan?
In John we have a New Testament example, of one
who knew and loved Jesus Christ, and in his first letter, he invites the reader
into that communion: “What we have seen
and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us;
and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1
Jn.1:3).
The Son, one
with the Father
From chapter one, in the first two verses of
his Gospel, John hints at the source of intimacy, which was between the Father
and the Son. He states: “The Word was
with God… He was in the beginning with God.” The Word and God, the Father,
were together before the beginning of time. Albert Barnes states, “He was
blessed and happy with God. It proves that he was intimately united with the
Father, so as to partake of his glory.”
In this short article, we pass over a number
of passages, which teach us the unique relationship between the Father and the
Son, until we come to the apex of our study in chapter 17. I know of no other
chapter in the Bible, which gives a greater feeling of urgency to remove our shoes,
because we are standing on holy ground! It is holy, even fearful, precisely
because of the matter before us… the intimacy between the Father and the Son.
It is a wonder that the Holy Spirit would allow us inferior and unworthy beings
to gaze upon this hour of divine communion.
There are some (too many I’m afraid), who
would like to take the term Abba Father and
translate it Daddy. This is an
example of the frivolous theology of modern times with its low concept of God. The
holy students of Scripture in times past would not have dared make such a
suggestion. Therefore, it is well worth pointing out that in this prayer, which
from start to finish denotes profound intimacy, Jesus addresses God as Holy Father (v.11). There is no hint of
any irreverence.
In verse three, Jesus points to the essence
of eternal life, and, as already pointed out, this was the purpose of creation
and the cross, “This is eternal life,
that they may know you, the only true
God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent”. If any man misses the point of
creation and the plan of reconciliation, he has missed the reason for his
existence and there is no other recourse left, but to dispose of him. As far as
he is concerned, Christ died in vain. Eternal life is for those who have come
into relationship with God and know him.
Throughout this prayer, Jesus shows the
deepest concern for those who are His and I always like to show that He
includes disciples, who will believe on Him in the distant future, even into
the 21st Century: “I do not
ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through
their word” (v.20). He prays for them,
not for those in the world (v.9). This high-priestly prayer continues at the
right hand of the Father. He tells the
Father of His care for them and of losing none (12).
One with the
Father and the Son
But I want most of all that we hear in His
prayer, His expressions of oneness
with the Father. It begins in verse 11: “That
they may be one even as We are.” He is praying us into the kind of intimacy
that exists between the Father and the Son and He continues in verse 21: “That they may all be one (this
includes the future saints of verse 20); even
as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that
the world may believe that you sent Me…”, and He continues in verse 22 and 23, “that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me,
that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent
Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.” Please understand that this
is far more than a plea for people of different denominations to get along with
one another. It is about the Father being in the Son, and the Son dwelling in
us and us dwelling in the Father and the Son.
He already taught His disciples this
principle, using the example of the branches of a vine, vitally joined with the
stock, so that the stock’s life would flow through the branches. This is
intimacy at the highest level; this is the life of God in the soul of man. When
God’s people are so united with the Father and the Son, and by the Father and
the Son with one another, so that the living presence of God is seen through
them… that is what will get the world’s
attention, and nothing less.
Jesus is speaking of this oneness with God,
when He points to the kind of love
that exists between the Father and the Son, becoming the love that is in the
believers in verse 26: “That the love
with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them”. Likewise, when His
disciples thought about having a quantity of faith, Jesus spoke to them of a
kind… the faith of a grain of mustard seed. In chapter 14, He spoke to them of
His peace, a peace that the world cannot give. In chapter 15, He promised them
that His joy would be in them and become theirs. Don’t think of love in terms
of quantity; it is not quantity, it is kind… the highest quality of love… the
love that exists only in God. This is the intimacy of oneness with Christ.
An eternal love
relationship
We are trying to grasp eternity’s values, as
we look into these things, especially of the everlasting love of Christ. “Father, I desire that they also, whom You
have given Me, be with Me where I am,” He prays with passion in verse 24, “so that they may see My glory…” Already
in chapter 14, He shared this with His disciples. When they were without any
true purpose in life, endlessly casting their nets into the Sea of Galilee to
provide a living for themselves and their families, He came to them with a
glorious purpose. Now He speaks of going away to prepare a place for them in
His Father’s house: “I will come again
and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also,” He
promises them and us. The love relationship with God is unending and the best
is yet to come.
In the meantime, as He is about to go to His
Father, Jesus said “I will not leave you
orphans” (Jn.14:18). Far from it, the Holy Spirit enters into the picture,
not just to walk and talk with the children of God in this world. That would
not be close enough, but He is to be in us
(v.17) to comfort, to teach and to show us things to come. This is divine help
to enable us to understand, to reach into the heavenly and function in the
realm, into which Jesus has brought us. Otherwise we would be totally helpless
and ignorant. He will glorify Christ, as He takes of His and shows it to us,
bringing forth through His people a mighty testimony to the world.
Friendship with
God
We cited chapter 15, verse 15, at the head of
this article, by which Jesus calls His disciples into friendship. Abraham knew this intimate friendship
with God, in which God shared His thoughts and His heart with his human friend:
“The Lord said, Shall I hide from
Abraham what I am about to do…?” (Ge.18:17). Speaking through the Prophet
Isaiah, God said, “Israel, My servant,
Jacob whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend” (Is.41:8).
This is not a man calling God his friend; it is the infinite God, calling a
mortal being His friend!
Then, there is so much wonder to be seen in
the relationship of God with Moses. We cannot take much more space; simply look
with me at Exodus 33:11: “The Lord used
to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.” We
have briefly pondered the teaching of Jesus to His disciples concerning
friendship and future glory. John has made His prayer to the Father available,
and we have seen that it reached down the centuries to include us. We read more
than words; through the Holy Spirit, we have looked into the heart of God,
Father and Son, and what we have seen there, is His will to be intimate with
human beings. For that purpose, He created us, washed us from sin, transformed
us through the new birth and given us His Spirit, so that by these measures we
might live in communion with Him. ■
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
Recommended Books
Post a Comment