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An Intimate Relationship

by Jon von Ernst
8/11/2023 / Bible Studies

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men” (John 1:1-4).

When God the Father set His mind to create the universe and all that it entails, He spoke the Word. The Word that was with God the Father came forth from Him. It was by the power of the Word that all things were made.

In the Word was life, and that life was the light of men. When God commanded the light to shine in Genesis 1:3, the whole of creation began to declare the glory and the promise of God in the Word. This light brought knowledge of God’s purpose, giving meaning to all of creation.

Paul explains, “What can be known about God is evident among them (the people), because God has shown it to them. For His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen since the creation of the world, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse” (Romans 1:20-21, HCSB).

John presents this wonderful truth, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). The Word of God came forth from the Father and therefore is known as the Son of God.

By coming forth from the Father as the only Son, a very special intimate relationship was formed. We get a brief glimpse of the significance of this relationship in Proverbs 17:6. “The glory of sons is their fathers.” Jesus prayed, “And now You, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world existed” (John 17:5).

The writer of Hebrews tells us, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Hebrews 1:3). The Word is so incredibly powerful that He not only created all things, but by His power all things are maintained and continue to exist. He upholds all things by the power of His hand. The scriptures declare, “He is before all things, and in him all things are held together” (Colossians 1:17).

The Word, who possessed all the power, all the wisdom, all of the attributes of divinity, voluntarily emptied Himself of everything divine and assumed the form of a slave and took on the likeness of a man. Paul writes about the Word saying, “Christ Jesus, who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be used for His own advantage. Instead He emptied Himself by assuming the form of a slave, taking on the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:6-7).

According to John, “The Word became flesh and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The Word took on the likeness of man, being born, in the flesh, as a baby. That baby was given the name ‘Jesus’. He was born, becoming flesh, as the result of the Holy Spirit of God impregnating the virgin, Mary (Luke 1:26-38).

When Jesus became flesh, born of the virgin, He became the first born of many brothers. Paul writes to the believers in Rome referring to Jesus saying, “He would be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29, HCSB). Who are these many bothers that Jesus, the only Son of the Father, would become the first born of?

Jesus reveals the answer to this question in Matthew 12:50 saying, “For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.” Jesus explains further saying, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

Jesus discloses that only those that have been born physically as flesh and blood, born of water, and have been born spiritually, born of the Spirit are able to enter the kingdom of heaven. Jesus continued to explain saying, “Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can’t enter into God’s Kingdom. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:5-6).

As a baby, Jesus was born of the Spirit and of water, both at the same time. Therefore, He was, from birth, like His brothers in every way. He was the first born of many brothers, born of water and born of the Spirit.

Everyone living today has been born with a physical body, born of water. However, because of Adam’s sin, their spirit is dead. They are all dead in their trespasses (Ephesians 2:5). This is why we must be born again. Our spirit must be made alive by the Holy Spirit. When this happens, by faith in Jesus, we become one of the many brothers of Jesus.

The writer of Hebrews explains, “For the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. . . Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, Jesus also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death—that is, the Devil— and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. . . Therefore, He had to be like His brothers in every way, so that He could become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tested and has suffered, He is able to help those who are tested” (Hebrews 2:11, 14-15, 17-18, HCSB).

Jesus emptied Himself of all His divine attributes, not seeing them as something to be used for His own advantage to ease and protect His life while here on earth. He took on the form of a slave. He had no beauty that we should desire Him (Isaiah 53:2).

Luke sets forth this account in his gospel, “When eight days were fulfilled for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. When the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were fulfilled, they (His earthly parents) brought him up to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord” (Luke 2:21-22).

“When they had accomplished all things that were according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city, Nazareth. The child was growing, and was becoming strong in spirit, being filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him” (Luke 2:39-40). “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52).

“Now when all the people were baptized, Jesus also had been baptized, and was praying. The sky was opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form like a dove on him; and a voice came out of the sky, saying ‘You are my beloved Son. In you I am well pleased.’ Jesus himself, when he began to teach, was about thirty years old” (Luke 3:21-23). This was the beginning of the public portion of His earthly ministry.

“Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. He ate nothing in those days. Afterward, when they were completed, he was hungry.

The devil said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.’ Jesus answered him, saying, ‘It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God’” (Luke 4:1-4).

“When the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from him until another time. Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee, and news about him spread through all the surrounding area” (Luke 4:13-14).

“He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. He entered, as was his custom, into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. The book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. He opened the book, and found the place where it was written, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.’

“He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fastened on him. He began to tell them, ‘Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing’” (Luke 4:16-21).

The Word had emptied Himself of all His Godly powers and became a man of flesh and blood. Being born of the Spirit, He was born with a spirit that was alive and enabled Him to have fellowship with His heavenly Father. He could continually commune with the Father, praying always.

Yet, He still found it necessary to go apart from the noise and the busyness of the world and His ministry to spend time alone with the Father. Sometimes He would withdraw and spend all night in prayer, listening to and learning from the Father.

Walking in obedience to all that the Father had shown Him in these times of prayer, Jesus went forth into the world proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God, casting out demons, and healing the sick. He began to preach, “Repent! For the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17). As He continued to walk in obedience, He called a few men to follow Him and they became His disciples.

After Jesus had spent much time with His disciples demonstrating to them His walk of faith in total submission to the Father, He sent them out in pairs and gave them authority over unclean spirits. His disciples went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons and anointed many of the sick, healing them.

As soon as His disciples returned to Him and reported all that they had done, Jesus said to them, “‘Come apart into a deserted place, and rest awhile.’ For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. They went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves” (Mark 6:31-32).

News came to Jesus about John the Baptist being beheaded while in prison. “Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place apart” (Matthew 14:13). As Jesus returned to shore, He saw a large crowd gathered. He felt compassion for them and healed their sick.

When evening came the crowds became hungry. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, and looking up to heaven He blessed them and broke them and gave them to the disciples to give to the crowd. After everyone ate and were filled, they picked up twelve baskets full of pieces left over. Immediately after the feeding of the 5,000, when Jesus had sent the multitudes away, “he went up into the mountain by himself to pray. When evening had come, he was there alone” (Matthew 14:23).

Jesus had such a close intimate relationship with His Father, that He was totally dependent on Him for everything. Apart from His Father, Jesus could do nothing. Jesus explains this to His disciples saying, “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. . . The works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me” (John 5:30, 36; KJV).

“Jesus said, ‘When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me’” (John 8:28, NIV). “If I don’t do the works of my Father, don’t believe me. But if I do them, though you don’t believe me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in the Father” (John 10:37-38).

“For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. I know that his commandment is eternal life. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak” (John 12:49-50).

“Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I tell you, I speak not from myself; but the Father who lives in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me; or else believe me for the very works’ sake” (John 14:10-11).

In His communion with the Father in prayer, Jesus would learn what the Father would want Him to do, and what the Father would want Him to say. Then He would do the works that the Father gave Him to do and He would speak the words the Father gave Him to speak. The indwelling Holy Spirit would enable Him to hear the Father and empower Him to obey the Father. His ministry was simply to do the will of the Father.

Jesus would pray to the Father according to the Father’s will that had been shown to Him, and the Father would work the miracles according to what He had told Jesus He would do. As Jesus walked by faith, obeying all the Father had shown Him to do, the Father would do those works through Jesus. Thus it was the Father, by His divine power, doing His works through Jesus, and therefore all the works Jesus did were the works of the Father.

This faithfulness of Jesus, to do all that was shown to Him, is reminiscent of Moses doing all that God had shown Him. “Moses did everything just as the Lord commanded him” (Exodus 40:16, NIV).

According to Hebrews, “Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken, but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house. We are his house, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end” (Hebrews 3:5-6).

This relationship between Jesus, the Son, and God, the Father, is the most intimate relationship any human being could ever experience. The Son trusting the Father, for His faithful love and full provision of direction and guidance in every situation, even to the point of laying down His life according to the Father’s will. The Father trusting the Son, to deny Himself completely, enduring to the end, throughout the incredible humiliation and suffering He experienced during His life and especially in His crucifixion and death.

Their trust was a reflection of the relationship they shared before the world began. It was a reflection of the glory they shared before the world even existed. Their relationship was so close, so intimate, that they were truly one, the Father in the Son and the Son in the Father.

I do not believe there is any passage of scripture that more eloquently expresses the incredible intimacy that Jesus had with His Father than His prayer just before His arrest and crucifixion. He had resigned Himself to voluntarily lay down His life, that the will of His Father would be fully accomplished through Him.

Looking up to heaven, Jesus prayed, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, so that the Son may glorify You, just as You gave Him authority over all mankind, so that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. I glorified You on the earth by accomplishing the work which You have given Me to do. And now You, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world existed.

“I have revealed Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have followed Your word. Now they have come to know that everything which You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me. I ask on their behalf; I do not ask on behalf of the world, but on the behalf of those whom You have given Me, because they are Yours; and all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; and I have been glorified in them. I am no longer going to be in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I am coming to You.

“Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, so that they may be one just as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name, which You have given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished except the son of destruction, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

“But now I am coming to You; and these things I speak in the world so that they may have My joy made full in themselves. I have given them Your word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I am not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them away from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.

“Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth. Just as You sent Me into the world, I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, so that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.

“I am not asking on behalf of these alone, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one; just 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.

“The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them, so 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 You loved them, just as You loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.

“Righteous Father, although the world has not known You, yet I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me; and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (John 17:1-26, NASB).

Jesus, fully aware of the wondrous nature of His intimate relationship with His heavenly Father, prayed in verse 11, that His disciples would experience this same intimacy. “Holy Father, keep them through your name which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are.”

Christ died and rose again that we might experience the same intimacy as He had with the Father. Christ endured to the end, empowered by the Holy Spirit to both know and to do the Father’s will.

He did this that we might now freely partake of this same oneness that He had with the Father, the most intimate relationship possible for any human being to experience. Praise the Lord, this intimate relationship is now freely available, by faith, to every person in Christ!

Writings By Jon von Ernst

The Lord of All Things Series - A Trilogy of Truth
Books in this series:
Book 1 - The Gospel of the Kingdom
Book 2- The Victorious Christian
Book 3 - Walking in the Light - Following in His Steps

*- Audio of these books are available free of charge at thepureword.net.

Article Source: http://www.faithwriters.com-CHRISTIAN WRITERS

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