Our Relationship with God

Read Time: 8 Minutes

More appropriately, our relationship is with our Heavenly Father. In the Old Testament Jehovah/Elohim/El Shaddai was God the provider, healer, our strength, our peace, the shepherd, God Almighty, etc. But He was never a Father. Today, in the Grace Administration, we have a different relationship with God.

Jesus Christ came to make known his Father, the only true God. In John 17 Jesus Christ is talking with God shortly before being taken.

John 17
:1  These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,
        Father, the hour is come;
        glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:
:2     As thou hast given him power over all flesh,
        that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.
:3     And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God,
            and Jesus Christ,
                whom thou hast sent.

In the Epistles God is now referred to as our Father.

Romans 1
:7  To all that be in Rome,
        beloved of God,
        called to be  saints:
    Grace to you and peace from God our Father,
    and the Lord Jesus Christ.

God is now our Father as well. "God our Father" or "God the Father" is also declared in I Corinthians 1:3, II Corinthians 1:2, Galatians 1:3, Ephesians 1:2, Philippians 1:2, Colossians 1:2, I Thessalonians 1:1,  3, II Thessalonians 1:1, 2, 2:16, I Timothy 1:2, II Timothy 1:2, Titus 1:4, Philemon 1:3.

I John 3
:1  Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us,
        that we should be called the sons of God:
    therefore the world knoweth us not,
    because it knew him not.
:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God,
    and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:
    but we know that, when he shall appear,
    we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Have you ever tried to love someone that is unlovable? Have you tried to love someone that didn't want anything to do with you, spit in your face, lied to you, and had animosity toward you? I have not, but the Father has; He loves us. No matter what you have done in the past, not matter what, God, our Father, welcomes you when you have a change of heart and return unto Him.

I John 1
:1 That which was from the beginning,
        which we have heard,
        which we have seen with our eyes,
        which we have looked upon,
        and our hands have handled, of the Word of life;
:2         (For the life was manifested,
            and we have seen it,
            and bear witness,
            and shew unto you that eternal life,
                which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)
:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you,
    that ye also may have fellowship with us:
    and truly our fellowship is with the Father,
    and with his Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ and the Words of God that was from the beginning of the Church of Grace, from the day of Pentecost, is declared unto us for a purpose: that we may have fellowship with the Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and God's chosen. That fellowship is by definition a full sharing. In order to fully share with our Father we must be talking to Him. Are you talking to God?

Access to God was very limited before Christ came and gave his life for us. The temple had a wall around it and only Judeans could enter into the "Greater House" or Holy Place of the temple. Then there was a veil, an expertly woven curtain, that separated the Judeans from the ark of the covenant and mercy seat. One man, one day of the year could go into the Holy of Holies that was encompassed by that veil and he had to bring with him the blood of a sacrifice and be clean himself otherwise he would die. (Hebrews 9) Only one day a year! And this is in regards to the Children of Israel, I don't even qualify for him to make intercession for me at that time. I am a Gentile, I could not come before God, the wall around the inner court of the temple has written on it the statement that if I entered I would die. 

What really separated the Judeans and the Gentiles from God? Sin. The sin of Adam. It took a sacrifice, the blood of a lamb of the first year without blemish or spot, Jesus Christ, (I Peter 1:19) to be the payment for our sin and to allow us to gain access to God.

Ephesians 2
:11  Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh,
        who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands;
:12 That at that time ye were without Christ,
        being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel,
        and strangers from the covenants of promise,
        having no hope,
        and without God in the world:

Yes, without God, separated from Him, without access, not on talking terms, unclean, unholy, unrighteous.

:13 But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off  [that's me]
    are made nigh by the blood of Christ. [YES!]
:14  For he is our peace,
        who hath made both one,
        and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
:15   Having abolished in his flesh the enmity,  [hostility/hatred]
            even the law of commandments contained in ordinances;
        for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace;

That wall that separated the Judeans and Gentiles was destroyed so there is no longer any separation between us. I have the same rights as a Judean, God's chosen people. But wait, there is more . . .

:16 And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
        having slain the enmity  [hostility/hatred] thereby:

Reconcile means to bring back together that which has been separated, we had been separated from God because of Adam's sin. Jesus Christ had come to reconcile men back to God, he did it!

That veil that separated all of mankind from God, what happened to it?

Matthew 27
:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom;
    and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;

The veil, a woven curtain of the highest quality, physically and symbolically separating man from Holy of Holies, was torn from top to bottom, from God to man.

Ephesians 2
:17 And [Jesus Christ] came and preached peace to you which were afar off [Gentiles],
    and to them that were nigh. [Israel]
:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners,
    but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

We are of the household, we can hang out in the kitchen. We can pull our chair up to the table and feast on the bounty God supplies. We can retire to the living room of God's love in the evening to rest, be edified, and encouraged. We have the access and the right to hang out in God's presence. Do you not have the right to kick off your shoes and put your feet up in your house? Can you bare your soul to the inhabitants of your home? You can come into the Father's house and bare your soul to Him.

:20 And [ye] are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
        Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;
:21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
:22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

We no longer need to go the temple to be in the presence of God, what temple/church can contain Him? (I Kings 8:27) He has a grander idea! (He always has grander ideas.) We, the body of Christ, are now the temple that God is building with Jesus Christ being the chief cornerstone. Let these analogies paint pictures in your mind so that they become living and real in your everyday life.

Hebrews 10
:14 For by one offering he [Jesus Christ] hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
        [perfected is teleioo - in the sense made a finished work]
:15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
:16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord,
        I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
:17   And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
:18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.
:19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
:20 By a new and living way,
        which he hath consecrated for us,
    through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;
21 And having an high priest over the house of God;
:22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith,
    having our hearts sprinkled [cleansed by blood] from an evil conscience,
    and our bodies washed with pure water.
:23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering;
    (for he is faithful that promised;)

We now have boldness to enter into the holiest, the presence of the Father because of the blood of Jesus. Our access is now a new and living way. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, totally know we can. Our hearts are sprinkled from an evil conscience. That word 'sprinkled' is only used in Hebrews and it refers to the blood of a sacrifice being sprinkled on things to cleanse them and make them acceptable to God. See also Hebrews 9:13, 19, & 21.

Our relation with God is now as a father with His children, for we are His children.  We may now enter into the throne room of God. We can talk to Him, who is now our Heavenly Father. You must take the time to go there. He has looked forward to this for a long time.

Hebrews 4
:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace,
    that we may obtain mercy,
    and find grace to help in time of need.