Eternal Persons

… I wonder if we could read, first of all, Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1. Genesis chapter 1, verse 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And in Exodus chapter 3. And Moses said to God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you. And they shall say, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said to Moses, I am that I am. And he said, Thus shall thou say unto the children of Israel, I am, hath sent me unto you. And in John's Gospel, John chapter 1. John chapter 1, verse 18. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. And in Hebrews chapter 9, verse 14. Hebrews 9, verse 14. So much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from daily works, to serve the living God. To serve the living God. And finally, in 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 28. And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him, that put all things unto him, that God may be all in all. God may be all in all. What brought me up here tonight, was when Ernie, in his opening remarks, he said, it is always a point of discussion when one is setting out the things which are most surely believed among us, as to whether we begin with the Holy Scriptures, or begin with God. And it's healthy that we consider that. But the creed of course, the creeds begin with, I believe in God. And then it goes on to say, I believe in God, the Holy Spirit. I believe in God, the Son. And I believe in God, the Father. And as a little intermission, dear local brethren, I wanted God helping me, to say something tonight, well, about God. It's just got to be very little, isn't it? It's just got to be a droplet in the great ocean of God. But, we've got to get some sense of the grandeur, of the greatness of God, in Christianity. This is what's there under it all, under it all, is God, is absoluteness. And that's why the Scriptures begin with, in the beginning, God. But of course, they are speaking about the beginning of creation. But there's a beginning that never had a beginning. We are dealing with eternity. And that is why I refer really to who God is, in Exodus chapter 3. That is the fundamental, the focal point of who God is. I am, that I am. Absolute existence is there. Yes. He exists, because he exists. And nothing else exists but him. He alone is the self-existing one. The self-existing one. God himself has us capture something of the greatness and the grandness and the immensity, the awesomeness of God in his absoluteness. I think, you know, sometimes I feel it myself, we don't have that real sense of the all of God. That's beyond our comprehension. The absoluteness I am. The self-existing one. The one who alone exists and has right to exist. As we contemplate God in his greatness and his majesty, we know of course that the first and foremost thing about the nature of God is that God is love. And we'll come to that later. God is love. Not that I'm putting it last. No, it is the thing about God. It is God. God is love. That's what he is in his essence. His absolute being. Dear young saint of God, get hold of this, that God is love. And then of course there are features and characteristics of God in his absoluteness. He is holy. He is righteous. And he comes out goodness, kindness, consideration. All these blessed things come out from God. And God that could set the spheres in motion. Create all these vast universes. Men talk about light years. God has it all in being and in control. All the vastness of that universe is all under the control of God. Wonderful and blessed. And I always think, you know, I always turn to when I want to just revel in the majesty and greatness of God. To Isaiah chapter 40. And there in verse 28. Dost thou not know? Have you not heard that the everlasting God, Jehovah, the creator of the ends of the earth, thinks not, nor tires? There is no searching of his understanding. Oh, the wonderful immensity of God. Beyond our comprehension. What a great God to roll back upon. I think that God has come out now, informing, coming towards us. We, that he would create a planet, the earth. He would create earth, a place. And he was going to work out his purposes, his eternal purpose, as we have in Ephesians. And now God is one. But we also know God is a trinity, for want of a better word. Three in one. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And the great question is, is that relationship and the Holy Spirit, is it eternal? Are these relationships eternal? And I would submit, dear brethren, that this is fundamental to God. That there is ever a Father and a Son and a Holy Spirit. Distinct persons in the Godhead. We have indication in the Old Testament when God said, let us make man. Let us make man. There was at least more than one person in the Godhead. Let us make man, in our image. And so, if we think of the immensity of God, as God speaks to Job himself. In chapters 39 and 40 and 41. Read these chapters 38. Do you know about the carving of the hind? And the spheres, the treasures of the snow. All these things are in the control of God, the great God. And then to think that God, dear beloved, is so concerned about his creature. The creature of his creation. That creature that went away from him in the Garden of Eden. And we are forward in that way. Shows the very nature of God. That God could take such a wonderful way. That his creature could be brought back to him in peace and free. Doesn't that bow us before him? Isn't that a thing which is surely believed among us? Something that we've hung upon from the rarest days that we ever heard the name of Jesus. How sweet the name of Jesus is, falling upon the believers here. To think that that great and mighty and all powerful God could take this wonderful step. And he could do it. Because he's a triune God. And that's why I want to insist that this relationship of father and son is eternal. Because the work of redemption could never be effected unless that relationship is eternal. And so that's why we turn to that precious verse in John chapter 1. And verse 18. No man has seen God at any time. Never seen God, felt the effects of God, but never seen him. And it says, the only begotten son. Only begotten son. And of course man in his weakness, occasionally. Mercifully, not very often in the past. But recently man has begun to bring a finite mind into this idea of only begotten son. But right from the very first century, it's never troubled the saints of God to think of the son as an only begotten. The only begotten son who is in the bosom of the father. Where is he? Is he in there? He is. It's the eternal present. He ever is in the bosom of the father. And in, now again, we find the mind of man going wrong. This word in, you see, literally means into. And man in his wickedness says, oh, when this one begotten becomes son, he moves into the father's affections. Dear saint of God, don't listen to such. Well I say it's heresy, many disagree. But I think that's heretical. It's certainly wrong teaching. This into the father's bosom is the intensity of the affection in which is held in the father's bosom. That's what's been conveyed by the word. And every divine from the first century down has stated that. I know we rely on scripture, but the weight of evidence from every man of God, saint of God from the first century down, has told us that into means the intensity of the affection. He's right in the father's bosom. Right in the father's bosom, the son. In all that place of intensity of affection, there he is. One with the father. Ever is. And of course, if there's a son eternal, there's an eternal father, isn't there? Father and son. And you see, God has been revealed, it says. He has declared him, led God forth into full revelation. And you think God was coming out as a father and a son, that the son would be subservient? That's not what God is showing in the revelation of father and son. A subservient being in the Godhead. No. And to what God is showing in the father and the son is because that great work of Calvary was going to take place. And that's the power and the reality of this. The supreme way in which love would be shown. Our love of relationship. We look through John 17, Thou lovest me with all the foundation of the world. Affection there, affection there. And the greatest expression of that is in parents and children, isn't it? I know there's wonderful expressions of love between husband and wife and brothers and sisters. All these things, but the greatest expression of love is seen in the parent and the child. The father and the son. And that is why, this is how God chose to be revealed in time. Because of that eternal relationship was there that his son would come here to die on Calvary's cross in our room instead. And so man in the feebleness of his mind, you know, man in the feebleness of his mind is attributed inferiority to it. And that is not the thought that is being brought out in God being revealed. In this wonderful way, this eternal way, this eternal relationship that comes out. And it says in chapter 5. I was just reading it this morning of John's gospel. Chapter 5 and verse 18. Well verse 17, the Lord says, my father works hitherto and I work. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but he said also that God was his own father making himself equal with God. Making himself equal with God. So it shows you, you see, that sonship does not necessarily imply inferiority. It says there, that's the comment of scripture. Equality with God. And our dear brother Frank in his paper on this subject, stresses very much that God was, in the new translation it's clearly brought out, his own father, his father alone. You see, his father alone. And so, because of that uniqueness, then the Jews grasped what was going wrong, what they thought was wrong, and the Holy Spirit's comment is, that when he said that God was his own father, he was making himself equal with God. And we know he is equal with God. He is God the Son. God the Son. And then you see, in Hebrews chapter 5, it says, Though he were son, yet learned the obedience by the things which he suffered. Which, of course, the inference being that obedience is not necessarily implied in sonship. You see? And one could be a son, and there need not be any way in which you're inferior. So the clear implication is, that there's equality there. Though he were son, yet learned the obedience by the things which he suffered. And then two chapters over, in the Hebrews chapter 7. Hebrews chapter 7, it speaks of Melchizedek. Hebrews chapter 7 and verse 3, speaking of Melchizedek. And, first of all, it speaks of him and it says, Without father, without mother, without genealogy. And then Mr. Darby inserts a semicolon. Very important, there's no semicolons in Greek. This is spiritual judgment. Spiritual judgment being brought to light. He then says, it then reads, Having neither beginning of days, nor end of life, but assimilated, made like unto the Son of God. And this is very important. If you went to the dictionary, Oxford dictionary, Chambers, any of these dictionaries and say, Eternal, you want a definition of eternal, what would you find? You'd find, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life. That's the definition of eternal. And yet we're told eternal is not in scripture. And you see the point that Mr. Darby's bringing out and the way he's rendering it is, it says he was made like to the Son of God in this respect, you see. That's what he was, in the respect that the Son is without beginning of days and without end of days. And Nebuchadnezzar comes in in this way, and it's in that respect that he's assimilated to the Son of God. And because the Son of God has neither beginning of days, nor end of life. And then he abides a priest continually. But that's the point about Sonship. It's a Sonship of God, has neither beginning of days, nor end of life. And so you see, their Sonship is eternal. And the Father is eternal. In John chapter 16 and verse 27. John 16 verse 27. The Lord says these very precious words to us. For the Father himself has affection and loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. I came out from the Father and have come into the world. Again I leave the world and go to the Father. And it said in both there where it says coming out from the Father. From the Father it means, the word literally means being at home with the Father. Coming out from being at home with the Father. Not the one who is now known as Father, but the one who is Father. Ever was Father. And the Son obviously was ever with him. Ever the Son. The one who is from being at home with the Father. This is a sadly one of the weaknesses of English. We don't have a word really to express that. But the Greek, Latin, the French have. I don't know about Germans. But their word is, it really is from being at home with the Father. So the Son was there with the Father eternally. In that ever, ever in that blessed place. Ever in that blessed place. And then we read that verse in Hebrews 9, 14. In the eternal spirit, eternal spirit. If we had read on in Genesis chapter 1, it says the spirit hold over the waters. Later in the week we will be hearing of God's spirit. There is a distinctness of the Holy Spirit. Who came out in time. And you know it's rather strange. That it speaks in John 14, 15, 16. The Father will send him. The Lord says I will send him. And we don't seem to worry about that. Implying inferiority. Because it doesn't. And then chapter 16 says when he, the spirit has come. And the spirit has his own blessed place. The Lord Jesus says in John chapter 6 and verse 63. It is the spirit who quickens. The flesh profits nothing. The words which I have spoken unto you are spirit and the life. And he said on another occasion I by the spirit of God. To cast out devils. There is a distinctness, a person of the spirit. And we have in many other scriptures. Just one comes to mind in 1 Peter chapter 3 and verse 18. Christ indeed has once suffered for sins. For the unjust that he might bring us to God. Being put to death in flesh. But made alive in the spirit. So the blessed spirit is a distinct person in the Godhead. And eternally the spirit. But of course we know in this wonderful day of grace. This blessed day of grace. That God being fully revealed and adequate and fully revealed. That you and I dear saint of God might come in. To all these wonderful truths. Something of which we shall cover this week. Ground of redemption, reconciliation, justification, baptism. Remembering the Lord. Being members of his body. All these blessed truths into which we have been brought. And God's ways and time. Touch a little bit on it. His appearing. His kingdom and his appearing. That he is going to be old in this world. This world that rejected him. Our Lord is now rejected. And by the war of his own. By the men he is still neglected. But by the few and through. Yes all these wonderful. These wonderful blessed truths. And that the assembly is going to be. Is going to fall on his body. In that coming day. The day in Christ shall rise first. We the living that remain. Shall be caught up with him to meet the Lord in the air. And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Forever with the Lord. Amen. So let it be. To be the bride of Christ. And he is going to take us in. And I in that bright glorious day. Shall with supreme delight. Thy fair and ransomed bride shall be. Unblemished in thy sight. Dear Saint of God. That is what we are going on to. That is what we are going on to. We are going on. Into eternity. Yes. What have you got? That death can attach. Oh we have got much. We have got everything. We are going into the presence of God. And God shall be all in all. And there we are. The bridegroom and the bride. Seen in glory ever. All hearts are then satisfied. Dear Saint of God. Let us realise something. Of the tremendousness of God. And that word that we were reading about. Is God breathed. Can we get a grasp of the greatness of God. And that he has been pleased to breathe. His precious word. That you and I dear Saint of God. We could be like. Who is that man again? Billy Bray wasn't it? He was trying to be an idiot. And he was always singing Hallelujah. And they said we are going to put you. In a beer barrel to stop you singing it. And he said. I would shout Hallelujah. Through the bunghole. Dear Saint of God. Let us be able to say praise the Lord. And give him thanks. So let us get a grasp of it. And hold to this blessed truth. Of God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Unrevealed in past time. But now revealed in the time. For you and I dear Saint of God. That we might come into all the blessings. Brought to rest within the circle. Where love's treasures are displayed. There we can drink the living waters. Taste the joys that never fade. Let our hearts go out to him. To God in praise. And to the Father and the Son. Amen. …