We know that the composer of the Battle Hymn of the Republic was truly a Son of God because he was inspired to write these words: “In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the Sea: With a Glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me…” The Father showed me that it is in the bosom that the mysterious union transpires between the Father and the Son, Jesus and the Sons of God and the Bride and the Bridegroom. Why the bosom? Because it is where the heart is located and where the child is nurtured and fed. In addition, it is the bosom that spiritually represents the place where the throne of God is housed within us, surrounded by the 24 elders represented by our rib cage. As we trace the word throughout Scripture, we can see the various facets of this union of the bosom.
The union begins in the bosom of the Father who was revealed to Abraham by the name El Shaddai, or the Breasted One. The gospel of John 1:18 tells us that:
No man has seen God at any time: the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared Him.
Notice that John uses the present tense. Everything that Jesus was during his historical ministry and everything that he is eternally derives from the fact that he resides in the bosom of the Father. He continually felt His heartbeat, was fed by Him, knew His thoughts. And just as the Son is in the bosom of the Father, Isaiah 40:11 declares that we are in the bosom of the Son:
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
We see this portrayed in the last Passover when the beloved disciple, John, leaned his head on Jesus’ bosom. But the mystery also encompasses the union within the body of Christ. Because the Word declares that all who are joined to Christ are one spirit, we carry in our bosom all the saints and the cloud of witnesses. Oh Glory! We can see this pointed out beautifully in Numbers 11:12 as a frustrated Moses complains to God:
Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers.
The most glorious aspect of this union is the reality that we carry the fullness of the Godhead, as our Bridegroom, in our bosom. This is seen in symbol in the Song of Solomon 1:13 as the Bride speaks of the mystery of her union with the Beloved:
A bundle of myrrh is my well beloved unto me. He shall lie all night betwixt my breasts.
What is the night season referred to here? It is the time before the full unveiling and manifestation of God’s Sons. It is the time that God has set aside for the preparation and perfecting of His army. It is the time that the glory we now contain within us is shrouded by our earthen vessels just like the torches carried by Gideon’s army. This night season is what Peter was describing in Acts 3:20-21:
And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all his prophets since the world began.
The heaven that receives Christ until the appointed times of restitution is contained in the bosom of the Bride where He lies waiting to be revealed to the creation as the bright and morning star. We can see a description of the glory that is contained in our bosom – a glory that will transfigure the entire creation – in Revelation 11:19:
And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.
Because of the mystery of our union with God, we are that temple in heaven that is opened to reveal the fullness of the Father. The creation is groaning for the manifestation of the Glory of God to be revealed in His Sons. The creation is waiting to be able to say: “Mine eyes have seen the Glory of the coming of the Lord….”
Praise His Name!