2. Born from Above – A Heavenly Conversation

2. Born from Above: A Heavenly Conversation.

“As the Scriptures say, ‘A man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one, becoming one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I am applying it to Christ and the Church.” (Ephesians 5:31-32).

MYSTERY: Greek word, mysterion, used 28 times in the New Testament; a sacred secret hidden in the heart of God until the appointed time of revelation; a truth that can only be known by divine disclosure; spiritual insights into God’s way of thinking and planning; hidden truths revealed by God that are beyond human intellect and reason; divine knowledge that can only be understood through the Holy Spirit; God’s thoughts and plans revealed to believers and hidden to doubters and unbelievers.

Before the beginning, the Godhead is enjoying a heavenly brainstorm about their joyous project that will result in a fresh new universe filled with beauty, love and purpose. The Trinity is mulling this over together in the infinite bosom of God, outside of time, therefore it takes no time at all, or maybe all the time in the world. All their comments are inspired, intuitive, and cooperative, since this is, after all, a Group project. During their conversation about the creation of a place where they can share their love, they imagined galaxies and constellations, black holes and starbursts, gravity and light waves. They, too, consulted about the special plans they had in mind for one little planet called earth. The Father and the Son did most of the talking, and the Spirit of Love they shared occasionally an inspired idea as well. Fresh from expelling Lucifer from the heavenly realm, Michael the archangel was standing attentively nearby in case he was needed. The topic of human beings came up, and this is what followed…

Father: You, Son, are the love of My life, as You are, Spirit, and it would please me to fill the earth with beings made in Your image, Son, breathing with Your very breath, Spirit. Mankind will be fashioned in your likeness, Son. With joy let Us create these human beings so that we can love them, we can enjoy them and have fellowship with them. Since you were the model, Son, each human will be sacred and invaluable and priceless, and will represent you on earth.

Son: Yes, Father. I may be the model, but you are the prototype. After all, I am just a copy of you, and I will be a visible image of you the invisible God. And as we think about shaping the earthly dust into My holy image, let us also consider our desire to have a spiritual union with these human beings. We know that we are earnest about having deep eternal fellowship with these humans. So, what can We design that would help the people on earth understand the profound truth of Our union with them? Let Us create a physical symbol that reveals Our spiritual desires, a meaningful illustration on earth that shows the people what We have in mind. Let Us design marriage, a physical union between people that is a picture of a spiritual union between God and human beings. A husband and wife having physical relations will be the closest idea We get to Us having spiritual relations with humans. The man and woman will leave their father and mother to join together, two becoming one. That is such a wonderful picture of how we want them to be in union with us, two becoming one in spirit.

Father: I like your thinking here, Son. And we will encourage our union with the people right here on earth, a foretaste of our eternal union in heaven. People who start by trusting in you on earth will abide inside you, with you and each believer enjoying this sweet mutual indwelling before heaven begins! Heaven can start on earth. No one has to wait for a slice of Paradise, since we will provide a union with each one that anticipates the eternal heaven with us later! Let Us call You the Bridegroom, Son. Your body of believers will be Your bride. You will be the eternal Husband, and your believers will be the eternal wife. Your bride will receive You just as an earthly wife will receive her husband. Their physical union will point to Our plans for a spiritual union with every person who believes in Us. This is a mystery within a mystery, isn’t it? A spiritual marriage hinted at by the physical marriage. An eternal union that is the full meaning of the earthly union. A spiritual one-flesh suggested by a physical one-flesh. 

Son: And I know what You are thinking, Father. You want to illustrate this spiritual, eternal marriage through a promise of faithfulness, a Covenant with a Chosen People, right? You are planning on committing Yourself to these people in faithful love, aren’t you? You will spiritually marry these Chosen People and be their Husband, correct? Your promise of love in Your marriage with them is a hint of Our ultimate desire for a spiritual marriage through their Anointed One, Me, Who will physically emerge from this Chosen Family. And I rejoice that I will be their Messiah, their Deliverer. And through them I will be the Savior of the world. Thank you, Father.

Father: Our eternal desire for spiritual oneness with mankind will slowly dawn on them as they see You take on flesh, Son. They will see what love looks like, and You will love them to the end. Many will understand that My First Covenant with the Chosen People will finally be fulfilled in Your New Covenant. The whole world will see at the Last Day that all of our love-promises will finally be satisfied when the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven, “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Son: Yes, the final Wedding Feast of the Lamb, the final consummation of Our marriage with all those who follow Us. I see the final Feast, the ultimate spiritual union, hinted at in every marriage on earth, Father. The earthly marriage was a heavenly idea. And we designed this from all eternity. 

Father: You know, Son, that our idea of a spiritual union with people is going to require a second birth on their part. Each person who wants to develop a union with us will need to have, what earthlings would call, a total make-over. After all, our desire is to have each person become a new creature, with our nature implanted into them, a new spiritual being altogether. So it would be a perfect time to put together a vivid picture of this new spiritual birthing process through our human birthing process on earth, right?  Just as a person being born from above requires God’s seed to bring about a whole new creature, man’s seed would be needed to bring about a whole new person on earth! Just as each new person created by us is sacred, this earthly picture of new birth is holy as well. In both cases, heavenly and earthly, new life is the result! Perfect! The earthly birthing process pointing to the spiritual birthing process.

Son: Yes! And while we’re at it, the protective refuge in the mother, her womb, would be a great image for your Fatherly womb of mercy! Let’s keep thinking about this, Abba, because we are definitely on a roll here…