05/22/2023
Jesus wants more than a casual relationship with us, and in this desire of His, He is exhibiting the will of the Father. They don't want to just know us and have us know them, they desire for us to become one with them. To join in a relationship that is far beyond a spiritual acknowledgement...
“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 have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”
John 17:21-24 ESV
In this scripture we can see a physical parallel to this spiritual joining and the relationship between man and woman in marriage. This similarity began almost immediately in Genesis when we read the following words regarding God's intention for Adam and Eve...
“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Genesis 2:24 ESV
And God's will for oneness between man and woman carries on throughout the Bible to this very day. We read this in the book of Mark as Jesus teaches...
“But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' 'Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate."”
Mark 10:6-9 ESV
It has always interested me how the Lord gives us images of the spiritual in our physical lives. He gives us love, desire, humility, want... all of these are reflections of Him. He also desires for us to become one, not because we are identical; because Adam and Eve were not the same... but to make us complete in one another.
By joining as one flesh we see the will of God for us spiritually. In one flesh man and woman bring forth new life and join in love. In becoming one spiritually with Jesus we also increase in love and see a newness in Spirit. In our joining with Jesus, and through Him our joining with God, we find a type of spiritual marriage. Is it any wonder that the Church is called the bride of Christ?
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”
Ephesians 5:25-27 ESV
Physically we are imperfect and we see that imperfection in ourselves and our marriages, yet our love for one another can overcome those faults. Love is meant to erase any blemish our spouse might have, and in this way we see them differently from the rest of the world. When we join with Jesus, His sacrifice will have made us perfect. In the eyes of God we will have no fault. This too is an obvious parallel between the physical and the spiritual. So our desire today should be to draw closer to Jesus; so close that we become one and that in Him we find that we are not only one with God, but seen as perfect through His loving eyes.
“ but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”
1 John 2:5-6 ESV
Prayer:
Father, we thank you for your Son Jesus and for His obedience to your will that redeemed us from sin. We thank you Father for your plan to become one with your Son, and, through Him, to become one with us. Let us love you Father, just as you love us, and in our joining together let all of our faults fall away before you. Lead your Church, the bride of Jesus, before you... even as a man and a woman take each other in marriage. Let our becoming one flesh in marriage teach us of becoming one with you in spirit, and let the love of a man and a woman teach us of spiritual love... you for us, and we for you. So as man becomes one Church and the Church becomes one with Jesus, and Jesus becomes one with you... let us find perfection and a new life in you for eternity; thus making your will for us complete. As we strive each day to increase in faith, we pray that we are coming closer to becoming the bride that you desire for your Son. We see the moment of His return as the moment in which we will become spiritually one with him… and you. We pray Lord that in your eyes we are acceptable, and that our old faults will no longer find a home in who we have become. We pray that by your love, and the redemption of Jesus, that we will appear perfect as we stand with Him before you, and praise you forevermore.
Rich Forbes