In the foregoing messages we covered many aspects of God’s person. In this message we shall go on to consider God’s nature.
Recently I read a letter written by the dean of a certain Bible college. That letter accused me of teaching heresy because I say, according to the New Testament, that the believers have God’s nature. Perhaps the one who made this false accusation is not familiar with 2 Peter 1:4, a verse that tells us that we are partakers of the divine nature. To partake of God’s nature is to enjoy it and to participate in it. We can testify that day by day we not only possess the divine nature but also enjoy it. As believers, we certainly have the divine nature within us. Certain sufferings and hardships we cannot bear by ourselves; however, we are able to bear them by the divine nature.
We need to pay close attention to the matter of being partakers of the divine nature. 2 Peter 1:4 says, “Through which He has granted to us precious and exceedingly great promises, that through these you might become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption which is in the world by lust.” Through the precious and exceedingly great promises given by God, we, the believers in Christ, who is our God and Savior, have become partakers of His divine nature in an organic union with Him. We have entered into this union through faith and baptism (John 3:15; Gal. 3:27; Matt. 28:19). The virtue of this divine nature carries us into God’s glory, into the full expression of the Triune God.
Through the “precious and exceedingly great promises” we may become partakers of the divine nature. We receive the divine life simply by believing, and the divine nature is the substance of the divine life. Although we received the divine life at the time we believed, the divine nature must be continually enjoyed by us. This enjoyment requires the grace of God. The more we enjoy the divine nature, the more we have His virtue, and the more we are brought into His glory.
To partake of the divine nature is to enjoy what God is. In order that we may enjoy all that He is, God will do many things for us according to His precious and exceedingly great promises. This will enable us to enjoy His nature, what He is. One of His precious and exceedingly great promises is that His grace is sufficient for us (2 Cor. 12:9). God’s sufficient grace will work within us day by day so that we may enjoy His nature.
The divine nature refers to the riches of what God is. Whatever God is, is in His nature. Therefore, when we partake of the divine nature, we partake of the divine riches. Having received the divine life at the time of our regeneration, we must go on to enjoy what God is in His nature.
This enjoyment is both for the present and for eternity. For eternity we shall continue to partake of the divine nature. This is illustrated by the tree of life and the river of water of life in Revelation 22:1 and 2. Out from the throne of God and the Lamb the river of life flows. This signifies God flowing out to be the enjoyment of His redeemed. That flowing river will saturate the entire city of New Jerusalem, and the tree of life that grows in and along the river will supply the redeemed with God as their life supply. This is a picture of what it means to partake of the divine nature.
Home | First | Prev | Next