Our Awesome God: The Godhead

Our Awesome God
The “Godhead”

INTRODUCTION:
Every person who reads the Bible and meditates on its message becomes a theologian. When you read Genesis 1:1 - “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” - you automatically either believe that some God exists, or you think that this book is just a bunch of fairy tales. Even if you believe that “a” God exists, you then have to meditate on what type of God exists. What is His nature? What is His character? Just who is God?

In this series of studies, I am helping us answer that question, as God reveals Himself and describes Himself in the Bible. We started last month by seeing that the Bible is emphatic and consistent that there is only One God. It did not take mankind long to pervert that idea and corrupt it. When man wants to live according to his own pleasures and desires, he creates a religion, even a god, that supports him in what he does.

The Bible mentions a number of gods which mankind in the biblical times had created: Baal, Astarte, Asherah, Chemosh, Dagon, Moloch, Tammuz, and maybe a few others. The Egyptians worshipped a host of false gods: Amun, Ra, Gab, Happy, Imhotep, and a host of others. When the Greek empire came along, they added: Ares, Artemis, Hermes, Zeus, Dionysus, and a host of others. The Romans worshipped many of the same gods but also added others: Juno, Saturn, Minerva, Apollo, Cybele, and lots of others. You are perhaps familiar with some from Norse mythology: Heimdall, Loki, Freya, Thor, Odin, and many others.

To give you an idea of where we’re going with this lesson, the Bible teaches there is only One God and the Bible teaches that emphatically. Therefore, we know that gods are not created nor do humans or any other being become “gods.” And, the name of the true God is “Jehovah” and that will be significant.

If you have trouble thinking of the “One” God who exists in “three persons,” let me suggest that you are looking at the concept of “God” from a pagan perspective. You are allowing the pagan world to influence how you view God. The Bible teaches that there is one God and that three persons are members of the One God….

Before we go further, let me define the word “person” for us: It means someone who has: 1) Feelings; 2) Intellect, and; 3) Will. When we look at the three persons who are Jehovah, we see each person with divine feelings, divine intellect, and divine will.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS JEHOVAH:
We start with the Holy Spirit because the Israelites were introduced to the second member of the “Godhead” immediately in Genesis 1:2. God created the heavens and the earth, but that earth was formless and void and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the “Spirit of God” was moving over the surface of the waters.

The phrase “Spirit of God” is used 12 times in the Old Testament. The phrase “Spirit of the Lord” is used 24 times. But He is mentioned by just the word “Spirit” or “Spirit of holiness” or other similar expressions between 75 and 85 times, perhaps even more.

The One we would call “Father” states in Genesis 6:3 that “My Spirit” will not always strive or “wrestle’ with mankind. This verse shows us: The Father is separate from the Spirit and it shows that the Spirit was trying to influence mankind to honor God. The Spirit preached through Enoch, who is identified as a prophet in the NT (Jude 14), and Noah, identified as a preacher in 2 Peter 2:5.

When God commanded Israel to build the tabernacle to be a holy place where Israel could worship God, God sent the Spirit to inspire men and guide their construction so the tabernacle would be built properly. See Exodus 31:3; 35:31.

We can’t spend much time going through every verse that mentions the Holy Spirit, but He did empower the judges to lead God’s people to freedom. The Spirit inspired God’s kings to lead God’s people as well. But what is most significant is that the Spirit guided men in the OT times to speak the word of God so that Israel would know what God wanted Israel to know.

In 2 Samuel 23:2, King David writes: “The Spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue.”

There is no indication that the Israelites had problems believing that the Spirit was Jehovah God but was separate from the One we would call “Father.”

Let’s leave the Holy Spirit for just a moment and we’ll come back to Him when we move into the NT…

THE WORD IS JEHOVAH:
The Father and the Spirit were not the only members of the Godhead suggested in the OT. Now, it was important for Jehovah to reveal Himself slowly over time, until the Word could become flesh. But, we see hints in the OT that there was another member of the Godhead besides the Father and the Spirit. And, as you might guess, those passages which predict the coming of the Messiah portray Him in divine terms.

I mentioned last week the prophecy from Isaiah 40:3 where Isaiah predicted a messenger who would prepare the way before the “Lord” (which is “Jehovah” in Hebrew). John the baptizer was the messenger and Jesus Christ is “Jehovah” for whom John prepared the way.

Staying in Isaiah, we see in Isaiah 7:14 that the prophet predicted a virgin would give birth to a child and His nature, His name, would be “Emmanuel” which translates as “God - who would be Jehovah - with us.” The Messiah would be “Jehovah God in the flesh.”

Again in Isaiah, 9:6, Isaiah predicts that this child born to Israel would rule the government of Israel and His name / character would be: “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, and Prince of Peace.” At least two of those designations associate the Messiah with Jehovah God: He is “Mighty God” and He is “Eternal Father.” That is, the Messiah would love and serve and protect His people as a Father would. The Messiah is an “Eternal” Father.

Let’s use two more examples from the OT, first Psalm 110… “The Lord / Jehovah says to my Lord,” David writes: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for your feet.” The Jews understood David to be speaking to his descendant, which was correct, but how could Jehovah God say to David’s son that He has the right to sit at Jehovah God’s right hand and reign over His enemies? The Jews debated that question. Additionally, if you look at verse 4, Jehovah swears an oath that this “Son of David” will be a priest forever. Yes, the Jewish rabbis debated who exactly this Messiah would be. Jesus will tell them in John 10, which we’ll get to in just a moment…

One more example is found in Psalm 45:6. Here, Jehovah God is speaking to the Son and says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom.” I know the Father is speaking to the Son and referring to Him as “God” because the Hebrew writer tells us in Hebrews 1:8!

THE NEW TESTAMENT CLARIFIES THE GODHEAD:
It surprises us not at all that the NT clarifies the nature of God once the Word becomes flesh.

First, the NT teaches that One member of the Godhead is identified as “Father:” John 6:27; Rom. 1:7 Gal. 1:1.

Secondly, the NT teaches that the Holy Spirit is a member of the Godhead. I really just want to point this out from Acts 5:3-4:

“But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

Notice that Peter identifies the “Spirit” with “God” in this text. In further NT verses, the Holy Spirit is given:

Names of God
Attributes of God - for example, the Holy Spirit is “truth” (John 16:13); He “loves with divine love” (Rom. 15:30); He is “holy” (Eph. 4:30); He is “eternal” (Heb. 9:14); and He is omniscient (1 Cor. 2:11).
Acts of God - He creates, He redeems, He performs miracles
Association with God - Take a look at 2 Corinthians 13:14 - “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.”

Thirdly, the NT teaches that One member of the Godhead is identified, once He came to earth, as the “Son:” For example, please observe John 1:18: “No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.” This “only begotten God” was in the beginning with God and He was God (John 1:1).

Jesus identifies Himself with many, many designations that were solely associated with God in the OT, like “Savior.” In Psalm 23:1, Jehovah God is David’s shepherd. Jesus claimed to be the “good Shepherd” (John 10:11). In Exodus 15:26, God is Israel’s healer. Jesus claimed to be the “great physician” in passages like Matthew 9:12-13. God created the Sabbath, of course, as it was revealed in the book of Exodus. But Jesus identifies Himself as the “Lord of the Sabbath” in Matthew 12:8. There are a host of identifications like this throughout the Gospel accounts.

Jesus stated emphatically and clearly in John 10:30 that “I and the Father are one.” In that statement, Jesus identified Himself with the nature of Jehovah God. The Jews understood that very point, because in the next verse, they took up stones to stone Jesus for blasphemy. That’s when Jesus brought up Psalm 110 and challenged the Jews to think more seriously about the word of God. And, in that paragraph, Jesus told them that if they had trouble believing that Jesus was the Son of God, they should meditate on the miraculous works that He was doing, which were done to prove that Jesus’ message was true.

This was not the first time the Jews had wanted to stone Jesus for claiming to be equal with Jehovah God. Earlier in John 8, Jesus quoted Jehovah God from Exodus. In John 8:58, Jesus stated that He has always been; He says: “Before Abraham was born, I am.” That expression “I am” is the verbal form of the name “Jehovah.” In other words, “Jehovah” means “I am” (Exo. 3:14). And Jesus associates Himself with Jehovah God and the Jews understood Him to be doing that, because they took up stone to stone Him for blasphemy.

So, Jesus claimed to be equal with God.
Jesus claimed to be the Messiah who was pictured in terms of Deity.
Jesus claimed to be God by accepting worship. Jesus said that we should worship no one but God (Luke 4:8), but He accepted men worshipping Him on multiple occasions. How could Jesus do that? Either He was a hypocrite and does not deserve our respect, much less our worship. Or, He was Who He claimed to be: God in the flesh.
Jesus claimed to have equal authority with God.
Jesus claimed to be God by commanding prayer in His name!
Jesus claimed to be God through His parables. In His parables, He pictured Himself in OT terms which were assigned to God the Father: Sower, Owner of the Harvest, Rock, Shepherd, Bridegroom, Forgiver, and so forth. Some 20 parables picture Jesus in terms which were used in the OT for God.
The disciples, of course, recognized Jesus as God because after the resurrection, when Jesus fully proved Himself to be “God in the flesh,” Thomas worshipped Him, confessing: “My Lord and My God!” (John 20:28).

Now, take a look at these passages:
Romans 9:5 - “whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen.”
Titus 2:13 - “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus”
Colossians 2:9 - “in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form”

THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE DEITY OF THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE WORD:
First, let’s talk about our response to the Holy Spirit. Specifically, His role in the plan of salvation is to reveal God’s will to us, which He has done through the inspired apostles and prophets. Let’s read 1 Corinthians 2:10-13.

Second, let’s talk about our response to Jesus Christ. Specifically, Paul uses the deity / humanity of Jesus to illustrate humility and he calls on us to imitate that humility. Let’s look at Philippians 2:1-11.

Take home message: The Father is God. The Holy Spirit is God and Jesus is God. Let’s listen / obey to Him!