May 11 I Thursday

2 Kings 13-14

John 2

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”    —John 1:1

In the New Testament, we see all three persons of the Trinity come together in one single act, though in three distinct roles, at Jesus’s baptism. All at the same time, the Son was in the water, the Holy Spirit descended on Him in the form of a dove and the voice of the Father spoke from heaven, “You are My Son, whom I love; with You I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11). Although Scripture provides few examples of occasions like this, Jesus’s teachings also express that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are together and distinct. For example, when Jesus gave His disciples the Great Commission, He said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...” (Matthew 28:19). Notice that Jesus did not say, “baptise them in the names of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit” but “in the name”—singular—of the Trinity.

       In Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, he says “...be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:19), “...attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13) and “...be filled with the Spirit...” (Ephesians 5:18). Is Paul talking about one fullness or many? One, because our God is one. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is the same as being filled with Christ, and to be filled with Christ is to be filled with God, and so on. These terms are interchangeable. Scripture has a particular emphasis when it speaks of one over the other, but it is all of one fullness.

       Although the Trinity is essentially a New Testament revelation, the Old Testament foreshadows the Trinity. We find it already in the first chapter of Genesis when God created human beings: “Then God said, ‘Let Us make mankind in Our image, in Our likeness...’” (Genesis 1:26). The word “God” in that verse is a plural noun—Elohim—meaning “Gods.” The pronoun used in God’s speech is also in the plural. Similarly, when Isaiah received a vision of God in the temple, he heard God ask, “...And who will go for Us?” (Isaiah 6:8). Not the singular “Me” but the plural “Us.” This is not like the royal “we” commonly used by the British monarch. The Hebrew kings in Scripture did not speak in this manner. When God speaks in the plural, it is a reflection of the Trinitarian nature. May we recognize the oneness of the Trinity, receiving the fullness of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as we worship the Almighty Three in One.

Prayer: Elohim, fill me with Your fullness that I may worship You in Spirit and Truth. Thank You, Lord.