2 Peter 1:3-4- “As His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” NKJV
Creator of the Universe
My husband and I took a cruise to Hawaii for our 25th anniversary. It was fabulous! Every morning I would find him sitting on the balcony, reading his Bible or praying. He found it to be so relaxing. Not being an early riser, I would join him and enjoy the serenity of the morning. For some reason, although I believe God is truly omnipresent, He felt closer to me on the waters of the Pacific.
Paul understood the majesty of creation because he wrote:
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse
Romans 1:20 NKJV
As I conclude my discussion on these verses in 2 Peter, I want to look at the remainder of the verse: “partakers of the divine nature”. Peter clearly states that we, believers in Christ, can partake of the divine nature and power of God. Religion persuades us to believe that we are mere mortals, subject to whatever whims God may have because we can never know what He will do. Yet, Peter wrote just the opposite in these verses: we can know God, we can partake of His power, His glory, and His nature, and it is what He wants us to do!
Let us go back to the beginning.
Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Genesis 1:26 NKJV
God didn’t make Adam a god, although He made Adam in His image. Adam was a genius. He named all the animals of the garden. He was perfect and without sin. He talked openly and freely with God. He had dominion over everything in the garden. His life was a life of peace, joy, fulfillment, godliness, and holiness. He was like God! Until he allowed sin in. As we choose to become Christians, we are spiritually restored to the state that Adam was in, with the intent for us to be more like God and less like man. Not because man is so horrible, but because God is that good to us!
How can we partake of the divine nature of God? Let’s understand what partaker means. According to the Vine’s, one of my favorite resources, it means “a partner, or sharer”. So we don’t get ownership of His nature, He invites us to share in His nature. Therefore, the first thing we most do is, we must be born again! I know! I keep repeating it, but it is ever so true! We must be born again! Once we are born again, we are able to escape the corruption that is in the world. Peter wrote that when we are born again we are called out of darkness into His marvelous light! Paul penned that we are delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear Son. This is the first step in partaking of His divine nature. If we are going to share in His nature, it starts with salvation!
Going back to other parts of the verse, as we get to know Him and embrace His exceedingly great and precious promises, we can share in His nature. We can forgive, because He is a forgiver by nature, and empowers us to forgive. We can love, because He is love, and His divine power enables us to love the unlovely. How many times have you found yourself loving when others didn’t understand it? It His nature you were partaking! Who did you forgive, that you didn’t think it was possible for you to forgive? It was the Divine Nature of the Almighty (DNA) inside of you!
I was in a situation where I overheard a conversation. There was a misunderstanding that caused several people to be at odds with one another. The person I overheard was expressing the hurt that they felt over the situation, but more importantly, the desire to get things out in the open so they could move on. I heard that person’s wisdom in handling the situation. I heard that person speak of making things right so they could move forward unhindered. Forgiveness was extended, and that person even took responsibility for the mix up. When the conversation was over, I told that person, I had just witnessed Jesus! It was the greatest testimony that individual could have shared with me about the genuineness of the faith she had in Him (the Divine Nature of the Almighty God in operation)!
Sunday I went to visit at my former church. When I got there, one of the members was really excited to see me. She had prayed the night before, telling God that she wished she could see me at church so that I could pray for her. God manifests His healing nature at different times when I pray, especially in the area of pain. Sure enough, I was there. She was so excited! I prayed for her briefly and went my way. Later that night, there was no change. (I generally check up on people I pray for). When she told me that, I just said, “Check yourself in the morning”. Sure enough, the next morning was a different story. Did I heal her? No! But God allowed us to share in His nature as healing was manifested in her body, because He’s the Healer! The Great Physician! (Again, the Divine Nature of the Almighty God working as we laid hold to the exceedingly great and precious promise in regards to healing).
And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
Mark 16:17-18 NKJV
The part of His divine nature we struggle most with is His supernatural power. We fail to realize that anything we do with Him is supernatural. Forgiveness, love, giving, kindness, serving. Therefore, we tend to separate that part of His divine nature from the other part of His divine nature: releasing power!
As we live this life in Christ, and He lives His life in us, I can assure you that He doesn’t want to be stifled. His greatest joy is seeing the kingdom become a reality in our lives. He left us with many precious promises that we might realize the greatness of the love and grace He has for us, the power He has made available to us, that we can partake of Him! It’s really time for us to dare to believe that every promise in His word belongs to us! As we step out in faith and begin to take Him at His word, we will begin to see things happen. When it doesn’t work, trouble shoot and try again; but don’t ever give up! He purposefully shared His divine nature with us that we may know Him more completely!
It’s the Passover/Easter season! A time to rejoice in all that Calvary, and more precisely, the resurrection affords us! I end with Paul’s prayer for every believer:
“That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come! Amen and Amen! Wonderful Jesus!
Ephesians 1:17-21 NKJV
