An Illustration
It is really difficult to look at your glasses (while wearing them) when we are so in the habit of looking through them to take in all the beauty of this world. But for this short essay, we are going to urge you to consider your glasses—even if you don’t wear them!
Continue reading Worldview Matters: Looking At Our Glasses (By Steve Page)
Propitiation. Now there’s a word we don’t hear often enough.
Last post we looked at the importance of first knowing God the Father as the Father in the Trinity. In part 2 we are going to build on that truth and see how this speaks to the wonder of God the Father for us.
The foundation of this truth is clearly expressed in Jesus’ high priestly prayer in John 17
“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” John 17:24 (ESV)
We saw that God the Father elected and gave a group of people to the Son as an expression of His Love. Here we see that God the Son is asking that the elect be treated just as the Son Himself! Jesus wants us to see the glory (the life-giving, overflowing, super-abounding love) that the Trinity shared before the foundation of the world! (See 17:5 as well)
We are promised, by God the Son Himself, to be brought up into the Love that has been shared for all eternity within the Godhead. This is what Peter is getting at when he wrote that God “granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature…”(2 Peter 1.4).
We have a precious and very great promise: to be human partakers in the “perfect triangle of Love”; to be caught in the crossfire of the Father’s love for the Son and Spirit; to experience, in human form, the eternal love-relationship of the Trinity!
Let’s come down from the heights of this dizzying Love for a moment:
How does this look in day-to-day living?
Actually, let’s not come down from the heights of this dizzying Love- Let’s instead see our day-to-day living in light of it! This really changes everything…
We can look at Scripture and see how the Son:
This means that the Son ‘has it made’…and so do all those who are in the Son! Everything that makes up our true identity; everything like our forgiveness, favor, blessing and eternal life- has been purchased by the Son and sealed to us by the Spirit!
The Father, of the Son of God, is now our Father…
to quote the old King James: Believest thou this?
This is the beauty of John 1:12 “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.”
Every benefit that the Son enjoys is a benefit conferred upon those who are in Christ the Son!
The value of your relationships (husbands/wives/sons/daughters/friends/etc) are based upon the glorious success of the Son’s relationship to the Father: priceless.
Your standing before God the Father is not determined by your sin- it is determined by the Son.
The Father bestows his Love upon you- not because you’re as awesome as you think you are- but because the Son is more awesome than you know.
Our hearts should soar with Mary’s when she heard the words from the risen Christ “but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” John 20.17
Wow! The Father is worthy of our worship!
The Trinity
It is a baffling irony that this doctrine is the most important for Christians today and yet it is, perhaps, one of the most neglected.
It can be intimidating to confront (or rather, be confronted by) such a unique, deep, and soul-challenging doctrine as the doctrine of the Trinity. Yet, for the Christian, there is nothing left but to dive in- we must know our God because our God has drawn us to Himself. The simple fact is: we cannot know God if we do not know the Trinity.
The Father in the Trinity is the basis for…the Father for us.
I am posting a two-part series on the Father.
To rightly know the Father for us we must know the Father in the Trinity.
“God is Love” (1Jn 4:8,16) This is one of the most basic truths we know about God. But often it is read in the context of “God is love, and so God loves me and saves me.” While this is true, we are missing a point that is definitional to who God is. God is Love. He has always been Love. He will always be Love. But, how can a God be Love before He created anyone to love? We believe God is one, so how could He love anyone before he made us?
Enter: TRINITY!
Before anything was ever created, the Father, Son and Spirit existed in perfect harmony and unity.
Consider:
To be a Father is, by nature, to be life-giving. It is no surprise, then, that the Father freely chose to create a Universe in which He could bring others into the glorious overflow of the love of the Trinity. The nature of true love is to share in the bounty of love!
Within this “perfect triangle of love” the love of the Father for the Son (through the Spirit) expressed itself by creating a universe in which an elect people could exist.
The elect were chosen by the Father from before the foundation of the world (Eph 1.3-6), they were given to the Son by the Father (John 6.37), they were given the promised Spirit by the Father (Luke 24.49); and through the obedience of the Son and the sealing of the Spirit, the elect will be glorified in eternity (Rom 8.28-30).
This is called “Salvation History” or the “History of Redemption”. The whole sweep of human existence has come about by the overflowing of the love of the Father for the Son in the Spirit. You are here because the live-giving, overflowing, super-abounding love of the Father is being expressed to the Son through the Spirit…all to the glory of God!
When we believe this we realize that our position before God is not dependent upon our performance. God’s love for us is not based upon how good you are. God’s love for you is based on the Father’s love of the Son, and we are sealed in that love by the Holy Spirit.
More on this in part 2, The Father for Us…