Tis' So Sweet Thy Comforts Of Thee

God the Father, God the Son, God the Spirit - God three and yet one. The doctrine of the Trinity has troubled and will trouble Christians and their understanding of the existence of the Triune God-Head. How is God One yet Three distinctly different 'Persons'? I have heard it often taught within the greater institutional Church as the God-Head being such as the three distinct forms of H2O; ice, water and water vapor. Yet, this comes far short of comparison and often can be associated as heresy because while God is manifested in the Son, so not does the Father and Spirit take leave of being ever present.

Troublesome. Be patient with me.

Let us not be troubled by our lack of understanding in His identity. He does make us known by His Spirit. According to the Scriptures, I found that it is best displayed in the way we read the Scriptures and interpret what God has put forth in His word. Let's take for example the apocalyptic literature found in the Bible. What is apocalyptic literature? It is defined as a revealing of 'end-time' events. Most notably, the books of Daniel and Revelation concern their teaching with eschatological, or 'end-time', prophesies and revelations; hence the name of the book, Revelation.

Within these books, it has sadly scared away many Christians because of all the visions that the writers of these books see and quite frankly, these books have also been avoided because of all the confusion often associated with these visions. Can you relate? Have you ever been disturbed about people teaching of end-time happenings and found heavy burdens laid upon you because of your lack of understanding into what the writers are trying to convey to the listeners? I know I have.

Because Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah and John (Revelation) all have these "visions" of what they see and hear, a ton of symbolism takes place into interpreting what these visions are. For instance, listen to how some of these writers tell of their visions. Read aloud:

• Daniel 7:2-4, 15: Daniel said, "I was looking in my vision by night, and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea. And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and make to stand on two feet like a man; a human mind also was given to it...As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me."
• Jeremiah 1:11-13: The word of the Lord came to me saying, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said, "I see a rod of an almond tree." Then the Lord said to me, "You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it." The word of the Lord came to me a second time saying, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north."
• Ezekiel 1:4-6: As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire. Within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this was their appearance: they had human form. Each of them had four faces and four wings.
• Zechariah 1:8, 9: I saw at night, and behold, a man was riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees which were in the ravine, with red, sorrel and white horses behind him. Then I said, "My lord, what are these?" And the angel who was speaking with me said to me, "I will show you what these are."
• Revelation 19:11, 12, 19: And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself...And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army.

John makes it clear that in the midst of these visions that he is hearing and seeing he is "in the Spirit" (cf. Rev 1:10, 4:2, 17:3, 21:10). Just as these visions were seen and interpreted to him by the Spirit of God, so it is for us when we see and hear the Scriptures. In our hermeneutical working of understanding, interpreting and applying the Scriptures to our lives it is:

1. God the Father who speaks the Word
2. God the Son who is the Word
3. God the Spirit who interprets that Word

How sweet is it that Jesus Christ has not left us as orphans! "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you". "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever". "But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you  into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. (cf. John 14; 16:13, 14). So to many times we tend to hear people pray, or even ourselves have this understanding, that the Spirit of God leaves us. We may ask for the Spirit to come into this place or to come fill us but the truth is, He will "never leave us or forsake us". Rather let us pray that the Spirit may fill us with His Word and disclose the truth of Him to us.

It is Jesus, God manifested by His Spirit, who dwells in us - comforting us and disclosing to us the truth of the Scriptures. How sweet the comforts of the Triune God who loves His children.

Be encouraged Fam!