God is a God of unparalleled intimacy. And true intimacy requires equality. We’ll discuss this last statement in a bit.
Ravishing God’s Heart
God’s heart is wide open to His kids. Song of Songs 4:9-10 (TPT) says:
9 For you reach into my heart.
With one flash of your eyes I am undone by your love,
my beloved, my equal, my bride.
You leave me breathless—
I am overcome by merely a glance from your worshiping eyes,
for you have stolen my heart.[a]
I am held hostage by your love
and by the graces of righteousness shining upon you.
10 How satisfying to me, my equal, my bride.
Your love is my finest wine—intoxicating and thrilling.
And your sweet, perfumed praises—so exotic, so pleasing.
I love the commentary of the translator in verse 9, which says:
“Or “You have ravished my heart.” This is the Hebrew word libabthini, which is taken from a Semitic root word that means “to tear bark off of a tree.” He is saying that your loving eyes of worship have uncovered his heart and laid it bare, making him vulnerable to you. What a description of what happens to Jesus when he looks into your eyes. Your worship brings to him such an ecstasy and delight that it becomes hard to even imagine. Yet God has placed inside of you the ability to ravish the heart of your King—not someday in heaven, but now, even when you feel incomplete and weak.”
We impact our God.
He has chosen to be vulnerable to His offspring.
But more scandalous than that, He has chosen to make us equals and for a very profound reason. True intimacy can only happen between equals.
Now, put your stones down!
Let’s let the Word point to Christ as the Word, properly interpreted, and see what He says about us.
First of all, I want to point out in verses 9 and 10 in Song of Songs chapter 4:
My beloved, My equal, my bride.”
Wow! Nobody panic!
We are taking NOTHING from the deity and glory of God. Rather we are exalting Him and stand flabbergasted at the reality that HE has exalted US so highly. That is the revolutionary nature of the Gospel!
Sharing God’s Glory
Let’s explore this mystery and the matchless beauty of a God Who insisted on sharing His glory with His children, His friends, and bride.
Quite pointedly Romans 8:17 (NIV) calls us co-heirs and sharers of His glory. That pretex “co” is all about equality.
17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
What about where the Word says that He will not share His glory?
Good question – let’s go there. That is from Isaiah 42:8, which says:
8 I am Yahweh; that is my name.
I will not give my glory to another god
nor my renown to idols.
He won’t give glory to other gods or idols!
The previous verse is all about opening blind eyes and setting prisoners free. God, indeed, is jealous FOR His kids. He does not want other gods or idols to have them – He wants them free. But He is not jealous OF His kids. He is not insecure so that He withholds His glory, but lavishes it upon ALL His creation – and foremost, His kids (Isaiah 6:3, Habakkuk 2:14)!
We are, indeed, created in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). We were made to share in His glory! Glorious kids glorify a glorious Father!
Jesus praying to the Father in John 17:22 (NIV) said:
22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—
Glory was given to the sons/daughters of God for the purpose of oneness – with God and one another. That is intimacy!
Bearers of the Image of God
We bear the image of God. 1 John 4:17 (KJV) says:
17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.
In this world we are like Jesus.
Some religious mindsets water down all this glory by saying that Jesus is subordinate to the Father and Holy Spirit is subordinate to Jesus. Extrapolating this hierarchy not only diminishes the total and equal Lordship of the Trinity, but also puts us on the lowest pathetic rung, leaving us sinners and worms.
Hierarchy within the godhead is an age-old heresy that was addressed by our church fathers, who came together to determine what doctrine was orthodox. This means that, although the councils that gathered were not totally free of self-serving agendas, they did grapple effectively with many issues that were hot topics of the day and truly needed to be addressed.
These heretical issues are still very much alive today stoking the fires of religion. This includes gnosticism, which purports matter is evil and emancipation comes through esoteric spiritual truth; therefore Jesus could not have come in the flesh and our bodies are evil. Another issue, pertinent to our discussion, is Arianism that holds that the Son is not of the same substance as the Father and was a created being. The creeds were crafted to dispel these true heresies, Real heresy always results in the fruit of bondage rather than freedom. That is the stock in trade of religion.
Biblically, all three Persons of the Trinity have the same essence, nature, and glory, but each One has different roles or activities when it comes to how God relates to the world. That is intimacy and equality and unity with distinction (the Trinity has distinct personalities). The other giving love that the Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit share is true intimacy because they are Equals.
Therefore, if we are like Jesus, WE are also like our Father and Holy Spirit. This is by God’s design and doing – not our own!
Let’s sit with and meditate on these revolutionary truths and I’ll pick back up in Intimacy and Equality Part 2. Be crazy blessed as you ponder all these astounding truths!
Love,
Catherine
