Friday, June 5, 2010
John 16:14-15 "He [the Spirit] will bring glory to me by taking from what is mine and making it known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will take from what is mine and make it known to you."
THE GLORY OF THE TRIUNE GOD
During His ministry Jesus made it plain that He did not act independent of His Father. On one occasion He said: "I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does" (John 5:19). And another time He said: "I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me" (John 8:28).
Now, as Jesus talks to His disciples about the work of the Spirit, He makes it clear that the Spirit will not act independent of the Son -- just as He did not act independent of the Father and of His plan. One God. One love. One plan. One salvation.
Consider this in the light of what the Spirit caused the Apostle to record in John 1:14, "The Word [the very Son of God who was God with the Father before creation] became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."
The glory of the one true triune God, the glory which shines brighter than any cloudy pillar or anything He made, is revealed most brilliantly in the person and work of God the Son, Jesus the Christ. For the glory of the LORD which the disciples saw in the person of Jesus -- the glory of the Father, revealed to us also by the Spirit -- that glory is God's love, the Father's plan put into action by the eternal Son in order to set us right with God once and for all.
Eternal Triune Lord,
Let all the hosts above,
Let all the sons of men record,
And dwell upon,
Thy love.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 241:4)
