The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Luke 4:1,
"Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert..."
I am a devoted believer in the reality that the one and only God exists in three persons: God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit. God has revealed himself as such in so many places in the Scriptures in this way. We see it at the baptism of Jesus Christ by John, Matthew 3:16 and Luke 3:21-22, where the Son of God comes up out of the water, the Spirit of God descending on him like a dove and a voice from heaven saying, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased." Jesus told his followers to baptize in the name of each member of the Trinity, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit..." Matthew 28:19. In John 14:25-26 Jesus told his followers that God the Father would send "the Counselor", God the Holy Spirit, to them in the name of God the Son, "All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." There are many such passages as these throughout the Bible that speak to the reality that our one and only God exists in the three persons of the Trinity.
Where some have mistakenly thought the Holy Spirit was simply the emanation of God or some such thing, passages such as John 16:12-15 clearly present him as his own person acting in concert with the Father and the Son, "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear. But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you." It seems as though it is the Holy Spirit that has been the target of much false teaching regarding the nature of God. Heresies from the past have also denied the deity of Jesus Christ or seen him as only a manifestation of God the Father in another form. Additionally, many attempts at explaining the nature of the Trinity have often been fraught with all kinds of problems and shortcomings. "The Trinity is like an egg. Three parts, shell, yoke and white, but one egg." This analogy falls apart rather quickly "Modalism" is another bad teaching that pictures God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit as simply God wearing a different hat at different times. It fails to explain who Jesus is talking to in the garden of Gethsemane prior to his crucifixion.
I don't begin to be able to wrap my mind around the concept of the Trinity. When it comes to God, I have to admit I feel I know so little and that there is so much more to learn and understand. I have this feeling that much of that will have to wait for my reflection in the resurrection. Today, I simply have to look at what is before me in the Scriptures and delight myself in what I find there of my fascinating and exciting God. My God of wonder and my God of joy. A God that has chosen to love me in spite of myself, my God who has expressed his profound mercy and kindness, who has invited me right into his family and promised me an eternal life of pleasures at his right hand (Psalm 16:11.)
I can't think of anything that can come close to the joy and satisfaction of musing and reflecting on our great God who exists in three persons.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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