“You are my friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.” (John 15:14, 15)
Our Lord’s disciples had a unique relationship with him. They were not strangers, nor casual acquaintances, not even servants. They were his friends. They would show that friendship by doing his will.
There are a number of distinct relationships the Bible uses to describe man’s dealings with Christ and with God. Two of those are contrasted in the verse under discussion: servants and friends. The nation of Israel, as a result of their Law Covenant, had pledged to be God’s servants. As servants, they would be told what to do but they would not have the relationship of a close confidant, a friend. In another sense, they were children of God: young and immature children; a parent directs young and immature children by commands rather than by reasoning, as with mature offspring. The apostle Paul picks up on this theme in Gal 4:1-3,
“Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave (the servant), though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.”
His disciples had shown that maturity. He would deal with them as "friends."
In Old Testament times, there were a few who had progressed to this relationship as well. Abraham was called "a friend of God" (James 2:23). The Lord spoke to Moses "face to face, as a man speaks with a friend" (Exod. 33:11). It was of those in this relationship of whom we read "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do."
Yet, close as this relationship of friendship is, there is still a closer relationship, one that even the disciples could not enjoy at that time. But it was one they would have in less than two months —the relationship of SONS of God. After Pentecost they could progress to this next rung on the ladder that leads to God. There they would be begotten to a new life, a spiritual one, and become "new creatures in Christ Jesus."
This same two-step process operates today for Christians. Once they arrive at the point where they are willing to dedicate their lives to the principles of righteousness, they become a friend of God (Pictured as passing beneath the entrance curtain into the courtyard of the Tabernacle).
But it is only when they take the next step of offering their lives unreservedly to God as a sacrifice (Rom 12:1) that they can progress to the point of son-ship (Pictured by passing beneath the First Vail into the “Holy” or first chamber of the Tabernacle proper).” Excerpt taken from Jesus’ Last Sermon, The Vine and the Branches
“Face to Face” The Right Hand (By Brother Carl Hagensick)
“I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”—Psa 16:8-11
Whether David is here speaking of himself or whether his words are prophetic of the Messiah, there is an apparent inconsistency in these verses. In verse eight the writer has placed God at his right hand but in verse eleven the writer is at the right hand of God.
In all other instances in the Psalms it is Jehovah who places the other person at his [God's] right hand. Usually when we think of two monarchs sitting side by side we picture two thrones facing the audience, in such a posture one is at the right hand of the main monarch and the other has the main king at his left hand.
The Psalmist sees a different scene. Rather than seeing two monarchs side by side, he sees them facing each other so that they can both be at the other’s right hand. The relationship between these two monarchs (whether they be David and Jehovah or Jesus and his Father) is not formal but familial. They are seated in a conversational mode as two who are discussing the affairs of state.
This is the relationship to which God invites us. He seeks family members, a bride for his son. His relationship is not as a ruler to subject, nor even as a former co-regent, but rather as a friend he sits to talk to us. "Come, he says, let us reason together" (Isa. 1:18). As with Moses of old, he talks with us figuratively, "face to face, as a man speaks with a friend" (Exod. 33:11).
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Our Lord’s disciples had a unique relationship with him. They were not strangers, nor casual acquaintances, not even servants. They were his friends. They would show that friendship by doing his will.
There are a number of distinct relationships the Bible uses to describe man’s dealings with Christ and with God. Two of those are contrasted in the verse under discussion: servants and friends. The nation of Israel, as a result of their Law Covenant, had pledged to be God’s servants. As servants, they would be told what to do but they would not have the relationship of a close confidant, a friend. In another sense, they were children of God: young and immature children; a parent directs young and immature children by commands rather than by reasoning, as with mature offspring. The apostle Paul picks up on this theme in Gal 4:1-3,
“Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave (the servant), though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.”
His disciples had shown that maturity. He would deal with them as "friends."
In Old Testament times, there were a few who had progressed to this relationship as well. Abraham was called "a friend of God" (James 2:23). The Lord spoke to Moses "face to face, as a man speaks with a friend" (Exod. 33:11). It was of those in this relationship of whom we read "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do."
Yet, close as this relationship of friendship is, there is still a closer relationship, one that even the disciples could not enjoy at that time. But it was one they would have in less than two months —the relationship of SONS of God. After Pentecost they could progress to this next rung on the ladder that leads to God. There they would be begotten to a new life, a spiritual one, and become "new creatures in Christ Jesus."
This same two-step process operates today for Christians. Once they arrive at the point where they are willing to dedicate their lives to the principles of righteousness, they become a friend of God (Pictured as passing beneath the entrance curtain into the courtyard of the Tabernacle).
But it is only when they take the next step of offering their lives unreservedly to God as a sacrifice (Rom 12:1) that they can progress to the point of son-ship (Pictured by passing beneath the First Vail into the “Holy” or first chamber of the Tabernacle proper).” Excerpt taken from Jesus’ Last Sermon, The Vine and the Branches
“Face to Face” The Right Hand (By Brother Carl Hagensick)
“I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”—Psa 16:8-11
Whether David is here speaking of himself or whether his words are prophetic of the Messiah, there is an apparent inconsistency in these verses. In verse eight the writer has placed God at his right hand but in verse eleven the writer is at the right hand of God.
In all other instances in the Psalms it is Jehovah who places the other person at his [God's] right hand. Usually when we think of two monarchs sitting side by side we picture two thrones facing the audience, in such a posture one is at the right hand of the main monarch and the other has the main king at his left hand.
The Psalmist sees a different scene. Rather than seeing two monarchs side by side, he sees them facing each other so that they can both be at the other’s right hand. The relationship between these two monarchs (whether they be David and Jehovah or Jesus and his Father) is not formal but familial. They are seated in a conversational mode as two who are discussing the affairs of state.
This is the relationship to which God invites us. He seeks family members, a bride for his son. His relationship is not as a ruler to subject, nor even as a former co-regent, but rather as a friend he sits to talk to us. "Come, he says, let us reason together" (Isa. 1:18). As with Moses of old, he talks with us figuratively, "face to face, as a man speaks with a friend" (Exod. 33:11).
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