The Best of Both Worlds

Psalm 4:8

It's funny how the most unlikely things get the wheels turning in my little head. I was listening to a local classic rock station, and some song lyrics reminded me of how wonderful our Jesus is and how wonderous His love (Jude 1:24).

When we leave this world and enter into the next, we are promised absolute peace and safety. While we are still in this world though, we are promised something different (John 16:33).

Christ Jesus left us with ways to experience peace and joy in the midst of our troubles (Philippians 4:4-7). He gave us His peace (John 14:27).

I am looking forward to the day that there are no more days. Just us and our Father and King in eternity, as we were meant to be (Revelation 21:1-6).

Thank You, Father, for the tribulation that drives us closer to You. Thank You for leaving us with a peace that cannot be understood and a joy that cannot be extinguished and for the hope that is in Christ Jesus.

God is AWESOME!

Three in One

Deuteronomy 6:4

My wife and I had a conversation about the trinity the other night that lead to some very good questions. Questions like what is the trinity? and is there one God in three Persons or are there three separate entities who are as one?

I believe in the Triune God (one God in three Persons). God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Not, as some (I believe) false teachers assert, three separate entities.

Jesus was born from a virgin, just as the prophet Isaiah said (Isaiah 7:14). Isaiah said that He would be called Immanuel, which means God with us (Matthew 1:23). So, Jesus is God wrapped in flesh (John 1:1 and John 1:14). It had to be God who came, because there was no other sacrifice pure enough to cover all of the sins of all the world (Exodus 12:5). He had to do it Himself, just like when God swore an oath, He would swear by His own name, because there is no higher name by which to swear (Isaiah 45:23 and Jeremiah 22:5).

So we see that the Father and the Son are one and the same (John 10:27-30 and John 14:6-9).

What about the Holy Spirit? Many people think the Holy Spirit is solely a New Testament person. That He didn't arrive on the scene until the day of Pentecost. Not true. The Holy Spirit, or the Spirit of God, has been around as long as God, because He is God. He is spoken of many times throughout the whole bible. In Exodus, Bezalel was filled with God's Spirit (Exodus 31:2-3). King David was filled with the Spirit of God from the day he was anointed king by Samuel (1 Samuel 16:13). And John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit before he was even born (Luke 1:13-15).

We worship one God in three persons, otherwise, we would be idolaters (Exodus 20:2-3).

Difficult to understand? Yes indeed! Our God is eternal, He has depths that are unsearchable by fallen, finite minds like ours (Isaiah 55:8-11). But that is the wonderful thing about how God operates. The more we obey, the more we search, the more we meditate on His word and pray, the more of Himself He will reveal to us, the stronger He will make our understanding of who He is.

God is AWESOME!