The Mystery of the Trinity

Nathan Adams · Tidal Church Moncton · May 28, 2023 · Spirit series

Nathan Adams looks at Jesus' baptism and the throne room scenes in Revelation to show God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, a mystery of life and love. He invites us to share in that flow and hear the Father's delight in us.

More from Nathan Adams · The Spirit series

Topics: Holy Spirit, Identity, Worship

Transcript

[0:00] God is the great mystery, a flowing river of life and love who invites you to dive in. Today I'd like to enter with you into that mystery of God. But did you know that if you take the letters G-O-D and put them backwards, you get dog, my great theological insight for you. Now, most times when people say God, the amount of enthusiasm in their voice is less than when they say you got a new dog. And I don't think it's because people are inherently disrespectful. I think it's just because when they see a dog, they can give that little dog a scratch around the collar and feel that dog with her fingers. And God's just a lot harder to get our minds around because we can't see Him and we can't touch Him.

[0:51] And so sometimes the word God falls flat. Another reason that that word can fall flat is that if we are so blessed to actually experience God spiritually or mentally, and we get swept away in a revelation of God's glory, the moment is actually just too big for our minds. The reality of God is so awesome, so true, so real, so tangible that everyday reality is exposed as less real. But our minds have been trained by everyday reality and to it they quickly revert back to the humdrum experience of life.

[1:41] And a kind of spiritual amnesia can then set in on us as we can't hold on to that glory of God that we experienced. And that's why it's so important to mark spiritual experiences. If God's Spirit overwhelms you in a worship service, nail it down somehow in surrender at an altar or by coming for prayer or by sharing with someone what God has done, if God reveals Himself to, if He answers a prayer, write it down in a journal. Do you realize that much of what we read in the Bible is just what people wrote down when God showed up. Now, when God led His people Israel into the promised land, He did an amazing miracle, a memorable one.

[2:34] Israel was on the eastern side of the Jordan and they were ready to come in to expel some extremely wicked people from a land that God was going to give them, the promised land, and they had to cross the Jordan River. No big deal. I grew up in twirled. There's a place called the Salmon River, you just walk across, right? Except during flood season when the river comes up and almost takes out the bridges, right? Well, the Jordan was in flood season and had filled the plain and swept out, and there was no crossing that. God says to Joshua, send the priests down with the ark of the covenant to the edge of the water. And as those priests come down and their toes touch that water, a great miracle happens.

[3:26] The waters start to pile up upstream like a wall's been constructed across there and they pile up and the water in front runs away until all there is is dry ground. And the nation and armies of Israel march across and begin to take possession of the promised land from some extremely terrified inhabitants. Now what God is this that can do such things? And if you think the Bible's unbelievable, it continually affirms that it is indeed unbelievable because Joshua said, we gotta take 12 stones out of the middle of this river that used to be under the water, and we have to set them on the land and make our little a nook shook so that in years to come, we'll remember that the promised land wasn't a given.

[4:18] It was a miracle. And our children and their children will realize that this is fantastic and we will have marked it and we will not forget it. My friends, God is the mystery of all mysteries that blows our minds, and we are limited and finite. So our small minds quickly run out of resources to comprehend the unlimited, infinite God. You see, we are in one space and one time at a time. And so our minds begin to break down under the idea of a God who is present all at once in all spaces and all times in eternal glory. And when the one God shows up, human speculations about Him are instantly exposed, exposed as idolatry that has ridiculously minimized who God actually is.

[5:17] The prophet Isaiah had a revelation of God. He said, who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand or with the breadth of His hand marked off the heavens, who has held all the dust of the earth in a basket or weighed the mountains on the scales and the hills in the balance, who can fathom the Spirit of the Lord or instruct the Lord as His counselor? Surely all the nations are like a drop in a bucket and they are regarded as dust on the scales. He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. And another prophet, Habakkuk, said, the Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him. And we do fall silent before the glory of God because human words just begin to run out.

[6:10] An amazing Swiss theologian named Karl Barth said this, he said, only God can reveal God. And he was meditating on John chapter 1 where it says, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God. And with God. And then the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. And we saw His glory, the glory of the only begotten. Only God can reveal God. Have you ever talked to someone and they had a real, they were trying to share something that was really complex and you wanted them to bring it down to your level? Well, that's what God did. He brought Himself down to our level. This is so important for our lives today because if we don't get this one central fact right about God, then our entire lives will be off center, lacking the harmony and symmetry or an order that they were designed to have.

[7:11] But you see, when God, the great mystery of all mysteries, begins to disclose Himself to you, the rest of the mysteries of life begin to make some more sense. Repeatedly in Proverbs and again in Psalms, it says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, the reverent respect due to an awesome God. That kind of fear is the beginning of wisdom. And if you can get that right in your life, you will have a foundation for getting everything else right, both now and for eternity. And we see that God, the Creator of all life, becomes our pattern for living. But when God became flesh, a startling pattern in God Himself was revealed.

[8:03] Jesus was beginning His three-year ministry that would end in His death and His resurrection for our sins. And He began by going to that same Jordan River that God had dried up for Joshua, excuse me, a thousand years before or more. And He went with the people of Israel because the people of Israel were going back to the Jordan. There was a prophet named John who was calling the whole nation to repentance. They were remembering who God was and who they were. The amnesia was beginning to lift and Jesus went down with them and He stepped into that water of the Jordan and said to John, baptize me to fulfill all righteousness.

[8:51] And this is what Jesus would do for His whole life. He would fulfill the righteousness that is lacking in you and me. And He would bring humanity to be holy the way God designed them to be. But watch the incredible pattern within the very life of God that is revealed when Jesus is baptized. In Mark 1:10 it says, and just as Jesus was coming up out of the water of baptism, He saw the heavens splitting apart and the Spirit descending on Him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven. You are my dear Son, in You I take delight. Do you see it?

[9:37] Can you see Jesus bursting up outta that water in the same way we see baptismal candidates a few years ago, a few weeks ago, excuse me, bursting up outta the water? Can you see the heavens open? The Spirit descending, the voice of the Father saying, you are my Son and You I take great delight. And in that moment we see three persons who are distinct, but are all the one God, God the Father speaking, distinct from God the Son being baptized, distinct from God the Spirit descending to anoint Jesus with power for His ministry. It is a three-in-one pattern of life, acting, and identity that we see all through Jesus' life.

[10:30] And we celebrate even today in the pouring out of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Now, there are many examples of New Testament scriptures calling Jesus God and calling the Spirit God. But for me what is more impressive than the proof text is the actions of Jesus in doing things that only God could do for forgiving sins, ordering storms to be still, receiving worship. They all reveal a pattern of one God in three persons: Father, Son, and Spirit, a pattern we call the Trinity. And this pattern has absolutely profound significance for you and I right here and right now. First though, you need to understand that there are many people in history who have had a problem with this doctrine of the Trinity. You see, if I see three persons, I see three individuals. I don't see one, but in God we see three persons who is one, and it blows their minds, it stretches them. We can't fully comprehend Him.

[11:43] And so in history, Islam hit the easy button, said, I don't want this Trinity thing, it's too hard. I'll just take one God. We've always had splinter groups from Christianity that have denied that Jesus was fully God or that the Holy Spirit was fully personal. Others have looked at Scripture and said, okay, look, I can't deny it, that we see this Father, Son and Spirit at work, but maybe that's just God within time. Maybe that's just some modes of existence that God was using, the one God. And if we got behind how He acts in the incarnation, in the ministry of Jesus, we would see that it's just one God, not three and one.

[12:28] Would you agree with me though that a true mark of greatness in an important leader is that they are the same in private as they are in public? Would you agree with me? In the seventies, President Nixon appeared to be a good person based on his public speeches and warm handshakes. But then the Watergate tapes came out in 1972 and the world heard private recordings from a man revealing that he was actually corrupt, racist, and foul mouthed. God does not present Himself in public in a way that is fundamentally different from who He is in private.

[13:14] If God reveals Himself in this world as Father, Son and Spirit, if Jesus in sending the people out in the Great Commission says, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, then that's because God Himself has always been a Trinity and always will be. And we see this in John 17:5, where Jesus says to the Father, Father, glorify me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began. Thank You, God. This does not mean that we know exactly what God is like in eternity.

[14:03] He's the incredible mystery. But it means that the pattern that we see in the disclosure of who God is through Jesus Christ is not just God acting in our world, but a picture of who God always has been through all eternity. You see the pattern in the Scripture that we just read says, Father, glorify the Son, but there's other Scriptures before and after it, and we see that, that the Son's gonna glorify the Father, or the Spirit's gonna glorify the Son or the Son's gonna glorify the Spirit. The three are glorifying one another over and over and over again. It's like a circulation of flow from the Father to the Son, to the Spirit, to each other and back to the Father again.

[14:57] It's incredible. And in fact, there is a scripture that gets us behind the scenes a little bit of time and history and lets us see God more clearly in who He is in Himself from all eternity. It's the book of Revelation. Now, you might have found a few of the things that we've been talking about trippy so far. It's about to get psychedelic because that's what Revelation is. And lemme tell you on the side, I've never been once tempted to do drugs in my whole life because once you've seen the glory of God, drugs are a pale and poisonous imitation. Amen. But as we look into Revelation, we see this dazzling vision of God, full of metaphors and symbolism that are designed to lift up our minds and our souls into the awesome mystery and beauty of God.

[15:54] In the very first verse of Revelation, it says, this is the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's the purpose. And so there's this dazzling vision of Jesus in all His heavenly glory and power. And then in chapter 4, we get to go into the throne room of God and we're gonna, we're gonna look at this throne, okay? So what I want you to do is we go through a few Scriptures is keep your eye on the throne. Who's on the throne? What's going on in that throne? Keep your eye on it, but also let the imagery and symbolism cause your imagination to soar because that's what it's designed to do.

[16:40] So John wrote, at once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne, and He who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. Around that throne were 24 other thrones. And seated on the thrones were 24 elders, clothed in white garments with golden crowns on their heads. We sang about it. From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder. And before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there were, there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal.

[17:28] And in Revelation, these seven spirits or seven flames represent the Holy Spirit and the fullness of the presence of God in the Holy Spirit. The passage continues. I can't read everything to you at once, but we see that also there's these four great living creatures who represent all the creation around the throne. And it says that day and night they never cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come. And then in chapter 5 it says, then I saw in the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne, a scroll written within and on the back and sealed with seven seals.

[18:14] And I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? And this scroll represents the purposes and decrees of God for His creation, which had been frustrated by sin. Have you ever been frustrated? And no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to look into it. And I began to weep loudly because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or look into it. And then one of the elders said to me, weep no more. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that He can open the scroll and its seven seals.

[19:03] And then between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain, with seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. This is the Son. This is Jesus, anointed by the presence of the Holy Spirit. He's both the ferocious lion and the vulnerable lamb. And then Jesus, and then the Son, and then the lamb went and took the scroll from the right hand of Him who was seated on the throne, and He opened it. Then I looked and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders, the voice of many angels, numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands.

[19:54] And they were saying in a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing. And then I heard every creature in heaven and every creature on earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all that is in them, saying to Him who sits on the throne and to the lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and might forever. And the four living creatures said, amen. And the elders fell down and all worshiped. The throne of God is so fascinating. God the Father's on the throne, the Holy Spirit is symbolized as the seven flames along the front of the base of the throne. And then the lamb who is slain, the Son, emerges from the crowd of worshipers. He's one of them, but He's also God, human and divine.

[20:52] He's alive, but He was slain and still has the scars. The scars are being sacrificed for your sin and my sin so that He might overcome sin itself. And He and the Spirit and the Father together are worshiped by all of creation. In the next throne scene in Revelation, in Revelation 7:17, we see that the lamb is in the midst of the throne. This is a weird throne, isn't it? It's crowded, but He's in the exact place of the Father, the throne of God. It features the Father, the Son, and the Spirit.

[21:39] And it repeatedly appears in the rest of the book. If you get to chapter 20, you'll see that each person who has ever lived, including you and me, will stand before that throne at the end of time to receive God's judgment on our lives and to see most importantly of all and definitively whether we have allowed our names to be written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Do you know Jesus today? It says, Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it, and from His presence earth and sky itself fled away, and there was no place found for them before God. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and the books were open. But then in we get into Revelation chapter 21, good news, there's only 22 chapters.

[22:34] God recreates the universe to be the eternal home of righteousness. And He who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Then down just a couple more verses, in verse 9 of chapter 21, we see this vision of what believers in Christ will be like. They're gonna be like a heavenly city coming down to earth, like a radiant bride united to her husband. An angel described it to John. He said, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the Holy City of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. Has anyone noticed that?

[23:36] We heard that God Himself had that appearance of jasper. You see, believers are now glowing with the very glory of God. It's amazing. And in chapter 22, we see the final vision of the Trinity on the throne. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. This imagery of a river or spring of living water was used by Jesus.

[24:23] Often in John 7:39, He says, it's a symbol of the Holy Spirit. So now, can you see it? It's the throne of the Father and the Son, and the Spirit is flowing out from that throne, and it's going somewhere. It's going out to you and me, to believers, that they may drink in the very presence of God in their lives. Here is this flow of God's own life and love flowing out to us. We're told to drink. We're not just worshiping God for all eternity. We are sharing in His life and love. The flow of the Trinity now flows into us, and God is opening Himself up to us to share in all His joy, all His delight, all His glory and splendor, because God is the great mystery, a river of life and love who invites you to drink Him in, to dive in. And then verse 4 of chapter 22, "They will see God's face, and His name will be on their foreheads, and night will be no more.

[25:34] They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever." That's weird. They will reign. You mean the little people will reign? You see, I thought thrones were for someone to dominate others and be better than. But instead, God uses His throne to pour Himself into you and me and anyone who'd receive from Him. We will reign. I mean, we're never gonna be God, don't worry about that. But we're gonna share in God's very being, being partakers of the divine nature, as 2 Peter says. And God will reign and rule, not just over us, but with us, through us, allowing us to delight in who He is forever and ever.

[26:29] Amen. Some of the most incredible experiences with another human being in this life are when someone opens up to you, and you open up to them, and you really just see each other, know each other. But what will it be like when God opens up to us? Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13, "Now we only know in part, but then we will know fully, even as we are fully known." So, do you remember this pattern of God that we saw at Jesus' baptism, the Father speaking and the Son submitting, the Spirit coming down and anointing Him?

[27:19] Did you know that God is now inviting you into the flow of His own life by joining the Son's position in that flow? You too can depend on the Father. You too can be anointed. You too can be led into a life of repentance and righteousness by the Jesus who went right down into the river with us to help us. And so we have this amazing opportunity. And now, because we are participating in the life of God, because the Son Himself has opened up a little position for us. Do you know that those words that the Father spoke now apply to you?

[28:05] "You are My son, you are My daughter. In you I take great delight." I hope you'll stand with me here for a moment. We're going to enter into worship. Would you stand? Because here's the amazing news, my friends, we might get a glimpse from Revelation of what the glory of God will be like in the future, but we don't need to wait until heaven to begin to be caught up in this amazing flow of God's life and love. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3, "And we all, here and now, with unveiled faces, are reflecting the glory of the Lord, and we're being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

[28:56] It's from the Lord, who is the Spirit." Right here and right now, God is saying to you, "I take great delight in you." A month ago, we heard an amazing sermon from Debbie Currie about prayer. And I asked her afterwards how she felt while she preached, and she said, "I could just feel God's delight on me the whole time." Can you feel that delight? As we move into a time of worship now, I pray that you will sense the life of the triune God opening up to you. I pray that you will be swept up into His glory, that you will know the God who is love in His core, a relationship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, that you will hear His delight in you.

[29:42] That the presence of Jesus will be beside you, helping you to depend on the Father, that you will feel the Spirit fall upon you. And I pray that you will seize this moment and you will worship Him with hands high, or knees bent, and you will be lost in God, in the great mystery, a flowing river of life and love who invites you now to dive in. And so we close with Revelation 22:17. "The Spirit and the bride say, 'Come.' And the one who hears says, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come, and let the one who desires take of the water of life without price." Let us worship this God now.