Introduction
As a prelude to this teaching, please read my paper on Intimate Theology. Click here.
Intimacy is the reflection of divine communion. Before sin, intimacy was the natural atmosphere between God and man. The fall of Adam shattered all that and much more. God’s entire creation felt the breaking away, the shattering of man’s intimacy with his Creator. The planets themselves began breaking away from God’s order, and they still do. The earth began its upheavals with quakes, tsunamis, floods, and the like. Animals that once shared communion now enter the realm of survival of the fittest. Mankind himself continues on a downward spiral not at all unlike that mentioned in Dante’s Divine Comedy. In this allegory, the Divine Comedy represents the journey of the soul toward God, with the Inferno describing the recognition and rejection of sin.
Redemption restored all this. The cross is the ultimate act of divine intimacy. The God who was distant from mankind throughout the Old Testament now dwells within us. The temple of Moses, the temple of David, and the final temple in Jerusalem, which was destroyed in 70 AD are are no longer. We have become the temple. How more intimate can that be? However, this concept of being the temple of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. How do I know it’s a mystery when it’s so clear in the Bible? I know because we, believers, do not behave as a temple. We fill this temple with false gods, human self-admiration, wasted communion with the flesh and the devil. Many deny the Catholic belief of Transubstantiation, the turning of bread and wine into the body and blood of our savior. The eating of the flesh and drinking the blood of Jesus Christ at Communion becomes repulsive. That miracle becomes impossible, yet Holy Spirit does reside in us. Can transubstantiation be true also? This is not a topic of this paper, yet the analogy fits.
The theology of intimacy is the supernatural realization of knowing and being known, transcending that of human flesh and absorbing the Divine in body, soul, and spirit. Read The Mystery of the Trinity Revealed. Click here.
Modern Intimacy vs. True Intimacy
Modern intimacy is not true intimacy. Though it may resemble genuine closeness in outward form, it falls tragically short of its divine reality. The modern world defines intimacy through the lenses of emotion and physical affection — a love bound by flesh and feeling. But true intimacy transcends these dimensions. It is not merely emotional; it is spiritual. It is not rooted in desire, but in divine communion — a supernatural fellowship that mirrors the perfect relationship between the Son and the Father.
In true intimacy, Jesus followed His Father, and we follow Christ. We enter into that sacred union He prayed in John 17: “That they may be one, even as We are one.” In this mystery, we come to dwell in Him, and He in us — a divine communion with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
This kind of intimacy is not sentimental; it is sacrificial. Its emblem is not romance, but the Cross. When Christ died at Calvary, the veil was torn — the barrier between God and man removed. No longer confined to a temple built by human hands, the presence of God now abides in temples of His own making: our very bodies.
The book of Genesis tells us that Adam knew Eve. The Hebrew word yada (to know) conveys more than physical knowing; it speaks of deep, personal, experiential union. This same word describes how God knows His people — a knowledge of love, of presence, of covenant. From this flows the theology of knowing and being known: the essence of divine intimacy.
This truth reverberates throughout all of Christian life — from our new birth in the Spirit to the daily battles of spiritual warfare. In this warfare, God dismantles the illusions of self-sufficiency and teaches us to depend entirely on Him. Here lies the heart of true intimacy: spirit speaking to Spirit, faith refined by sacrifice, love rooted in obedience, and life lived as God intended — in unbroken fellowship with He who made us.
Meditate on This
We become confused and often upset when God does not always give us answers to our questions. This is because the answer often lies in our personal relationship with Him – our intimacy.
I often seek understanding and teach likewise, but it is not always my understanding I seek; it is His understanding. Again, this is achieved through personal intimacy with your God
I must surrender all my ways, and they must become His ways. To know His ways, you must be close – intimate.
Having intimate behavior, we must recalibrate our minds to the mind of Christ by the Spirit of Christ, for God does not give us the mind of Christ; He gives us the Spirit of Christ.
The Divine Pattern of Intimacy
True intimacy finds its highest expression in the mystery of the Triune God. Within the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit exists a perfect communion—an eternal fellowship of mutual indwelling, complete unity, and transparent love. There is no shadow of separation, no trace of fear or shame, only the unbroken harmony of divine oneness.
When God said, “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1:26), He invited humanity into that same sacred fellowship. We were created not merely to know about God, but to share in His very life—to live within that circle of divine intimacy.
Jesus echoed this divine desire in His prayer to the Father:
“That they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us” John 17:21, ESV.
This is the divine pattern of intimacy: to be drawn into the heart of the Trinity, to dwell in union with God Himself, and to reflect His perfect love in our communion with one another.
Sin and the Loss of Intimacy
This sacred intimacy is shattered when we sin. In that moment, we step out of the light of communion and into the shadows of shame, blame, and concealment—just as Adam and Eve hid themselves from the presence of their Creator in Genesis 3. Sin is more than mere disobedience; it is the breaking of a relationship, the painful distancing of the soul from the God who formed it for fellowship with Himself.
Christ — The Bridge of Intimacy
In the mystery of divine intimacy, the story begins with God Himself — by the Holy Spirit — drawing near to a humble maiden named Mary. In that sacred encounter, Heaven touched earth, and from her womb came the Savior of the world. The depth of this communion between God and Mary remains beyond human comprehension. Generations have sung of it, written of it, and pondered it in awe. How close — how profoundly united to her God — she must have been, chosen to bear the very Word made flesh.
Then, through the self-giving sacrifice of that same Son upon the Cross, the chasm between humanity and its Creator was forever bridged. Once exiled by sin, we are now welcomed into communion through grace — a grace so costly, so divine, that no human effort could ever earn it. The Cross stands as the eternal symbol of that sacred exchange: He gave all, that we might once more walk in intimacy with the Father.
By receiving this unmerited gift, we enter into the New Covenant — one sealed not with law, but with love; not with ritual, but with relationship. In surrendering all to Him who first surrendered all for us, the Father’s deepest longing is fulfilled: that He might dwell again in perfect fellowship with His children — forever.
Our Intimate Covenant
If I enter into a covenant with the Creator, and you also enter that same covenant, then by its very nature, we are bound not only to Him but to each other. We become members of one another — not through social connection or shared belief alone, but through spiritual union. True conventional intimacy transcends surface relationships; it is a divine interweaving of lives through the Spirit of adoption spoken of in Romans 8:15–16. In this sacred bond, the laws of forgiveness, confession, and sacrificial love find their rightful place and meaning.
The Cost of Intimacy
The price of true intimacy is vulnerability, truth, and humility. This cannot coexist with pride, pretense, or self-protection. The moment we defend ourselves — whether right or wrong — intimacy begins to die. A Christlike relationship demands the death of self-importance, for the soul that seeks to guard itself cannot be fully known or fully loved. The hard but holy truth remains: it is not about you. Until this is grasped, intimacy with God and with others will remain a shadow and not the substance.
Conclusion — The Eternal Intimacy
All forms of earthly intimacy — marriage, friendship, fellowship, and even prayer itself — are but dim reflections of a far greater reality. They are shadows cast by the eternal light of divine communion. Every bond of love and trust we experience in this life points toward the ultimate consummation of love: the Marriage of the Lamb.
In that sacred and final union between Christ and His Bride, the great story of redemption will find its perfect fulfillment. What began in blood at the Cross will culminate in glory — a communion unbroken, unending, and complete. The intimacy once lost in Eden will at last be restored in the unveiled presence of the Bridegroom, where love will no longer be a mystery but our eternal dwelling.
Scripture declares, “Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep.” (James 4:8–9, ESV).
Repentance is the threshold of intimacy. To cleanse our hands is to seek innocence; to purify our hearts is to surrender self. There must come a point in our walk with Christ when being right or wrong no longer matters — only Christ matters. In that holy detachment, we become free from the weight of circumstance. Neither life nor death holds us; joy or sorrow cannot move us. We live, breathe, and exist for Him alone — wholly consumed in His will, wholly at rest in His being.
Enough Said
“Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts.” Jeremiah 15:16 ESV
A Coram Deo Message
Living in the Presence of God
