This means that friendship with God is on offer – upon a condition: that we fear Him. The English Standard Version: “The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him”. The King James translation: “the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him”. I would add that “the Lord confides in those who fear him” (Psa.25:14). This means that friendship has obligations. And yet Jesus stipulated that they were friends if they do what He commands. This is obvious or Jesus would not have said that they are “no longer” called servants.
Friend of god scripture upgrade#
The implication is, that being called “friend” is an upgrade from being “servant”. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything I have learned from my Father I have made known to you” (John 15:14-15). I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Jesus said to the Eleven disciples (after Judas Iscariot left them, as in John 13:30), “You are my friends, if you do what I command. This was said of Abraham later – long after he died. There is nothing in the book of Genesis that shows God called Abraham His friend. Such faithfulness led to Abraham being called God’s friend, although there is no indication that Abraham knew this. Later on God swore an oath to Abraham when he became willing to sacrifice Isaac (Gen.22:16). God imputed righteousness to Abraham when Abraham believed the promise that his seed would be as the stars of the heavens (Gen.15:6). Moses and Abraham – the two most acclaimed servants of the Lord in the Old Testament – were called God’s friends. Near the end of the book of Deuteronomy, it is written that “no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face” (Deut.34:10). For “the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend” (Exod.33:11). Moses was also referred to as His friend. Until then, your belief is enough to spiritually see His hand in your life.Would you prefer to be known by God as His servant or His friend? I put this question on my twitter and I think most who have responded have said they would prefer “friend”.Ībraham was called God’s friend (2 Chron.20:7 Isa.41:8 James 2:23). There will be a time when we will see Him on the other side of the veil.
If we could see Him, there would not be much effort required to believe and follow Him throughout our lives. You can also explain that we do not need to see God in order to believe He is there. This is a great opportunity for you to testify to your friends that you can feel His presence in your life every day through the Holy Ghost. Spiritually See HimĪlma taught that every aspect of nature testifies of a supreme Creator due to its infinite complexities and harmonies (see Alma 30:44).
You can also bear testimony of Joseph Smith and of latter-day scripture, which helps us understand that “the pure in heart … shall see God” ( Matthew 5:8). You can let your friends know that “we believe the Bible to be the word of God as far as it is translated correctly” ( Articles of Faith 1:8).
In the Pearl of Great Price account of Moses seeing God, Moses explains that it was his spiritual, not natural, eyes that saw God (see Moses 1:11). And even then, a righteous person must be changed-transfigured-to see God (see D&C 67:11). The Prophet’s inspired revisions of those verses explain that sinful people can’t see God-only those who believe. These verses seem to contradict other Bible verses that say that men-such as Jacob, Abraham, Moses, and Isaiah-have seen God (see Genesis 18:1 32:30 Exodus 33:11 Isaiah 6:1).įortunately, we have the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible, which clarifies the four scriptures that say that man can’t see God. Your friends have probably read the few verses in the Bible that say that man can’t see God (see Exodus 33:20 John 1:18 1 Timothy 6:14–16 1 John 4:12).
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