That They Also May Be In Us
John is one of my favorite books of the Bible, and each time I read it I love it more. It’s amazing that God can continue to reveal Himself to us in new ways through reading his word regardless of how many times we’ve read the same passages before. As I’ve been reading through John again, God has impressed a beautiful truth on me in a fresh way - I can know God intimately.
Throughout John, Jesus repeatedly emphasizes his deity as God. But through this, Jesus also teaches us about the intimacy of the trinity of God, displaying His oneness with the Father. Read thoughtfully through the following examples:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” (John 1:1-2)
“The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.” (John 3:35)
“Truly I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise.” (John 5:19)
“I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father;...” (John 10:15)
“I and the Father are one.” (John 10:30)
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known the Father also. From now on you do know him and have see him.’” (John 14:6,9)
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father...Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?” (John 14:9-10)
As we continue to read, something truly remarkable happens in John 14. Jesus is preparing for His death, has told his disciples of his betrayal that is to come, and is urging the disciples to stand strong in their faith. Then Jesus says:
“I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.” - John 14:15-20
Jesus speaks of the disciples in the same means of connection that he has spoken of Himself and Father. He says that now not only is Jesus in the Father and the Father in Him, but they will be in Him, and He in them. Finally, in John 17:20-21 Jesus prays this very thing to the Father, saying:
“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us…”
Jesus is praying this for us - that we would be in Him, just as Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in Jesus. What does this mean? Jesus said it himself - He and the Father are one. The scripture examples above show the way that Jesus describes His oneness with the Father. Jesus and the Father are one in that they know each other, they love each other, they are deeply connected to one another, and they act in one accord. What depths of intimacy and love must we experience to be one with another? Paul speaks to the closest human example that we have of this in marriage, saying, “The two shall become one flesh. This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church (Ephesians 5:31-32).” The oneness of marriage only reflects our ultimate oneness with Christ. God’s design is for us to become one with Him. We can know God intimately.
What an amazing opportunity you and I have to be united to the heart of God. This encompasses all of who God is, and remarkably we get the experience of a relationship with all of God - Father, Son, and Spirit. We’re given the Spirit of God, not only to be with us, but to actually live in us. We have a savior in Jesus who was made to be like us and knows our human frame. We have a Father who knows our heart through and through and calls us His own. As humans and as women, we long for relational intimacy. The intimate and loving relationships in our lives produce deep joy in us - God has designed us to experience this, and to experience it most deeply with Him. Where can we find greater joy and satisfaction of true intimacy than with the One who is the source of it?
We will spend eternity discovering the depths of the intimacy of this relationship, but we are invited to begin now. Do we receive the fullness of this invitation? Do we approach God’s word and our time in prayer with Him as a means to know Him and to be one with Him? Regardless of where you find yourself in your experience of this intimacy - whether you feel deeply connected to Him or wonder what that feeling would be like - I encourage you to pursue it further. Read His word wanting to know Him more deeply. Talk to Him as the one who knows you fully and loves you unshakably. Ask Him to experience the joy of intimacy with Him. My hope is that together we will know there is nothing better in life than to be in Him.
