the fellowship of Jesus and the Father

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

(The scriptures, particularly the writings of John: his gospel, his epistles, and the Revelation, reveal much about Jesus and the Father.

There is a special, wonderful fellowship of Jesus and the Father.

Before the he created anything, it says that Jesus was with the Father.

It did not say there was Jesus and the Father, but that he was with him, and that word, “with”, shows us that there was fellowship.)

(Before the incarnation, the fellowship of Jesus and the Father was always as close and tender, as a dear child in their Daddy’s lap:)

John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

(God is love, the very author, definition, and source of what true love really is.

The fellowship of Jesus and the Father was one of omniscient, infinite love of the Father for the Son, and the Son for the Father:)

John 3:35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand.

John 5:20a For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth:

John 17:24c for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

John 8:29b for I do always those things that please him.

(Not only was Jesus not alone in his earthly ministry, because of the Father,

but before the incarnation, even before creation, Jesus was never alone, and the Father was never alone:)

John 8:16b for I am not alone, but I and the Father that sent me.

John 8:29a And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone;

(A full understanding of one of the other, with nothing belonging to one and not the other:)

John 10:15a As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father:

John 17:10a And all mine are thine, and thine are mine;

(Jesus and the Father are so close that you could hardly tell this apart:)

John 8:19b if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.

John 14:7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

8 Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us.

9 Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?

(In our earthly experience, we can understand how one thing can be in another, like a jewelry box in a gift box.

But we cannot understand, how, simultaneously, that gift box could also then be in the jewelry box - that’s impossible.

However, with God, all things are possible, and this is exactly what Jesus said of himself and the Father:)

John 10:38b that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.

John 14:10 Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.

(That first line of the gospel of John not only says that the Word was with God, but that also, simultaneously, that the Word was God.

How is that possible? Well, Jesus explained that he and the Father are one – only one God, not two Gods. This is perfect fellowship:)

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 10:30 I and my Father are one.

(What about in the incarnation, during Jesus’ earthly ministry? The fellowship continued, but in a special way for our benefit:)

John 12:50b whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.

(In that fellowship, not only did Jesus only speak what the Father said, but Jesus only did the will of the Father, not his own will:)

John 5:30b because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

John 6:38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

(The perfect love of that fellowship continued, as Jesus kept the Father’s commandments for him in his earthly ministry:)

John 15:10b even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

John 10:17 Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.

(That special fellowship is shown by the very interesting way that one can only come to Jesus or the Father.

One can only come to Jesus but by the Father, and one can only come to the Father but by Jesus:)

John 6:44a No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:

John 14:6b no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

(Jesus spent many a nights in close, intimate prayer with the Father. Jesus prayed for Peter, and he prayed for us who would believe.

Jesus even prayed in his agony on the cross, for the Father to forgive those who were doing and saying all those things against him.

That close fellowship of prayer was clearly shown for us by Jesus:)

John 11:41b And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

42a And I knew that thou hearest me always:

(The fellowship was mightily revealed to us by the mutual glorification of Jesus and the Father:)

John 17:1b Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee:

(A very great aspect of that fellowship, from our perspective, is that we are allowed to experience it, and some of it even now.

For those of us who are saved, we can enjoy the experience of that fellowship - that of Jesus and the Father in us:)

I John 2:23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.

24 Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.

II John 9b He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

(Not only the wonder of Jesus and the Father in us now, but also, in the future, somehow, we will be in Jesus and the Father:)

John 17:21a That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us:

22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:

23a I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;

(Jesus and the Father will actually be the temple, and we will be in that temple - in Jesus and the Father, the light and glory:)

Revelation 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

(In the future, there will always still be the fellowship of Jesus and the Father, yet we also will be in fellowship with Jesus and the Father:)

I John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

(Jesus and the Father, as was before the incarnation, will be so close, that one could hardly tell this apart.

The LORD, on that one throne, offers the water of life, like he did to the woman at the well, and this sounds like Jesus.

Yet the LORD also says that we will be his child, and that sounds like the Father:)

Revelation 21:5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

(That is because it is the one throne of the one God. It is the throne of God and the Lamb. It is the throne of Jesus and the Father:)

Revelation 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

(So, what is eternal life for us? It is to know both Jesus and the Father.

Also, it is for us to even experience the everlasting fellowship of Jesus and the Father:)

I John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life.

John 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.