When you think of the Lord Jesus Christ, how do you envision Him? As a radiant figure shining brighter than the sun, or as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief? Do you see Him smiling with little children on His lap, or casting out the collectors of money in the temple? As a man walking amongst His creation, or as High Priest seated beside the Father?
“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” (Heb. 1:3)
Hopefully you see Him in all those ways, and many more, because in Him all things exist, and so in a sense, we should be able to see Christ in everything. Now, do not misinterpret me here, this is not some existentialist nonsense, since He does hold everything together in this sense He is in all things, but He is constrained by nothing of His creation. The important question is this, when you see Jesus do you see God?
I believe most people have at least a little difficulty here, they see a hierarchical order, God the Father, then under Him and in subjection to Him the Lord Jesus, and then, as almost an underling, the Holy Spirit. Nothing could be further from the truth, but it is impossible for the human mind to comprehend the Trinity, there are no words in any language to make this truth known to us. That order, so to speak is manifest in our minds with verses like Psalm 110:1, “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.”
“For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.” (John 6:38)
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;” (John 14:16)
But then we read, “I and my Father are one.” (John 10:30)
“No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.” (John 10:18)
I believe, and I mean no offense to God or anyone else, that we have been given as much as our finite minds can comprehend, the words Father and Son, in itself, infers that hierarchical order, yet Israel spoke the truth when they cried, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:” (Deut. 6:4) Three in one, separate yet the same.
Inconceivable to us.
We pray to God through Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, by three indistinct deities, yet these three are one. We follow the Lord Jesus Christ to the glory of God by submitting to the will of the Holy Spirit, yet they are one. Millions of words have been written over the centuries on this subject and not one person has ever been able to define it properly, and this short letter will not do so either.
What we have been given in the Scriptures is all we need to know, and so by faith we accept as much as we are able to bear, as much as the Holy Spirit offers us, and we accept what we are given as truth.
My friends, how you envision Jesus Christ is how you see God. Jesus Christ parted the Red Sea, the Holy Spirit led them through the wilderness, God died on that cross for you. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1) Here is what I have for you, the just live by faith, but those who have been justified will see the Truth with their eyes, and that sight will be something to behold, will it not?
