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 6:12,
"One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God."
Here we see the Son of God in prayer (all night!) with God the Father. Jesus' next move, in the morning, was to chose the twelve as his designated apostles. As is often pointed out, prior to making an important decision, Jesus spent time with the Father in prayer.
Why? Isn't Jesus Christ God? Doesn't he have within himself the ability to make wise choices? Where we often need the wise counsel and direction that comes from prayer, the kind that comes from spending time with God, I suspect other things were afoot in the time Jesus spent with the Father in his time of prayer. It is this kind of interaction Jesus Christ had with the Father that helps me understand a bit about the nature of the Trinity.
One time Jesus told the Pharisees "I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me." John 8:16. Jesus identified himself unequivocally and unmistakably with God the Father. He was not reticent or bashful about proclaiming his allegiance and identity with his Father. Although the Pharisees claimed to speak for God, Jesus told them, "You do not know me or my Father... If you knew me, you would know my Father also." John 8:19.
Jesus also told them he did nothing on his own. All he did was in concert with the Father, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me." John 8:28. He went on to say, "The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him." Verse 29. Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, always did what pleased the Father. Jesus also told the Pharisees that he didn't come on his own, but was sent by the Father, "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me." John 8:42.
In Jesus' own prayer to the Father, he acknowledged that all he had, had come from God the Father, "Now they [believers] know that everything you have given me comes from you." John 17:7. He also acknowledged that all he had to say, all he taught had come from the Father, "For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them." John 17:8. In his prayer to the Father, Jesus confessed his identity with the Father and the great love they share for one another, "All I have is yours, and all you have is mine." John 17:10. Also, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you." John 17:20-21. In his prayer for the saints, Jesus revealed the divine love shared between the Father and the Son, "May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." John 17:23.
This is not simply dusty theology! This is real life, the nature of how things really are. The dynamic of the relationship within the Trinity is one of passion and one of power. God has his own designs and his own agenda. That agenda is driven by his own desires and we find they are carried out through the agencies of each member of the Trinity.
Heady stuff!!
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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