Vision Logo Circle
Vision Logo Circle

The Trinity Pt 3

by | Fri, Mar 31 2023

Text size: A- A+

In the last couple of programs we’ve been discussing the Trinity. This is a complex doctrine, it’s not easy to understand and for the Jewish mind it’s incomprehensible. But there are many references in the Old Covenant portion of the Bible that identify the personages that make up the Godhead; The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.

There are many analogies that Christians use to try to explain the phenomenon of the Trinity, all of them are ok in their own way, but they’re not really adequate to demonstrate the supernatural, mysterious entity that is ‘God’. How could any finite explanation or analogy ever be adequate? The fact that God is so mysteriously complex only serves to prove His Deity.

We also began looking at different accounts in the Old Covenant, beginning right with the first two verses of the Bible and we began to see the plurality of God and His distinct identities within the Godhead. We learned about the pre-incarnate Son of God revealing Himself as the ‘angel of the Lord’ and the Holy Spirit just a little bit during the creation account.

Now we’re going to look at some more verses in the Old Covenant that continue to identify these very distinct persons within the Trinity. God the Holy Spirit is seen in other places, He caused people to prophesy and do remarkable feats according to the will of God.

  • He enabled the artisans who were to build the Tabernacle and all the furniture and internal components, He made them especially skillful to beautify the Tabernacle and make it to precise measurements. (Ex 31:3)
  • He caused king Saul to prophesy when the prophet Samuel anointed him to be king. (1 Sam 10:6)
  • Isaiah 61, the prophet prophesies about the coming of the Messiah and how the ‘Spirit of the Sovereign Lord’ will be upon Him to do remarkable things for the people. (Isa 61:1-3)

Is there Old Covenant evidence of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit together?

Isaiah 48:16, God the Son is speaking…”Come near to Me (the Son), listen to this: From the first I have not spoken in secret, from the time it took place I was there. And now the Lord God (the Father) has sent Me (the Son), and His Spirit (the Spirit).”

All three Persons of the Godhead – the Trinity – seen together. But what’s really fantastic about this particular verse is that the entire preceding chapter, you have God the Son speaking in the first person, about Himself and what He has done and then He gets to this particular point and says “the Lord God has sent Me, and His Spirit!” So it’s God the Son speaking the entire time and He continues on for the remaining speech! In verse 12, He even calls Himself…”I am He, I am the first, I am also the last.”

For many, the idea that God predestined His Son to live among men just like them is too much. Was it God’s intention to have His Son actually live in a physical human body amongst His people? This is a real sticking point among Jewish people. First of all, God has promised a Messiah, a Redeemer who would come and save His people, we’ve discussed this numerous times, but is the Messiah the same entity as the Son of God or God manifest in the flesh?

God repeatedly promised that He would come and live among them, in words that bewilder the mind if you aren’t ready to accept the deity of Jesus. He says,

Zechariah 2:10-11, ‘”Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I’ll dwell in your midst,” declares the Lord. “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become My people. Then I’ll dwell in your midst, and you’ll know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.”’

Really…who’s speaking in this passage. The Lord…yes, but the Lord says that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you. This is the Son telling His people, that He’ll dwell among them and that the Father is sending Him. The Lord – the Son – speaking of Himself, speaks as though He is in fact God even while declaring that God is the One sending Him.

The word ‘dwell’ in this passage is ‘sha’kan’ and it literally means to settle down, abide with, to tabernacle with, to reside with. It’s a physical thing, not just a spiritual presence.

Here are some more verses about the Son of God.

Psalm 2:10-12, ‘Now therefore O kings, show discernment; take warning O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son that He not become angry and you perish in the way, for His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!’ 

All of Psalm 2 is fantastic because it shows the clear delineation between Father and Son and how the Father honours and elevates the Son and demands that all the nations and peoples of the earth do likewise or live with the consequences of not honouring Him as He should be honoured.

Proverbs 30:4, ‘Who has ascended into heaven and descended? Who has gathered the wind in His fists? Who has wrapped the waters in His garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is His name or His Son’s name? Surely you know?’

Really…what is His name and His Son’s name?

Here’s one final verse (and there are more that you can look up for yourself).

Daniel 7:13, “I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him.”

The Son was presented to the Ancient of Days – the Father.

This is breathtaking and all these examples are from the Old Covenant. Truly, all Scripture points to the Son and the plan of Redemption that the Father has laid out before and through Him through the empowering and equipping of the Spirit.

So yes, the idea or concept that God is three distinct persons but entirely one entity is a difficult view to accept and can actually be quite bewildering, even to Christians. However, when you take the time just to read the Bible as it’s written, it becomes very obvious that when God refers to Himself, and when He reveals Himself to human beings He does so from God the Father, in the human incarnation of  God the Son by the agency of God the Holy Spirit.

So when Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I Am” He didn’t only equate Himself with God, He was telling the absolute truth.

 

Shalom
Mandy Worby

 

 

 

 

 

 

Based on an article from oneforisrael.org