GETTING TO KNOW GOD BETTER

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1. God's Fatherhood

Have you ever wondered why it has to be the Father, Son and His or Him when referring to any member of the Godhead? Why not mother and daughter? Why can't the Holy Spirit be motherly? Why are all the named patriarchs males, scriptural genealogy mostly that of males, the apostles of the lamb males, angels look male (though some of us have personally experienced angels that took up the bodily form of a woman) and most elders and preachers are male?
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I am aware that there is a movement in Swedish churches to remove all reference to gender when referring to any member of the Trinity. I can understand why they want to do that because God is spirit and has no gender except for one important fact. There now is gender in the Godhead because, when Yahweh Son who was spirit became the Son of Yahweh, He took on male form. Yahweh Son, the Word, now dwells in human flesh in the flesh of Jesus. I am convinced that there is neither sex nor marriage in heaven, but when the resurrected Jesus spent 40 days with His disciples He appeared as a male in outer form. Nobody can deny that. The apostles and the women accepted Him as a male, the same Jesus they had known. In the resurrection I am convinced that in our new bodies we shall retain a female or male characteristic about ourselves, but to what extent is anybody's guess. Sex and sexual attraction will no longer be on our agenda.
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Having said that, we remember that God is spirit. Following the resurrection the only flesh in the Godhead is Jesus Himself, fully God and fully man. Knowing that, in our present state, we would not understand heavenly things, God uses Father-Son, headship and marriage analogies; the only analogies we can faintly hope to grasp while we are in our mortal bodies on earth. We shall only truly know Him once we meet Him face to face. Nevertheless, the scripture says that we can know in part.

• 'For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known' (1 Corinthians 13:12).

 

So what can we say? Biologically speaking, males are givers of seed and females are receivers of seed. God uses nature to teach spiritual principles. We are born of women, but the immediate seed comes from the man. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are givers! The Father gives the incorruptible seed, of which we are born, from above.  He gives us the Word. The Son and Holy Spirit are also givers of life and gifts.

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We who receive are referred to in the feminine - we are of His body, but made to be His bride, the church. Just like Eve was formed from Adam's side so the church was formed from His side when the blood and water poured forth. We all participated in piercing Him. We do it daily.

 

Just as in a normal godly marriage we are given opportunity as the bride to initiate certain matters and busy ourselves to supplement, expand and complement the work of the husband - to bring home the fruit of her hands. Like a virtuous wife, described in the scripture, the woman becomes His crowning glory. (Proverbs 12:4; 31:10-31).  Supplementing this analogy the scripture also calls us sons because in love and obedience to the Father, we can offer to God and to one another.

• 'For your Maker is your husband; Jehovah of Hosts is His name and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall He be called' (Isaiah 54:5).

• 'But the Jerusalem from above is free who is the mother of us all' (Galatians 4:26). 'And the Spirit and the Bride say come; and he who is hearing--let him say, come; and he who is thirsting--let him come; and he who is willing--let him take the water of life freely' (Revelation 22:17, YLT).

• 'No one shall appear before me empty' (Exodus 23:15).

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2. His Name: One, yet the sum of all diversity. He is the origin of first love.

When 'I AM' proclaims His name as 'Yahweh' He reveals Himself as One. The Jewish people recite daily the words of Moses, 'Hear Oh Israel. The Lord (Yahweh, Jehovah, JHVH) is our God; the Lord is One' (Deuteronomy 6:4). We absolutely agree. I AM that I AM explains the word Yahweh. I AM is different to the word 'I' in Hebrew. I AM is a single word. When Jesus said I AM in the garden of Gethsemane the arresting crowd fell backwards (John 18:6). Had they really understood they would have run away ashamed of themselves. However, the Father blinded them and Satan because His lamb was predestined to go all the way to the altar to be slain (Acts 4:27-28).

• 'Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand' (WEB, Isa 53:10).

 

When I AM proclaims His name as 'Yahweh Elohim' (LORD God - in Hebrew, KJV) He reveals Himself to be three individual and distinct Persons in one Godhead. Elohim is a plural in Hebrew; one life yet three distinct expressions. The three live in a fellowship of one life and one spirit. 'Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is, and is to come' (Revelation 4:8). Each is holy. That is why 'Holy' is repeated three times!

• 'And God said let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness' (Gen 1:26). In this case the Hebrew word for God is Elohim, the plural. This came from the counsel of the Trinity.

 

The clearest expression of God (Elohim) is when, for a brief  moment in time, God revealed Himself as three Persons during the baptism of Jesus. The Father spoke from heaven, while Jesus was on earth rising from the water, as the Holy Spirit, in the symbolic form of a dove, alighted on His head baptizing Him with the person of the Holy Spirit. What clearer image of the Trinity could one ask for?

• 'And the Holy Spirit came down in a bodily shape, like a dove on Him. And a voice came from Heaven, which said, You are My Son, the Beloved; I am delighted in You' (Luke 3:22).

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Yahweh is the personification of love. They never act independently. Two always honour and offer to the third. For example, the Father and the Holy Spirit gave Jesus to empty Himself. Jesus, now vulnerable and incarnate as a baby, had to absolutely trust the Father and the Holy Spirit to raise Him again to the glory He had before. The members of the Godhead are co-equal in every aspect yet different in expression.

• 'I have glorified You upon the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. And now Father glorify Me with Yourself with the glory which I had with You before the world was' (John 17:4-5).

 

This intimate quality of love is known as First love or Love at the First. It is from this quality of trust and dependence on each other from which the presbytery (angelos) at Ephesus had fallen.

• 'But I have against you that you left your first love. Therefore, remember from where you have fallen and repent, and do the first works or else I will come to you quickly and will remove your lampstand out of its place unless you repent' (Revelation 2:4-5). The lampstand was their source of divine illumination. In the Old Testament tabernacle the lampstand provided the only source of light in the Holy Place. In the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the apostle John Jesus treated each lampstand as the church in a local region.

• Jesus is the light. Even if some semblance of the old tabernacle is rebuilt in Jerusalem it will only become a place of grievous idolatry. The chief role of the tabernacle or Solomon's Temple was the spilling of innocent animal blood foreshadowing the blood of Christ for atonement. 'But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right of God' (Hebrews 10:12).

 

Jesus and the Father are co-equal and in perfect union. Jesus can only do what He sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son does also (John 5:19).

• 'I and the Father are one! ....If I do not do the works of My Father do not believe Me. But if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works so that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him' (John 10:30,38).

 

He grieves over His creation. But, being as Holy as He is, He was unable to come into a corrupt and sinful world to place His comforting arms around us. The presence of such a holy God would reduce us to ashes. The pain of our sins would be unbearable. We would utterly perish. In His everlasting mercy He sent another member of the Godhead in human flesh who could identify with our weaknesses, "For God so loved the world that He  gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" (John 3:16). But make no mistake. The Father is not a 'sugar daddy'. He is a God of wrath towards those who will not repent. Therefore run to Jesus while there is yet time.

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"Therefore, consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off" (Romans 11:22). No member of the Godhead can be trifled with.

 

3. Fellowship with God

We cannot know Yahweh apart from fellowship in communion with God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

• The apostle John began his first letter, 'What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you so that you too may have fellowship with us and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ' (1 John 1:3). It is the Holy Spirit who enables and convinces us to come into fellowship. Our inclusion in this fellowship is the greatest privilege and honour that has been given to Christians. The prophet Hosea declared, 'So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord' (Hosea 6:3).

• Prayer is vital, of course. Jesus recommends we address the Father in prayer just like He always did (Matthew 6:9). Enabled by the Holy Spirit we worship the Father and the Son.

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YAHWEH FATHER

He is the source of all giving and life. He possesses the capacity to set apart from Yahweh other spiritual identities (mankind, the angels) to whom He is able to give gifts. His name describes Himself - He is the giver of life. He desires to multiply many sons to glory. As such, it is impossible for the Father to empty Himself in any way. We are born by Him, born from above, through the incorruptible seed of the word of God via Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus never followed His own will nor did His own works. He only followed the will of the Father. Even His miracles were the works of the Father! 'I must work the works of Him (the Father) who sent Me, while it is day' (John 9:4).

• 'Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and comes down from the Father of lights with whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning' (James 1:17).

• 'You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden' (Matthew 5:14).

• 'And this is the record that God (the Father) has given to us everlasting life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life' (1John 5:11-12).

• 'Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue, through which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises so that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. But also, in this very thing, bringing in all diligence, filling out your faith with virtue and with virtue knowledge, and with knowledge self-control, and with self-control, patience, and with patience, godliness, and with godliness, brotherly kindness, and with brotherly kindness, love. For if these things are in you and abound they make you to be neither idle nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he in whom these things are not present is blind and cannot see afar off and has forgotten that he was purged from his sins in the past' (2Peter 1:2-9).

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YAHWEH SON

He is the full expression of sonship desiring to fulfil the Father's will from before the beginning. Only He can, and did, empty Himself of all His former glory to become the Son of God and make room for us in Him. In the resurrection of the godly and the ungodly, at the final judgement, the Father will only recognize those who are in Him. His Son alone is worthy! Everyone else in the whole universe will be excluded. This is a stark reality that all must learn to grasp because God is Holy.

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Jesus declared Himself to be the one and only doorway by which we can enter for salvation. No one can come to the Father directly and circumvent the Son. We see and come to Jesus first. Jesus help me, save me, we cry! Jesus is our redeemer. Those who try to come to the Father, without the blood of Jesus that was shed for them, will find themselves judged by the Law of Moses (John 5:45). Who can satisfy the law in every single aspect, 24 hours per day, every single day of their lives? This is impossible.

• 'Then Jesus said to them again truly, truly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters in by Me he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture' (John 10:7-9).

• '...be it known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, in this name does this man stand before you whole. This is the Stone which you builders have counted worthless and He has become the Head of the corner. And there is salvation in no other One; for there is no other name under Heaven given among men by which we must be saved' (Acts 4:10-12).

 

God the Son created the universe. The Father couldn't empty to make the space, but God the Son, the Word, could. The Holy Spirit couldn't do it - the Holy Spirit only does what He hears from the Father.

• '....who (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the First-born of all creation. For all things were created in Him, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers all things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things and by Him all things consist. And He is the Head of the body, the church, who is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead, that He may be pre-eminent in all things' (Colossians 1:15-18).

• 'He was in the world and the world was made by Him (or in some translations through Him), and the world knew Him not' (RV, John 1:10).

 

Yahweh Son humbled Himself to become incarnate in the womb of Mary - the Son of Man who could feel all the temptations of the flesh - hunger, thirst, pain, suffering and become exasperated. He became the Father's lamb for our sake. His blood dropped to the ground all the way from Gethsemane where He sweated clots of blood all the way to Calvary. When He became incarnate the eternal Yahweh Son became Yahweh the Son of God. There is a difference.

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A spiritual transaction took place when He poured out His blood for all who would believe on Him. His life that was in His blood is transferred to all who believe. Remember the scripture that 'the life of the flesh is in the blood' (Lev 17:11). The blood is not His life, but His life was in the blood - a subtle difference. The transfer of His life to those who choose to believe is a miraculous spiritual process that continues until the present time.

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At His resurrection He received the power and authority of His former glory. He brought new creation into the heavens. As fully man and fully God He brought flesh into the Godhead. Staggering thought - the triune Godhead was only Spirit before. By faith a further spiritual transaction takes place each time at our communion tables. We must not treat communion just as a ritual of remembrance, as many do.

• 'Then Jesus says to them truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, you do not have life in yourselves. Whoever partakes of My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is food indeed and My blood is drink indeed. He who partakes of My flesh and drinks My blood dwells in Me, and I in him. As the living Father has sent Me, and I live through the Father, so he who partakes of Me even he shall live by Me. This is the Bread which came down from Heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna and died; he who partakes of this Bread shall live forever' (John 6:53-58).

• 'For the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you on the altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul'  (Leviticus 17:11).

• 'But we all, with our face having been unveiled, having beheld the glory of the Lord as in a mirror, are being changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Lord Spirit' (2Corinthians 3:18).

 

Christ also gives gifts. To the church He continually gives apostles, prophets, pastors, evangelists and teachers for the purpose of equipping and perfecting members of the church unto the fullness of the stature of Christ Jesus (Ephesians 4:11-13). Many are being processed.

 

John the Baptist prophesied that Christ is also the giver of the Holy Spirit. Receiving the Holy Spirit is a two-step process. This is illustrated in the experience of the disciples at the time of Jesus and verified by examples set by the apostles in the New Testament. The second step is optional just like water baptism by immersion is optional. Each option is an opportunity to grow further in Christ. Yet those who participate in them consider their experience as growing in Christ.  Who knows how God will look upon those who have wilfully resisted to proceed and grow in Christ?

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Note the first phase which occurs when we are first born from above. The resurrected Christ breathed on them and said to them, 'Receive the Holy Spirit' (John 20:22). From then on the Holy Spirit was with them and in them. The second phase came when He commanded his disciples to stay in Jerusalem until they be endued with power. Ten days later the Holy Spirit fell on them with a great noise and power (Acts 2). This is what John the Baptist referred to when he said 'He shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire' (Mat 3:11). There is an important difference between having the Holy Spirit and having His power. Of the 500 disciples who heard only 120 obeyed and followed through. In scripture, 10 is the number of testing. 120 signifies the end of all flesh. Baptism, in the Spirit, is an unforgettable experience and opens the door to the nine supernatural power gifts of the Holy Spirit. He wants each of us to possess some of them. The apostle Paul exercised at least seven power gifts, if not all of them, according to need.

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We have the assurance of eternal life when we live and have our being in Him. 'Whoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God' (1John 4:15).

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YAHWEH HOLY SPIRIT

He is the sanctifying member of the Godhead. He is the gentle Holy helper (paraclete) and dynamo of God. He alighted symbolically as a dove on Jesus. He sanctifies each member of the Godhead to their unique identities and each member of the body of Christ to their unique identities and expression. The Holy Spirit is the fellowship of Yahweh. He is the one who links us to the fellowship of Yahweh. He never speaks of Himself (just like Jesus who always referred to the Father). His life gives us the capacity for worship and for fellowship. It is because we have received the person of the Holy Spirit that we are able to be joined in one Spirit with each other. The Holy Spirit facilitates the power of God. It is the Holy Spirit who raised Christ from the dead. It is the Holy Spirit who gives the church the nine power gifts. It is the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth. Love is the fruit of the Spirit.

• 'May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all Amen' (2Corinthians 13:14).

• 'However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come He will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatever He hears, He shall speak. And He will announce to you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will receive of Mine and will announce it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore, I said that He will take of Mine and will announce it to you' (John 16:13-15).

• 'But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you He that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwelleth in you' ( Romans 8:11, RV).

• 'Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you'? (1Corinthians 3:16).

 

The nine fruits of the  Spirit are a direct outcome of the divine nature that God cultures in us by the trials and fire orchestrated by the Father through the Holy Spirit.

• 'But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. But those belonging to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts' (Galatians 5:22-24).

• 'Beloved do not be astonished at the fiery trial which is to try you, as though a strange thing happened to you, but rejoice according as you are partakers of Christ's suffering so that, when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy. If you are reviled for the name of Christ you are blessed because the Spirit of God and of glory rests on you. Truly, according to them, He is blasphemed, but according to you, He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief, or an evildoer, or a meddler in the affairs of others. But if one suffers as a Christian let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God because of this. For the time has come for the judgement to begin from the house of God. And if it first begins from us what will be the end of those disobeying the gospel of God? And if the righteous one is scarcely saved where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls in well-doing as to a faithful Creator'  (1Peter 4:12-19).

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TRANSITION FROM GOD THE SON TO SON OF GOD

In eternity, before the Creation, was the Word, in person, as John the apostle explains, 'In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him, was not any thing made that was made. In Him was life and the life was the light of men' (John 1:1-4).

• The book of Hebrews makes it clear that the Father created the universe through His Son, 'Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also He made the worlds' (Hebrews 1:2). 'And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth' (John 1:14). The book of Genesis clarifies that the entire trinity was involved because, in the Hebrew language, Genesis 1 and 2 says that Elohim made the heavens and the Earth. As we have said before, no member of the Godhead acts independently.

• Therefore, before the man Jesus ever was, there was Yahweh the Word. Yahweh the Word became incarnate in Mary's womb to become Jesus the Son of God - fully God and fully flesh - Son of God and Son of Man. The Father Himself testified when Jesus was baptised, 'This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased' (Matthew 3:17).

• Yet the prophet Agur already testified in the Old Testament that God had a son whose name was a mystery (Proverbs 30:34). Only after His emptying and incarnation would God be able to say 'today I have begotten you'. Jesus, as God-man, was a new creation, the first-born, the Seed, the forerunner, the pioneer of all the subsequent spiritual sons of God to come. To summarize: Before the creation there was Yahweh Father, Yahweh Holy Spirit and the Word (Yahweh Son), the only one who could empty Himself for us. So God the Son became the Son of God bringing flesh into the Trinity for the very first time at His resurrection. Therefore, in terms of terminology, strictly speaking God the Son (spirit only) is not the same as saying the Son of God (flesh and spirit).

 

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THE GLORY OF OUR RESURRECTION

• In Him we are raised up far higher than any of the angels in God's spiritual order or ranks of the throne, 'who (Jesus) is at the right hand of God, having gone into Heaven, where the angels and authorities and powers are being subjected to Him' (1Peter 3:22).

• 'and has raised us up together and made us sit together in the heavenlies, in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast' (Ephesians 2:6-9).

 

The New Testament speaks volumes on the glory of our resurrection bodies that will be commensurate with the works of Christ we have done by the Spirit in our flesh. For example, Paul used the varying intensities of light reaching earth radiated by the Sun, the moon and the myriads of bright, and faint stars as analogies of variations possible in individual resurrection bodies (1 Corinthians 15:40-42). We shall reap in heaven what we have sown on earth. See also on the form of our resurrection bodies at   https://www.creation6000.com/my-approach-to-creation

 

The parables of the minas and talents teach the same. Note: the two parables are distinctly different. (Luke 19:13-26; Matthew 25:15-30). Every servant received only one mina, while the number of talents given were according to their ability. The value of a talent was far more than that of a mina. Mina seems to be the lowest common denominator gifted to any individual Christian. An example of the mina may be the simple gift of sharing the gospel of Christ with others, something we can all do. Yet not all Christians do it. I know three cases where some never shared their faith with unbelievers for years and years. I was staggered at a funeral when the minister spoke of the deceased person, with whom I had very close contact for many years, as a devout Christian in their congregation. He knew I was a Christian, but he never once told me that he was too. Importantly, my unbelieving colleagues who attended the funeral of this noteworthy academic didn't seem to have known either. That sort of thing, where one's faith in Christ is rarely, if ever, revealed to the outsider, is perhaps a case of hiding your mina for safety's sake (Luke 19:20-26). The Lord became very angry with this servant.

• 'For whoever shall be ashamed of Me and of My Words the Son of Man shall be ashamed of him when He shall come in His own and in His Father's glory, and that of the holy angels' (Luke 9:26).

 

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THE STAR OF DAVID

The Star of David is our daily reminder of the greatest treasure that God has promised mankind - to be in total fellowship with God. We are not God, but we shall have absolute fellowship with God. This is depicted in the intertwining two triangles that form the Star of David. God is triune and so are we - body, soul and spirit.

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The triangle pointing downwards represents the triune God stooping down to bring us to Himself. The triangle pointing up is that of our body, soul and spirit coming into total fellowship with Him as we are raised up in Christ Jesus. We shall have quality relationship with the Father, and for that reason Jesus is not ashamed to call us brethren!

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We remember that Eve was formed from Adam's rib, from Adam's body, to become Adam's wife. The spiritual parallel occurred when the soldier pierced His side on the cross and out poured blood and water. Seeing this, grace illuminated the Roman soldier prompting him to remark, 'Truly this was the Son of God'. The corporate body of Christ was born by blood and water with Him as the head. We could say that the thief on the cross became the first to die in Christ. We could also say, as did Adam of Eve, that we who believe become bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. That is what communion on Sundays is all about. If you have read my article on the two houses of Israel then you will discover that every Passover meal, the Seder, is actually a symbolic participation of communion with Christ. Amazing - and law-keeping Jews don't even realize what they are doing!