Union with God

By Hall V. Worthington

By which exceedingly great and precious promises are given to us, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2 Pet 1:4 

That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you,that they also may be one in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. John 17:21 

I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one. John 17:23 

And when we were dead in our sins, He brought us to life in union and fellowship with Christ. Eph 2:5 

This writing is to show you that union with God is possible, as part of attaining the Kingdom of God within you. To attain union, we take up the inward cross of self-denial and repentance to receive the changing grace of God that teaches us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world and then enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We are still on earth physically, but in the Kingdom where we have fellowship with the Father and the Son, and with all his holy angels and saints. This writing shows the way to receive this changing, purifying grace, which brings the soul, mind, spirit, and body to be conformable to God, the Father of spirits, and to Christ - and then to the Kingdom of Heaven within and among us; to live in union with Christ and God in their presence, while walking on earth by the light of God, as children of the light. For God is light and nearby; in him we live and move and have our being. Our consciousness and sight are translated to a spiritual dimension of Light or paradise, where we live in union with God and Christ while on earth and then forever as a son of God.

He has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you be partakers [share] in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by lusts. 2 Peter 1:4 

That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. John 17:21. 

I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one, John 17:23. 

In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. John 14:20. 

If a man loves me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him. John 14:23. 

the world will no longer see me; but you will see me; John 14:19. 

I will love him and will show myself to him. John 14:21. 

Let me clarify what it means to be "one with God." It does not mean that you become God. It does not mean that you become Christ. We cannot be equal to either; we become junior, but up to God.

So, are we to aspire to be God? Absolutely NOT!!!! We aspire to be like God, to be godly, to be pure, to be kind, to be merciful, to be righteous; and when we are righteous, God tells us everything to say and orders us in everything to do. We want to become a fit instrument to be used by Him, but definitely not a duplicate of Him. NO, we don't want to be God; we have had a lifetime of failure being our own God. That was the devil's original promise to Eve: "you will be like God, knowing good and evil;" and we have had well enough of living according to our own will, our own carnal mind, our own evil imagination, our conduct in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the thoughts of our mind, walking according to the ways of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air [Satan]. NO, we want to do God's will — to do His will on earth as it is done in heaven, following orders, following Jesus. We hate and mistrust our own will. We want to serve God, just like your finger operates according to your will, only we want to be another of His fingers doing according to His will. We want to represent the one and only God; and to represent Him, we must be like Him while junior to Him.

We want the direct opposite of becoming God; we want to become completely directed by God, thus to become slaves to righteousness, slaves to perfection, slaves to perfect love, slaves to kindness, slaves to mercy, slaves to goodness, slaves to humility, slaves to faithfulness, slaves to holiness, slaves to peace, slaves to wisdom, slaves to glory, slaves to power, and slaves to virtue; as servants whose words and deeds are always perfect, virtuous, loving, merciful, wise, pure, holy, and truthful. As slaves to perfection and righteousness, we aspire to have boundless enthusiasm, unspeakable joy, peace beyond understanding, everlasting confidence, and pleasures at His right hand forevermore — to this we are called. (Is there any other comparable goal for your life?)

Therefore having these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. 2 Cor 7:1. 

For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold firm the beginning of our confidence to the end. Heb 3:14. 

While on earth we can be in Christ and the Father, and Christ and the Father can be in us, to the point that we have the mind of Christ and are one with both. We can be in union with God, one with God. We can enter the Kingdom of Heaven. We can be a true operational part of the body of Christ; so that we can have Christ fully resurrected in us, to to a perfect man with the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that we can become an adopted Son of God, that we can live according to the will of Father; that we can be with Christ and God forever; that we can have fellowship with Christ and the Father in heaven while still on earth; and that our words and actions can be controlled by God. Since Christ is one with the Father, then we can also be one with the Father through Christ; and we can be one together with all others who are one with God and therefore part of the Body of Christ, the true church of Christ in the unity, on earth.

This union cannot take place until you have been changed to become like Him, pure. To join, the two must be like.

When he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:2-3 

And we are purified by the unmerited, infinite power of God. We are all unworthy of this help.
In humility, we go to him, seeking to be changed. It is His will and power that changes us to become like him. For the pure in heart see God; the pure in heart experience the appearance of Christ and God with the Kingdom.

I will come back again and will take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also. John 14:3 

This is the return of Christ. The world does not see it. He returns with the Father. They become one with us - union. It is a personal experience. This is not the resurrection. He is talking about becoming one with the disciples.

I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you will keep and protect them from evil. John 17:15 

So, Jesus wants to keep us in the world, but to protect us from evil, while in the world- to be sanctified.

Father, I desire that they also whom you have entrusted to me may be with me where I am, so they may see my glory, which you have given me - your love gift to me - for you loved me before the foundation of the world. John 17:24

We are physically still in the world, but our consciousness and sight translate to the Kingdom of heaven, a higher dimension. God is in this same higher dimension; in him we live and move and have our being; who is over all, in all, and through all. And there we have fellowship with the Father and the Son. So with obedience to the cross, we can enter paradise while alive on earth, to be there forever, even after the second death.

The person who has My commands and keeps them is who loves me, and whoever loves me will be loved by My Father. And I will love him and will show (reveal, manifest) Myself to him;  I will let myself be clearly seen by him and make myself real to him. Judas said to him, (not Iscariot), Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us, and not unto the world. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loves me, he will obey my teaching: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our home with him. John 14:18-23 

I will dwell in them, And walk in them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people. 2 Cor 6:16 

This is the return of Christ in his glory with the Father. They become one with us. It is a personal experience, to see Christ and become one with Christ and the Father. The world does not see Him.

Other than the fruit of the Spirit, the world does not see Christ; for such a person's life is hidden in Christ Jesus. This is the fabled return of Christ, and their home is the glorious Kingdom of Heaven established in your heart. This is union with God in the Kingdom of Heaven. It takes place at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb with His Bride, the Church of purified believer(s).

Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one. Mark 12:29 

The Lord said to my lord, sit at my right hand until I have put your enemies, (lusts and affections), under your feet. Psalm 110:1 

I'm just going to cite the Book of John in the Bible next. The writings of Fox testify to this throughout, but here we will stick to John in the Bible to make the point. The summary of the prayer of Christ to the Father in John17, Verses 6-26 includes:

• they may be one, as we are one; I (Christ) in them (followers) and you (Father) in me, 
• that they may become one and perfectly united
• not to be taken out of the world, but to be protected in the world from evil 
• having the fullness of Christ's joy in your hearts and souls
• having the love given by the Father to Christ in your (followers) hearts
• being with Christ to see his glory, and still here on the earth too 
• being dedicated, sanctified, consecrated, and made holy here 
• being perfectly united (this is the unity of the faith, and the only unity)

Now the actual Bible verses, starting with - a magnificent prayer made by Jesus at the Last Supper where he is praying for his disciples and for all the followers to come that might receive their teachings:

Jesus prays to the Father: (and we know all his prayers become reality, for those who bear the cross and follow him) John 17:6-26

I have revealed your very self to the people whom you have given me out of the world. They were yours and you gave them to me, and they have obeyed and kept your word. John 17:6 

Now they know and understand that all you have given me belongs to you. John 17:7 

For the uttered words that you gave me, I have given them. They have received and accepted and have come to know positively and in reality, (to believe with absolute assurance), that I came forth from your presence, and they have believed and are convinced that you did send me. John 17:8 

I am praying (requesting) for them. I am not praying (requesting) for the world, but for those you have given me, for they belong to you. John 17:9 

All mine are yours, and all that are yours belong to me. And I am glorified in (through) them - they have done me honor, in them my glory is achieved. John 17:10 

And I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father keep in your name them whom you have given me, that they may be one as we. John 17:11 

While I was with them, I kept and preserved them in your name. Those you have given me I guarded and protected, and not one of them has perished or is lost, except the son of perdition that the scripture might be fulfilled. John 17:12 

And now I am coming to you. I say these things while I am still in the world, so that my joy may be made full and complete and perfect in them - that they may experience my delight fulfilled in them, that my enjoyment may be perfected in their own souls, that they may have my gladness within them filling their hearts. John 17:13. He wants us to have his joy! 

I have given and delivered to them your word (message), and the world has hated them because they are not of the world - do not belong to the world - as I am not of the world . John 17:14 

I do not ask will that you take them out of the world, but that you will keep and protect them from the evil. John 17:15 

They are not of the world, (worldly, belonging to the world), as I am not of the world. John 17:16 

Sanctify them - purify, consecrate, separate them for yourself, make them holy- by the truth. Your word is truth. John 17:17 

Just as you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. John 17:18 

And for their sake and on their behalf, I sanctify (dedicate, consecrate) myself, that they also may be sanctified (dedicated, consecrated, made holy) in the truth. John 17:19 

Neither for these alone do I pray - it is not for their sake only that I make this request - but also for all those who will ever come to believe in (trust, cling to, rely on) me through their word and teaching; John 17:20. (All these verses in this prayer by Jesus to the Father can apply to you and me too, because we are reading the disciples' words and teachings. But we have to pick up our cross daily and follow him as his disciple.) 

So that they all may be one as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us, so that the world may believe and be convinced that you have sent me. John 17:21. There it is, one with the Father and Christ. 

I have given to them the glory and honor which you have given me, that they may be one, as we are one; John 17:22 

I in them and you in me, in order that they may become one and perfectly united, that the world may know and recognize that you sent me, and that you have loved them as you have loved me. John 17:23 

Father, I desire that they also whom you have entrusted to me may be with me where I am, so they may see my glory, which you have given me - your love gift to me - for you loved me before the foundation of the world. John 17:24. (He wants us in heaven with Him while we are still in the world, but sanctified. We can be there with Him before we die by entering the Kingdom of Heaven within, another dimension. 

O just and righteous Father, although the world has not known you and has failed to recognize you and has never acknowledged you, I have known you continually. And these men know and understand that you have sent me. John 17:25 

I made your name known to them and revealed your character and your very self, and I will continue to make known, that the love which you have bestowed on me may be in them - felt in their hearts - and that I may be in them. John 17:26. (He wants us to have his spirit of love!)

I hope you can see all his prayers, or promises. Just to review, Jesus promises to his true believers: (who bear the cross and follow)

• they may be one, as we (Christ & Father) are one; I in them and you (Father) in me, 
• that they may become one and perfectly united
• not to be taken out of the world, but to be protected in the world from evil 
• having the fullness of Christ's joy in your hearts and souls
• having the love given by the Father to Christ in your (followers) hearts
• being with Christ (in heaven) to see his glory, and still on the earth too 
• being dedicated, sanctified, consecrated, and made holy here 
• being perfectly united (this is the unity of the faith, and the only unity)

This is perhaps the scripture with the greatest hope; and is one of the few times a prayer from Jesus was recorded - and what a prayer it is to us! But we must bring forth the fruit of repentance to purity through the cross of Christ as his true disciple.

But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. 1 John 2:1-6 

So if we obey the Word that we hear him say to us or what he shows us in the Light, (Jesus being the Light and the Word), and if we abide in Him, we are of the truth and we know we are in Him and God's love is perfected in us; resulting in us walking as Jesus walked, in love and truth.

Now, from George Fox's Journal, "Early Years and Translation" here is his experience arriving at unity with Christ and God:

I saw also the mountains burning up, and the rubbish, and the rough, and crooked ways and places made smooth and plain, that the Lord might come into his tabernacle. These things are to be found in man's heart; but to speak of these things being within, seemed strange to the rough, crooked, and mountainous ones. Yet the Lord said, ‘0h earth, hear the word of the Lord!'

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth. Luke 3:5

Now I came up in spirit, through the flaming sword,* into the paradise of God. All things were new, and all the creation gave another smell unto me than before, beyond what words can utter. I knew nothing but pureness, innocence, and righteousness, being renewed up into the image of God by Christ Jesus; so that I came up to the state of Adam, which he was in before he fell. The creation was open to me; and it was showed me how all things had their names given them, according to their nature and virtue. I was at a stand in my mind, whether I should practice medicine for the good of mankind, seeing the nature and virtues of the creatures were so opened to me by the Lord. But I was immediately taken up in spirit, to see into another or more steadfast state than Adam's in innocence, even into a state in Christ Jesus, that should never fall.** And the Lord showed me, that such as were faithful to him, in the power and light of Christ, should come up into that state in which Adam was before he fell; in which the admirable works of the creation, and the virtues of that may be known, through the openings of that divine word of wisdom and power by which they were made. Great things did the Lord lead me into, and wonderful depths were opened unto me, beyond what can by words be declared; but as people come into subjection to the spirit of God, and grow up in the image and power of the Almighty, they may receive the word of wisdom that opens all things, and come to know the hidden unity in the Eternal Being.

*So [God] drove out the man [Adam and Eve out of paradise, the Garden of Eden]; and He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden the cherubim  and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep and guard the way to the tree of life. Gen 3:24

** There are two steps in perfection through the grace of Christ: 1st) to be raised up to the perfection of Adam and Eve in paradise, but still capable of falling to temptation, and 2nd) to be raised up to union with Christ Jesus, an everlasting perfection, which is incapable of falling to sin or temptation. Stephen Crisp, another eminent early Quaker, writes further of this two-step perfection:

For you know while the vessel is filled with wrath, envy, or with unrighteousness of any kind, such are not yet fit for the glory of God to shine forth in. When that is removed out by judgment; and Zion is set free from oppression, then the creature returns to God a pure vessel in the righteousness that was before the fall. So a man or woman may come to Adam's state that he was in before he fell, which was without sin. Against such the judgment of God does not go forth, but they have peace with God, and fellowship in what is pure, before sin and transgression were. Those who come to this state, may be entangled again; as was Eve, and if they do not watch, they may be entangled again; but if such are faithful to the power that redeemed them from the sin, and in the power resist the temptation, then such receive the seal of eternal life in Christ Jesus, who never fell, though he was tempted, and so come to an establishment in him who never changes.

AND further from George Fox's Journal, "Early Years and Translation"

Moreover, the Lord God let me see, when I was brought up into his image in righteousness and holiness, and into the state of the paradise of God how Adam was made a living soul; and also to the stature of Christ, the mystery that had been hid from ages and generations; which things are hard to be uttered, and cannot be borne by many. For of all the sects in Christendom (so called) that I discoursed with, I found none that could bear to be told that anyone could spiritually grow to Adam's perfection, (that is into that image of God, and righteousness and holiness that Adam was in before he fell), to be clean, pure, and without sin as he was. Therefore, how would they be able to bear being told that any should spiritually grow up to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; when it threatens them  to hear that any shall come, while upon earth, into the same power and spirit that the prophets and apostles were in? Though it is an absolute truth, that none can understand the Apostle’s writings correctly without the same spirit by which they were written.

The Lord God opened to me by his invisible power, how that ‘every man was enlightened by the divine light of Christ.’ I saw it shine through all, and that they that believed in it came out of condemnation to the light of life, and became the children of it; but they that hated it and did not believe in it, were condemned by it, though they made a profession of Christ. This I saw in the pure openings of the light without the help of any man; neither did I then know where to find it in the scriptures; though afterwards, searching the scriptures, I found it. For I saw in that light and spirit which was before the scriptures were given forth, and which led the holy men of God to give them forth, that all must come to that spirit, if they would know God or Christ, or the scriptures correctly, which they that gave them forth were led and taught by.

(from George Fox's Journal)

That is the purpose of this writing: to show you what is possible and then show you how to attain union with God. It requires you to put to death the sinful nature through repentance, for you must loose your fleshly life to find your spiritual Life. This is the Inward Cross of Self-Denial

If any will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Luke 9:23

It is grace that brings us salvation by teaching to deny ungodliness and lusts, to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, as we receive the blessed fulfillment of our hope, even the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. Becoming one with God, entering the Kingdom of Heaven, and the completion of salvation all occur with the return of Jesus, a personal experience, which has always been available to those who by repentance purify themselves to become ready. Some, standing with Jesus, saw his return before they died; because it is a personal experience.

Another view of the same process is detailed in Silent Prayer. Don't stop seeking until you are in fellowship with Christ and the Father in heaven; don't teach, preach, or witness until you are explicitly commanded to do so, because your spiritual progress will be stopped if you talk about God or Christ before being adjusted, restored, perfected, and set to rights.

Jesus said, The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. Luke 6:40. The Amplified Bible says: A pupil is not superior to his teacher, but every one completely trained - readjusted, restored, set to rights and perfected - will be like his teacher.

Why would Christ tell us this, unless he wanted us to become like him? Remember this was the preface of his statement: "Don't try to take the spec out of your brother's eye until you remove the beam from your own." When "you get the beam out of your own eye" by being perfected, you can see clearly how to remove the spec from your brother's. So he wants us sinless and purified so we can help our brothers, but until then, we can't even see how to help - and if we think we can, we are more blind than he who we are trying to help - we have a beam in our eye, and he only has a spec - who is more blind? Only when Christ has perfected us, can we remove that beam; only then can we preach or teach, after we are readjusted, restored, perfected and set to rights, authorized; then we can help - until then we just harm those we try to correct. To be restored, is to be renewed into the image of God, as was man before the fall - which is Christ's job with all of us - to reconcile the whole creation back to God, as it was, even better, than before it fell due to the disobedience of Adam. For we cannot be reconciled back to God in our fallen state, we must be purified, restored, perfected before union can take place - union that is only possible between two like beings.

He did not want man to bear witness about him, because he knew what was in their hearts. John 2:25 

Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly. Jam 3:1 

Always be ready to tell someone if they ask about your hope, with meekness and fear. 1 Pet 3:15 (But only if asked! Then you answer because you have to be truthful.) 

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