One Unique Relationship

by Bill Freeman-"The Supplied Life"

I've been re-reading this particular devotional for several days now, and I want to share it with you.

"All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him." Matthew 11:27

We do not have a separate relationship with God apart from the Father and Son's own relationship. God is not establishing new relationships with others. He has established one relationship, and that is with His Son. Then He gives that relationship away as a gift. This is the meaning of the gift of eternal life in the New Testament. Eternal life is receiving the Son of God into us and participating in His relationship with the Father. John 17:3 says, "And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." Also, 1 John 5:20 says, "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life."

When we receive eternal life, we receive the Father and Son's very own relationship. Now Christ Himself is my relationship with the Father. You and I do not have a different relationship with God from the one Christ has with the Father. This is why, after the Lord revealed the one unique relationship in the universe between Himself and the Father, He immediately said, "Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt.11:27-28).

This means that there is no longer any need to labor and struggle in our souls, trying to establish our own relationship with God(Rom. 10:3,4). We only need to come to Jesus and learn from Him. When we do, we become one with Him and discover that our relationship with the Father is actually His relationship. We are merging with His relationship with the Father, and this brings rest to our souls.