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!

Christ the Hero

Man it has been a good minute since I've had some time to sip on some tea and chop it up! I have had a chance to partake a study of Abraham's life in relation to Christ and the gospel. I mentioned it in the last post, going through a rosy book entitled, "Living in the Gap Between Promise and Reality: The Gospel According to Abraham", by Iain M. Duguid. And let me just sprinkle you with this, this book is just one fat beauty of Jesus! I encourage you to check it out; you can cop it here.

Biblical theology is essential to the vitality of the church but also to the health of a believer and his/her understanding and relationship with Christ as seen in Scripture. What I mean is that seeing the Bible as a redemptive story, or narrative account, of Adonai's interaction with His people is tantamount to see the Gospel's in its' fullness; the pinnacle of history.

Luke's account in his gospel is extremely interesting and his introduction of what seems to be a new story actually validates the aforementioned. The Old Testament is alluded to by Luke with many echos in 1:5-2:38, evidencing the continuity of his account of Jesus' birth as one story, the Old and New Testaments, of Adonai's missional interaction with His covenant people. As we will see, Luke parallels the events of Abraham and his life to introduce the narratives proper beginning [of Jesus' mission]: In the past, in Adonai's redemptive purpose as set forth in the Scriptures. Luke therefore is not introducing a new story as many Evangelical Christians see, a dichotomy between Testaments, but an old whose real beginning is the Septuagint.

Chronological and Geo-political markers

"In the days of Herod, king of Judea..." (Luke1:5)

"...in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar..." (Gen 14:1)

Righteousness before God

"They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly..." (Luke 1:6)

"Then he believed in the Lord; and He reckoned it to him as righteousness." (Gen 15:6)

"the Lord appeared to Abram and said...Walk before Me, and be blameless." (Gen 17:1)

Barren Women

"But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years." (Luke 1:7)

"Sarai was barren; she had no child." (Gen 11:30)

Appearance of a divine messenger

"And an angel of the Lord appeared to him..." (Luke 1:11)

"...the Lord appeared to Abram and said to him..." (Gen 17:1)

Promise of a son and instructions to his name

"...your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John." (Luke 1:13)

"..."No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac..."" (Gen 17:19)

Objection to this promise

"Zacharias said to the angel, 'How will I know this for certain...I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years'" (Luke 1:18)

"Then Abraham...laughed, and said...'Will a child be born to a man one hundred years old? And will Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?'" (Gen 17:17)

Report of conception

"After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant..." (Luke 1:24)

"So Sarah concieved and bore a son to Abraham in his old age..." (Gen 21:2)

Removal of their shame

"...He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men." (Luke 1:25)

"...God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me." (Gen 21:6)

The Lord's assurance of His power

"For nothing will be impossible with God." (Luke 1:37)

"Is anything too difficult for the Lord?" (Gen 18:14)

Promise to Abraham remembered

"As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his descendants forever." (Luke 1:55)

"I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly" (Gen 17:2) cf. Gen 15:5, 13-14, 18-21; 17:4-8

Blessing of deliverance

"To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies..." (Luke 1:74)

"And blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand..." (Gen 14:20) cf. 15:13-14

These O.T motifs, or thematic elements, are to introduce us to Scripture as the Lord's great story and how He intends and reveals His marvelous work; to "hear" and appreciate the wealth. But what is more is the way Luke tells his readers the introductory account of the Messiah's birth. Luke 1:34 reads, "Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" Here again is another reverberation of God's doings in the past. Seen in the Scriptures, hero's were born of women who were barren:

• Sarai to Issac
• Rebekah to Jacob
• Rachel to Joseph
• Manoah's wife to Samson
• Hannah to Samuel
• Elizabeth to John
• Mary to Jesus

But what is the connection with all of these barren women and their birth to hero's in God's redemptive story? Sarai, Rebekah, Rachel, Manoah's wife, Hannah and Elizabeth all had husbands to give birth. Not so with Mary. Mary was betrothed to Joseph, young, probably around the age of 12-15 years and a virgin. With no husband to go into her to birth the Son of the Most High, Gabriel responds to Mary's question that, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God...For nothing will be impossible with God." (vv.35, 37). Mary has to be the climax of the motif, in that, she is a virgin - the most barren of the barren women!

Be encouraged. God has been sovereign in His doings as the Alpha and Omega. His story is the greatest and the Messiah, Second Person of the Trinity, is the climax, pinnacle and consummation of all things to this story. Let us see through the lens of the God-Man, the Man Christ Jesus.

Grace and Peace