Jesus Longs for Friendship with You – Part 3

A foundational revelation of God’s heart, one that takes us deeper in prayer, is knowing He desires deep friendship with us—even to the point of longing.

The God of the universe, the One who has everything, longs for you, burns for you!

The heights and depths and lengths and widths of His love and longing are beyond comprehension! But, the good news is that God has given us His Spirit to take uson an eternal journey of discovering and experiencing those incomprehensible depths!

Review: Parts 1 & 2

In the previous two blogs on Jesus’ longings I taught two significant truths that are necessary to understanding His longings at creation.

The first truth is that God has emotions. God can feel and long. He’s a real person with desires, longings, emotions, and thoughts. Our God burns with desire, even to the point of weeping and groaning.

The second truth is that Jesus longs to know us personally and intimately. Though He’s God and knows everything about us (after all, He’s the one that formed us!), God doesn’t automatically know us relationally.

Because of this, Jesus wants to and has to search us out in the present-tense, and we have to respond and relate to Him in the present-tense. This is a great mystery!

Next, I want to connect these two significant truths to the creation story of Genesis 1-2 to show how Jesus longed for us from before the beginning of time.

God Longed for You at Creation

Before anything was ever created, God longed for you with deep emotions. He was weeping in longing. He was groaning. He was singing and dancing.

You were in His mind for all eternity, and something in Him desired to make you and to marry you in deep friendship.

God was 100% complete in love, joy, purpose, and relationship within the Trinity for all of eternity before creation, and He didn’t “need” anything else.

He was always experiencing the fullness of everything. But within that reality, God still burned with desire for a human companion.

Genesis 1-2 is the overflow of the God who had everything but still wanted human friendship.

Adam Represents Jesus’ Longing for a Bride

God put forth a wedding narrative in Genesis 2 that is meant to display His heart as a passionate husband looking for a bride. Ephesians 5 gives us tremendous insight into this glorious reality! Paul says that Adam and Eve’s wedding and oneness were pointing something greater—Jesus marriage to the Church and their oneness. This is the “great mystery.”

This means we can read their wedding story and see God’s longings fleshed out.

For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Ephesians 5:30-32 (NKJV)

The entire creation story is summarized in Genesis 1 with only a quick mention of the image-bearer at the end. In Genesis 2, God tells the story again, but zooms in on the centerpiece of the storyline—the formation of the image-bearers and their marriage relationship with the Creator.

Genesis 2 is an expansion of what God was thinking, feeling, and doing in Genesis 1:26 when He said, “Let Us make man in Our image.
Going Deeper Workbook – Chapter 6

6 Ways that Adam Represents Jesus’ in Genesis 2

Adam was alone.
Adam was longing for a companion.
Adam received a bride made in his exact likeness.
Adam shouted out in celebration.
Adam became one with his bride.
Adam was naked and unashamed with his bride.

Adam Was Alone

And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
Genesis 2:7 (NKJV)

Adam was created first, so there was an amount of time that he was alone. There were animals around him, but there wasn’t anything like him that he could relate to deeply.

In the same way, Jesus was alone before creation. He didn’t have a human companion made in His image for all eternity, and for the first five days of creation, Jesus was still alone. There were animals around him, but nothing like Him (besides the Father and the Spirit).

Adam Longed for a Companion

And the Lord God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”
Genesis 2:18 (NKJV)

God said it wasn’t good for Adam to be alone. He designed Adam to desire and need companionship. At this point in the story, God brings animals to Adam to name them but primarily to find a helper in his likeness.

I believe Adam’s longings were stirred by God’s declaration and by the process of looking for a companion in the midst of the animals.

Jesus was looking for a companion during the first 5 days of creation. He saw all of the plants and animals but longed for one creature in His image. I believe His longings were stirred in anticipation for the formation of His bride on day 6.

The Father was also declaring Genesis 2:18 over His Son, saying, “Jesus, it’s not good for you to be alone. My heart is to fashion one creature in Your likeness to be Your bride for all eternity.”

Adam Received a Bride in His likeness

Then the rib which the Lord God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man. And Adam said:

“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”
Genesis 2:22-23 (NKJV)

God took DNA from Adam and made a companion in his very likeness. Eve was fashioned to be a complete match in every way possible.

Jesus received a bride in His image on day 6 of creation. Ephesians 5:30-32 quotes this passage in Genesis 2 and says that we are, “Members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.” We have been made in the very image of God!

Going a little deeper with a New Testament lens, Jesus also had His side pierced on the cross. Similar to Adam having his rib/side taken out to form a bride in His likeness, the Father formed Jesus’ bride through the suffering on the cross and the blood Jesus shed from His side.

The bride of Christ is made in Jesus’ likeness through the work of salvation.

Adam Shouted Out in Celebration

And Adam said: This is now bone of my bones.
Genesis 2:23

The Hebrew word used here means emphatic or excited shouting. Adam was ecstatic at the sight of his new bride!

Why was Adam shouting? Eve was beautiful and his longings for intimacy with something like Him were finally satisfied!

In my opinion, Jesus shouted out His desire for an image-bearer in Genesis 1:26 and shouted out again when Adam first opened his eyes in Genesis 2:7. God is passionate and longing and emotional, and we have to believe His first moments with the image-bearer He longed for were filled with passion-filled.

More than shouting, Jesus was probably singing and dancing because of His bride’s beauty and His fulfilled longings. What do you think Jesus felt in His heart the first moments Adam opened His eyes and talked to Him? The image-bearer, the dream of His heart was finally there!

Adam Became One With His Bride

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.
Genesis 2:24 (NKJV)

Adam and Eve were made one through the covenant of marriage. Through this, Adam experienced oneness to the degree that the Bible says they were made “one flesh.” For humans, there is no greater experience of physical, emotional, spiritual oneness than what is available in the mystery of marriage.

“For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Ephesians 5:31-32 (NKJV)

This passage is quoted in Ephesians 5 to make the profound statement that christians are joined to Jesus in marriage. This is more than a “spiritual principle” or “legal position” we are blessed with through the cross. This is meant to be an experiential, relational benefit where Jesus experiences oneness with us and we experience oneness with Him (1 Cor. 6:17).

Jesus longs for this level of union and experience with us!

Adam Was Naked and Unashamed With His Bride

And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
Genesis 2:25

Adam and Eve were fully known by one another without hiding behind shame and rejection (this came later with Satan’s deception). Without the issue of shame, oneness and openness is easily flows.

Jesus longs for oneness and openness with us as His bride. Through His blood and forgiveness, we can stay in His presence with open and transparent hearts, unashamed of our weaknesses and failures.

Summary

In summary, Jesus has infinite emotions and He’s perfect in love, joy, and satisfaction. Within that, He’s perfect in longing for marriage and friendship with weak and broken human beings that respond to Him in love.

Jesus longed for your creation! Not just other people’s creation or humanity as a whole, but you as an individual. He thought about you for all eternity and fashioned with His own hands in your mother’s womb.

Nothing about you is an accident or was overlooked. No second of your life or small movements your heart has been missed by Jesus your husband. Friend, God is burning with desire for you!

No shame. No condemnation. No rejection. No disconnection.

Jesus wants everything in you, and He won’t relent until He has it all.

Additional Resources

For additional help, consider purchasing the Going Deeper Workbook (and optional Video course) to go deeper in the topic of God’s Longing Heart. Chapters 5-8 are entirely focused on getting a right view of God as father and husband and us as priceless image-bearers. The workbook is set up to inspire you with a high vision for encounter and equip you to pursue Jesus through different forms of prayer.

Additionally, you can join our Facebook Group, “Cultivate Encountering Jesus” for more support and direct encouragement. Search for this group on Facebook and we’ll grant permission to join the group.

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