The Creator desires to bring the created into the communion shared between Father, Son and Holy Spirit. His determined desire is to bring us into the fullness of His embrace. The highest privilege God has given the human race is the unthinkable invitation to enjoy intimacy with Him.
He keeps the angels within the boundary lines of servanthood, yet He gives invitation to the human race to enter into the unthinkable: intimacy with Himself. He invites us to cast ourselves into the depths of eternal love and fellowship with the Trinity. Only redeemed humans are invited past that ancient boundary line to interact in intimacy with Him.
When Jesus spoke, “Father I desire that they would be with Me where I am,” (John 17:24) He affirmed the ever-present desire of God from eternity -- that humanity would be near to Him, entering into the fellowship of the Godhead. This place of communion is the place from which we were brought forth and the place that we will return. History began in a garden and will end with a wedding. The fullness of love is our destination.
Communion with God is the continual expression and experience of mutual affection between God and the human heart. Not only do we receive His love but we experience the absolute delight of loving Him in return. I John 4:19 “We love Him because He first loved us.” The reward of our lives now and for all eternity is to love Him and to receive His love.
Communion with God flows out of likeness to Him. God cannot commune with that which is unlike Him. Therefore, it is as we are transformed, that we come into greater communion and union with God. This does not mean that we can know no communion with God until we are made perfectly holy.
Communion with God is a growing reality that matures in correspondence with our growth in holiness. In as much as we are transformed into His likeness, from glory to glory, our communion with Him expands. The very tasting of initial intimacy ruins us so that we cannot remain where we are. Our souls demand a greater entrance into the glorious intimacy for which we were created.
There are two parts of communion with God: the hunger and the satisfaction. It is longing for God which carves out a chamber within our hearts and makes room for Him to come to us. And this paves the way for the second side of communion; the manifest experience of Divine Love and Communion with Jesus.
Though this causes satisfaction, these manifest embraces of God only instigate deeper longing for God. And this new hunger will lead us to yet another encounter of His embrace.
We often treat the realm of love as though it were so far off. Even in our cries of longing, we give evidence of how mysterious we think it is. “Oh God, why are You so far? When will You come near?” Much of our longing does not come out of a true understanding of God’s proximity to us. He is near when we imagine He is far. Matt 28:10 “Lo, I am with you always”
We must be careful to not possess a theology of barrenness. We must know this about God: He delights to be near to us. He delights to come close and to speak to our hearts. He has come nearer to us than any man or angel would have thought conceivable. He dwells within our very beings. Have we responded to His invitation to fellowship with Him there?
He is always nearer than we imagined and there is always greater nearness to be known.
Dana Candler, 4/4/2006
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