As we have seen, our God is a Triune God – three distinct
Persons, Each equally divine, All acting together in one perfect will. All are self-existent (Exodus 3:14), everlasting
(present since before time began and throughout eternity; John 1:1; Revelation 1:8,11;21:6;22:13),
and all-powerful (omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent).
Jesus Christ is the Creator, the Word Who made all things and Who spoke the universe into existence
(John 1:1; Hebrews 1:10).
Yet He was not alone in this mission, for it was that Hebrew Name Elohim, that plurality of divinity (Genesis 1:1) responsible for creation, with the Spirit moving
upon the waters (Genesis 1:2) to
empower the Father’s plan (Hebrews 1:2).
When it came to man, the crowning achievement of creation,
God (Elohim –Three in One) said “Let us
make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). This threefold emphasis on the Trinity serves
to remind us that all three aspects of the Triune God were intimately involved
in all of creation. Not surprisingly, man has a mind, body, and spirit, reflecting God’s Triune Nature after
Which he was designed.
In the Old Testament, we see preincarnate appearances of
Jesus Christ in human form, often referred to as “the Angel of the Lord,” (Genesis
16:7-11; Numbers 22:22-35; Judges 2:4; 6:12, etc).
One such example is when He came with two angels to Abraham. He announced that
Sarah would conceive a child through whom Abraham would become the father of a
great nation (Genesis 18). Limited
human understanding could easily miss that the Word and two angels were
visiting from Heaven, for they appeared as travelers and even ate a meal with
their host.
Yet when God the Father spoke with Moses (as the Angel of
the Lord in a burning bush; Exodus 3:6)
and with Elijah, His glory was so great that they could not look directly at
Him. The Angel of the Lord touched Elijah and even fed him in his weakness and
despair (1 Kings 19:7), but
when God appeared to Him in all the fury of nature, Elijah hid his face (1 Kings 19:11-13),
We are told in the Gospels that the Holy Spirit was visible as if in the form of a dove as He alighted
on Jesus after His baptism, while
the Father praised the Son (Matthew 3:16; Mark
1:10; John 1:32;
Luke 3:22). Generally, however, the Spirit is not visible any more
than we can see the wind (John 3:8),
yet we see His power and learn of Him through the words He spoke to David (Acts 1:16) and to all the authors
of Scripture (2 Timothy 3:16).
So on those rare occasions when one or more Persons of
the Trinity appears to man, human perception of the Father, Son and Spirit varies
greatly. The Father speaks from the midst of powerful manifestations of nature
(1 Kings 19; Job 37),
the Son can be seen, touched and felt as a loving and compassionate Friend (Proverbs 18:24; Hebrews 4:15), and the Spirit is
experienced indirectly, by seeing what He has done or hearing others speak His
Word.
Although the Three Persons of the Trinity may differ in
their physical manifestations to mankind, they act together with a
single-mindedness of will – not only in creation,
but also in salvation and in the incarnation. God the Father poured out His Spirit on prophets who told of the
coming of the Lord Jesus Who alone
can save (Acts 2:1-4). The
Triune God knew from the beginning that man would fall and would therefore need
a Redeemer.
Through Their “determinate
counsel and foreknowledge,” or awareness and agreement (Acts 2:23), the Trinity decided together
on the plan of salvation. They allowed the Word to come in the flesh and to be crucified
to pay all of our sin debt, that all who trust in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15: 1-4) would be delivered from sin and death
into eternal life.
The Messianic prophecy in Psalms 2:2-3 uses plural pronouns when referring to the Lord
and His Anointed Who was rejected by Israel. “Let us break their bands
asunder, and cast away their cords
from us” again emphasizes the role of all Three Persons in this sacrifice.
Perhaps the clearest indication of the distinct yet
unified Nature of the Trinity is Their role in the incarnation. Jesus Christ is
the only begotten Son (Hebrews 1:5-6), of and given by God
the Father (John 3:16), conceived
through the Holy Ghost (Luke 1:35)
Through His taking on human flesh, man would see the image of the
invisible God (Colossians 1:13-15), hear His words, and experience
His healing touch, as we shall see next week!
© 2013 Laurie Collett
