Word of Encouragement (2/5/2021)
We have been speaking of the necessity of prayer. Obviously, it is grounded in our creaturely needs. But we saw how our greatest need is our communion with God because we are made in the image of a triune God. Yesterday, we talked about the danger of neglecting this greatest need we have and being preoccupied with the lesser needs.
Today, as we finish this week off, I’d like to talk about the kind of communion we are granted to have with God through Jesus Christ. Horatius Bonar said,
“Thus [by the sacrifice of Christ] a new relationship was established, such as till then could never have been conceived of as even possible. The tie of creation, though not dissolved, was now to be lost in the closer, dearer tie of kindred.... Thus the saints are the nearest kinsman of the Son of God; and if of the Son, then of the Father also, as He hath said, ‘I and my Father are one...’” (The Night of Weeping and the Morning of Joy. Pensacola: Mount Zion Publications, p. 13).
Because of Jesus’ redeeming work, not only are we reconciled with God so that we don’t have to fear His condemnation and wrath; not only are we restored to the pristine fellowship between the pre-Fall, sinless Adam and God; we are now granted a far more intimate communion with God as His (adopted) children, co-heirs with Christ: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ...” (Rom. 8:16-17).
God does not love us, then, merely as the paragon of His creation. God does not love us merely as His own redeemed people, the chosen subjects of His kingdom. He loves us as His beloved children. Think about what this means. It’s not like God had no child of His own and He decided to adopt us as His children. God had His only begotten Son from all eternity. As His adopted children, we have become “fellow heirs with Christ”! That means is that we are sharing in Christ’s sonship to God. That means God loves us with the love with which He loves His only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father! For we have been united with Jesus Christ and our lives are found in the only begotten Son of God: “your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3)! This is the glory of our redemption. Through the only begotten God (John 1:18), we have been allowed to take part in the inner-Trinitarian love between the Father and the Son through our union with the Son! Without becoming divine, we have been allowed (as much as creatures can be allowed) to enjoy the benefit and joy of the love between God the Father and God the Son!
It is hard to imagine the kind of intimacy God has granted to us in His Son. We have glimpses of it when we enjoy an intimate moment with our spouse or experience the joy of friendship with our best friend. But unfortunately, those moments are temporary: the demands of life interrupt our time together; at times we grow apart, experience conflict, and feel all alone again. But with God, we have a relationship with Someone who is more inward than we are to ourselves, who loves us more than we love ourselves, who never leaves us or abandons us. How marvelous are the joy and peace and love we experience when we are one with God in our mind and heart and will, which comes with our total surrender to Him in complete trust—like a child jumping from the steps into the arms of his father! And what a terrible loss is ours when we fight God because we are not willing to let go of our idols and sins! Let us make it our greatest desire in life to enjoy the intimate communion God has granted to us through the sacrifice of His Son—to the point that we will gladly part from our sins and idols because they disrupt our fellowship with our wonderful heavenly Father!