Nobody but God Himself fully understands the Holy Trinity. Certainly, I know very little but my longing for deepening intimacy with God brought the desire to know more about the facts of the Triune Godhead.
Dr. A.W. Tozer – spoke of exploring the sacred wonders of the Triune Godhead. I’m asking the Holy Spirit to reveal to me what I am permitted to know about those sacred wonders. Sacred means set apart – dedicated and inviolable - belonging to God alone. No person or false god or idol or religion has sacred wonders. Just the awesome fact of the Holy Trinity should fill me with reverential awe – wonder – holy fear – trembling reverence. This is holy ground and I dare not be casual. All of us have heard of the inadequate attempt to use H20 as an illustration of the Trinity. Out of the tap – water, freeze it – ice, boil it – steam. All have different functions but all are H20. That is a sort of explanation of 1 being 3 but it doesn’t come close to the sacred wonders and holy purpose of the Triune Godhead or why each Person of the Trinity is so essential to us.
The Bible is filled with the thoughts, words and actions of each individual Person of the Trinity, each One of Whom is very God. Here are just a few of those that immediately jumped into my mind.
I see God the Father walking with Adam in the cool of the evening. I see Him when He asked Abraham to offer His son. I see Him on the Mount of Transfiguration and hear Him declare His pleasure in His beloved Son. I see Him when, with breaking heart, He abandons and curses His Son. I see Him with Jesus sitting at His right hand.
I see Jesus smiling as He lifts the children, one at a time, up in His arms and blesses them. I see Him with His face full of tenderness as He touches an untouchable leper. I see Him on the night He was betrayed, giving thanks first and then breaking the bread. I see Him in Gethsemane – deserted, abandoned, stripped by my sin of eternal life and light, alone as no other could ever be alone, in that deep black pit of loneliness which is hell.
I see Him on a Sunday morning – just beyond an empty tomb – and worshiping. Women are clinging to His nail-pierced feet.
I see the Holy Spirit brooding over the waters in preparation for creation I see Him as He arrives on the Day of Pentecost and with His coming – the birth of the Church. I see Him deciding what spiritual gifts to give to which believers as He gifts every believer for the building up of the church of Jesus Christ. I see Him at the church in Antioch when He told them to separate Barnabas and Saul for the work to which He had called and equipped them.
This is a sacred wonder to me the Christophanes recorded in the O.T. Just to name a few of them. – The preincarnate Christ manifested Himself, taking on human form so He could speak to people and He appeared to: Hagar – (Genesis 16:7-13), Moses - (Exodus 3:2), Gideon – (Judges 6:11-12), Samson`s parents – (Judges 13:2-21), Elijah – (1 Kings 19: 5-7) and Zechariah – (Zechariah 1:10-12).
We can see in the N.T. that the “Angel of the Lord” was part of the O.T. preparation for the Lord Jesus Christ - - Christ the Revealer of God.
Just because all these facts and more are familiar to me, I cannot afford a wonder leakage. I want my wonder tank not just topped up but overflowing. As Dr. C Swindoll said – years wrinkle the skin but a loss of wonder wrinkles the soul.
As I meditate on these recorded facts about the Living God, the High and Holy One, I`m trusting the Holy Spirit to expand my mind with wisdom, knowledge, insight, understanding and experience of precious, intimate growing relationship - - so close that God can share His heart with me. I join my prayer with the prayer of Jesus (John 17:11) Father, that they may be one as We are one. I have mentioned this before but for me it is a tremendous sacred wonder.
In Gethsemane when the blood vessels in His forehead burst – when Jesus was scourged – when He was nailed to the Cross – His precious, priceless Blood ran down and soaked into the earth. That was the payment and guarantee of the Blood Covenant which God made with the earth for full redemption of the whole earth.
I don’t know how far God will allow me to explore the sacred wonders. I do know that the secret things (Deuteronomy 29:29) belong to God and it is dangerous to probe there but that verse goes on to say the things that are revealed belong to us. How can I get the revelation of those things which then would belong to me? Not by human intellect or mental gymnastics – that is for certain sure. Is there any hope for me to learn, to possess the deep things of God? Follow up that verse with another verse (1 Corinthians2:10)
(Amplified Bible) – (By the way, the previous verse is not just referring to our heavenly future, but also to the delight of deepening intimacy now with God). ”God has unveiled and revealed them to us by His spirit, for the Holy Spirit searches diligently, exploring and examining everything, even sounding the profound and bottomless things of God the divine counsels and things hidden and beyond man’s scrutiny.” Of course it’s beyond our human attempts to fathom, but the Holy Spirit searches everything including me. He knows my longing heart and will reveal what I’m prepared to receive. Did you hear that word – bottomless? As we continue on our treasure hunt, there’ll be no end until we get Home. Who knows what sacred wonders are waiting to be disclosed to us – both here and there!
I’m sure you have heard the old quote which is so up-to-date and so important. “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what is a heaven for?”
I had a question in my mind. There is no specific Scripture about it so I tried to brush it aside as not important but it persisted. My question was - - when Jesus rose from the dead, where did He get His clothes? We know that the soldiers (John 19:23-24) gambled for His clothes and took them. We know that Peter entered the tomb and (John 20:6-7) saw His discarded grave clothes. That would leave Jesus naked, or does it? So where did He get His clothes? He was certainly not naked when (Matthew 28:9) the women clung to His feet and worshipped Him – when Luke 24:15) He joined the 2 men on the road to Emmaus – when (John 20:19) He came through locked doors to where the disciples were gathered. So I said to myself, if He could create the world out of nothing, He could most certainly create clothes. But that did not satisfy me at all so I asked the Lord to tell me where the risen Jesus got His clothes. This is what came to me - - see what you think. I’m still in awe and anticipation.
Are you ready for this? With resurrection comes eternal apparel created and fashioned in heaven. Just think about what that means for us when we rise from death or are raptured. When we see Him (1 John 3:2) we’ll be like Him but neither He nor we will be naked. Jesus took His human body to heaven but it was not a naked body. He will change our vile bodies (Philippians 3:21) to be like His glorious body and like Him, we will be wearing our beautiful, eternal clothes individually designed by the Master. To me this is a sacred wonder – a grand surprise which the Holy Trinity planned for us and included with our resurrection. Our inner adornment now can be longing, loving, adoring, wonder-filled gratitude for the transcendent God, the Holy Trinity, Who is always far beyond us and yet as close as breathing and increasingly precious.
I am continuing my conversations with the Lord. When I heard Dr. Youssef mention disasters (Luke 13) my mind took off.
Vs.1 – a man-made disaster. Pilate sent soldiers right into the temple to kill men who were offering animals to be sacrificed to the Lord. Their blood mingled with the blood of the sacrifices and ran down over the holy things. I wonder if these men publicly objected when (Josephus) Pilate brought outrageous Roman standards into the Holy City and when he hung a golden shield inscribed with the names and images of Roman deities in the temple.
Vs.4 – a natural disaster. Eighteen were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them.
Where was God? That is a question we often hear when disaster strikes. People say - - he/she was such a good person. Jesus said that those who died were not the worst of sinners. I’m sensing a sacred wonder of the Triune Godhead right here. No person has ever or will ever die in a disaster except for 2 categories. Those who are truly born again and go straight to heaven – and – those who never would receive Jesus as Saviour and have already determined their eternal destiny. This is Sovereign Omniscience. Listen to what Jesus said – Vs.3-5 Unless you repent you will be lost eternally. God uses every means to call people to Himself. He uses disasters as a wake-up call to mercy and salvation and as a warning of coming judgment.
“We have this moment.”
Let’s determine to use our time currency in a way that will bring rich dividends in the lives of others.
Here is a wonder (Psalms 73:1) says – Truly God is only good to Israel. I can most assuredly say that God is only good to Jennie. Put your name there and be filled and thrilled with wonder that you are so precious and personal to God.
This is a thought that came while I was conversing with Jesus.
Jesus has gone to prepare us a place,
By the gift of God’s grace we shall look on His face,
