KIDRON CHRISTIAN COLLEGE AND SEMINARY
7
Jesus is indeed the second Adam. He bought back everything that the first Adam lost due to rebellion and sin. Jesus taught us what a face-to-face relationship was like with the Father. Adam threw away that same intimacy. Jesus bought it back. Because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, we can be face-to-face in our relationship with him.
In order to show that this is possible, we must first establish that Adam walked in a face-to-face relationship with God. We have already seen how Adam, created by God, became a living nephish. In Genesis 3:8 we read, “And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of God amongst the trees of the garden.” They hid themselves from the presence of God. In text, they were hiding from the פנה (face) of God. This is the root to al-peney. They were hiding because the face-to-face had been destroyed, and they knew it.
Consider the phrase, “in the cool of the day.” They heard the voice but ran from the presence or the face of God. They had indeed, before sin entered, walked and talked with God in the cool of the day. This phrase, “in the cool of the day” in Hebrew reads:
מתהלך בגך לרוח ה׳ום
This can best be translated that they heard the voice of the Lord God, “walking in the garden to the Spirit of the day.” In other words, God was walking in the garden in the Spirit. They were accustomed to this. They recognized His voice, but after they sinned, they ran from the voice and the presence of God. They were not walking with Him in the Spirit. When they were created, they were created face-to-face with God. They walked with Him in the cool of the day, that is, in the Spirit.
This is what Jesus bought back for us. We can walk face-to-face with God. We can walk in His Spirit. We can recognize the voice of God. Because of the work of Jesus on the cross, we can be intimate with our God. Once we accept Jesus as the Lord and Savior of our life, we begin that journey of transformation where even though we are lev (לב), we are being made nephish (נפש).
DEVELOPING A FACE-TO-FACE RELATIONSHIP
We have already spoken of how to begin to develop a face-to-face relationship with the Lord. We showed how Peter taught that if you want to be a partaker in the Divine nature, you must add to your faith a courtship of love and by adding a courtship of love, you begin to know, to become intimate with the Lord.
How do we go about this? Is there a practical way in which this can be done? Is there a way that this can be done without the marble game and getting caught in the entire maze of performance? The answer is YES. In order to answer these questions of “how,” we must let Scripture be the basis for that answer. We will use one Scripture from the Old Testament and one Scripture from the New Testament. In Isaiah 40:28-31 we read:
“Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary: and they shall walk and not faint.”
The key part of this verse begins to tell us in a very practical way how to develop a deeper face-to-face relationship with the Lord. The statement in this passage is, they that wait upon the Lord. We hear all of the time that we need to be patient, that is, we need to wait upon the Lord. Sit down, do nothing, everything will work out fine as long as we are waiting on the Lord. Just be patient and try not to worry. There is only one problem with this. It is extremely difficult to do.
Wait, in this passage, is a verb and denotes action. The word translated “wait,” is the Hebrew word קוה (qavah), and it means, to twist, to bind, like a rope. Wait denotes strength due to binding fast.
The picture here is somewhat simplistic, yet powerful. If a person were to take several strands of cord and weave them together, they would form a rope. Each of these strands in and of themselves has little or no strength. They are easily broken. However, when these individual strands are woven together to form a rope, the result is strength. There is an intrinsic strength to the finished product that is not evident in the single cord.
What are we being told here? If you want to develop strength in your life, if you want that strength to deal with difficult circumstances, and if you want to achieve more than you can on your own, then you need to wait on the Lord. You must begin to twist, bind, and tie your life with the life of Jesus Christ.
This speaks of involvement. This speaks of relationship. A total involvement that is face-to-face. The wonderful thing here is that the weaving, binding, and tying is done within the aspects of your personality. In other words, the way you twist and bind your life together with Jesus is dependent upon your own personality. What a refreshing idea! The Lord created you. He created you with the personality that you have. He accepts you just like you are, and He is not asking you to change in order to bind and tie yourself with Him.
This is not performance; this is relationship. This is not just relationship, but relationship where you are totally accepted. If your personality is very quiet and you like to be quiet before the Lord, then that is fine. If your personality is more outgoing and you like to get much more expressive in your relationship, then that is fine as well. Be what you are. Know that you are accepted just like you are.
Twist and bind your life with the Lord in terms of your personality, not in spite of it. Maybe you would bind your life with His in prayer or worship, in service, meditation or fellowship or any of a hundred different ways. Whatever you do, do it in your own personality.
This should bring not only freedom but also refreshment. There are many that think that they have to change, to be different than they are right now in order to be accepted by the Lord. The exact opposite is true. You are accepted just the way you are.
Get into His presence. Wrap your life in His. Let the force of this relationship change the things that need to be changed. You may wonder if this is possible. Not only is it possible, but quite normal. It happens all of the time in the natural.