THE GODHEAD:
Although not explicitly mentioned, the essence of the Trinity has always been present in the Hebrew Bible. The word "Trinity" was used to describe the essence of who God is - for us humans to understand. The word does not need to be explicitly written in the bible to show that this relationship between the three persons within the trinity existed.
Example: An example that loosely describes what I mean, is the word "gaslight". Gaslighting is a term that has been only around for about the last 100 years, however, the action existed years before that. The creation of this word does not mean that "gaslighting" only began within the last 100 years. It only gave us humans a way to describe the action in a way that makes sense to us.
The Old Testament characters were trying to understand who God was, and this was only possible through what God had shown them.
God had purposely hidden His plans from His people, and as much as we humans claim to know, some of God’s plans remain hidden (Deuteronomy 29:29).
Ligonier Ministries explains this perfectly, "Our Creator has revealed some things to us about His plans, attributes, and character, but He has not told us everything. God has hidden some things from us, and He will hide some things from us for all eternity, if for no other reason than we are finite and cannot ever fully comprehend an infinite being. We can know the Lord truly—He is not wholly other but has made us in His image (Gen. 1:26-28). Nevertheless, we will never know Him fully. The distinction between Creator and creature will always remain."
Humans will never fully comprehend the magnitude of God’s plans and mysteries - and before Jesus came, who He was, was one of them.
Jesus was a revelation of who God was, He was a visible image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15).
Even though this plan was specifically made for us and had been thought out from the very beginning, Paul explains that the mystery of who God is, and His revelation through Christ was previously hidden - 1 Corinthians 2:7. Paul goes on to further explain that IF they (the Jews and Romans) had known and understood who God/Jesus really was, then they would not have crucified him.
THE OLD TESTAMENT APPEARANCES:
The Old Testament characters knew that NO ONE could see God the Father and live. Even to God's own prophets, God would not reveal His face. When Moses asked God to show Him his glorious presence, God accepted but emphasised that no one may see God and live (Exodus 33:19).
Then how is it possible that many of those who did see God, did not die?
Abraham spoke to three men by the Oak Grove, who told him that Sarah will give birth -Genesis 18:1-15 and the angel of the LORD appeared to Abraham, as he was about to sacrifice Isaac and stopped him - Genesis 22:9-18.
Moses spoke to the angel of the LORD who appeared in the burning bush, - Exodus 3:2-22
Hagar saw the angel of the LORD in the wilderness, who told her to go back home and call her child Ishmael - Genesis 16:7-14
The angel of the LORD appeared to Manoah and his wife, who were Solomon's parents. The angel of the LORD told them that they will have a child - Judges 13:3-23
When we read the above stories carefully we can see that "The angel of the LORD" or the ordinary "men" were the ones that appeared to Abraham, Moses and Hagar. Then why do we say that God spoke to them when the messenger who appeared was a man or an angel? Well, we can see that as the angel/men speak to these characters, instead of speaking as a messenger of God, they speak as YAHWEH - God himself. At the beginning of Genesis 18, we clearly see in the story of Abraham that "The Lord appeared to Abraham" and similarly to the other character, as the angel of the LORD begins to speak, he speaks as God. Further to this, all the characters also affirm they had seen God and therefore were expecting to die after this encounter.
So how then, was it possible for these people to claim they had seen God, and for this angel to take on the voice of God if they hadn't seen the Father's true form?
CHRISTOPHANY:
They saw God in flesh - the second person of the Godhead - Jesus. This is known as a Christophany.
As the second person of the trinity, as he is God, He was able to make himself known to these characters without revealing Himself in His unmediated glory - this is in line with all bible teaches; that no one can see God face to face and live (Exodus 33:19).
No one can see God in His unmediated glory and live, but you can see the mediated glory of God. This is why John 1:18 says, "No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father's side, has made him known."
The Father is revealed in His Son, and the Son being the radiance of Father's glory, and the Son being the exact representation of God's being, and sustaining things by his powerful word (Hebrews 1:3) allowed this manifestation to be possible.
It is important to note the difference in the encounter between Moses and God in both His mediated glory (Exodus 33:12-23, 34:5-35) and His unmediated glory (Exodus 3:1-22). In the unmediated glory of God, in Moses' first encounter (and the others' encounter with the angel of the LORD), we do not see any changes in the appearance of their faces, however, in His full glory and presence, even when Moses did not see God face to face, his face became radiant because he had directly spoken to the Lord.
A Christophany is a pre-incarnate manifestation of Jesus. The Old Testament characters were not able to distinguish who Christ was, because God had not made this known to them. As Ephesians 1:9 says "God has now revealed to us his mysterious will regarding Christ—which is to fulfil his own good plan. ", this emphasises that God's plan was previously hidden from the Israelites and the people of the Old Testament and only now as we look through the lens of Christ, can we see His presence and manifestation in the Old Testament.
IN THE BEGINNING:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." John 1:1-2
"The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us." John 1:14
Jesus has always existed, even before He appeared in flesh. He has always been present with the Father.
John 17:5 clearly indicates Jesus' close relation to the Father from the beginning of time. As Jesus speaks out, he asks the father to "bring me into the glory we shared before the world began". This emphasises the existence of Jesus before virgin birth in the New Testament.
As John 1:1 says "the Word" - Jesus:
Existed in the beginning
He was with God
He was God
These verses lay out plainly that Jesus is uncreated and eternal. Before there was a beginning He was there. He is God. His deity and divinity are summarised in these few verses.
Jesus repeatedly mentions throughout the gospels that he is going to "ascend back to the father" and if he is ascending back, then he must have descended first from the place where it originally resided.
Another significant phrase Jesus says is “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). This verse holds mighty force and power. As David Guzik puts it, " With this dramatic phrase Jesus told them that He was the eternal God, existing not only during the time of Abraham but before unto eternity past. Jesus claimed to be the great I AM, the voice of the covenant God of Israel revealed at the burning bush (Exodus 3:13-14)." Jesus was there, even before the Patriarch of the Israelites was born. The Jewish leaders had perfectly understood what Jesus had meant from this statement - he was proclaiming to be the eternal God and they were prepared to stone Him to death there and then because they regarded that as blasphemy.
When Jesus uses the I AM statement, He is referring to the same words that were used to Moses in the burning bush. "God said to Moses, “ I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘ I AM has sent me to you.’ ” - Exodus 3:14. He was using the clear divine title which belonged to Yahweh, therefore, Jesus was both announcing His deity to the Jews and explaining his presence in the Old Testament scriptures.
THE SPIRIT OF GOD:
The Spirit of God had many roles in the Old Testament, which proved to be only by the power of God. The Spirit of God:
Had a role in creation - Gen 1:2, Job 26:13
Came upon believers - 1 Sam 16:13, Judges 3:10,
Offers service and gifts - Exo 31:1-6, Num 27:18, 1 Sam 10:10
The Spirit of God coming upon His people in the Old Testament was His presence being made known to them without diminishing the fact that his presence still resided in the heavens. Although the Spirit is God, it is separate from the Father. And just as Jesus is both uncreated and eternal, so is the Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit is God because it encompasses all the attributes of God. The bible continuously reminds us that the Spirit is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent and eternal - all the attributes that only God possess. Therefore we can say with confidence that the Spirit is God (The Third Person devotional, Calvary)
The Spirit is God - His Spirit specifically dwelt upon individuals whilst He himself, the Father, still resided in heaven.
We see the similarities in both the Old Testament and New Testament in the role of the Spirit. The only major difference is the way the Spirit dwelt on believers. The old Testament speaks about the Spirit coming "upon" people whilst in The New Testament, the Spirit indwells in all believers. However, in both scenarios, the Spirit changes and transforms the person He comes upon.
During Jesus’ baptism, we see the alignment of the Trinity - The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit come together in union. The Spirit of God manifested in bodily form like a dove, the Father's voice was heard and the Son was baptised. The Spirit of God is not typically seen and similarly to Jesus, expresses and manifests itself in a tangible form when needed. We see a similar presentation during Pentecost, as the apostles receive the Holy Spirit which appears like tongues of fire upon each believers' head. Furthermore, as Jesus prepared to ascend back into heaven, he gave this command to His disciples "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit" - Matthew 28:19. This was the Great Commission. As we can see in Jesus' words, before he left and ascended back to heaven, he makes a final remark on the three persons of the Trinity. Again in this small verse, he highlights the unity within the trinity, this is signified by the use of the noun "name" not "names" when introducing the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. At this point, God fully reveals who He is to us.
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