We need to Live in Intimate Fellowship with God and Live a Crucified Life to be the Friend of God (as Abraham was)
After passing through a long process, Abraham was prepared and qualified to be the friend of God, one who lives in intimate fellowship with God and one to whom God opens what is on His heart for him to intercede (see Gen. 18). God has something in heart to do and He needs a friend to open to so that His human friend would intercede for the children of God and release them from the upcoming judgement.
In Genesis 18 we see that, long before the incarnation of God in Christ in the New Testament, God came in Christ as a man to Abraham, together with two angels, to have a human intimate time with him as a friend.
God didn’t come to Abraham as the Almighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth, and Abraham didn’t relate to God as being merely a creature, a servant; God came as a human being and had a human time with Abraham, His human friend.
At this time Abraham had his natural strength cut off and he was living by the grace of God, and so he was prepared to be God’s friend. God came to have an intimate fellowship with Abraham as with a human friend, and He obtained from him a glorious intercession for Lot and his family.
In our experience today we need to realize that God isn’t only the Creator, the Master, and the Almighty; God wants to open up His heart to His human friends so that they would respond to Him through much prayer for God’s will to be done, God’s people to be rescued, many to be saved, and God’s purpose to be accomplished.
May we be those who are prepared and qualified by God to be His friends, those who have God’s appearing and His presence as a Friend, those to whom He can open His heart and from whom He cannot hide what He is about to do.
God Appeared to Abraham in a Human Form and had an Intimate Time with him on a Human Level
Long before Christ’s incarnation (John 1:14), God came in a human form to meet Abraham (Gen. 18:2), visiting him on a human level to have a human intimate time with him.
Abraham was living in Hebron (meaning “fellowship”) by the oaks of Mamre, in fellowship with God. One day, as he was sitting at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw three men standing opposite him. When he saw them, he ran to them, met them, and entreated them to stay with him for a meal.
He knew that God came to visit him, and he wanted to have a meal with Him, wash his feet, and fellowship with Him. One of these three men was Jehovah God as Christ (see Gen. 18:13-14, 22) and the other two were angels (Gen. 18:22, 19:1).
God didn’t come to Abraham as the Most High God, the Possessor of heaven and earth, or as the El-Shaddai (the all-inclusive God who takes good care of His people all the time), neither did He come as the Creator to visit His creature. Rather, God Himself came as a mortal man to enjoy a meal with His intimate friend.
God visited Abraham on a human level to have a human intimate time with him in order to confirm the promise of the seed to him, open up His heart to Abraham, obtain an intercession for His people, and accomplish His purpose.
At this time Abraham was already called and chosen by God (Gen. 11), trained to live a life by faith (Gen. 12-14), led to know grace and live by grace and not by his natural human strength but by trusting in God for everything (Gen. 15-17); Abraham was circumcised, had his name changed, and lived in an intimate fellowship with God to become God’s friend.
This time God spent with Abraham was so normal, so human, so intimate, and yet so mystical and sweet. God came to befriend Abraham and converse with him as a human friend on a human level. What a sweet experience this was!
Living in Intimate Fellowship with God to be God’s Friend
After he was circumcised and his natural strength was terminated, Abraham lived in intimate fellowship with God and became God’s friend (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23).
After Abraham had his natural strength cut off, he was terminated in his natural being and was living by the grace of God, and he was qualified to be the friend of God (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; James 2:23).
We also can be the friend of God, as Abraham was, by going though the same experiences as he did. We need to experience God’s calling and His choosing, live by faith, and be led to know the grace of God by living a crucified life so that we trust in God and not in our natural strength. When we live a crucified life, we enter into an intimacy with God and we are His friend, opening up to Him the things on our heart and having His heart unveiled to us.
God doesn’t want to merely be the Great Creator having us as His creatures, the Master having us as His servants, or even the God of glory having us as His passive receivers. Rather, God wants us to know Him on a divinely-human level as our friend, even a human friend.
We may think that God is so great and we are so low, He is so righteous and holy and we are so sinful – and we are right; however, God wants to befriend us, be our friend, and have us draw near to Him, pray to Him, cry out to Him, and speak to Him about everything.
He wants to have many human conversations with us and eventually to open His heart to us that we may be gain as the intercessors for His people and His purpose. He comes to us not in blazing light and voice of a thunder but humanly on a most human level to be our friend.
Are we the friend of God? Are we experiencing Him as grace every day, relying not on our natural strength but on Him completely? Are we living in Hebron, in fellowship with God? Are we in His word, conversing with Him with His word in a prayerful way? Do we open to the Lord daily, living in an intimate fellowship with Him?
God is willing to lower Himself to our level and have an intimate human conversation with us as a friend, but we need to be willing to experience Him as the calling one, the One by whom we live in faith, and the grace who can do everything in us and for us.
On a human level God wants to speak with us, have a good time with us, open His heart to us, and gain us as His intercessors for the saints, the churches, the people, and the purpose of God.
Lord Jesus, thank You for desiring to gain us as the friend of God, those to whom You can open Your heart to gain as the intercessors You need today. We want to enter into a deeper and sweeter fellowship with You at Hebron, in the church life. Give us the experiences we need that we may live by the grace of God and not rely or trust in our human efforts to please God and work for God. Lord, make us those of whom You can say “the friend of God.” We open to You. We draw near to You. We cry out to You. We open our heart to You that You may know us and we may know You. Open Your heart to us and gain us as the intercessors You need on earth today, Your friends!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chan’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-Study of Genesis (msg. 51), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Genesis (2), week 7 / msg 7, Living in Fellowship with God.
- Hymns on this topic:
# I have a Friend, whose faithful love / Is more than all the world to me: / ’Tis higher than the heights above, / And deeper than the soundless sea; / So old, so new, / So strong, so true; / Before the earth received its frame, / He loved me—Blessed be His name! (Hymns #156)
# My every moment is to live unto You. / In everything dear Lord, / You must now break through. / I’m just a vessel, You’re my treasure within. / O Lord, keep spreading in my entire being / By calling, O Lord Jesus, / That name most precious. / Jesus, Jesus. (New song on Living unto Christ)
# What a Friend we have in Jesus, / All our sins and griefs to bear! / What a privilege to carry / Everything to God in prayer! / O what peace we often forfeit, / O what needless pain we bear, / All because we do not carry / Everything to God in prayer! (Hymns #789)
# Lord, in this close sweet fellowship, / Lord, be with me so intimate, / So personal and affectionate; / A sweet relationship. (New song on, Mary Poured out Her Love Offering)
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