WEEK 1 Elohim
Read Matthew 28:17-20 "When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
If you were to list all the important items in this Great Commission, you would most certainly list evangelism, discipleship, missions, baptism, God's presence and authority, the end of the age... but how many would say "the Trinity". It is assumed throughout the Bible but never mentioned by name. Yet it is in the background (or foreground) throughout the Old and New Testament. Here we see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and the word "name" in front of them, not "names". Three yet one. When we look at how the Christian faith has defined the trinity (and as different as all the denominations are, they all concur) it is summarized in The Baptist Faith and Message; " The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being." In the Westminster Confession; "In the unity of the Godhead there be three Persons of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son."
How can we make sense of this. The following links http://www.trinity.la/trinityinnature.htm and http://fervr.net/bible/is-the-trinity-like-h2o-an-egg-or-a-triangle give some examples like eggs, water, colors, sun, time, etc. but suffice it to say none are nearly adequate. Imagine living in a chalkboard. You are a 2 dimensional person - height and width relating to other blackboard people - how I don't know because you wouldn't be technically able to see them because they have no depth or thickness. But assuming you can, someone from outside the board puts the bottom of a coke can flush against the board. What would you see? A circle only. If the person outside said, "no, it is a cylinder", you would have no concept of what they are talking about! This is how it is with God and the trinity. We can't even comprehend the thought because we are finite and God is so "other". Don't you love it that the God we worship is so great that there are things we don't understand! No wonder man made religions don't believe the trinity. What else would you expect?
Another example in scripture of the trinity is at Christ's baptism but the one that I want to focus on in the remainder is Genesis 1. When you look at Genesis 1:1,2 and join that with Col. 1:16 we see God the Father, the Spirit hovering, and Jesus creating. The first name for God revealed to us is Elohim which has a plural ending - him. In Genesis 1:26 we see God say, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness..." Note the plurality - us, our. Even from the beginning we see the trinity. To be made in His image is to be triune - body, soul, spirit. Animals have a body and soul but no spirit. We are different from them because we didn't evolve - we were created. Lets look at this part of the name Elohim and conclude looking again at the trinity.
Elohim can be described as the one yet triune strong God, Creator, Judge,King, Lord, Savior. He is the capital G God over all small gods. We see this illustrated in Acts 17:22-31 where Paul enters Athens and is distressed by all the small g god's idols. Paul said that he represented The God over all these gods. They were worshipping the god of the ocean, Paul says let me introduce you to the God who made the water. They were worshipping the god of the sun, he said let me introduce you to the God who made the sun - and so on.
So what, what does that mean to me? Well, first of all, you aren't an accident. You have a purpose, a future and meaning. You are God's workmanship (Eph. 2:10) so if you don't like what you see take it up with God. You are His work of art. When he got done creating us, He rested. That doesn't mean He was tired, but the "rested " word means He looked at us and said, Aaah, perfection. I'm done. http://www.thoughtsfromtherightbrain.blogspot.com/2011/12/kids-devotion-self-image.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5l1zxoCOmY
Secondly, Elohim created Ex Nihlo (out of nothing). Even the big bang had to start from something. If God made this whole universe out of nothing, then your problems, which seem to have no solution in sight, can easily be solved by a God who can create something out of nothing. If anything gets God chapped, it is when we doubt His power. (See Sarah who laughed and the mute Zechariah) Don't stress - "Be still and know that I am God"
Third, you have an owner - He made you, He owns you. Thus you have an owners manual! http://www.thoughtsfromtherightbrain.blogspot.com/2014/09/object-lessons-5-minute-devotionals-to.html
Lastly in the same light, "formless and void" alludes to waste or a garbage dump. God can take the garbage dump of your life and turn it into something beautiful. He can take your darkness and turn it into light.
In closing, we see that Elohim gives our life meaning but it possibly also explains what we are made for. Tim Keller has a heavy message on this from John 17 called "The Glory of the Triune God" and if I could summarize (which I adequately can't) it goes something like this. Jesus in John 17 gives us some insight into what the trinity is like before He came to Earth. He says that He was glorifying the Father and the Father was glorifying Him. He was loving the Father and the Father was loving Him. He was serving the Father and vice versa.Nabeel Quereshi in his book "Seeking Allah and Finding Jesus had a breakthrough in science class as he, a vehement denier of the trinity had this moment of clarity;
"… The professor was teaching rarefied science, describing the subatomic world. At that level, things happen that make no sense to those of us who conceptualize the world at only a human level. Even the apparently simple idea of atoms is baffling when we think about it. It means that the chair I am sitting on is not actually a solid object, innocently supporting my weight. It is almost entirely empty space, occupied only in small part by particles moving at incomprehensible speeds. When we think about it, it seems wrong, but it’s just the way things are in our universe. There’s no use arguing about it.
I turned my glance away from the other students, concluding they had not blindly accepted a nonsensical concept. They had just realized before I did that there were truths about our universe that do not fit easily into our minds.
My eyes rested on the three separate structures of nitrate on the wall, my mind assembling the pieces. One molecule of nitrate is all three resonance structures all the time and never just one of them. The three are separate but all the same, and they are one. They are three in one.
That’s when it clicked: if there are things in this world that can be three in one, 3even incomprehensibly, so then why cannot God?”
In light of that, Imagine an atom with the parts all circling around each other in a magnetic field. Then picture the trinity - the three parts revolving around each other through all eternity worshipping, loving, serving, glorifying each other in ultimate joy. Why did God create us? Because He was lonely? No, he had complete fellowship through all eternity. Because He needed someone to love? No, He had complete love thru all eternity. Because He needed worship? No, He had that, too. Then why? Maybe because God wanted us for all eternity to enter that "magnetic field" , that revolution of joy with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Not that we become part of God or Gods ourselves, but rather that circle of joy for all eternity found in worshipping, loving, serving, glorifying Him. And that begins now. If that's what we are designed for, doesn't it make sense that we would get the ultimate fulfillment out of life now doing those same things? And if all believers are going to be joining us in this, shouldn't we be loving and serving one another now?
What's in a name? Hopefully Elohim means a lot more to you now. Meditate with this song by Phil Wickham https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjfi8p_7axg
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