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In Him is No Darkness

If asked, many would say that Lincoln is on the penny … but it is only his likeness.  Jesus states that He and His Father are one (John 10:30), but how does that oneness come about?  And how can we get in on that perfect fellowship with God?

I.  1 John 1:5-7.  God’s character is that there is no darkness at all.  Light throws off no shadow.  God is good, for our good (Romans 8:28-29), so that we will do good (Ephesians 2:10).  We can live a lie and tell others that we are in fellowship with God, but we will only fool ourselves and some others.  We will never deceive God, who knows our true nature and motives.

II.  Colossians 1:15-20.  The Son, who claims oneness with the Father, is an exact representation of the Father’s character and radiance.  He has that because He in the flesh abides in the Father and the Father in Him (John 14:8-11).  We are told to abide in Christ by living His commandments (John 15:4-11), a process which comes as a result of much discipline (Hebrews 12:7-14) but allows us to be perfected in holiness to share in fellowship with Him.

III.  1 John 1:8 — 2:6.  Fallen from the image of God in which we were created, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross renews that image in Him (Colossians 3:5-10) through the discipline process (Ephesians 4:20 — 5:2).  To share in oneness with God is to take on His perfect nature; then we can have fellowship with Him and other Christians who are also walking in the light as Jesus does.

To truly be Jesus’ disciple, our walk needs to match our talk.

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The Two Shall Become One Flesh

It’s often said that God created two institutions: marriage (and so the family unit) and the church.  Hebrews 10:1 indicates that the Law is the shadow of the reality to come.  Since the overall theme of the Bible is a holy God redeeming sinful man, then Ephesians 5 describing marriage as the shadow to understand the reality of Jesus’ bride, the blood-bought church, being presented to the Bridegroom at the wedding supper of the Lamb makes sense.

I.  Ephesians 5:22-33.  In figurative language, something that is unknown is described by what is known.  In this case, the relationship between a husband and wife is explained as the one between Christ and His church … and vice versa.  The marriage verse of Genesis 2:24 is quoted and then is directly applied to Jesus and His bride.  We know that earthly marriage only lasts until death or judgment (Matthew 22:29-30; Matthew 24:38-39).  Therefore, to help us better understand the oneness we need to have with God, our heavenly Father gave us the shadow of earthly marriage here.

II.  John 10:30.  Several are described as walking with God (Genesis 3:8; Genesis 5:24; Genesis 6:9).  In Enoch’s case, his fellowship with the Almighty let him escape death (Hebrews 11:5).  The Son, who was sinless (Hebrews 4:15), was in perfect oneness with the Father.  Through His redeeming work at the cross and tomb, Jesus makes it possible for us to live in a restored relationship with Him once again (1 John 2:6).

III.  John 14:9-14.  In Revelation 21:2, the church is presented as a bride adorned for her husband.  Blessed are those who are at the wedding supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:6-9) when the two become one flesh.  To be one with God, we first need to be baptized into Him (Galatians 3:26-27).  Then we need to continue to abide in Him through obedience and continual repentance.

Earthly marriages fail because of wedges in the oneness.  Christians fail because they allow wedges of sin and selfishness to come between them and their Bridegroom and cease to remain in the bride.  God wants all to come to repentance.  Are you heading to a wedding?