One of my favorite Praise & Worship songs is "I Am a Friend of God". The chorus goes, "I am a friend of God, He calls me friend!" Some people think that this is true simply because God is Love which is indeed His main attribute. However there is a reason why we can now be called friends of God as this was not the case for most people in times past. In fact the first person to be called "God's friend" was the patriarch Abraham from the land of Ur which is present day Iraq. Abraham is called a "friend of God" three times (2 Chronicles 20: 7, says, "O our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?" & Isa. 41: 8).
Abraham's friendship with God came as a result of his faith in God's promises to bless all nations through his seed. This intimate friendship did not come through Abraham's obedience to the law or even the covenant of circumcision as his righteousness before God was reckoned long before this.
"How was it reckoned? When he was in circumcision, or in uncircumcision? Not in circumcision but in uncircumcision." Romans 4:10
It was Abraham's faith in the coming Messiah, who would be one of his descendants, that justified him before his Maker. In fact Romans 4:17 says that Yahweh appointed Abraham the father of many nations because he believed in a God "Who causeth the dead to live and calleth the things that are not as things that are." The things that were not included the promised seed of Abraham. Yeshua was not yet born nor was he in "Heaven with God" as part of some unbiblical "trinity". Abraham's faith in God's promise to rule the world by one of his seed or fleshly descendants was the cornerstone of that belief. God's creation of the Messiah in Mary's womb means that like Adam, Yeshua is the Son of God. Read Yeshua's geneology in Luke chapter 3 verse 38. It clearly says, son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God. The Messiah has always been anticipated to be 100% human. If he were not, then he could not fulfill what God promised to Abraham about one of his descendants ruling and blessing all the nations. If Yeshua were some immortal being, he also could not die because that is the definition of immortality... one who is not subject to death.
So if we believe that the Messiah's death, finished work, faithfulness and obedience were enough, we will have faith like Abraham that Yeshua will rule God's Kingdom. By this same declaration of faith, we too are friends of Yah!
"Having therefore been declared righteous by faith, let us have peace towards Yahweh through our Master Yeshua the Messiah." Romans 5:1
