This is chapter 23 in my book Awakened.....
Theology is the study of God. And since how we live our lives is determined by our theology, then how we see God matters. I wish someone had told me that years ago. Because for 25 years, I had a wrong theological foundation. My theology consisted of beliefs like these……
I believed that while Jesus and the Holy Spirit lived in my heart, God the Father was somewhere "out there" in heaven.
I believed He was more pleased with me when I was involved in doing "Christian activities" rather than activities that might be classified as secular (even if they were good things like spending time with family on a Sunday)!!
I didn't think He even gave me a thought UNTIL I accepted Jesus into my heart. Except for maybe the thought that He wished I would finally repent and “get saved.”
I had the wrong idea that He was finally able to accept me and be a part of my life because of Jesus – because I was no longer a sinner, but a "sinner saved by grace."
I thought His love for me was because now, when He looked at me, He could see Jesus instead of me.
And of course, I believed that whenever I messed up and "fell from grace," I thought that Jesus as my intercessor was reminding the Father that He HAD TO accept me and forgive me BECAUSE He paid my debt. Note: it took me years to find out that messing up and sinning is not what falling from grace means! Paul defined falling from grace as falling back into legalism.
That kind of theological foundation definitely affected the quality of my life! I lived DOING TO BE, always in performance mode. And then I came to understand ONENESS — the union of Father, Son, and Spirit and me! And not just me, and not only believers, BUT the union of God and ALL of mankind!
St. Isaac of Nineveh in the 7th century AD said, "The world has become mingled with God; creation and Creator became One."
I don't think there is a more beautiful word than ONE! Suddenly for me, God the Father was not "out there,” but instead Father, Son, and Spirit are IN me, and I am IN Them. Becoming aware that They are closer than my breath. In fact, They ARE my breath — and it is the Life of Father, Son, and Spirit IN me, AS me, and flowing THROUGH me to my world.
So, for me, the word that defines foundational theology is ONE!
God's nature is ONE — One Power, One Presence, One Mind, One Spirit, One Faith, One Father of us ALL. And He has made us His dwelling place. One God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And two words began to be the lens for my Life, words that flowed out of this beautiful foundation of ONENESS — ETERNAL and FINISHED! These two words became my lens for reading Scripture (both Old and New Testament) and the lens I now look at circumstances through. They also became the lens through which I now understand God (Father, Son, and Spirit), and through which I now see myself and ALL humanity. God FINISHED everything from before time began. Redemption, grace, salvation, forgiveness was ALL ETERNAL. His covenant of WHOLENESS was ETERNAL! There wasn't anything that wasn't ALREADY ours, that hadn't been ALREADY FINISHED. We have merely had a faulty theology that didn't allow for that understanding.
Our wrong understanding of God's nature keeps us always searching and waiting. It keeps us asking God to do what He has already done!
Israel had the same problem; they didn't have a proper theology. They didn't have an accurate understanding of the nature of God….they had forgotten He was their Father. So, God speaks through Isaiah and says in chapter 40:18, “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to Him?” And He also asked it of Peter, "Who do YOU say that I am?" Theology (or the study of God's nature) isn't just for theologians or seminary students. It's for ALL.
God is asking ALL of us this question, just like He asked Isaiah and Peter — “Who do you say that I am?”
Our answer is important. NOT because it's about giving the right answer and pleasing God, but because it locates us and allows God to begin revealing IN us precisely who He is. Paul said, “It PLEASED the Father to reveal His Son in me." Abba gets great pleasure out of revealing Himself to us and IN us. Because only as we have a proper foundation of who He really is, can we know who we are. What a loving Father that He cares enough to ask us what WE think He's like. Such a good Daddy, desiring for us to walk out the life He designed for us. He knows that if we don't have correct theology, in other words, if we don't have an accurate image of Him, we will continue to live FAR BELOW our original design. So, He repeats His question to Isaiah in verse 25, "To whom then will you like Me, or to whom shall I be equal?”
God is asking you and me today, "Who do you say I am? Am I wrathful, judgmental, unloving? Am I a harsh taskmaster requiring unwavering, absolute obedience? Am I demanding of constant repentance, requiring some sort of appeasement before I relent? Do I send sickness, disease, and lack to test your faith? Am I an angry God sending judgment upon your cities, your nations, or even your children? Is this who you think I am?”
When He poses a question like that, our answer, of course, would be NO of course not! And YET, those are some of the things we have believed about Him. Some of our theology has been rooted in those wrong images of God. And we’ve built church doctrines around these wrong beliefs.
He repeats the question to Isaiah a second time. We have to be careful, or we read into that that He is scolding Isaiah, driving this question into Isaiah so that Isaiah (and the nation of Israel) will repent. But He is only Love and only Good! He is repeating Himself NOT out of frustration or harsh demanding, but out of love revealed to Isaiah. Love that wants Isaiah and Israel (and us today) to know that He, Elohim – Father, Son, and Spirit – is incomparable! Unequaled! Unlike anyone we’ve ever known! He did the same thing to Job in chapters 38 and 39 and is even more elaborate. Spending pages self-describing His majesty and power until Job (and us!) should realize that we don't define God, but instead, He defines us!
His divine nature is our nature. We, like Him, are incomparable, unequal, and unlike anyone ever known! We are image and likeness of Him… divine ones, lords, kings, and yes, He even said we were gods (Psalm 82:6)!
That shouldn’t be weird for us to say or hear. The Divine Ones begat divine ones. The Lord begat lords. The King begat kings. And God begat gods! We are who He is in the earth – expressions of Him!
But Israel, and Job, and sadly even the modern church today haven't realized it. And so, we continue carrying around a false image of God, a molded misrepresentation of Him that robs us of the FULL benefits of living out of the benefits of WHOLE man redemption. We were created to be an expression of Him in the earth. But we are expressing our wrong perceptions of God and giving full expression to our faulty theology (our false images of God). So, in Isaiah chapter 46, God asks the question a third time!! He is not about to let this rest… He loves them (and us) too much to leave them where they are at in their thinking. And now He tells them that they carry this image on their shoulders. They carry around a false god in their minds. They cry out to this false god, and it cannot answer them or save them out of their distress.
Without a correct understanding of who God is, we will continue to live our lives in circumstances that God never intended us to live in. Crying out to our "god" for healing, provision, deliverance, etcetera. Never sure if we've done enough to gain his attention and his approval so that he can answer us. We have constructed an image of God based on works. Works of righteousness and works of holiness, which Isaiah called overlays of silver and gold.
The church has carried a false god around in their minds for centuries.
And they have been serving a god who is never quite satisfied with our performance—a god who is always testing our hearts and faith to see if we're loyal to Him. A god who we think is continually refining our hearts so that the ugly dross, that is presumably in us, will rise to the top, and he can skim it off. A god who allows us to go through sickness, disease, death, lack, etcetera to be stronger in our faith, learn obedience, and trust him more.
That’s a false image! THAT’S NOT GOD!!!
And because He is a good Daddy, He doesn’t leave us to figure out who He is on our own. He has put eternity in our hearts. He created us with a sensitivity to the eternal realm. It’s how we were designed to live. In Isaiah 40:21, God says, "Have you not known, have you not heard, has it not been told you from the beginning, have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?”
He's giving Isaiah (and us!) a point of reference. He's sending them back to the beginning, to the earth's foundations to find out who God is and discover our God-likeness.
In verse 26, we're told, “Lift up your eyes on high and see who created these things.” We're being sent back to the in the beginning God, the Creator of ALL God! This is where our understanding of God starts. It is where our theology begins. And who is this in the beginning God, the Creator of ALL God? In Genesis 1, God is introduced as Elohim — Father, Son, and Spirit. And immediately after the name, Elohim is the Hebrew letters aleph and tav, which are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet, just like alpha and omega in the Greek alphabet.
I believe aleph tav reveals our ETERNAL inclusion IN Elohim, our FACE TO FACE relationship with God IN Christ. And our shared image and likeness as divine ones IN the Divine Ones. It points to who we are IN Christ.
Paul also pointed us back to creation as a beginning point. Romans 1:20 tells us that from creation, His eternal nature and Godhead has been revealed. Our foundation, our theology, begins with an understanding of Elohim (Father, Son, and Spirit) and our intimate union IN Them. Everything about your life has its roots in your perception of God — your revelation of your identity has its roots in God's image. Because we don't define Him, He defines us. ALL that He is we are and ALWAYS have been!
How different would our lives look if we had known we have been ETERNALLY righteous, holy, healed, prosperous, and delivered?
But our false image of God continues to be one of a god “out there” in heaven that someday we will finally see face to face. Believing that eventually, in the sweet by and by, we will be just like Him — holy and blameless, without spot or wrinkle. But for now, in the meantime, we will just hold on, stand strong in faith, and believe that He will continue to renew our strength so that we won't grow weary and faint in the circumstances of this life. And hope that He returns quickly and gets us out of this place!!
But is that what Isaiah was saying?
Israel is complaining that God is somehow limited. He hasn't responded to their cries but has ignored them, passed over them, and overlooked them because of their sin. They felt He had abandoned them and was separated from them. Sounds a lot like us today. But Isaiah is saying that's not who God is!! At the end of chapter 40, Isaiah says, “Do you not know, have you not heard, the LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.” Do you not know? Do you not have INTIMATE knowledge? Have you not heard? He is saying this is something they should have understood. This is something they should've had intimate knowledge of — that Yahweh (LORD) is the eternal God (Father, Son, and Spirit), the Creator of ALL.
The Septuagint translated Creator the word kataskeuazo, which means prepared or made ready. It carries a strong implication of thorough preparation.
Yahweh, the ETERNAL God who is Father, Son, and Spirit created ALL ready, thoroughly prepared, FINISHED…. BEFORE time began Hebrews 4:3 says that ALL His works were FINISHED from the foundation of the world. Isaiah is pointing them back to the in the beginning God, Creator God — the Eternal Father, Son, and Spirit who chose us and blessed us IN Christ from BEFORE time began. The Eternal God who saved us and called us with a holy calling. Not according to OUR works! But according to HIS ETERNAL purpose and grace given to us IN Christ.
He FINISHED ALL, BEFORE time began.
It was HIS purpose! He didn't PLAN it, and then because of sin, we messed it up, so He changed the plan. NO! HE PURPOSED IT from BEFORE time began. Isaiah is pointing these Israelites (and us!) back to the ETERNAL purpose — the ETERNAL realities. He tells them later in chapter 46 to remember the former (or the first) things from eternity. Remember means to recall to mind, to recollect, to BEAR in mind. What were they (and us!) to remember or bear in mind? His ETERNAL purpose or the first things from eternity. They were bearing on their shoulders (in their minds) the false image of who God was. They had an image of a god who was separated from them, ignoring their cries. But God says they are to bear in their minds that He is the ETERNAL Father, Son, and Spirit, the Creator of ALL, who FINISHED ALL -- BEFORE time began! To bear in mind that HE declared (made known) from the beginning, the end! And HIS council (His purpose) shall stand and HIS good pleasure He will do. Isaiah is telling these Israelites (and us) that they've had a wrong perception of God. The ETERNAL Father, Son, and Spirit could NEVER pass them by, and He could NEVER ignore their cries.
He's telling them to look in the ETERNAL dimension to see who God is and who they are.
And then Isaiah informs them (and us) that those who wait on the LORD shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. But we've read that with religious understanding. Thinking that all we need to do to get through these circumstances in life (such as sickness, disease, lack, etc.) is to wait. Wait for God to deliver us, to send a miracle, to heal us. Simply WAIT and trust Him. But that's not what Isaiah said. He used the word qavah for waiting, which means binding together. Intertwined. Bound TOGETHER with Father, Son, and Spirit! The Hebrew ancient root means to be confined or hedged in TOGETHER.
But we haven't understood that. We've waited, and waited, and waited. When really God was saying, “I’m IN you and you are IN Me. We are bound together, eternally! NOTHING you could ever do or say could ever remove you from Me. I am not a far "out there" God who ignores your cries for help until you repent or beg for My forgiveness and vow NEVER to sin again.” He is saying in Isaiah, "We are bound together in ONENESS!" He breathed His Life into mankind. Filling us with the FULLNESS of Himself IN-to us and refreshed us… brought us to life. His life IN us… intertwined and co-mingled IN us. All that He has and all that He is IN us.
But we are not accustomed to the idea that ALL we are seeking is already embodied within us. This is the great mystery — that we embody the FULLNESS of Father, Son, and Spirit, not just a portion of Them, but the ALL-ness and the IS-ness of God. Christ's spirit is within every cell of our bodies — Eternality and Immortality in every cell. And Abba delights in awakening IN His sons the revelation of the ONE life IN them, AS them!
The church has been stuck in this way of thinking. We've carried around a false image of God for too long! The Augustinian paradigm still prevails today and has for the last 1500 years within Western Christianity – both Protestant and Catholic. And our foundational theology consists of a false image of God and humanity. Augustine gave us doctrines such as original sin and total human depravity. He formulated these because he read Paul's epistle through the lens of his personal struggles with sexual temptation and sin. He also gave us the doctrine of predestination, believing that all humanity was in a mire of sin and that God elected only some to receive His saving grace. And as a result of these erroneous doctrines, we have a sin conscious gospel focused on separation from God.
It's time for the church to have a paradigm shift in our theology!
We need to shift our thinking back to the in the beginning God. The ETERNAL God, who is Father, Son, and Spirit, the Creator of ALL, who FINISHED ALL – BEFORE time began. Karl Barth redefined for himself and the church a further understanding of what Christianity is about. And his point of departure was not Adam's fall, not creation, or original sin, but rather the Trinity (Father, Son, and Spirit) as revealed to us through Jesus Christ. With that as his beginning, he began to unfold what we understand to be the atonement and its significance. His particular paradigm was not a legal, external, forensic atonement but rather a relational atonement — a FACE TO FACE at-ONE-ment!!
In this particular paradigm, God's incarnation in the person of Jesus Christ, as both God and Man, becomes the controlling factor. It becomes our point of departure. All our thinking and reasoning flows from it, instead of the closed system like the Augustinian paradigm, where human depravity triggers the necessity for the incarnation. This realignment of our thinking understands that from eternity past, there was an ETERNAL decree by God. And this ETERNAL decree was God's purpose to include humanity within the love and life of a relational God… within the Trinity. Within the love shared between the Father, Son, and Spirit
Contrary to popular opinion, judgment is NOT the basis of God's dealings with mankind.
Our inclusion has ALWAYS been the basis of His dealings with us based on His ETERNAL covenant of grace.
Jesus came and revealed to us the Father — the one Father of us ALL. Not a God set in opposition against man, not a mysterious, unknowable God, and not an absent God. He revealed a Good Father. And Jesus came out of the heart of the Father to make Him known to us. His coming was not triggered by man's sin and fall but was the Father, Son, and Spirit's original intent. And out of the overflowing abundance of of the Father, Son, and Spirit's love and grace, there arose a desire to express this relationship with others, including them in the Triune circle of Life and Love. We have often viewed grace as a commodity that is now available because of what Jesus has done for us. And this grace is available ONLY because of that and ONLY on certain conditions… making it a conditional grace.
But grace preceded creation because Grace is a person — Grace is Jesus! And Grace, by His very nature, is unconditional!!
Genesis 6:8 says that Noah FOUND grace in the eyes of God (Yahweh). It doesn't mean that God bestowed grace on Noah because of anything he did. Verse 9 says that Noah was righteous and blameless, but again, not because of anything he did! Noah FOUND grace. He saw into the eternal realm, and discovered that he was righteous and blameless (Ephesians 1:4). And he walked with God. As Jeremiah said, he walked in those ETERNAL paths, in the good way, and FOUND grace. Grace isn't a New Covenant idea; it is an ETERNAL reality. Noah walked with Grace, Himself — he walked with the One who loved him from eternity past.
In other words, Noah saw himself through the eyes of Grace. He found grace in the eyes of God -- the One who is Grace!
We need to get back to the stable, sure foundation that God is Love! 100% pure Love! Not love AND this, that, or the other. But WHOLLY Love! He is a kind Father who reconciled us ALL, who draws us IN to share His eternal love and fellowship. It is through Jesus that we know that God is the Father of us ALL. And as Martin Luther discovered, “We may look into His Fatherly heart and sense how boundlessly He loves us.” Because it was Jesus who declared to us that He was the only one that knew the Father. Jesus is the only one qualified to teach. He is God teaching things of Himself.
He is the Arche, which in the ancient world meant the absolute source. He is the Kephale, which means head. He is where the knowledge of God begins. He is the ABSOLUTE source of God’s knowledge.
Jesus and the Father know each other inside and out. They are mutually IN-dwelling one another. There is nothing hidden. The are ONE!
And then, Jesus said to his disciples (and ALL mankind) in John 14:20, “In that day you will know that I am IN My Father and you IN Me and also I am IN you.” Jesus was telling them that when the Holy Spirit is poured out on ALL flesh, they would know for themselves, the reality of the truth of ONENESS!
The writer of Hebrews said that the knowledge of God Himself would be etched into our core being. And we will know firsthand the knowledge of God (Father, Son, and Spirit). It will be instinctive and intuitive rather than a rationally ordered system of belief laid down by those who claim to know. By those who teach on God's nature without having a strong foundation rooted in Trinitarian Theology, in the understanding of the ONENESS of Father, Son, and Spirit and our inclusion IN that union.
Jeremiah, in chapter 6, verse 16, tells us to stand in the ways and see or perceive. In other words, see what God sees, see from His perspective. And ask for (or seek to understand) the ancient paths, the ETERNAL paths! Ask for the eternal paths, ask where the good Way is and walk IN it. In other words, live IN the awareness of the ETERNAL realities. And you will find (or rather find what was lost) rest. Or literally, you will find a resting place, for your soul, for your entire being!
IN Him is the ETERNAL rest we lost. He is the Good Way!
In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I AM the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” The preposition pros (translated in English as "to" in this verse) means to come together in intimacy. It is our FACE TO FACE intimate union with the Father and the Spirit IN Him. And according to John 14:20, when He sent the Holy Spirit, THEN we would know by personal experience, that He is IN the Father and we are IN Him, and He is IN us…. ONE! And He had just told them that He wouldn't leave them as orphans, because He would come to them. Again, the word “to” is pros meaning intimate union, and to be FACE TO FACE.
This verse isn't talking about an end time event we have called the Second Coming!
He came IN us… FACE TO FACE with us! He is IN the Father, and we are IN Him, and He is IN us!
COMPLETE ONENESS — the original purpose from eternity past!
And the ETERNAL path was the path He tread from BEFORE time began and FINISHED ALL for us. He IS the ETERNAL Path!
Hebrews 4:3 says, “For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: ‘So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.” Those who believe what? The good news: that the works of God were ALL FINISHED from before time began! God never intended for any man to have a future tense experience in life. Nothing about God's dealings with us is future tense.
Everything about His works is past tense, a FINISHED tense, an ETERNAL tense — from BEFORE time began!
That's important because it eliminates any idea of partiality or conditional behavior. How? Because it was ALL FINISHED, and He rested before there was anyone who could foul it up. What an extravagant expression of love and grace!
Jeremiah told these Israelites to ask for understanding regarding these ETERNAL paths. Yet their response was they would not walk in it. Jesus said something similar. In John 5:39, Jesus told the Pharisees, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me. But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” The word to in this verse is again, the preposition pros meaning FACE TO FACE. They are unwilling to come to the understanding of their FACE TO FACE union IN Him and have or embrace His life IN them! The word "have" in this verse is echo. I like the picture that this word gives us. They were not willing to understand their intimate FACE TO FACE union with Him and echo His Life! Rest is ONLY found FACE TO FACE IN Him! It is only discovered in our intimate union with the Father, Son, and Spirit.
And out of FACE TO FACE union, ONENESS flows out of us, the echo of ETERNAL Life flows out of us! It is the echo of WHOLENESS, the echo of FINISHED, and the echo of ETERNAL!
I have friends in seminary school or who have gone to seminary and studied Theology and yet miss this vital foundational truth of ONENESS. Their theology is still one of works, of DOING TO BE -- a life of DOING TO BECOME more holy, more obedient, more faithful, more like Jesus, etcetera. Always striving to please God and to be in His perfect will. Their understanding of God and themselves (and ALL humanity) is from a position of works, separation, and lack -- of "not enough." They don’t see Him as Father and themselves as sons made in His image and likeness. They don’t yet have an understanding of their ONENESS with Father, Son, and Spirit.
But theology is simply to know God’s nature! And Jesus is perfect theology!
John said in 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” The word know is a present subjunctive tense. In other words, John is saying, “That you may know right NOW and KEEP on knowing FOREVER!” The Mirror Bible translates knowing in this verse as being invited to engage in the INEXHAUSTIBLE ADVENTURE of knowing God and Jesus Christ. I love that! Knowing God, and knowing Jesus is a lifetime of inexhaustible adventure!! We will NEVER exhaust our intimate knowledge of Him. It is LIMITLESS!
The word know is ginosko, it is an intimately personal, firsthand knowledge. The word only in this verse is monos, which means solely and alone. But the root of monos means to abide, and to dwell! The ETERNAL Life that we echo is a continual intimate knowing that the Father, Son, and Spirit is abiding in us, dwelling IN us…. FACE TO FACE with us IN Christ. It's the intimate ONENESS with the Trinity. Father, Son, and Spirit dwelling IN us, AS us, and flowing or echoing Their life THROUGH us!
Jesus went on at the end of chapter 17, in verses 22-23, praying to His Father, “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
Oh my goodness, there is so much in those two verses!! But let’s look at these verses a little closer to understand it a bit better! Because sometimes, we read through it fast, or we’ve memorized it and don’t bother to stop and really SEE what Jesus is saying. Let’s look at verse 22 and the first part of verse 23. Jesus said that the glory He was given, He has given to us so that we may be ONE just as They are ONE. He continued to tell us what that looks like for us — Him IN us, and Father IN Him, that we may be PERFECTED or COMPLETED in ONE.
The Mirror Bible paraphrases it like this, “I am in them as you are in me, and on this basis, their seamless oneness may be entirely concluded.”
Our ONENESS is a FINISHED work… entirely concluded, because the Father is IN Jesus, and Jesus is IN us. We are COMPLETELY ONE IN God… FACE TO FACE with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit IN Christ. Passive tense, done to us — we had no say in it, we can’t undo it, it can’t be done again — IT IS FINISHED!!
metanoia moment: take this understanding even further… FINISHED was/is ETERNAL! Remember, He was the Lamb slain BEFORE the foundation of the world. Our ONENESS IN Christ with the Father, Son, and Spirit has ALWAYS been so!! Even after the fall. This understanding truly is a metanoia moment!!
author’s personal reflection: For the longest time, I didn’t know what to do with that verse in Revelation about Him being the Lamb slain BEFORE time began. And when I started thinking about FINISHED from an ETERNAL perspective, it made me a bit nervous. But NOW when I read Scripture (like John 17 above), my mind automatically thinks with an ETERNAL perspective of FINISHED. And the understanding of FINISHED continually grows in me! Allow the word FINISHED to expand in your heart, make room for it to grow. Allow Holy Spirit to define it for you, or rather define it IN you!
So, Jesus said that because the Father is IN Him, and He (Jesus) is IN us, we are an absolute, uninterrupted, COMPLETE union. We are ONE — Father, Son, Spirit, AND mankind. Verse 23 continues, and that the world may know that the Father sent Him, and has loved them (the world) AS the Father loved Him. The word loved is aorist indicative, meaning past tense… FINISHED tense. In other words, there has NEVER been a time that the Father didn’t love us, JUST AS there has NEVER been a time that the Father didn’t love Jesus! How did the Father love the Son? Verse 24 in chapter 17 tells us that He loved the Son from BEFORE the world's foundation!
Do you get the significance of what Jesus is saying to us?
He is saying, "Father that they may intimately, personally know that you loved THEM as You loved Me, BEFORE the foundation of the world." I love the portions of Scripture where we are privy to intimate conversations between God and man… or in this case, between God and the God-Man, Jesus. Jesus was saying, “Abba, I want those that you’ve given Me to be with Me where I am, so they may behold My glory because you loved Me from before the foundation of the world."
He wanted us with Him. Where did He want us with Him?
I used to think that meant after we die, we will be with Him in heaven. But this entire chapter is on our complete oneness IN Him NOW! So, where are we with Him that we may see His glory? Co-seated with Him in heavenly places. From this vantage point, we can understand that because the Father loved Jesus, He gave Him His glory from BEFORE time began. And His love for us is the SAME…. He also gave us His glory and loved us from BEFORE time began. Jesus went on a couple of verses later to say that He made known to them (and us), and will continue to make known, the Father's name or His nature. So that we would know that the Father's love (the "before time began" ETERNAL love!) would be IN us.
The Mirror Bible translates verse 26 so well, “And I have made the essence of your being known to them so that they may know you by name; and I will also give them understanding to know that the same love wherewith you have loved me is in them even as I am in them!”
If the foundation of our theology doesn't reflect God's eternal purpose of ONENESS, revealing us IN the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and Them IN us, then we need to heed the words of Isaiah and go back to the in the beginning God, the Creator God and look at Him more closely. And discover that God is the ETERNAL Father, Son, and Spirit, the Creator of ALL, who FINISHED ALL — BEFORE time began!!
The ONENESS of the ETERNAL Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, AND our inclusion in Their union needs to be our point of departure for understanding God.
Only then will we find REST. Only then will we walk in the WHOLENESS that is ours. Experiencing the newness of Life that Paul talked about — experiencing divine health, prosperity, nothing missing, nothing broken, complete WHOLENESS NOW in EVERY area of our lives.
