Intimacy and Equality // Part 2

Chosen for God’s Glory

Ephesians 1:4 (NKJV) states:

 

4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love,

 

He chose us – way before we chose Him back! And He chose us to look like Him! We share His image and likeness (Genesis 1:26). We have His nature and His nature is indeed divine. 2 Peter 1:4 (TPT) says:

 

4 As a result of this, he has given you magnificent promises that are beyond all price, so that through the power of these tremendous promises you can experience partnership with the divine nature, by which you have escaped the corrupt desires that are of the world.

 

In the footnotes, the translator unpacks the idea of experiencing partnership with the divine nature. He states:

 

“The Greek word koinonos means “to participate as a partner, to partake of, to be a companion with, to have fellowship with” the divine nature. This is one of the great mysteries of our faith, that God shares his nature with us. We are given birth by the Holy Spirit to be God’s true sons and daughters, and every father imparts his DNA and his “nature” to his children. The Greek word physis (nature) is taken from the word phyō, which means “to give birth, produce, bring forth, or to grow up.” Christ lives in us and transforms us into his very own likeness. In Christ we share with him the divine nature. We will all bear the image of the Man from heaven, Jesus Christ.”

 

We literally bear the image of God so that we can have a truly intimate relationship with Him. In our relationship with the Godhead, we were designed to be saturated with humility, but not inferiority or fear. Humility says what God says. And God says that we are “all that Jesus is now” so there is no fear!

1 John 4:16 – 17 puts it thusly:

 

God is love! Those who are living in love are living in God, and God lives through them. 17 By living in God,  love has been brought to its full expression in us so that we may fearlessly face the day of judgment, because all that Jesus now is, so are we in this world. 

 

We are not God, but gods:

We are created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26).

 The hairbreadth difference between God and our true nature is that we didn’t create ourselves and we are not our own Source. We also don’t have the same measure of authority over the entire creation as God does.  We have His delegated authority in our area of influence or metron 

Let me say that again. We are not big “G” Gods because we did not create ourselves and we are not our own Source with the same cosmic authority. But God does say that we are little “g” gods (Psalm 82:6, John 10:34-35). 

The weakness of our frames is that we really have no idea who we have been created to be, so we operate in fallen mentalities and behavior. And we tend to relate to ourselves out of fallen identities and ways of being,

But we, indeed, bear the image of Christ (and Papa and Holy Spirit). This is underscored in Romans 8:29-30 (NIV): 

 

29 For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.

 

Being brothers/sisters of Christ means that we have already been called, justified and glorified. 

Christ is the husband of His Bride. God did not marry down!

His Bride has forgotten who we really are! But God has not!

We are friends not servants (John 15:5). God does not “run with the wrong crowd.”

We are sons/daughters of our Father, Who did not birth bastard children. I know that is harsh, but when we say God is not the Father of the human race, that is what we are saying!

This is the scandal of the Gospel!

Our “equality” with our Father, Christ and Holy Spirit only happened because HE chose us, HE called us, HE redeemed us, HE justified us, and HE glorified us! 

True Intimacy Requires Equality

Why? 

Because of Love! He could not help Himself!

True intimacy can only happen between two equals! 

In a parent/child situation, if one feels they are worth less than the other, true intimacy is hindered. There is fear and rejection.

Between two friends, if one feels less valuable than the other, there is no true intimacy. There is insecurity and inferiority.

In a husband/wife dynamic, if one believes they or their spouses’ is worth less than, there is no true intimacy. There is domination and bondage. 

Between God and His kids/wife/friends, if one is valued as less than the other, there is no true intimacy.

So GOD MADE us of equal value because He wants true intimacy. 

Psalm 8:4-5 The (TPT)

 

4 Compared to all this cosmic glory

why would you bother with puny, mortal man

or be infatuated with Adam’s sons?

5 Yet what honor you have given to men,

created only a little lower than Elohim,

crowned like kings and queens[c] with glory and magnificence.

 

We are a little lower than Elohim (God) – that is we are not big “G” God, but little “g” gods, because we did not create ourselves and we are not our own Source and our authority is imputed and not cosmic. That is why equality with God is not a New Age heresy. 

But we are created of God’s substance and we look just like Him (in our true identities) because HE values us so highly and because we were created for intimacy.

 That is scandalous, but that is the Gospel – God in Christ reconciling humanity back to Himself (2 Corinthians 5:19)!

So how do we honor a God, Who so lavishly imbued us with glory and honor that we did not earn? 

We gratefully and humbly wear it, but we walk in it boldly. We glorify God in that!

I know all this is pretty radical, but the true Gospel really is! Sit with it. Study it out. Let Holy Spirit guide you. You are amazing because He is amazing!

 

Love,

 

Catherine