How long has the Godhead been in close-quarters intimacy with each other? From eternity. John 1:1-2,
We never "learn" that God is approachable until we see that Jesus is in relationship with God, and God answers all His prayers, and Jesus obeys Him completely because of the Father's love. Now that we have seen the character and love of God in action between the two, we can see that God is wide-open with an invitation for us to experience the same relationship. And just in case we were wondering if the invitation is official, it is - but only faithful followers in the upper room discourse have categorically attained it. Consider how exclusive Jesus is with most believers in the Gospel of John....
Be a Somebody - Be an Ambassador
In John 2:24 Jesus talked to those who were starting off well because they "believed in Jesus." But they hadn't been yet sanctified to abide. Jesus knew what was largely "in man" and it wasn't the Father. For that reason, "Jesus did not commit Himself to them." The word "commit" is the same word used as "believe" or "faith" in the Gospel of John. John was explaining, "But Jesus did not believe in them." Later, Jesus does believe in (commit Himself to) His disciples, and John 6 is the dividing line. In John 6 He teaches that if anyone wants eternal life they must eat Him and drink Him for their daily needs. When they get to the other side of hearing that, most disciples turn away permanently (6:66) because it's so difficult to understand and believe, but Peter says, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." These disciples are sanctified and willing to stay with Him and take Him in. By the time of the upper room Jesus has found viable candidates for replicating the image of the Abider-God. John 14:22-24,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
Jehovah's Witnesses think that they have crucified the doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ (removed Jesus from being equally God as the Father is God - as we would reply in our doctrines, the Godhead is Trinitarian) by changing "was God" to "was a god." But the evidence of a Trinitarian relationship between Jesus and the Father is made much more resounding by one other word, used two times in this very first introduction to the identity of Jesus Christ: that word, is "with." Jesus was God and With God, from the beginning. Amazing, then, that at the end of the Gospel of John what He is inviting his faithful disciples in the upper room to do (John 13-17) is be "with God" and therefore have the same experience of abiding with God that He has always had. Our Savior is an Abider. He has always been abiding with God. He is at the core of God and has been in the Bosom forever, and will continue to be so. What does an abider look like?
1 - In tune with the needs and wishes of someone else, always carrying around the interests of another as a framework for what choices need to be made.
2 - Obedient, listening and subservient to the heart of someone else. Makes a good representative to a foreign nation (and we are "ambassadors" for Christ).
3 - Intimate relationship is made possible through deep love. Love overlooks the differences (and in our case, sins) to see the value and innate image of God inside their soul, even if on the outside not everything matches or is identical or is cleaned up.
This is parallel to a read of Romans 4-8, where we discuss how we involuntarily replicate the "image" of the "first Adam," until Romans 8 when we employ the Spirit to put to death the deeds of the flesh, after reckoning our minds dead to sin in chapter 6, and after we have received the Spirit as a unearned and unstrived for gift-of-God like Abraham in Romans 4. In Romans 8 we finally take up the image of the "last Adam" (Jesus Christ), who is the image of God, and we are also made in that same image - yet we do not have the power apart from God to carry it out in our lives (Rom. 5:17).
Love sees the image of God, and confirms the image, and aids the image. Identifying with another NEVER means we are identical. There is great variety and diversity in the house of God (2 Tim. 2:20). So it is with the Godhead. The Son will always be the One heard and seen, the Savior who came and will have a body of flesh forever. The Father is always seated (as far as I know?), never rises. When God spoke on Mt. Sinai the voice of God was so terrible that His people said, "if we hear the voice of the LORD our God anymore, then we shall die" (Deut. 5:25) so they asked Moses to go and talk to God to save them from further experience. God met their desire by giving His people the Word, Jesus Christ, who was not terrible in voice but like a Lamb, completely approachable.
Variety is something God has in His heart. He designed this world choc-full of variety because differentiation is a part of who He is. With all the differences between the Father and the Son, they know each other, intimately. The word for their kind of "knowing" is perichoresis. They are always listening to each other, and finding each other fascinating, being willing to represent each other, giving their own will over, wanting to gain the satisfaction of the other. That is the intimacy Jesus had With God. When Jesus comes to earth and walks and teaches and does signs, what is He doing, but showing us in everything He does, in everywhere He goes and everything He says, that He is "With God." He talks about it from start to finish. He models it, too. Jesus models the answer to our need for salvation: Be like Him. Be "With God." "Abide in Me and I will abide in you." When we abide with Him we are the Image.
When Moses came with the law, God appeared hierarchical. "Do this, do that." Not much development of why we should. Just a whole lot of fear if we did not. Alternately, how do we feel about obeying God when the stage of God becomes the Godhead, with their differences and needs on display to each other and the world? Have you watched a man and his wife make a decision together? What did it reveal about their character to watch them respond to each other? The Israelites largely thought it difficult to believe God as approachable and available for relationship. Moses seemed special because he was a prophet. It was not the best portrayal. But the price-tag of revealing their relations is immeasurable; that Jesus would leave heaven and die. That's why it says in the beginning of John that "the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (1:18).
1 - In tune with the needs and wishes of someone else, always carrying around the interests of another as a framework for what choices need to be made.
2 - Obedient, listening and subservient to the heart of someone else. Makes a good representative to a foreign nation (and we are "ambassadors" for Christ).
3 - Intimate relationship is made possible through deep love. Love overlooks the differences (and in our case, sins) to see the value and innate image of God inside their soul, even if on the outside not everything matches or is identical or is cleaned up.
This is parallel to a read of Romans 4-8, where we discuss how we involuntarily replicate the "image" of the "first Adam," until Romans 8 when we employ the Spirit to put to death the deeds of the flesh, after reckoning our minds dead to sin in chapter 6, and after we have received the Spirit as a unearned and unstrived for gift-of-God like Abraham in Romans 4. In Romans 8 we finally take up the image of the "last Adam" (Jesus Christ), who is the image of God, and we are also made in that same image - yet we do not have the power apart from God to carry it out in our lives (Rom. 5:17).
Love sees the image of God, and confirms the image, and aids the image. Identifying with another NEVER means we are identical. There is great variety and diversity in the house of God (2 Tim. 2:20). So it is with the Godhead. The Son will always be the One heard and seen, the Savior who came and will have a body of flesh forever. The Father is always seated (as far as I know?), never rises. When God spoke on Mt. Sinai the voice of God was so terrible that His people said, "if we hear the voice of the LORD our God anymore, then we shall die" (Deut. 5:25) so they asked Moses to go and talk to God to save them from further experience. God met their desire by giving His people the Word, Jesus Christ, who was not terrible in voice but like a Lamb, completely approachable.
Variety is something God has in His heart. He designed this world choc-full of variety because differentiation is a part of who He is. With all the differences between the Father and the Son, they know each other, intimately. The word for their kind of "knowing" is perichoresis. They are always listening to each other, and finding each other fascinating, being willing to represent each other, giving their own will over, wanting to gain the satisfaction of the other. That is the intimacy Jesus had With God. When Jesus comes to earth and walks and teaches and does signs, what is He doing, but showing us in everything He does, in everywhere He goes and everything He says, that He is "With God." He talks about it from start to finish. He models it, too. Jesus models the answer to our need for salvation: Be like Him. Be "With God." "Abide in Me and I will abide in you." When we abide with Him we are the Image.
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| 'Perichoresis' by Derrick |
We never "learn" that God is approachable until we see that Jesus is in relationship with God, and God answers all His prayers, and Jesus obeys Him completely because of the Father's love. Now that we have seen the character and love of God in action between the two, we can see that God is wide-open with an invitation for us to experience the same relationship. And just in case we were wondering if the invitation is official, it is - but only faithful followers in the upper room discourse have categorically attained it. Consider how exclusive Jesus is with most believers in the Gospel of John....
Be a Somebody - Be an Ambassador
In John 2:24 Jesus talked to those who were starting off well because they "believed in Jesus." But they hadn't been yet sanctified to abide. Jesus knew what was largely "in man" and it wasn't the Father. For that reason, "Jesus did not commit Himself to them." The word "commit" is the same word used as "believe" or "faith" in the Gospel of John. John was explaining, "But Jesus did not believe in them." Later, Jesus does believe in (commit Himself to) His disciples, and John 6 is the dividing line. In John 6 He teaches that if anyone wants eternal life they must eat Him and drink Him for their daily needs. When they get to the other side of hearing that, most disciples turn away permanently (6:66) because it's so difficult to understand and believe, but Peter says, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." These disciples are sanctified and willing to stay with Him and take Him in. By the time of the upper room Jesus has found viable candidates for replicating the image of the Abider-God. John 14:22-24,
Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, how is it that You will manifest Yourself to us, and not to the world?” Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me.”
After Judas departs, Jesus reveals His emptiness apart from everything the Father has given via intimacy. John 17:6-8,
Even the Demons Believe and Tremble
It's the mutual giving of honor that honors each person of the Godhead.
Who do you honor? Who do I honor in the moments of my life? Everybody wants to be an advocate for significance. Everybody wants to represent goodness or God Himself. Maybe you are an orthodox believer in God. You believe that Jesus Christ is who He says He is. That's good. You will certainly go to heaven when you die. God is faithful, and He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim 2:13). Maybe you once believed in Jesus Christ -- maybe you have evolved to embrace atheism. You also will go to heaven because of God's faithfulness toward those who are His. What distinguishes an abider from everyone else, from the orthodox to the atheist? The answer is, where their "resources" (8:44) come from.
Unless believers stay in that submissive, perfect, loving closeness with God (which does at times require some honest obedience, Romans 8), we get CUT OFF from that flow (resources) of God sharing Himself - His heart, His thoughts, His strategies, His purposes. Again, Jesus is speaking to believers in Him (Jn. 8:31) in the context of this passage of scripture I refer to as the "who's your daddy?" passage. These are brand-new believers from the moment earlier who need to catch up. They really need to hear the recent sermon Jesus presented on the Bread from Heaven, so He tells them the theological jist of all John 6 in a single sentence: "If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed" (Jn. 8:31). But they are offended at abiding in God. John 8:37-55,
“I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. Now they have known that all things which You have given Me are from You. For I have given to them the words which You have given Me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came forth from You; and they have believed that You sent Me.It is very similar to say, "If I were by myself, this would mean nothing, and I would have no purpose. But because I choose to represent the heart of another, now I'm a somebody."
Even the Demons Believe and Tremble
It's the mutual giving of honor that honors each person of the Godhead.
Who do you honor? Who do I honor in the moments of my life? Everybody wants to be an advocate for significance. Everybody wants to represent goodness or God Himself. Maybe you are an orthodox believer in God. You believe that Jesus Christ is who He says He is. That's good. You will certainly go to heaven when you die. God is faithful, and He cannot deny Himself (2 Tim 2:13). Maybe you once believed in Jesus Christ -- maybe you have evolved to embrace atheism. You also will go to heaven because of God's faithfulness toward those who are His. What distinguishes an abider from everyone else, from the orthodox to the atheist? The answer is, where their "resources" (8:44) come from.
Unless believers stay in that submissive, perfect, loving closeness with God (which does at times require some honest obedience, Romans 8), we get CUT OFF from that flow (resources) of God sharing Himself - His heart, His thoughts, His strategies, His purposes. Again, Jesus is speaking to believers in Him (Jn. 8:31) in the context of this passage of scripture I refer to as the "who's your daddy?" passage. These are brand-new believers from the moment earlier who need to catch up. They really need to hear the recent sermon Jesus presented on the Bread from Heaven, so He tells them the theological jist of all John 6 in a single sentence: "If you abide in my word, you are my disciples indeed" (Jn. 8:31). But they are offended at abiding in God. John 8:37-55,
In eternity past, Satan stopped being an ambassador for God's purposes. He stopped honoring the heart of God. He started to speak for himself. Though he knows about God and trembles, he is condemned. He is out of fellowship with God and has never been offered redemption. He is forever excluded from the flow of perichoresis. Therefore: even though Satan was made to desire significance and to be an ambassador for God, he can only speak of God as an outsider, CUT OFF from intimacy. He can only guess about God as the most remote of observers. He can only? Lie.“I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you. I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you do what you have seen with your father.” They answered and said to Him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill Me, a Man who has told you the truth which I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father—God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God.” Then the Jews answered and said to Him, “Do we not say rightly that You are a Samaritan and have a demon?” Jesus answered, “I do not have a demon; but I honor My Father, and you dishonor Me. And I do not seek My own glory; there is One who seeks and judges. Most assuredly, I say to you, if anyone keeps My word he shall never see death.” Then the Jews said to Him, “Now we know that You have a demon! Abraham is dead, and the prophets; and You say, ‘If anyone keeps My word he shall never taste death.’ Are You greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Who do You make Yourself out to be?” Jesus answered, “If I honor Myself, My honor is nothing. It is My Father who honors Me, of whom you say that He is your God. Yet you have not known Him, but I know Him. And if I say, ‘I do not know Him,’ I shall be a liar like you; but I do know Him and keep His word.
It's the abiding intimacy that funds the truth-words, the promises, the power and the significance of Jesus Christ. His whole life was the perichoresis that accompanied Him. Witnesses involuntarily witness whoever they are spiritually intimate with.
Every moment of Jesus' ministry was pulled off by one tiny little secret of success:
And He who sent me is with Me.John 8:29
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