God’s Friends

We may look at the life of Moses in the Scriptures and say, "I wish I could have been Moses. I wish I could have a friendship with God like he had."

But the friendship that a Christian can have with God is actually closer than the friendship Moses had with God.

Although Moses was God’s friend and was greatly used by Him in so many ways, Moses lived under the Old Covenant. Under the Old Covenant, God would manifest His presence in the tabernacle (and later in the temple), and the high priest would represent the people.

God was distant, even to those who were His friends, like Abraham and Moses. God revealed certain aspects of Himself to them, but He didn’t live inside of them.

The new covenant is different, however. Jesus died on the cross for us because Jesus is our Mediator between the Father and us. We don’t have to go through a high priest or any other person. We go directly to the Father through Jesus Christ.

Hebrews 10:19–20 puts it this way: "And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter Heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place."

Jesus said, "I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me" (John 15:15). You are a friend of God.

We don’t always understand Him, but He tells us to follow Him and obey Him because He loves every one of us. This God showed His love in a tangible way by sending His Son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins.