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Scripture Reading: Eph. 1:3-14; 1 Pet. 1:2; Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:20-23; John 14:6-24, 26; 15:26; 16:13-15
In this chapter we want to fellowship more concerning the revelation of the Divine Trinity. We want to see the portions in the New Testament revealing the Divine Trinity in the divine move and in our experience.
Ephesians 1:3 says, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ [the Son], who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing [blessing of the Spirit] in the heavenlies in Christ [the Son].” Ephesians 1:3 is a leading portion of the Word concerning the revelation of the Divine Trinity. This verse reveals the Divine Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. In this verse the Father is the source of the divine blessing to us.
Then the Spirit is the nature and essence of the divine blessing. The divine blessing we have received is of a spiritual nature and a spiritual source. The divine Father is the source of this blessing, and the divine Spirit is the nature and the essence of this divine blessing we have received.
Third, the Son is the sphere, the element, and the means of the divine blessing. Within the sphere of the Son, God gave us His divine blessing. Christ is also the element of the divine blessing. An element is a substance, and every substance has its essence with its nature. Wood, for example, is an element. In this element are a nature and an essence. The nature and essence of the divine blessing are of the Spirit, but the very element of this blessing is Christ Himself. When we say that Christ is the element of God’s blessing, we are saying that Christ Himself is the divine blessing. In this divine blessing are the spiritual nature and the spiritual essence. Christ, the Son Himself, is the blessing, the Spirit is the nature and essence of this blessing, and the Father is the source who gives this blessing.
Ephesians 1:4-14 reveals the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, moving to dispense Himself into us. First, verses 4 through 6 show us the Father’s selection and predestination for God’s eternal purpose. The Father’s selection is His choosing, and His predestination is His marking out. His selection and predestination are for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose, His eternal plan. We feel that a better translation of verses 4 and 5 is as follows: “Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love, predestinating us unto sonship through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will.” God’s choosing includes His predestinating. How did God choose us? He chose us by predestinating us. When someone goes to the supermarket, he may select something and then mark it out. His marking it out is the action of his selecting. Actually, his marking out is his selection. God the Father selected us by marking us out before the foundation of the world.
Verses 7 through 12 of Ephesians 1 go on to reveal the Son’s redemption for the accomplishment of God’s eternal purpose. God the Father chose us. Then the Son came to accomplish God’s economy by His redemption. We were chosen and predestinated, but after creation we became fallen. Hence, we need redemption, which God has accomplished for us in Christ through His blood.
Verses 13 and 14 reveal the Spirit’s sealing and pledging for the application of God’s accomplished purpose. First, God has an eternal purpose. For this purpose God selected us. Then the Son came to accomplish this purpose by His redemption. After the accomplishment of the Son’s redemption, the Spirit comes to apply what the Son has accomplished according to the Father’s selection. This application is by the Spirit’s sealing and pledging.
A proper sealing cannot take place without the element of ink. A seal also bears an image. When a seal with ink is applied to something, the ink will be in the same form or image as the seal. If the seal is round, the impression made is also round. The seal is God Himself, and the ink is the Spirit. The sealing of the Spirit causes us to bear God’s image, thus making us like God.
Furthermore, this sealing is also the pledging. God has pledged Himself to us and in us for our security, our guarantee that He belongs to us, and for our foretaste in participating in Him as our inheritance — enjoyment. When a person buys a new Bible, he may put his seal with his signature on it. This seal on his Bible displays the fact that the Bible is his. In another sense the seal becomes a pledge to guarantee that the Bible belongs to him. Thus, we may say that the sealing is the pledging. Now we can see that Ephesians 1:4-14 reveals that the Triune God has been wrought into us for the fulfillment of His eternal economy.
First Peter 1:2 shows us the working of the Divine Trinity. In this verse are the foreknowledge of God the Father, the sanctification of the Spirit, and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ [the Son]. The Father as the source foreknew us. Following the Father’s foreknowledge, the Spirit came to sanctify us. His sanctifying work was to separate us and bring us back to God. This is the aspect of the Holy Spirit’s sanctification before Christ’s redemption. Then there is the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son, indicating Christ’s redemption. The sanctification of the Spirit is divided into three stages. The first is for our repentance, the second is for our justification, and the third is for our transformation. In the book of Romans Christ’s redemption is revealed first and then the Holy Spirit’s sanctification. But in 1 Peter 1:2 the sanctification of the Spirit is first, and then the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ follows this sanctification. This is why we need to see the different aspects and stages of the sanctification of the Spirit.
In Luke 15 the Lord Jesus told three parables. In the first parable the good shepherd goes to find the lost sheep. The second parable is that of a woman seeking her lost coin. The third parable reveals a loving father receiving a returning prodigal son. These three parables reveal the Divine Trinity. The Son is the good shepherd, the Holy Spirit is the seeking woman, and God the Father is the loving and receiving father. In Luke 15 the seeking woman lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and seeks carefully until she finds her lost coin (vv. 8, 10, 17). This typifies the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. He enlightens us from within and searches out our sins one by one that we may know our sins and repent.
This sanctification of the Holy Spirit causes us to turn to the Lord and receive God’s full salvation. Before we received the Lord, we were living in the world with the worldly people. But one day the Spirit came to find us, to separate us unto God, even before we were redeemed. He sanctified us, separated us unto God, before we were forgiven of our sins and justified by God the Father. His sanctifying work separated us unto God so that we would come to ourselves (v. 17), repent, and turn to God (Acts 26:20).
The seeking of the woman in Luke 15 typifies the initial sanctification of the Spirit, which is the sanctification of the Spirit revealed in 1 Peter 1:2. Thus, we can see that 1 Peter 1:2 unveils the divine economy through the operation of the trinity of the Godhead for the believers’ participation in the Triune God. God the Father’s selection is the initiation; God the Spirit’s sanctification carries out the selection of God the Father; and God the Son’s redemption, signified by the sprinkling of His blood, is the completion.
Luke 1:35 is a verse concerning the divine conception of the Lord Jesus. In this divine conception the Divine Trinity is revealed. Luke 1:35 shows the Holy Spirit’s coming upon Mary; the Most High [God the Father] overshadowing Mary; and the birth of the holy thing [the Son of God]. Thus, the entire Divine Trinity was involved in the conception of the Man-Savior.
Matthew 1:20-23 also refers to the birth of Jesus, the Son of God. Verses 20 and 21 show us the divine conception of the Holy Spirit and the birth of Jesus [the Son]. Then verse 23 tells us that this One was called by men Emmanuel, which means “God [God the Father] with us.” These verses again reveal the working of the Divine Trinity in the Savior’s incarnation. God the Father’s being with us was the issue of the divine conception of the Holy Spirit and the birth of Jesus, the Son.
The Divine Trinity in the divine move and in our experience is revealed also in John 14:6-24. In verse 6 the Lord said, “I am the way and the reality and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” This verse shows that the believers come to the Father through the Son — the Father being the object of the believers. John 14—16 records the last conversation that the Lord had with His disciples while He was on this earth. In His last talk to them He indicated that all His believers should seek after the Father. In other words, they should take the Father as their object. If we are going to reach the Father as our object, we must reach Him through the Son, who is the way.
Verses 7 through 14 show the Father embodied in the Son seen among the believers — the Son being the Father’s embodiment among the believers. In these verses the Lord showed us that He is in the Father and that the Father is in Him. The Son and the Father are one. They mutually indwell each other. The Son dwells in the Father, and the Father dwells in the Son. In this way the Son was the Father’s embodiment among the believers.
Verses 15 through 20 go on to show us the Son realized as the Spirit abiding in the believers — the Spirit being the realization of the Son abiding in the believers. The Father is embodied in the Son, and the Son is realized as the Spirit. The Son as the Father’s embodiment was only among the believers, but the Spirit as the realization of the Son is now abiding within the believers. The Father is the object, the Son is the Father’s embodiment, and the Spirit is the realization of the Son. The Son as the Father’s embodiment was still outside of us. He needed to become the Spirit so that He could abide in the believers. Now that we have the Spirit as the realization of the Son abiding in us, we also have the Father’s embodiment and the Father as our object. Actually, the Father as our object is within us, because the object is embodied in the Son and the Son is realized as the Spirit who indwells us. If we have the Spirit, we have the Son, and if we have the Son, we have the Father. Thus, the three of the Divine Trinity are in us.
The Father as the object, the Son as the embodiment, and the Spirit as the realization are in us, the container. As the container, we contain the realization. Within the realization is the embodiment, and within the embodiment is the object. The object, the embodiment, and the realization are the excellent treasure in us, the earthen vessels (2 Cor. 4:7). As earthen vessels, we contain the excellent deity in three aspects.
Verses 21 and 23 of John 14 show the Son manifesting Himself to His lover and the Father coming with Him to make an abode with the Son’s lover. After the abiding of the Spirit in us, the Son will manifest Himself to His lovers. It is possible to be a believer of Jesus Christ but not be a lover of Him. When we believe in Him, the three of the Divine Trinity come to abide in us. But after we believe in Him and know that He is abiding in us, we need to love Him. In verses 21 and 23 we see the request of our love toward Him. We may be the believers of Christ, but how many among us are the lovers of Jesus? The Father as the object is in Jesus as the embodiment, this embodiment is in the Spirit as His realization, and this realization is the very Spirit who is now abiding in all of us. But we need to ask whether or not we enjoy the manifestation of the Lord Jesus to us daily and even hourly.
In the morning we may have had a time with the Lord to enjoy His manifestation, but later we might become unhappy with our spouse and lose the Lord’s manifestation to us. This, however, does not mean that we have lost the abiding of the Spirit within us. Some Christians feel that when they lose the manifestation of Jesus, they have lost their salvation, but this is not true, because the Spirit always abides in the believers. Those who believe they can lose their salvation actually believe in “elevator salvation.” When the “elevator” is up, they are saved. When it is down, they are unsaved. Our salvation, however, is not an elevator but a “stairway,” from which we can never be removed. Although we are on this stairway, we want to enjoy the blessing of the top part of the stairway. We want to be on the “top floor,” not in the “basement.” This is why we need to love the Lord Jesus and say, “Lord Jesus, I love You.” As we love Him, we are brought up to the top floor. Then we see everything in the heavens. If we do not love Him, we are at the bottom of the stairway where we can see very little. But this does not mean that we have lost our salvation. We are still on the stairway of His salvation.
When we love Him, not only does His Spirit abide in us but also He Himself will manifest Himself to us. This means that we have the presence of the One whom we love in our fellowship with Him. If we love Jesus, Jesus loves us, and the Father loves us also. When the Son manifests Himself to us, the Father comes with Him to make an abode with us, to stay with us. We need to be brought more and more into the manifestation of the Son to us, with the Father and the Son making an abode with us. We need to go up the stairway of the Lord’s salvation by loving Him. Then He will manifest Himself to us, and the Father and the Son will make Their abode with us for our enjoyment.
In John 14:26 we see the Father sending the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, in the Son’s name. Now we need to ask what or who is in the Son’s name. Does this modifier — in the Son’s name — modify the Father’s sending, or does it modify the sent One? It modifies the Sender, not the sent One. The Father in the Son’s name sent the Spirit. The Sender is the Father, but the Father sent in the Son’s name. This makes the Sender, the Father, one with the Son. Thus, the Father as the Son sent the Spirit. John 14:26 makes the Father and the Son one in sending the Spirit. The Son is the Father because the Father is in the Son’s name.
John 15:26 reveals the Son sending from with the Father the Spirit of reality proceeding from with the Father. The Greek preposition para, translated “from” in the Recovery Version, literally means “from with.” The Son sent the Spirit from the Father and with the Father. Thus, the Son sent both the Father and the Spirit. When the Spirit was sent, the Father also was sent because the Spirit was sent with the Father.
John 14:26 says that the Father is the Sender, whereas 15:26 says that the Son is the Sender. When we compare these two verses, we see the mystery of the Triune God. According to the proper biblical theology, the three of the Divine Trinity are distinct but not separate. Whereas the Son prays to the Father, He also declares that the Father is in Him and that He is in the Father (14:10). The three of the Godhead coinhere. To coinhere is to indwell mutually. In the Godhead the three coinhere; that is, They dwell within one another. They are three, yet They are still one. This is a mystery.
In the Old Testament, in both Exodus and Zechariah, there is the type of the lampstand. There is one lampstand with seven lamps. The stand is one, and the lamps are seven. Although it is one lampstand, there are seven lamps. Although our Triune God is one God, He is three in His Godhead. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are distinct, but They are not separate. There is only distinction in the Godhead but no separation. The three of the Godhead are not separate because They dwell in one another. They cannot be separated, but They are distinct because They are the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Our God is three-one. We need a revelation of our mysterious Triune God in His Divine Trinity.
The divine transmission of the Divine Trinity to the believers is revealed in John 16:13-15. This transmission is just like the transmission of electrical current. When the electricity is switched on, there is a current of electricity, a moving of electricity, and that moving is the transmission. First, all that the Father has is the Son’s (v. 15). This means that what the Father has is transmitted into the Son. Second, all that the Son has is received by the Spirit (v. 14b). This is a further step of this transmission. The Father transmits to the Son, and then there is a transmitting from the Son to the Spirit. Third, all that the Spirit has received of the Son is disclosed to the believers (vv. 13, 15b). Eventually, all that the Trinity is and has is ours.
Stanza 3 of Hymns, #501 talks about this transmission. This stanza says,
This stanza tells us that whatever the Father has is the Son’s, whatever the Son is has been received by the Spirit, and then the Spirit discloses to us whatever He has received of the Son. This transmission is from the Father to the Son, from the Son to the Spirit, and from the Spirit to us. This is the move of the Divine Trinity.
