INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PRAYER MIKE BICKLE Abiding in Love: Experiencing the Heart of God. Session 4 Beholding the Father s Love

Transcription

1 INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF PRAYER MIKE BICKLE Abiding in Love: Experiencing the Heart of God Session 4 Beholding the Father s Love I. REVIEW: GOD LOVES US WITH ALL OF HIS HEART A. God is love wholehearted love (1 John 4:16). The essence of God s being is wholehearted love. From eternity past, the three persons in the Trinity have loved each other with all of their heart. This is how the Father loves the Son, and the Son loves the Spirit, etc. The only way that God loves His family (the Trinity and the Church) is with all of His heart and in great humility. I am going to begin in this with a review of the last couple sessions. I like to take time to give a review, not only for those that are with us for the first time, but also because the verses that we are covering are so important that we do not want to go over them too quickly. The way that truth works is that if we do not learn it and get it into our conversation with God, then that truth does not transform us. I want to say it again. When we learn these principles, and these biblical principles get into our conversation with God we actually talk to God in the through the lens of those truths then those truths transform us. If they inspire us for only a moment we underline them and even tell a friend but we don t talk to God about them, they do not change us. So I want to be a little bit repetitious on some of these points and take our time as we work our way through them. In review, the Bible states clearly that God is love, and I like to add the word He is wholehearted love. The very essence of God's being is wholehearted love. That is the only way that God loves. From eternity past the Father has loved the Son with all of His heart, all of His strength. The Son has loved the Spirit. The Spirit loves the Father. Within the context of the family of God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit this is the only way God loves. The most remarkable thing has taken place through Christ Jesus. God the Father, Son, and Spirit have opened up the family of God and extended it so that we could come and be a part of it. He did not do this for angels, but only for humans. He does not just love us, but He beckons us to come close to Him, literally to be part of His family forever. The only way that God loves in His family is with all of His heart. B. The love burning in God s heart has at least five distinct yet deeply interrelated expressions. 1. God s love for God: Each person in the Trinity intensely loves the others with all their heart. 2. God s love for His people: He loves His people with all of His heart, mind, and strength. He loves the redeemed with the same intensity that He loves within the fellowship of the Trinity. 3. Our love for God: God s very own love is imparted to His people by the Spirit (Rom. 5:5). 4. Our love for ourselves: We love ourselves in God s love and for God s sake.. 5. Our love for others: We love others in the overflow of experiencing God s love (1 John 4:19). Now I cover these five points and just take a second on each one every session. My goal is for you to hear them so often that you know them by memory. When I think of the burning heart of God that God's heart that burns with love I think of five distinct expressions. Number one, the way God loves God; the Father loves the Son with intensity. Number two, in that same intensity they love us. Number three, they call us to respond with all of our heart because that is the normative way that love dwells or exist in the family of God. They love with all their heart, all their mind, so it is only natural that, when they call us into that family relationship, they would call us into that family reality of wholehearted love.

2 Session 4 Beholding the Father s Love Page 2 Number four, which is sometimes new to some folks, is that we are to love ourselves with the love of God and for God's sake. Jesus said that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. Many people love God, but they despise themselves. They do not know how God views them. That is another subject we will look at more in depth in some future session. The fifth expression is that the way we love one another. God so delights in us delighting in one another in the love of God. C. The foundational premise in this teaching series is that God loves us with the same intensity that God loves God (Jn. 15:9; 17:23). The measure of God s love for us is the way God loves within the Trinity. This quality of love is foundational to life in God s kingdom. Jesus called us to abide in love to continually live in and stay focused on it. This is the main exhortation in the Bible. 9 As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. (Jn. 15:9) 23 that the world may know that You [the Father] loved them as You have loved Me. (Jn. 17:23) The foundational premise of this series is found in two verses: John 15:9 and 17:23. We can not repeat these two verses too often. They are so dramatic, they are so dynamic, and the implications of these two verses are so vast. The essence is this, that God loves us in the same intensity that God loves God. When I say God loves God, I mean how the Father loves the Son, the Son loves the Father, etc. Let's look at the two verses. Again, we have covered them each session, but I can not say them enough. Even in my own relationship with the Lord, I love to speak these verses to Him when I talk to Him. Jesus in John 15:7 says and I am going to paraphrase, and you have the text in front of you in the same way that the Father loves Me, that is the way I love you. Beloved, that is staggering that He says, Abide in that love. He says, Lock in to it, stay focused on it, and experience that love. We will look at that just for a moment more in a few minutes. Then He says the same basic truth in John 17:23, but from a different angle. He is praying to the Father, and He says, that the world may know, Father, that You love them in the way that You love Me. Beloved, these two statements are so staggering, and so dramatic, and so big. In essence Jesus says this, The way that the Father loves Me, that is how I love You. The way that the Father loves Me, that is how the Father loves you. Two different persons in the Godhead, one God in three persons, but they equally love us in the intensity in which they love each other. That is staggering to the mind. When we think on that with our natural, unrenewed thinking, we think that is just too big for God to love us with the same intensity with which the Godhead loves in their relationships within the Trinity. Jesus tells us to abide in that love. In that call to abide in love, He is saying, Stay focused on that love, not just in this age, but even forever. Stay focused on that love. Experience it. Study it. Search it out. Go deep in it. The reason we must stay focused on that love is because it takes the escort of the Holy Spirit for us even to understand it, let alone experience it. The Holy Spirit gives us more based on our hunger for more. If this is a casual truth to us, that Jesus loves us in the way the Father loves Him, and we feel that it is good enough to make note of it and move on, the Spirit will say, Okay. But if you want to go deep on that, He will give you more if you will focus on it, if you will abide in it, if you will stay with it.

3 Session 4 Beholding the Father s Love Page 3 If I had to pick one phrase in the whole of the Bible that I would define as the number one exhortation to the people of God in terms of our action, in terms of our response to God, I would pick this phrase, abide in love to seek to understand it, to seek to receive it from God, seek to return it back to God, and then to one another, etc. Just because we do not feel the power of this staggering truth does not lessen the reality of this truth. It is true. In our unrenewed or uninspired thinking, where our mind is not in unity with the Word, we read that truth and we think, Wow! But it rather bounces off, because we do not feel the power of it very much. Even though we don t feel the power of it, this does not lessen the authority and the reality of it. Jesus knows more about the love of God than any man that ever walked the earth. Jesus is in the family of God. He is saying, in essence, I am in this family. I am in the original family, and I feel this love. I know My Father, and He feels it. Undoubtedly the Holy Spirit has the same love. So, beloved, on good authority, from the very lips of Jesus, we can have confidence in this truth. When the devil tells us a lie or when we can not feel the power of this love, we rise up and we speak, It is written, the Father loves me in the way that He loves His Son. Jesus loves me in the way the Father loves Him. It is written, devil you are a liar, this is the truth of who I am, this is how God sees me. These two verses give us the ultimate revelation of our worth. That God loves us in this way is the ultimate statement of our value and who we are. Because of these two verses, every believer has the right to claim they are God's favorite. Now I say that tongue-in-cheek, but God has a billion favorites if there are a billion believers on the earth because He loves us with the same intensity that He loves Jesus, and we know Jesus is His favorite. Beloved, I want to encourage you this is yours to take and run with, if you want it. You know, one person says, Well, how could God have all these favorites? Because He is infinite in His love. He does not diminish in love when He gives love. In other words, when God loves you, it is not like His gas tank goes down a little bit so that He has to love someone else less. It does not work that way. God's love is multiplied as He loves and shares His love. Now these two statements that the way the Father loves Jesus that is the way Jesus loves us, and the way the Father loves Jesus that is the way the Father loves us these two statements beckon us to become students of the way the Father loves Jesus. If these are the two foundational declarations from heaven, beloved, it behooves us to become students of how the Father loves the Son. We want to search this out it is in the Word. The Holy Spirit is our enthusiastic, gracious escort. He says, I will escort you into this truth, if you want it. I will escort you into it to the degree that you are hungry for it. If you want more, I will give you more. 1. Jesus declared the truth of God s love twice on the night before He died (Jn. 15:9; 17:23). These statements seem unrealistic to our natural thinking. Just because we do not feel the power of this truth does not lessen its reality. Jesus has authority to teach on God s love. 2. The way the Father and the Son love us is the ultimate statement of our worth. This truth gives every believer the right to view himself or herself as God's favorite. 3. This is both the simplest and deepest truth in the kingdom.

4 Session 4 Beholding the Father s Love Page 4 D. These two statements beckon us to become students of how the Father loves the Son. To abide in love includes studying the way the Father loves Jesus to gain insight into how God loves us. Pray, Holy Spirit let me see and feel what You see and feel about the Father s love for me. 1 Behold what manner [quality] of love the Father has bestowed on us (1 John 3:1) 1. We are called to behold or understand the quality of the Father s love for us (1 John 3:1). 2. To behold God s love is to stay focused on it and not forget or leave it out of our various ministry assignments or study focuses. Study Scripture through the paradigm of love. In 1 John 3:1, the same apostle is writing. He wrote the Gospel of John and the epistles, or letters, of John. He exhorts us in 1 John 3:1, Behold, the manner of love the Father has for us. For that phrase, the manner of love, you could say, behold the quality of love the Father has, behold the intensity of love the Father has, behold the measure of love the Father has. This word, behold, is not a casual glance or passing glance. To behold means a fixed concentration. It is the same idea that Jesus said in John 15:9, that we just looked at, Abide in love. Here John says, Behold the love. It is the same idea lock into it, and stay with it. I want to offer you my very favorite prayer in life. I love to pray this prayer, and I love this prayer. You can end this prayer in a thousand different ways. I love to pray this, Holy Spirit, let me see and feel what You see and feel when and you can put any number of things at the end of that prayer. In this particular case I like to say, Holy Spirit, I want to see what You see and I want to feel what You feel when You see the Father's love towards me. How do you feel when You observe the Father's love for me? I want to feel it. What do you see about the way the Father loves me? I want to see it. Again, you could put any number of things at the end of that prayer. I love to ask the Holy Spirit this when I about to meet with somebody or go to a meeting or anything. When I drive home after a church service, on the two-minute drive home, or five-minute, whatever it is, I whisper a sixty-second prayer before I see my wife. I say, Holy Spirit, I want to see what You see and feel what You feel about Diane. I say that before I meet my kids, my friends, before staff meetings and worship services. On the way here I asked Him that. Let me see what You see about this service. I want to feel what You feel. So take that prayer, make it your own, and pray it in a thousand different subjects. Beloved, the Holy Spirit has a lot of understanding and a lot of feeling about the way the Father loves us, and He says, I will teach you. If you will behold the love the Father has, I will be your Teacher. I will be your gracious escort. I know so much about the way the Father loves you! Let Me bring you on this journey. (John 14:26, paraphrased) II. THE LORD ALWAYS LOVES IN FULLNESS A. The Lord always loves in fullness. He would deny His character if He ever loved in less than fullness. He never suspends any of His attributes not even 1%. He will never diminish or grow in love, because His love is infinite in measure and eternal in duration. 6 For I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. (Mal. 3:6) 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. (Heb. 13:8)

5 Session 4 Beholding the Father s Love Page 5 1. The Lord is always 100% true to who He is. Never for one moment is God less than 100% loving or 100% wise or righteous, etc. God cannot ever be less than who He is; if He did, He would deny Himself even if He was 1% deficient in one attribute. 2. He is fully God in all of His attributes all of the time. Thus, He always loves in fullness within the boundary lines of redemption. 3. The Father loves us in the way He loves Jesus because He only loves in fullness. Now we covered this in the last session, but it is so glorious! I just like to say it again for just a moment that God always loves in fullness. God never loves less than 100 percent. If God was deficient one percent in any of His attributes, even for a moment, He would deny Himself. God is 100 percent loving 100 percent of the time. He is 100 percent wise 100 percent of the time. He is 100 percent righteous 100 percent of the time. If He loved you 99 percent of His capacity once, He would deny the truth of who He is. He can never, ever act except in the full scope of His personality. He can only act fully as He is. The reason this is so important related to this subject is because God always loves us with all of His heart. He cannot love us with only 99 percent of His heart. So it makes sense that He loves us like He loves Jesus. He cannot love in His family in any other way but with all of His heart. Now in Malachi 3:6, the Lord spoke to the prophet Malachi, I am the Lord. I do not change. This was really good news to a rebellious generation of Israelites. He said, Because I do not change, therefore you will not be wiped out. They were rebellious, and He said, Because I never change, and I am merciful, and I know My plans for you, even though I know you will respond to Me, I can not change My love and mercy. So this is a very, very positive statement that He was telling them at a time when they were resisting His leadership. He was saying, I will discipline you, but, good news, I will not wipe you out because I love you and I can not change. I will never change. Hebrews 13:8 tell us that Jesus is the same whether eternally in the past yesterday or eternally in the future tomorrow He is forever the same. He never, ever changes, and this is part of our confession before Him when the enemy wants to condemn us or tell us God is not interested in us. We say, Satan, you are a liar. It is written He never changes. He loves me like the Father loves Him. Again, it makes sense that Jesus loves us like the Father loves Him because God can only love in the only one way that He knows how to love in the full capacity of His personality, fully. Although I am so grateful that Jesus actually put the words together. He says if you think about it Of course I love you the way the Father loves Me. I could not love you any other way. That is the only way I love. I am so grateful that He took the time and declared these two statements so that we have them very clearly. It is something we are to build our life around. B. He does not withhold His love when a sincere believer stumbles or struggles with sin. Our spiritual immaturity does not affect the way He feels about us. He never loves us less in this age than He will love us in heaven, when we will live in the perfection of the resurrection state. Jesus never withholds His love when a sincere believer stumbles or struggles. As a matter of fact, when He told the disciple these two statements at the Last Supper, and He said, I love you the way the Father loves Me, He told them a few moments later, Everyone of you will leave Me tonight (John 16:32). Jesus was not under some delusion about their spiritual maturity. He said, You will deny Me tonight, but you have to know the way

6 Session 4 Beholding the Father s Love Page 6 I feel about you. I feel the same about you as the Father feels about Me, and you can build your life on that. I mean, what a remarkable reality! He will not love you more a million years from now when you live in the perfection of a resurrected body. He will not love you more then than He did the day you were born again. He cannot. You will experience it more, but He will not experience it more. He will love you then like He does now. It will not increase; it will not decrease. Now again, when we are spiritually mature, we experience His love more. But He does not experience more just because we do. When we are spiritually mature, our capacity to receive increases, but His capacity to give does not increase. His love is consistent. Beloved, we can build our life on this. Jesus said, Abide in love lock into this truth, go deep, say it everywhere, count on it, do warfare with this truth, resist the lies of the evil one. III. JOY BASED ON LOVE A. As we experience God s love, we feel joy, or a deep sense of well-being with confidence, even in the face of disappointment, temptation, and persecution (Jn. 15:11). Jesus spoke these things to empower joy in the life of His people (v. 11). 9 As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love 11 These things I have spoken to you, that your joy may be full. (Jn. 15:9-11) Now let's look at John 15:9, and we will look at it more in its context. Jesus says, As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; now abide in My love. He makes three statements there. Then in verse 11 He explains, in essence, I want you to understand I spoke these three phrases, these three truths, to you so that I would empower you to walk in transforming joy. Jesus links the empowering to walk in joy that transforms our life in verse 11 to the three truths declared in verse 9. B. The joy of the Spirit is anchored in the intensity of how the Father loves the Son and how the Son loves us. Note three foundational truths related to experiencing God s joy in John 15:9: 1. The intensity of the Father s love for Jesus (v. 9a) 2. The same intensity of Jesus love for us (v. 9b) 3. Abiding in love focusing on and experiencing a measure of God s love (v. 9c) Joy is anchored in the revelation of the intensity in which the Father loves the Son. As we understand the way the Father loves the Son, we understand the way the Son loves us. Then we have the mandate to abide in it, to go search it out and to grow in it. The combination of those three truths causes joy to grow in our experience. Joy is anchored in these realities. C. The context in which Jesus promised God s joy gives us insight into the type of joy He spoke of. He referred to a holy joy that is deep, sacred, and powerful. This joy empowered the disciples to walk in victory soon after the devastating experiences that occurred soon after Jesus spoke these words. They suffered the shocking disappointment of Jesus sudden death, the deep shame of betraying Him, and the threat of death and imprisonment from the political authorities, along with their normal temptations in life. Jesus speaking at the Last Supper is the context in which He is describing this joy. He knows they are going to have the greatest crisis of their entire life within the next few hours. He knows that. He knows that He is going to die the next afternoon. They do not know it. He has told them over and over, but they still do not know it. I mean, He said it over and over, I am going to die, I am going to die.

7 Session 4 Beholding the Father s Love Page 7 The ladies got it, but none of the guys got it. They said, What does He mean, He is going to die? When He died, they were shocked. They were devastated beyond what we could imagine. Their whole perception of their life and their future was devastated by His death. They were not counting on Him being raised from the dead. He said He would be, but they still had not understood it. They had not connected with that in their hearts. Not only do they have the most devastating setback of their life the sudden death of the One they built their life around but they also have the deep shame of the betrayal of the One they love. They all betrayed Him. So they have the devastation of disappointment, with shame to compound that problem. It is worse than that. They have fear of persecution because the same political authorities that crucified Jesus want to kill these guys now. These men were so afraid of that threat. That is why they denied the Lord. They were terrified of the consequences. So these young men have the threat of persecution, the shame of betrayal, the disappointment of Jesus suddenly dying, and on top of that they have their normal temptations of life still operating in their life. Jesus is saying, The joy that I will give you empowered by this revelation of how I love you is actually more powerful than fear. It is more powerful than persecution. It is more powerful than shame. It is more powerful than bitterness. It is more powerful than lust. He is telling them that if they will anchor their lives in this, it will empower them to stand before the most powerful negative emotions that they would ever experience. D. We are called to experience a transforming joy that is based on encountering God s love. We must never be content with a silly, superficial substitute of the Spirit s joy that some promote. IV. THE FATHER S LOVE FOR US A. The world will know that the Father loves His people with the same intensity that He loves Jesus. His love will be openly displayed before all the nations. This love will be manifest in such fullness that unbelievers will see it in part in this age and in fullness in the millennial kingdom. 22 The glory which You gave Me I have given them 23 that the world may know that You [the Father] loved them as You have loved Me. 24 Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold [experience] My glory... (Jn. 17:22 24) Now let s go to the second main passage in John 17. This passage is so full of truth! We could spend so much time breaking down the implications of these few verses, but we will just highlight a couple points in a brief way. In John 17:22-24, we read the statement that the Father loves us the way the Father loves Jesus. We are going to look at the verse before and the verse after this. He starts off in verse 20. He is praying to the Father, and He says, Father, the glory which You gave Me I have already given to them. That is a pretty big statement. The glory that the Father gave the Son, the Son gave to us? Like what? Read that again. That is a massive statement right there. Now when He says, I have given it to them, they had not experienced it in its fullness. But it meant that this decision to give this glory to them was settled in the eternal councils of the Godhead. It was a done deal. God the Father, Son, and Spirit were in full unity and determination to give this glory to them. No power in hell could stop it; no force on earth could stop Jesus from giving the glory to them. Now before they would actually have that glory in fullness, Jesus would have to go to the cross, which He does the next day. He would have to be raised from the dead. He would have to ascend to the Father. He would have

8 Session 4 Beholding the Father s Love Page 8 to give the Holy Spirit. Then, before the fullness of glory, they would have to have a resurrected body, live in the New Jerusalem, and sit on thrones. There are many dimensions to this glory that Jesus is going to give them. Some of those dimensions were in part, in the immediate time frame; other dimensions were more long-term. But here is the point it was a settled fact. It was as good as done. The reason I am mentioning this to you is that this gives us insight into how God feels about us. These are the plans of His heart for us. Then John 17:23 I consider this to be one of the most glorious of Jesus prophecies in the whole Bible. It is probably the most neglected one or certainly one of the most neglected prophecies. Do not reduce this prophecy to something smaller than it is. Verse 23 has massive implications as a prophetic word. Here is what Jesus says it just takes your breath away if you take it at face value, which is the way we are suppose to take it He says, Not only am I going to give My glory to them, more than that Jesus is praying to the Father the night before He would go to the cross that the world would know that You love them in the way that You love Me. So moments earlier He said, I loved them the way You love Me. Now He says, You love them the way You love Me but here is the dramatic part He said this love is going to be so demonstrated, it is going to be manifest in such a physical, concrete, practical, observable way, that the unbelieving world would be able to grasp it. When He says the world, He is talking about unbelievers. He says He is committed to demonstrating the love of the Father in such a tangible, visible way, such a concrete way, that unbelievers will see it. They will see the lives of believers and conclude only one thing: the God of Jesus loves them like He loves Jesus. Now that is a pretty dramatic statement, but this is how concrete and practical and visible this love will be to others. The Father wants us to know this is His commitment. This is not just a mysterious, ethereal kind of love that is never practical. This love is going to be seen openly. Now when will the world know this? Well a little bit in this age. Occasionally an unbeliever will look at our lives and conclude that God s favor and God s love is on our life, and they say, I want to know the God that you know. That happens in this age, no question. The fullness of this prophecy will be fulfilled in the millennial kingdom when Jesus comes back with a physical body to reign on the earth. When He comes back at the second coming and sets up His throne of glory in Jerusalem, He will have a physical reign on the earth for 1,000 years. You and I and all the saints of history will have resurrected bodies. We will live in the New Jerusalem, which will descend from heaven down to the earth. It says three times in the Book of Revelation that the New Jerusalem will come down to the earth. On the earth there will be millions of people with natural bodies. Many of them will be believers. I assume most will be believers worldwide when Jesus returns. The people that are still alive on the earth when He comes do not disappear; they are still alive. They do not vanish. They still keep on living, and Jesus the Messiah comes back literally to reign physically in Jerusalem. So they have children and continue to live, and then they die and get their resurrected body. It is in this context that all the nations will see with such clarity the way the Father loves His people. They will conclude it is no other than the love that the Father has for Jesus the Messiah that is manifest in their life. So this prophecy has a partial fulfillment in this age when unbelievers view the life of believers and say, I want your God, that is true, but it has a large scope, a bigger fulfillment.

9 Session 4 Beholding the Father s Love Page 9 Here is my real point. My real point is that the love the Father has for us is not ethereal and invisible. It will be practical and visible and tangible and observable even by unbelievers. That is the intensity in which God loves His people. That intensity does not just begin when it is openly displayed to the nations. That intensity is alive in His heart right now. You do not have to wait until the resurrection to begin to appreciate that reality. Beloved, Jesus spoke this truth to us so we could actually draw on that reality right now in this age. That is called abiding in love. That is called beholding the love the Father has for you. In John 17:24, Jesus says, Father, it is not only that You love them, but I love them. I desire them too. Now He gives us one of His primary motivations for going to the cross. He says, Let Me tell You, Father, why I am doing this. I desire them. I want them with Me. I want them near Me. Father, You love them verse 23 and I desire them verse 24, which is the same thing I do not want to rule without them being near Me. Beloved, do you know who you are to Him? I mean, we do not want to wait until the resurrection to learn this. This is true now, though we do not grasp it, but this scripture calls us, exhorts us, to contend to grow in this revelation. B. Jesus has deep desire that His people be very near to Him forever (Jn. 14:3; 17:24; Heb. 10:22). He wants us near to Him in partnership to see the earth filled with the Father's glory (Hab. 2:14). In His most devastating hour when facing the cross, we gain insight into some of His motivation. Here we see the why behind the what of redemption. Why did Jesus create and redeem us? 14 For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD (Hab. 2:14) Habakkuk 2:14 is the backdrop to the prophecy Jesus gave that the nations or the world would see the love the Father has for His people openly displayed. Habakkuk 2:14 is a very well-known Old Testament prophecy. It says the day is coming when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord. Now that is happening in part through the church in this hour of history and throughout church history. In part the earth has had an increase of the knowledge of God as the church grows, as the church takes more ground. As we are faithful to our assignment, the kingdom increases more and more. When Jesus returns physically, this is going to escalate to a whole other level. Though we have substantial and very important breakthroughs in the spirit in this age now, in this time of the glory of God being manifested in the spheres of society, we will only go so far until Jesus returns. When He comes, it will escalate in a very dramatic way, and the whole earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of God. The glory of God is His power, the knowledge of His love, the knowledge of His ways, His manifest glory. The glory of God has many different expressions, but it will cover the earth. And the premiere expression of the glory of God is the revelation of how God loves. The revelation of how God loves is the most dramatic expression of His glory, His power, His splendor, His wisdom, His favor, and His transformation of the earth and of cities. All of those come into His glory, but nothing has a greater prominence of the glory of God than when His love is made manifest. That is what He is going to do. He is going to fill the whole earth with the knowledge of that love so much so that the whole world will say that God loves them the way He loves Jesus. Look at the intensity of how He loves them. Now again my point is not just to think about how glorious the future will be, although that is a good and biblical thing to do. My point is, if He loves that way at that time beloved, He never changes! That is how He loves right now. Though we do not see the fullness of it, the quality is still there; it is intact and in place.

10 Session 4 Beholding the Father s Love Page 10 Now when Jesus fills the earth with the knowledge of the glory of God, He will not wave His hand and the earth is filled with the glory of God. He could do that. He could stand up on His throne in Jerusalem, the throne of glory, wave His hand, and the whole earth could be filled with the glory of God. He says, I do not want to do it that way. I am going to do it in partnership with My people. I am going to make them the vessels through which my glory is expressed. They will be trophies of My grace, containers of My grace, and My glory will be manifested where they go and where I release My presence through them. (Romans 9:23; 2 Cor. 2:14-15; 4:6-7) Here is my point. He does not want to do it apart from us. He wants to do it with us, as He said in John 17:24, Father, that she would be with Me where I am. Then she will participate in My glory together with Me. He said, Father, My people will behold My glory. That does not just mean observe it at a distance. That means observe it, but with experience, that is, to participate in it. C. God s glory includes His burning love, infinite power, great wisdom, and majestic splendor. His greatness is seen most clearly in the quality of His love the way He uses His power. The earth will be filled with the knowledge of His glory, especially His wholehearted love for people. In John 17:24, Jesus defined this glory through a relational paradigm (not a power paradigm). D. Jesus promised the saints that their persecutors would see how much He loved them. 9 I will make them [unbelievers] to know that I [Jesus] have loved you. (Rev. 3:9) E. Jesus set forth a relational paradigm of the second coming. Scripture repeatedly emphasizes Jesus desire to be with us (Lk. 23:43; John 12:26; 14:3; 17:24; 1 Thes. 4:17). In John 14:3, Jesus coming can include His resurrection appearances and the coming of the Spirit to be in them. 2 In My Father s house are many mansions I go to prepare a place for you 3 I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. (Jn. 14:2-3) Jesus had said the same thing in John 14, a little earlier, in relationship to the second coming, and not in relationship to His glory. In many ways, though, His glory and the second coming are one and the same theme. Look at what He says in John 14:2, In My Father's house are many mansions. He is talking about the New Jerusalem. I go to prepare a place for you. Now just so you know, Jesus did not go to work on a construction project. He did not go up to heaven, pull out His carpenter skills, and say, Okay, I got, say, 2,000 years. Let s get to work, boys! That is not what He did. When He said, I go to prepare a place for you, He was talking about going to the cross and making a way for this to become a reality in their experience. That was what He is talking about. It was not a construction project. In Genesis 1, He spoke and by His words created the heavens and the earth. Building is not a problem to Him. He says, I am going to come again, but notice how He describes the context of His second coming. He says the same thing, Because I want you with Me where I am. I do not want to rule without you next to Me. I want you with Me. Beloved, this is a relational paradigm of the glory of God and a relational paradigm of the second coming of Christ. Our God is a relational God. The love that exists within the family of God, the three persons of the Godhead, that love has been extended to the whole family of born-again believers, all the saints through history, all the believers from Adam all the way to the last one.

11 Session 4 Beholding the Father s Love Page 11 F. Revelation 3:21 is one of the most dramatic statements related to our function in the age to come. He wants us near Him, in close proximity to His heart and authority. He wants us to have ownership in His plan to fill the earth with glory and not to be disassociated spectators. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne (Rev. 3:21) In Revelation 3:21, Jesus makes a very dramatic statement. I can not imagine anything more dramatic related to the way that we will function in the age to come. He says this to the one who overcomes. To the believer who stays faithful to the end, He says, Here is what I have for them. I will grant that they will sit with Me on My throne. Now when He says, I will grant, He is saying, in effect, This is My idea. I am not being forced into this. This is what I desire. This is what I long for. I grant it. This thing was born in My heart. I want you with Me where I am. When some people read this, the word that is highlighted to them is the word throne. They think, Oh my goodness, Jesus throne! That we would be an extension of His throne, that we would have His authority. But, beloved, I want to suggest there is an even more important phrase than the phrase My throne. It is the phrase they will sit with Me. It is the phrase with Me. It is not just that we will have nearness and proximity to His authority. We will have proximity to His heart. The with Me is actually more dramatic than the My throne. I mean, what would it be to rule if we were not with Him? If we are with Him, we do not even care if we rule! We are with Him. He says, I want them both together. I want you to be fully involved in the mandate the Father gave Me to fill the earth with the glory of God. You are going to be involved deeply with Me forever. G. God gave the dominion, or the primary leadership, of the earth to humans (Gen. 1:26-28). It was an eternal decree that He never took back after Adam sinned. The use of all is the language of love. It was always God s plan to fill the earth with the glory of God in partnership with humans. 26 God said, Let Us make man in Our image let them have dominion over all the earth... (Gen. 1:26) God s original plan from Genesis 1 was to give the leadership of the earth to humans. God planned He would relate to the earth and change the earth through humans. He would not bypass human agency. God had plans for the earth, but He was committed to transform the earth, change it, and fill it with glory by going through human vessels. That was His commitment in Genesis 1:26. This is what Jesus is talking about when the earth is filled with His glory, when we are ruling with Him it is all about this and being vessels that are expressions of the glory of God with Him forever. H. Paul emphasized the Lord giving His people all things (v. 22) pertaining to the earth (v. 23). 21 For all things are yours: 22 whether the world or life or death, or things present or things to come all are yours. 23 And you are Christ s, and Christ is God s. (1 Cor. 3:21 23) In 1 Corinthians 3, Paul tells us, All things are yours. Now the church at Corinth was in strife and disputes. This guy did not treat me right. That guy ignored me. I did not get the money and the honor I deserved. Somebody cut in line and took my position that I was lined up for. They were fighting each other. Paul says, Guys, take a step back and get the big picture. Everything is yours. He says, Remember Genesis 1 it is all yours. You are going to sit on thrones and judge angels. Why are you squabbling about you did not

12 Session 4 Beholding the Father s Love Page 12 get honored in that one meeting or you do not get treated right in that other situation or at the office or in the home or somebody gave you a mean look? What are you doing? He says, Get the big picture. Everything pertaining to the earth has been given to you in Christ Jesus. It is yours forever. Just hang in there and get the big picture; stay steady. That is what he is telling them. I. David was overwhelmed at seeing the dignity of the redeemed in God s sight (Ps. 8:4-6). He wanted to understand why the Lord is so mindful of humans. What is it that moves Him so deeply towards us? The answer is not found in any inherent goodness in us, but in His greatness. 4 What is man that You are mindful of him 6 You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet (Ps. 8:4-6) J. God has a message that He wants to demonstrate the exceeding richness of how kind He is. We have such close proximity to His heart and authority (v. 6). We are vessels of His glory, even trophies of grace, that will forever display how loving, kind, and powerful He is (v. 7). 6 He made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Eph. 2:6 7) Now look at this in Ephesians 2:6-7. This is remarkable. Paul is emphasizing this point that we will sit on thrones, and we will rule with Him. In verse 6 he explains that Jesus made us to sit together in heavenly places. We are destined to rule and reign together with Jesus in that intimate relationship. Verse 7 is the point I want to highlight. Paul tells us in verse 6 what Jesus is going to do He is going to cause us to reign and rule in intimacy with Jesus. Verse 7 tells us why why does He want us in that kind of exalted near proximity to His heart? Read it carefully. So that in all of the ages to come notice the word ages is plural. For all the ages yet to come, whatever that means, I do not get it; I do not have anything on that. I just know it is plural. God is going to show through us through how He treats us and how He feels about us He is going to show the riches of His kindness. What Paul said is this, God has a message He wants to proclaim through the way He feels about you, and He has a message He wants to proclaim through the way He treats you. This is the message He is going to make known for billions and billions of year. He is a God of such indescribable kindness. That is the message that will go forth through the way He feels about you and the way that He relates to you. K. The principalities and powers (both angels and demons) are described as understanding God s plan by looking at His salvation and treatment of the Church (Eph. 3:10; 1 Pet. 1:12). 9 To make all see the mystery [hidden plan], which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God 10 that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places (Eph. 3:9 10) He says the same thing again here in Ephesians 3:9-10, and in future sessions we are going to look a little bit more at this. These are massively important passages. Look at Ephesians 3:9. Look at what He says. This is just amazing! Paul says, in essence, Here is what God is going to do. He is going to make all see His hidden plan. God the Father has had a hidden plan in His heart from before Genesis 1. Here is what the plan is that everyone is going to see all the unbelievers in the Millennium, all the angels in the heaven, all the demons in

13 Session 4 Beholding the Father s Love Page 13 hell, believers and unbelievers for eternity everyone is going to see something. He is going to make the same point he made back in Ephesians 2 about the riches of how kind God is. Look at Ephesians 3:10. Through the church, by the way that He relates to the church and the way He feels about the church, God is going to make known to angels and devils and to every living being what His plan was. His plan was to include His people and His family and to magnify His kindness. What Paul is saying is that Jesus has much to reveal about Himself by the way that He feels about you and the way that He relates to you. He has a message that He is going to proclaim through us forever. V. THE HYMNS OF REVELATION A. The altogether worthy One who is so high (transcendent) went so low (immanent) in love to bring us so near (as kings with authority and priests near to Him) because we are so dear to Him (His love). The hymns of Revelation bring together these truths of His greatness expressed in His great love and desire for us to be with Him as kings (authority) and priests (near His heart). 5 Jesus Christ the ruler over the kings of the earth to Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, 6 and has made us kings and priests to His God... (Rev. 1:5 6) B. The revelation of Jesus worth to us is a most glorious theme. We will never exhaust its fullness. The revelation of His worth to us is magnified in seeing our worth to Him in His grace. The storyline in His heart includes our value to Him. Jesus did not die for angels. Why would He go to this extreme for us? The answer is found in who He is and the quality of love He possesses. 9 You are worthy for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood 10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth. (Rev. 5:9 10) I will just end with this. I shared this in the last session. I just love to say this phrase. The altogether worthy One, Jesus, the Ruler of the kings of the earth is so high, but He went so low because of His love for us, and He took upon Himself the form of a Man. The angels the fallen angels needed a Savior, but He would not become an angel and save them. The fallen angels remain fallen forever. He did not become an angel. He did not take the form of an angel and pay their price. They pay their own price forever, but He took the form of Man. The One who is so high went so low. Why? He wanted to bring us so near to His heart and to His activity as a King. Why? Because we are so dear to Him. The One that is so high went so low to bring us so near because we are so dear to Him. Beloved, that is the gospel, and that song is sung in its various ways throughout the hymns of Revelation around the throne forever and forever and forever. Amen and amen. Let s stand. Beloved, do you know who you are? We do not have to put up with the lies of the devil. We do not have to live at a distance from God in self-hatred and condemnation and spiritual boredom. We do not have to live that way. Beloved, we have an inheritance in joy that, if we will go deep in these subjects, we can experience.