Saturday, June 5, 2010
Job 36:26 How great is God -- beyond our understanding!
EXPLAINING THE INEXPLICABLE
You're pumping gas into the minivan and a voice comes out of the backseat, "Daddy, how come we put gas in the car?" Of course, you don't begin detailing the intricacies of the internal combustion engine. Instead, you say something like, "Gas is like food for the car. It needs it so it can move."
We use simple things that children understand to teach them about our complex world. God wants us to know Him, so when He describes Himself in the Bible, He uses terms we can understand.
Think about the titles God has chosen to describe Himself to us. Father. Son. Spirit. The relationship between God the Father and God the Son is a Father-Son relationship. Not in the sense that one was created by the other, but in other ways. The Father loves the Son. The Son loves the Father and wants to make Him proud. The bond that exists between the first and second persons of the Trinity resembles the bond that a human father has with a human son.
Or think about the title, "Holy Spirit." The Bible tells us that the Triune God is a spirit (John 4:24). And yet the Bible also describes the third person of the Trinity as being the "Holy Spirit." Does than mean that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of a spirit? That makes my brain hurt.
The name "Holy Spirit" describes His relationship with the Father and the Son. Just like the spirit of a human knows the inner thoughts of that human, the unseen Spirit of God knows the inner thoughts and desires of God (see 1 Corinthians 2:10-12). That's why it's so exciting when God tells us He will send us the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13). The Person who knows the will of God in the most intimate way comes to us to lead us into a greater understanding of God, and greater trust in His Son.
By using the concepts of "Father," "Son," and "Spirit," God gives us an understanding of what is beyond our understanding.
