TRINITY SUNDAY
The most engaging and exhilarating contemplation for the Christian mind is the mystery of the great Three-in- One. A mystery, not in the allegation that it does not make sense, but in the fact that the three-ness or plurality of God can only be known by revelation - his own self-disclosure. The reality of the Triunity of God is a matter of enabled spiritual observation, not of human discernment or acumen or impossible mathematical juggling. The One Lord manifests himself as Three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Throughout the history of his Word, spoken to mankind via prophets, apostles and chosen witnesses, divine speech proclaims God as being internally, essentially, and by nature, a society of three members of the One Godhead, one Being diversified in three personal entities in harmonious communion, will, and action.
Many analogies have been posited to describe the Trinity, but none are exact, nor can our comprehension of the Trinity ever be exhaustive. It is a truth that is known because divine revelation has deigned to make it shown i.e. Creator (the Father), Redeemer (the Son), Life-giver (Holy Spirit). Yet each Person is also collaborative in the shared teamwork actual within the one Deity. This three-ness of God we encounter in Scripture time after time. We glimpse, we intuit, we marvel, we worship, we adore. We believe with heart, mind, and soul because God is close to us in the nearness of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We relate to him in that way. He is in us, and we in him. Revelation, instinct, and experience correspond. We are privileged by grace to know God as he is: our Father Dear; our Elder Brother; our Companion and Counselor. And God in the fullness of his goodness is extremely rich to us in so many ways as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit each sharing the gifts of their common wealth according to their Person and role.
Revelation chapter 1: A survey of this splendid chapter is a magnificent illustration of the life and work of the Triune God. It is worthy of prolonged and prayerful pondering.
vv. 1 - 3. The Lord Jesus is entrusted with a revelation from God (the word of God) which Jesus transmits to John by an angel, and John passes it on to his readers as the testimony of Jesus Christ. This reveals the entwining of minds between the Father and Son in the picture language of source and messenger, proposer and prophet par excellence.
v6. Our Redeemer is associated with the author of our salvation and receives acclaim due to God alone. He “has made us to be a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen”.
vv 9 - 10. Again, Jesus is associated in special intimacy with the word of God as its expression, reference is made to the Lord’s Day as an appropriate time for divine connection, and that occurs through the Holy Spirit: “On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit.”
vv. 12 - 16. John goes to some length to relay details of the majestic vision he receives of the Lord Christ. All the terms he employs to describe Jesus are due only to God and speak of the divinity of the Son.
vv. 17 - 18. Jesus is characteristically humane to the stunned apostle, comforting him with his right hand of effectual blessing, and assuring him of life perpetual as divine Lord and Benefactor. “I am the First and the Last - the Living One. The word of God pulsates with Trinitarianism.
RJS
The most engaging and exhilarating contemplation for the Christian mind is the mystery of the great Three-in- One. A mystery, not in the allegation that it does not make sense, but in the fact that the three-ness or plurality of God can only be known by revelation - his own self-disclosure. The reality of the Triunity of God is a matter of enabled spiritual observation, not of human discernment or acumen or impossible mathematical juggling. The One Lord manifests himself as Three: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Throughout the history of his Word, spoken to mankind via prophets, apostles and chosen witnesses, divine speech proclaims God as being internally, essentially, and by nature, a society of three members of the One Godhead, one Being diversified in three personal entities in harmonious communion, will, and action.
Many analogies have been posited to describe the Trinity, but none are exact, nor can our comprehension of the Trinity ever be exhaustive. It is a truth that is known because divine revelation has deigned to make it shown i.e. Creator (the Father), Redeemer (the Son), Life-giver (Holy Spirit). Yet each Person is also collaborative in the shared teamwork actual within the one Deity. This three-ness of God we encounter in Scripture time after time. We glimpse, we intuit, we marvel, we worship, we adore. We believe with heart, mind, and soul because God is close to us in the nearness of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We relate to him in that way. He is in us, and we in him. Revelation, instinct, and experience correspond. We are privileged by grace to know God as he is: our Father Dear; our Elder Brother; our Companion and Counselor. And God in the fullness of his goodness is extremely rich to us in so many ways as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit each sharing the gifts of their common wealth according to their Person and role.
Revelation chapter 1: A survey of this splendid chapter is a magnificent illustration of the life and work of the Triune God. It is worthy of prolonged and prayerful pondering.
vv. 1 - 3. The Lord Jesus is entrusted with a revelation from God (the word of God) which Jesus transmits to John by an angel, and John passes it on to his readers as the testimony of Jesus Christ. This reveals the entwining of minds between the Father and Son in the picture language of source and messenger, proposer and prophet par excellence.
v6. Our Redeemer is associated with the author of our salvation and receives acclaim due to God alone. He “has made us to be a kingdom of priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen”.
vv 9 - 10. Again, Jesus is associated in special intimacy with the word of God as its expression, reference is made to the Lord’s Day as an appropriate time for divine connection, and that occurs through the Holy Spirit: “On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit.”
vv. 12 - 16. John goes to some length to relay details of the majestic vision he receives of the Lord Christ. All the terms he employs to describe Jesus are due only to God and speak of the divinity of the Son.
vv. 17 - 18. Jesus is characteristically humane to the stunned apostle, comforting him with his right hand of effectual blessing, and assuring him of life perpetual as divine Lord and Benefactor. “I am the First and the Last - the Living One. The word of God pulsates with Trinitarianism.
RJS
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