Experiencing The Glory of the Holy Trinity:
Part 2: Jesus, God the Son in the O.T. & N. T.
Through the incarnation of the LORD God in Jesus Christ we get the clearest revelation of the Trinitarian nature of God. We believe in the Trinity by Faith in God’s General as found in His Creation (see Part 1), and God’s Special Revelation as found in His Written Word – the Holy Bible and His Living Word – the LORD Jesus Christ. God will always be Transcendent to us because He occupies a dimension that transcends the 3 dimensional world of our Humanity. God’s Trinitarian Nature is not 3 separate parts but a Transcendent Unity. God’s Divine Nature is indivisible. He has no parts but is single in His unitary being. As Deuteronomy 6:4 says:
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD.”
JESUS & GOD THE FATHER ARE 1 GOD NOT 2
Jesus said: “I & my Father are one” (John 10:30). To know Jesus is to know God (John 8:19; 14:7). To see Jesus was to see God (John 12:45; 14:9). To hate Jesus is to hate God (John 15:23). To honor Jesus is to honor God (John 5:23). To believe Jesus is to believe God (John 12:44; 14:1). To receive Jesus is to receive God (Mk. 9:37; John 1:12-13). Why? Because the LORD God & LORD Jesus Christ are 1 God. Isaiah 44:6 says: “Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God. (see Isa. 48:12 with Rev. 1:17-18).
THE PROGRESSIVE REVELATION OF GOD
We learn a lot about God in the O. T. but behold His glory as never before in the Person of Jesus Christ (John 1:14; Col. 1:19; 2:9). “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18; Matt. 11:27). “Declared” is our English word “exegete” {to lead out; to unfold}. Jesus fully “declared” God by His Words & His Works!
“Jesus being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, [Jesus is GOD] and upholding all things by the word of his power, [Almighty] when he had by himself purged our sins, [Redeemer] sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” [LORD] (Hebrews 1:3)
IMPORTANCE OF PROGRESSIVE REVELATION
There is a progressive revelation of all the great doctrines of the Bible. What at first is only hinted at, is gradually unfolded in other parts of the Bible, until the truth is revealed in its fullness. In the same way there is a progressive revelation of God in Christ throughout the New Testament. At first the Disciples questioned: “What manner of man is this, that even the winds & the sea obey him!” (Matt. 8:23-27). Later Peter confessed: “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Mat 16:16). After the resurrection Thomas said to Jesus: “My Lord & my God.” (John 20:28). Ultimately Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom 1:4). The progressive revelation of God in Christ climaxes in the Book of Revelation with Jesus revealed as “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS” (Rev. 19:16). The Book of Revelation Perfects our understanding of Jesus (2 Cor. 4:6). “Though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more” (2Cor. 5:16)
AS REVELATION INCREASES OUR EXPERIENCE OF GLORY INCREASES
“We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2Cor. 3:18). The greater the glory of Christ we behold, the greater our transformation (I John 3:2).
“Progressive Revelation” leads us to Look for God the Son in the O.T.: “… the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee” (read Psalm 2). When Jesus was baptized the Spirit of God descended upon Him And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:16-7).
Proverbs 30:4 says: “Who hath ascended up into heaven (Acts 1:9-11), or descended? (Eph. 4:7-10) who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? (Mk. 4:39-41) who hath established all the ends of the earth? (John 1:1-3) what is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?
At this time in History the Son’s name was not yet revealed… but now we know the Son’s Name is Jesus, the great “I AM” (Ex. 3:14) “Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I AM.” “Then took they up stones to cast at him” (8:58-59). They were required to do so if Jesus wasn’t really God – Leviticus 24:13-16)
The Divine Son & human child revealed in the O.T. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: & his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
The LORD is called “the mighty God” in Isaiah 10:20-21!
God the Son enters the world by the virgin birth. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, & bear a son, & shall call his name Immanuel (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:21-2). “Immanuel” means “God [El] with us.” The Divine Son takes upon Himself our Humanity. “And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).
The virgin Birth is essential for Christ’s sinless humanity. He had no earthly Father so was born without a human sin nature like all of us (Rom. 5:12). Thus the Only begotten Son of God is Absolutely Sinless in His Humanity! “In Him is no sin” (I John 3:5). Jesus “did no sin” (I Pet. 2:22). Jesus “knew no sin” (2 Cor. 5:21). Jesus never had a sinful thought! The Holy sinless “God was manifest in the flesh…” through the virgin birth (I Tim. 3:16). Through the Holy Spirit our LORD became “the God-Man” not “God & man.”
Today, many believe the Greatest Threat to Christianity will be attacks against the Deity of Jesus Christ. So Jesus asks each of us a question to which we must have the right answer to be Saved (John 8:24). “…But whom say ye that I am?” (Matt. 16:15-17). The Apostle Peter knew the right answer: Do you?
What does it mean when Jesus says He is the Son of God? He was revealing the fact that He was God manifest in human flesh! In John 5:18 the Jews sought to kill Jesus: “because he said that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.” The Jews told Jesus they wanted “to stone Him for blasphemy; because thou, being a man, makest thyself God” (John 10:33; also John 5:23; 8:19; 12:45; 14:9-11; 15:23).
JESUS DID WORKS THAT ONLY AN OMNIPOTENT, GRACEFUL, LOVING CREATOR GOD COULD DO!
Jesus said: “If I do not the works of my Father, believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works: that ye may know, and believe, that the Father is in me, and I in him.” (John 10:37-38). Jesus challenges us: “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake” (John 14:10-11).
Jesus did things no mere human being could do! Jesus turned water into wine; walked on water; calmed a storm with a word; cleansed the lepers; healed the blind, deaf, and lame. Jesus fed 5000 men with 5 loaves of bread. Taught the most exalted moral teaching the world has ever known. Jesus cast out demons, exposed religious hypocrisy, raised the dead & finally rose Himself from the dead (John 2:18-22).
His Words & Works Prove beyond any reasonable doubt, He was God almighty manifest in human flesh!
The Bible Irrefutably Reveals Jesus is the Creator God. John 1:1 says “In the beginning was the Word, & the Word was with God, & the Word was God. All things were made by him; & without him was not anything made that was made” (Jn. 1:1-3). “The Word was made flesh, & dwelt among us, (& we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace & truth. (Joh 1:14; see Col. 1:14-17)
Here We list some of the many Scriptures that clearly Reveal the Holy Trinity of Father, Son & Holy Spirit Together in Unity (Matt. 3:16; 28:19; Mk. 1:9-11; Lk. 1:35; John 1:32-34; 14:16, 26; 15:26; Acts 2:33; Romans 1:1-4; 8:9-11; 2 Cor. 3:17-18; 13:14; Gal. 4:6; Eph. 1:17; 2:18; 4:4-6; 5:18-20; Phil. 3:3; 2 Thess. 2:13-14; Titus 3:4-6; Heb. 9:14; I Pet. 1:2; I John 5:6-7; Jude 20-21; Rev. 1:4-6, 9-10).
Many Living Truths flow out from the Eternal Unity of God the Father & God the Son to transform our lives:
- It is impossible to truly know God without a relationship with Jesus
Christ: Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, & the life: no man cometh
unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6; Acts 4:12)
- We Learn what God is truly like by studying Jesus. God does not
cause particular sufferings – Jesus reveals God as “the God of all
comfort” (2 Cor. 1:3-4)
- Injustice, poverty, racism, sexism, abuse of power, violence, disease
all bothered Christ. Through faith in the Trinitarian God we will make a difference in our World today; And some day every wrong & evil will be eliminated in Christ’s Glorious Kingdom! (Rev. 21:1-5)
- We can learn to live in Loving Harmony in the Diverse Community
of Mankind. God is in eternal community, a radically other-centered loving relationship. The Father’s focus: Look at my amazing Son ! (Matt. 3:16-17). The Son’s focus: Look at My Father. (John 17:1; Matt. 5:16). The Spirit’s focus: Look at Jesus. (John 16:13-15). The Trinity empowers us to Focus on Others. We learn from the Trinitarian God the essence of life is not to be self centered but other oriented (Phil. 2:3)
- Faith in the Trinitarian God will have a huge Impact on Our
Relationships because The Trinity is a society whose members draw their identities from the others: The Father wouldn’t be the Father without His relationship to the Son. He could be God but not “Abba Father.” I discover my true identity as a Child of God by learning to live in community with other children of God in His Church Family.
- Servant hood is a glorious thing. For at the center of Creation is a Trinitarian God whose 3 Persons continually lovingly serve each other.
When God in Christ came to earth He came as a Servant (Mk. 10:43-45) to empower us to be happy servants. (Gal. 5:13-14; 6:2; John 13:14-17)