Trinity Sunday (27 May, 2018)

1 + 1 + 1 = 1

In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.  Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew.  And one called to another and said: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"  And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke.  And I said: "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"  Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar.  And he touched my mouth and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for."  Isaiah 6:1-7

A Psalm of David. Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.  Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.  The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the LORD, over many waters.  The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty.  The voice of the LORD breaks the cedars; the LORD breaks the cedars of Lebanon.  He makes Lebanon to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.  The voice of the LORD flashes forth flames of fire.  The voice of the LORD shakes the wilderness; the LORD shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.  The voice of the LORD makes the deer give birth and strips the forests bare, and in his temple all cry, "Glory!"  The LORD sits enthroned over the flood; the LORD sits enthroned as king forever.  May the LORD give strength to his people! May the LORD bless his people with peace!  Psalm 29

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!  "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?"  "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"  For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.  Romans 11:33-36

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.  This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him."  Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God."  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?"  Jesus answered, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit."  Nicodemus said to Him, "How can these things be?"  Jesus answered him, "Are you the teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?  Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know, and bear witness to what we have seen, but you do not receive our testimony.  If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you heavenly things?  No one has ascended into heaven except he who descended from heaven, the Son of Man.  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.  
(For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.)"  John 3:1-15

Some things just refuse to be understood.  The Trinity is one of those things.  One God, yet Three Persons.  Coeternal and coequal.  Not made, but having made all things.  Not multiple gods, or a hierarchy, though with an order of authority.  It is almost like a mental Chinese finger trap: the more you work at it, the more "trapped" you get.

The Trinity is one of those "its not in the Bible" things that is, actually, in the Bible.  Granted, the word is not.  The word was made to describe the truth taught in the Bible.  But the Triune God is seen throughout Scripture.

"In the beginning..."  Right there, in the first sentence of the Bible is the Triune God.  The Father, who we confess as Creator, is there, with His spirit hovering over the deep, and He spoke the Word which creates.  The Father, the Word, which is the Son, and the Spirit, who was sent at Pentecost.

We see this Triune God again in the temple.  Isaiah was granted a view into the throne room of God.  There, God the Father sat on His throne before the trembling prophet.  The Word of God was proclaimed to Isaiah, declaring the prophet to be cleansed.  The Spirit of God filled the prophet to go out and speak the truth.

It is this Spirit which brings us to faith in Christ.  Without Christ's atonement in our place we cannot approach the Father.  And the Father loves us.  That is why He created the universe, placed us in it as stewards, and gave us the Law to live by.  And because we corrupted the creation by breaking the Law, He sent His Son to redeem us.  And having redeemed us, He provided the Spirit to give us the peace that passes all human understanding.