Last week we looked at the scriptural progression of: vision, Christformation and oneness or “spiritual marriage” with God. This week we look at the kind of oneness we will have with God. We know that we will not be one essence with God – we are always created beings. We also know that we don’t know a lot about the details of our final destiny. I John 3:2 explains that what we will be has not yet been revealed. With these thoughts in mind we can reflect on some of what we do know.
Reflecting on the marriage analogy used in Ephesians 5 and Revelation 19 and 21 we understand that whatever our relationship to God will be, it will be an intimate one, for this is one of the essential features of marriage. We also understand that we will enjoy affectionate feelings for one another, analogous to the romantic feelings that a bride and groom have for one another. We see this in the Jewish tradition in the Song of Solomon. Our relationship then (and now) will not just be “trust and obey” rather it will fully involve every part of us including our emotions.
Another insight into our relationship is found in I Corinthians 6:17 “But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.” (NIV). Our spirit is united to God’s Spirit even now. I would venture to say that this will be perfected in the New Creation. In this age we do not feel this oneness of spirit to the full extent possible, though sometimes we experience a deeper, joyful sense of this oneness. In the next age this spiritual oneness will be fully experienced at all times and in all places.
…it will fully involve every part of us including our emotions.
Another fascinating oneness is found in Ephesians 5:32 where Paul says that Christ and the church will be “one flesh”. This is striking because Paul normally uses “flesh” to refer to human corruption. But now he says “flesh” is something positive. Why is this?
It is because we will have new bodies and we will not have corrupt “flesh”. Earlier in the Ephesians passage Paul continually emphasizes the oneness of the bodies of a husband and wife and the oneness of body between Christ and the church. But one day our actual bodies will be like Jesus’ body. For example, Philippians 3:21 states that Jesus “will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.” (NIV) How much more will we be part of the one body of Christ when our individual bodies are glorified like his?
It is a mystery that a husband and wife become one flesh because they still have separate bodies. Likewise, it is a mystery that Christ and the church become one flesh because they are separate beings with their own individual bodies. But our bodies will be copied after Jesus’ glorified body and thus God will activate a mystery and make Christ and the church one flesh!
Our destiny is to have an abiding and intimate oneness with God in Christ. It is mysterious and deep and we will rejoice in it forever.
