The Father (Jehovah) - The Son (Jesus Christ) - The Holy Spirit
From a man's perspective, does he really understand our fears, our doubts, our pain, our struggles? Does he understand what makes us sad and what gave us joy? Does he know who we are inside, deep within? Does he know what makes us tick?
And so, in his great love and mercy, God became man, born of a woman, grew up as a carpenter's son, lived a life that of a common man. In his earthly life, Jesus showed that though he was awesome in power (as he showed by the fantastic miracles he performed), he was kind, loving, compassionate, merciful and forgiving (as he showed in his healing of the sick and the crippled; deliverance to the demon possessed; forgiveness of sins - as experienced by the woman caught in adultery; and resurrection to the dead - able to transform a morbid sinful life into a new life in him.). He taught us that he understood our shortcomings, as we see in his warning to Peter of his coming betrayal, yet after it happened, he forgave and restored Peter as the head of the Church. He showed that he was patient and forgiving when he answered Peter that he should forgive someone 70 times 7 (until forgiveness became second nature to him) to Peter's question if forgiving someone 7 times for their wrong was sufficient. He never raised his hand nor his voice against his tormentors as he was tortured and punished for crimes he had never committed. He came so we would have someone to identify with - a man - with our qualities (yet sinless). We read in the John 17:26, as Jesus prayed to his Father, "And I have revealed you to them and will keep on revealing you. I will do this so that your love for me may be in them and I in them." Here was a God who made it possible for man to relate to him.
Christ's earthly ministry was limited to the geographical bounds of the regions he was born and lived - the towns of Israel and Judah. But the Gospel or the good news of salvation was for the entire mankind. Following his death, resurrection and ascension to heaven, his Holy Spirit was sent to earth to indwell in men and women, his disciples, who were commissioned by Christ to spread the good news. With the Holy Spirit in them, the disciples will now have the power, strength and resolve to go into the world to witness what they had seen and heard, and thus do the ministry of Christ without tiring. They would need a supernatural power, a power from God, and so Jesus the man had to return to his Father God and send his Holy Spirit to be with man forever, to enable God's servants and disciples to do the work of the ministry - spread the message of salvation to all mankind across the world. Christ the man was there in body with a few (when compared to the billions and trillions yet to come) who witnessed him as God, and for all to know about him, see his redeeming love and saving grace, his witnesses needed to go out in his power to proclaim his good news.
Jesus explains this connection to the next phase, the arrival of the Holy Spirit, in John 16:7-11, " But it is actually best for you that I go away, because if I don't, the Paraclete (the counselor, the comforter, the encourager, the advocate) won't come. If I go away, he will come because I will send him to you. And when he comes he will convince the world (the entire humanity - no longer geographically bound) of 1) its sin, 2) God's righteousness, and 3) the coming judgement. The world's sin is unbelief in me. Righteousness is available because I go to the father (as our high priest, our go between) and you will see me no more. Judgement will come because the prince of this world has already been judged." The Message of salvation to the entire world through the power of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus acknowledges to the disciples that there is so much more he wants to reveal to them, but it would be an overload. The truth will be revealed in its due time. We read in John 16:12-15, "Oh there is so much more I want to tell you, but you can't bear it now. When the Spirit of Truth comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not be presenting his own ideas; he will be telling you what he has heard. He will tell you about the future. He will bring me glory by revealing to you whatever he receives from me. All that the Father has is mine; that is what I mean when I say that the Spirit will reveal to you whatever he receives from me."
Following his crucifixion, death and resurrection, prior to his ascension to heaven, Jesus told his disciples, "But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere - in Jerusalem, throughout Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
Satan can no longer point to man and say that he has a God who does not understand him. A God who sits way up in heaven, on a high and exalted throne, surrounded by millions upon millions of angels worshiping him, carrying out his commands; a God so detached from all the despair man faces. A king disconnected from his subjects. Satan was once before successful in tricking Adam and Eve in to sin, convincing them to eat the fruit that God had forbidden them from eating. His ruse then was that if they were to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they would surely not die, but have their eyes opened with the knowledge of everything good and bad, just like God. Man fell for it. After Christ's birth, life, death on the cross and resurrection we no longer have an excuse that this God cannot relate to us and our dire circumstances.
This is the time for the works of the Holy Spirit. I want to quote a preacher I hear on the radio on Sundays, "Soon and very soon there will come a day, when time will be no more." Are you ready to meet your maker? Dear friend, do not turn a deaf ear to the message of Salvation through Jesus Christ. I would love to see you on the other shore. I pray for God's grace that I will complete this race and reach that destination. May God's grace be with us all!
Following his crucifixion, death and resurrection, prior to his ascension to heaven, Jesus told his disciples, "But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere - in Jerusalem, throughout Samaria, and to the ends of the earth." (Acts 1:8)
Satan can no longer point to man and say that he has a God who does not understand him. A God who sits way up in heaven, on a high and exalted throne, surrounded by millions upon millions of angels worshiping him, carrying out his commands; a God so detached from all the despair man faces. A king disconnected from his subjects. Satan was once before successful in tricking Adam and Eve in to sin, convincing them to eat the fruit that God had forbidden them from eating. His ruse then was that if they were to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they would surely not die, but have their eyes opened with the knowledge of everything good and bad, just like God. Man fell for it. After Christ's birth, life, death on the cross and resurrection we no longer have an excuse that this God cannot relate to us and our dire circumstances.
- Does this God relate to the common folks? Jesus, the Son of God, was born in a manger (where cattle was kept), grew up a carpenter's son, lived and carried out his ministry among the common people.
- Does this God understand hardship? A carpenter's son, he had to work for a living until his ministry started at the age of thirty, for definitely he was not born into a family of wealth. He endured all things like any man.
- Does he understand pain? Oh, how much more than you and I would ever know. Deserted by all he loved, betrayed by the one he trusted, denied by one of his closest, rejected by the ones he came to save, accused of wrongs he did not commit, whipped raw until his flesh tore from his back, tortured and taunted, and finally crucified like a common thief. Does he know pain?
- Does he understand separation and loneliness? Father God turned away from the cries of his son on Calvary's cross, forsaken for our sins.
- Does he have compassion for mankind? there was not a leper, a sick, a prostitute, a destitute that he did not care for to restore. There was not a cry for help that he turned a deaf ear to. There was not a broken heart that he did not mend. He willingly took the punishment for man's sin and with his blood purchased a pardon for us all
This is the time for the works of the Holy Spirit. I want to quote a preacher I hear on the radio on Sundays, "Soon and very soon there will come a day, when time will be no more." Are you ready to meet your maker? Dear friend, do not turn a deaf ear to the message of Salvation through Jesus Christ. I would love to see you on the other shore. I pray for God's grace that I will complete this race and reach that destination. May God's grace be with us all!
Hillsongs - Open my eyes
Because he live by the Gaithers
