LIFE IN THE TRINITY

Before human history, God already decided that his triune life would be expressed in the man Jesus within human history. So the purpose and meaning of all our history is found in this one man.  For this man is the whole content of God’s eternal decision before human history fulfilled within human history.

But the Triune God stands not only behind history, not only in history, but also ahead of history.  From eternity, the triune God is Lord of the future.  From eternity, God moves human history forwards into the future of his own new world in which we will be gathered fully into the Triune communion of love.

In the present, God gives his Spirit to us as the deposit guaranteeing our future inheritance as children of the Father in union with the Son.  In the Spirit we cry, “abba Father”, as dearly loved children, until we enter fully into our inheritance.  We are actually enjoying God’s future in our present moments.  And as we live and move in the presence of the future our eyes are fixed on the future horizon of God’s new world in which God will make His home with us.

In the Spirit we look backward to God’s original decision-God with us and for us in Jesus, the elect man. In the Spirit, we look onward to God’s coming in the coming of Jesus, the new man, the man who is God. We look on towards this new horizon in sure expectation that when he is revealed we shall appear with him in glory because this is God’s eternal decision.

Before time began, God decided that his triune life would unfold in the man Jesus. And so, all history moved towards this particular man. God’s entire intention is Jesus.  For in the man Jesus God becomes all he ever wanted to be in relationship with us.

• When God came among us, as Jesus, he became who he always wanted to be, God with us as one of us.
• When God gave up His Son to death on the cross he became who he always wanted to be, God for us bearing our judgement in Himself.
• When God raised Jesus, as the new man, he became who he always wanted to be to be, God in union and communion with this new man and us, as new humanity, in him.
• When God comes again, in Jesus, as the final event of history, he will become who he always wanted to be, God making his home with us in his new world forever.

In all these ways we might say, God arrives.  For in these ways, God’s decision about his own triune life is fulfilled. He becomes who He decided to be in relationship with us.

Jesus is the true God moving towards us in deep lowliness to deal with our plight.  He is the Lord serving us in humility even unto death on a cross. We tend to invent gods that are supremely exalted far above all.  These false gods stand in contrast to the one true God revealed in Jesus as the lowly servant among us.

 Jesus is also the true man.  The true man always turned towards God in love.  The true man who lifts us up into the life of God so that we belong within the circle of triune love .  Jesus, the true God moving downwards for us to the lowest place; Jesus, the true man moving upwards for  us to the highest place.  As such, Jesus is himself the truth.  He is the truth of God Himself descending into the depths of our existence in order to make us his friends.  He is also the truth of our humanness raised up into fellowship with God.

We do not extract from the Jesus story concepts that we regard as “the truth” in themselves.  Jesus, the God-human, is the truth.  He said, “I am the way the truth and the life”. He himself is the truth and the Spirit of truth brings us into living encounter with him as the truth.  And Jesus, as the truth, sets us free.  Yes, if the Son sets you free you will be free indeed.

Jesus, the truth, has set you free to live in God as your Father in the Spirit.

Jesus is God with us setting us free from the power of sin and death.  In him the power of sin is undone.  His death is the death of death forever. Yes, Jesus, the Father’s Son, is God with us making our cause his own.  He is God with us overcoming the powers that ruin us.

Jesus is also man with God.  He is the one man who represents the many with God. As Man with God he rises to new life and is exalted to the Father’s right hand.  And he lifts us up with him to share in his life with God.  We are lifted up out of our existence in sin and death into the new life of the risen Christ so that we are now hidden with Christ in God.  In this way we share in the life of the Triune God, through Christ, who is man with God for us.

God is always with us in Christ and we are always with Christ in God.

God is living, moving, relating triune life and love. We may say this because in the story of Jesus, God “happens” among us in dynamic relationships, full of movement and energy.  In this story, God is not an abstract, motionless “being”.  He is not a static divine unity, but a dynamic tri-unity of life and love. In Jesus, the Triune God of love happens among us in all his “livingness”!

In the Jesus’ story, we see this “livingness” from beginning to end.  As Jesus was baptised, the Father responded personally, “this is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased”.  And the Spirit came on Jesus enabling him to live before the Father as the beloved servant-son.  So Jesus went on in love for the Father accomplishing the Father’s work always trusting in his Father in the enabling of the Spirit. This took him to the dark abyss of death on the cross offering himself by the Spirit to the Father he loved. And when Jesus was dead and buried, the Father vindicated him by raising him into new life through the Spirit.  Truly, the story of Jesus is a Triune “happening”.

Take a moment to gaze on the beauty of God’s “livingness” in the Jesus story.

While contemplating this beauty consider also that as we live in Jesus and he lives in us we participate in the Triune “livingness”.

Jesus was a lowly man who enjoyed a unique relationship with the God of Israel. He called this God “Father,” and he understood himself as the Father’s servant-son.  His entire life was an expression of faithful service to his Father ending in his obedience unto death on the cross.

As the Father’s servant-son, the Spirit came to Jesus, from the Father, and remained on him leading and empowering him to live and die in willing obedience to his Father.

Jesus served his Father in the presence and power of the Spirit and he now continues to serve his Father in and through us in the presence and power of the same Spirit.