Basics 4 The Holy Trinity

[HKHaugan]

Basics 4  The Holy Trinity

        When we talk about God we are talking about the source, the purpose and the function of existence.  Note that is a threesome.  God is a threesome, Father (Mt.3:17, 16:17, 17:5), Son (Mt.28:18-20) and Holy Spirit (Jn.16:13-15, Acts 1:8).  [The way I describe Him: the architect, the manager and the labor force.]  Naturally.  When I say ‘naturally’ it means for every human being, spiritually new, spiritually natural, spiritually normal.  Note that it is the sequence in which they are presented by Jesus in His Word, the Bible. Naturally.  Jesus prays to His Father in the Spirit and teaches us to do the same in His name because everything has a threefold nature. Naturally. 

       Human beings have a mind to think, a heart to process meaning and a spirit to act.  The language we speak has a subject, verb and object structuring our sentences.  We believe, we trust and we do what we believe and trust.  All of Creation has a structure, a process and a life force.  All, a reflection of the threefold nature of God. Naturally.

       Within Creation we are images of the threefold nature of God.  We are persons, individuals with a self-concept, a self-consciousness and a self-motivation (mind, heart, spirit).  All structures in which we participate from family through to business, education and so on, reflect that threefold nature.  They have a leader with a design, a manager who supervises the leader’s design and a labor force that works out the purpose of the design. 

       It is this ‘three-some-ness’ that defines our basic nature.  It is the image of God in us.  Our human problem is basic.  As individuals the spiritual freedom we are given was misused (Adam and Eve) to choose apart from God, apart from the way we were designed.  That is called sin.  Sin is the spiritual infection of self-centeredness that throws our threefold unity out of balance.  Sin isolates, alienates and separates us spiritually within and relationally without. It has been passed on generationally.  By sending His Son Jesus to be the Christ, the One anointed by God the Father to reconnect humanity with Him, every individual’s personal identity can be reborn as His spiritual children through His gift of the Holy Spirit. 

       Every human being is an image of God with a mind, heart and spirit.  Through faith in His Son they become His spiritual children in an eternal spiritual family.  While He chose the Jewish people to reveal Himself, Jesus was not just a restorer of Jewish people. He was a personal revelation of God’s presence to all people as well as all who would ever be born in this world.  Jesus is the Word of God in the flesh. 

       God’s recovery plan is outlined in His written Word, the Bible.  It lays out the purpose, the process and the provision for His restoration plan; how it is to be done spiritually, personally and relationally through faith in Jesus.  Jesus would reveal the Three Persons in One eternal God.  He would offer us a relationship with Him.  It was a threefold plan to restore threefold people to a threefold God, the Holy Trinity.  The threefold guarantee is that Jesus the Restorer is the same yesterday, today and forever (Mt.28:20  Heb.13:8  Rev.1:8).  It would mean prayer was the way to re-establish and maintain this relationship.  It is that spiritual, that personal and that relational.  Prayer employs the mind, the heart and the spirit.  Jesus is the model of perfect presence, perfect dependency and perfect prayer.

       To grasp the concept of perfect is impossible by imperfect human beings.  Perfection has to be revealed by the One who is Perfect.  In the Bible it’s called Holiness.  That is Jesus and all that comes from Him.  As He relates to the will of His Father, we are called to do the same.

        First is His teaching on prayer, the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6.  In it are contained the One to whom we pray, the Father.  Then what we are to pray for, spiritual sustenance for every next moment, that the Kingdom may come and forgiveness may be our companion.  Being that the prayer comes through Jesus it is Jesus through whom we pray.  That is the assurance of getting on the right track in the invisible since the invisible is the area exploited by sin and evil. 

       Second, the Great Prayer in John 17 in which He prays for three things, Himself, His disciples and then all who will believe in the future.  It is a prayer that He may be glorified as an example of what is ahead for those who believe in Him.  It is a prayer for unity with God and for His unity among believers.  It is also a prayer for believers to be made whole through Scripture because as He prayed to His Father, “Sanctify them by the truth, your Word is truth.”

       Third, there is a brief overlooked example of Jesus’ prayer that summarizes an attitude to be embraced in prayer, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done (Mt.26:42).”  We may pray for many things, but God knows what is best in His personal perfect knowledge of each of us.  To yield to Him regardless of circumstance is the key to Him restoring us to Him.  Jesus’ standard of prayer?  Perfect!

       Jesus’ attitude which is His Spiritude in John‘s Gospel:

       “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him (1:18).”

Jesus is obedient to His Father’s will, “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me (John 5:30).”

       “When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, and that I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things. And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him (8:28-29).”

       "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know (John 14:1-4).”

       “Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves (14:6-11).”

       Then in Matthew, “At that time Jesus answered and said, "I thank You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent and have revealed them to babes (11:25).

“All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him (11:27).”

All this done for each us through the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:8. Eph.1:13-14).