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 heart and mind in John 14:20-21,
"On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you... The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them."
Here is an amazing mystery and a reality that is so astounding, to conceive of it is life-altering. I am convinced that most believers are weak in their understanding of what Jesus told his disciples before his passion. That mystery is that within the love the Trinity abides in, God has opened the door for us to enter. He has invited us into this communion of love for one another that exists among the members of the Trinity!
Our God exists in what we call the Trinity. One God, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." Deuteronomy 6:4. Yet our one God exists in three persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. When Jesus told his disciples to propagate themselves through evangelism, he told them to do so 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. Other passages are available, but this serves my point for now.
We learn that among the three persons of the Trinity a boundless, god-sized love exists among them. This is observed by John the Baptist, "The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands." John 3:35.
In addition to our verse above (John 14:20-21), Jesus' own prayer to the Father also points to this love within the Trinity and the access God has provided for us, his invitation us to - into this divine love affair that exists within the Trinity:
"My prayer is not for them [the disciples present with Jesus as he prayed] alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message [this would be us!], that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." John 17:20-23.
Our ability to conceive of, to apprehend, this love of Jesus Christ, this love within the Trinity, the love God has for us, is life altering, resulting in us being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Listen to Paul's prayer:
"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God." Ephesians 3:17-19.
The Lord wants us to know this, as he wants this mystery to impact our lives in a demonstrative way, "I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them." John 17:13.
Have you embraced this breath-taking mystery?
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you... The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them."
Here is an amazing mystery and a reality that is so astounding, to conceive of it is life-altering. I am convinced that most believers are weak in their understanding of what Jesus told his disciples before his passion. That mystery is that within the love the Trinity abides in, God has opened the door for us to enter. He has invited us into this communion of love for one another that exists among the members of the Trinity!
Our God exists in what we call the Trinity. One God, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." Deuteronomy 6:4. Yet our one God exists in three persons, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. When Jesus told his disciples to propagate themselves through evangelism, he told them to do so 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. Other passages are available, but this serves my point for now.
We learn that among the three persons of the Trinity a boundless, god-sized love exists among them. This is observed by John the Baptist, "The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in his hands." John 3:35.
In addition to our verse above (John 14:20-21), Jesus' own prayer to the Father also points to this love within the Trinity and the access God has provided for us, his invitation us to - into this divine love affair that exists within the Trinity:
"My prayer is not for them [the disciples present with Jesus as he prayed] alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message [this would be us!], that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." John 17:20-23.
Our ability to conceive of, to apprehend, this love of Jesus Christ, this love within the Trinity, the love God has for us, is life altering, resulting in us being filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Listen to Paul's prayer:
"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fulness of God." Ephesians 3:17-19.
The Lord wants us to know this, as he wants this mystery to impact our lives in a demonstrative way, "I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them." John 17:13.
Have you embraced this breath-taking mystery?
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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