Participants: David Asscherick
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000052
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00:11 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth from the 3ABN Worship Center.
00:17 Unknown God with David Asscherick. 00:22 The Word of God begins with the Hebrew words, 00:25 Re'shiyth bara Elohim. 00:28 In the beginning, God. 00:30 And it uses that plural language at the very outset of the Bible. 00:34 So very early on in the reading of the Word of God, 00:37 we are forced to deal with what I call, the One We, 00:41 the plurality and singularity, or the singularity and plurality 00:45 as the case may be. 00:46 We have to wrestle with the idea that we're dealing with a 00:49 God who is three in one. 00:51 One manifested three ways. 00:53 Deal with it as you wish or as you will. 00:56 But you've got to accept that at the very 00:58 beginning of the Word of God. 00:59 And David Asscherick did such a very, very fine job 01:02 on last night as we began to take this walk, this journey 01:06 into understanding the mysteries of God. 01:08 I bid you good evening. My name is C.A. Murray. 01:11 And it is my privilege and pleasure to welcome you to 01:14 night number two in our odyssey together learning 01:17 about the mystery of God and the mystery of the Godhead. 01:22 And we are very, very pleased to have as our speaker, 01:26 David Asscherick, who has changed titles 01:29 just a bit as of late. 01:30 He is now the co-director of Light Bearers Ministry. 01:34 He still is involved with Arise, but Arise has now 01:37 fused with Light Bearers. 01:39 And together, they make a powerful weapon 01:41 for the cause of Christ. 01:43 And so David Asscherick and his partners at Light Bearers, 01:50 Ty and James, make a powerful, powerful weapon in the 01:53 hands of God for the salvation of the souls of men. 01:56 So we invite you to give ear and listen this very night 01:59 to the Word of God, because I know that he will have 02:03 great words, good words, godly words, 02:07 to share with us this very night. 02:09 Before he comes, we are going to ask Pastor Lomacang 02:12 to come and sing, Much Too High A Price. 02:14 But before he does that, would you now bow your heads 02:17 with me in a word of prayer. 02:20 Gracious and heavenly Father, we are so very, very thankful 02:23 for the privilege we have of study. 02:27 We know that Your Word is the lamp unto our feet 02:30 and a light that shines on the path before us. 02:34 But we ask this night for illumination in our minds 02:39 so that we can see Your Word and know Your Word 02:45 and understand Your Word and apply Your Word 02:49 to our lives as together we seek to walk this road 02:54 that leads to glory. 02:55 We ask from You for the speaker clarity and anointing 03:02 so that he will speak those things that we know You have 03:05 give him to say. 03:08 We ask from You for ourselves open hearts, 03:12 open minds, receptive ears that we may hear Your Word 03:18 and make application to our lives. 03:20 And so bless our sitting this night. 03:22 Give us Your presence and Your power. 03:26 And we praise You and thank You. 03:28 In Jesus' worthy name, amen and amen. 03:32 And now our pastor, our friend, John Lomacang. 03:34 And after him our speaker for the evening, David Asscherick. 04:09 Your love endured the cross, 04:17 despising all the shame. 04:23 That afternoon when midnight fell, 04:29 Your suffering cleared my name. 04:36 And that sin swept hill became 04:42 the open door to paradise. 04:48 Because You paid 04:52 much too high a price. 05:03 You paid much too high a price for me; 05:12 Your tears, Your blood, the pain, 05:18 to have my soul just stirred at times 05:24 yet never truly change. 05:30 You deserve a fiery love 05:37 that won't ignore Your sacrifice. 05:42 Because you paid 05:47 much too high a price. 06:05 Your grace inspires my heart 06:12 to rise above the sin 06:18 and all the earthly vanity 06:24 that seeks to draw me in. 06:30 I want to tell this tainted world 06:36 of love that truly saved my life. 06:45 A love that paid 06:50 so high a price. 06:58 You paid much too high a price for me; 07:08 with Your tears, Your blood, and the pain 07:15 to have my soul just stirred at times 07:21 yet never truly change. 07:28 For You deserve a fiery love 07:34 that won't ignore Your sacrifice. 07:43 Because you paid 07:49 much too high a price. 07:58 Because you paid 08:04 much too high a price. 08:30 John, I have to tell you I got nervous there 08:31 when I walked out and the music started to come back up. 08:33 I thought, "I just walked through the middle of his song," 08:37 and he was going to start singing again. 08:38 Thank you, John. That was absolutely beautiful. 08:40 Good evening, everyone. 08:42 Oh you're joking, right? 08:45 Good evening, everyone. 08:47 Okay, good. 08:48 A little bit of enthusiasm, if you will. 08:50 It's great to be here this evening. 08:52 And a good evening to our viewing audience as well. 08:55 Look at this, I brought like a veritable 08:56 library with me tonight. 08:57 Yeah? 08:59 A little bit of light reading. 09:01 900 pages. 09:03 I'll be showing you that in just a bit. 09:05 Did you have a good day today? 09:07 Oh man, I had a really good day today. 09:08 I had a run, spent some time with Dr. Stefanovic, 09:12 went over and played dodge ball with the kids at the school. 09:15 Got totally humbled. 09:16 Totally humbled. 09:18 I thought I would just absolutely win. 09:20 And no, no. Such was not the case. 09:23 So anyway, I've had a great day, very busy day. 09:25 And we have quite a little bit of information 09:28 that we're going to cover. 09:29 We're talking about the unknown God. 09:31 And last night, we sort of set the table. 09:34 Were you with us last night? 09:35 Okay, last night we sort of set the table. 09:37 Tonight, we're going to continue to sort of put the 09:40 meal on the table as we seek to understand who and what, 09:46 in as much as we can understand, is this God 09:49 that is revealed to us in Scripture. 09:51 And so without further adieu, we're just going to have a 09:53 quick prayer and we're going to dive right into our 09:55 time together in Scripture. 09:57 Father in heaven, what a privilege to be here tonight. 10:00 And as John has sung, it is true that You paid 10:04 a very high price, the highest possible price: 10:08 the price of Your own life; the life of Your Son, 10:12 the life of God. 10:14 And Father, it is our privilege tonight to come before You 10:17 because of what Jesus has done. 10:20 We don't come in our own merits or our own righteousness, 10:24 for we have none, we possess nothing. 10:27 As the old hymn says, "Nothing in our hands we bring, 10:29 simply to Thy cross we cling." 10:32 And so Father, we thank You for being willing to pay that price. 10:36 And tonight as we seek to understand who You are, 10:40 and what You are, and why You would do this, 10:43 this amazing thing, this gospel story, 10:48 Father, I pray that Your Spirit would come into this room. 10:51 Yes, but Father, more than that, we pray that your Spirit would 10:54 come into our hearts, that we may understand 10:58 who You are and the significance and the height and the depth 11:02 and the breadth of Your love and grace. 11:05 Be with us, Father. 11:06 Tonight may the unknown God, the Spirit, become less unknown. 11:13 May we seek to understand Him better and to know Him better. 11:16 And thus, to know You better. 11:19 Bind our hearts together with You and with one another tonight 11:22 as we open Scripture, is our prayer in Jesus' name. 11:25 Let everyone give an enthusiastic amen. 11:29 Alright, amen. Very good. 11:31 Now let's just spend a couple minutes in review talking about 11:34 what we did last night, what we learned last night. 11:37 And then we're going to continue with our discussion of the 11:42 singularity and the plurality of God. Okay? 11:45 So I want to ask a simple question here. 11:47 How many Gods are there in Scripture? 11:50 The true Gods, how many true Gods are there in Scripture? 11:53 One God. Okay. 11:54 And that would be an emphasis on the singularity of God. 11:58 Right? 11:59 But as we began to learn last night, God is manifested 12:03 in three Persons, or in a plurality. 12:06 And that's what we're going to be discussing tonight. 12:08 And even tomorrow night as well. 12:10 Trying to get our minds and our hands wrapped around 12:12 this idea of God as one and yet God as three. 12:16 And what's the word that is sometimes used to describe that? 12:20 The word Trinity. 12:21 Now the word Trinity, are we married to that word? 12:23 Is it essential that you use that word? 12:25 No. 12:26 There are certain teachings that are not in harmony 12:29 with Scripture that someone might call "Trinitarian." 12:32 And so if someone says, "Oh David, I saw this really 12:34 weird, really wild, really crazy thing on the Trinity online," 12:38 and they bring that definition to you or to me, 12:41 if it's a little wild and a little weird and a little crazy, 12:43 and it's not biblical, are we going to say, 12:45 "Oh I believe that because it says Trinity." 12:47 No, we're going to say, "In as much as we're allowed to 12:50 define that term, that's what we believe." 12:52 And that's what we're trying to understand is, 12:53 what does that mean. 12:55 Why did this word even come up? 12:57 Why the idea that God is a singularity as well a plurality? 13:01 Now, one more little thing that we learned last night. 13:04 And that is, that when we're seeking to understand 13:06 who and what God is... 13:07 We looked at several passages last night. 13:09 We looked at Psalms, we looked at Job, 13:10 we looked at Deuteronomy. 13:11 And we looked at the New Testament, 1 Timothy 3:16. 13:16 God, in the essence of His Godness, is easy 13:20 or difficult to understand? 13:22 You tell me. 13:24 Do we understand God exhaustively? 13:26 No, no, no, no, no. 13:28 We understand just the smallest little sliver 13:31 of who and what God is. 13:32 Who remembers what our illustration was last night? 13:34 What is this here? This is the sea shore. 13:37 And out there is the sea. 13:39 All of this that's behind us is the very limits 13:43 of human intellect and human language. 13:46 And we say all of the correct things in the best possible way 13:50 and we're thinking correctly. 13:51 But even in our best thinking and even in our best 13:55 articulation, the reality that is God is an infinity beyond. 14:01 Are we clear on that, everyone? 14:02 God cannot be boxed in or circumscribed by our language. 14:06 Now, God does reveal Himself in Scripture. 14:09 He does use words, but we have to understand and appreciate the 14:13 limits of those words and the limits of the human intellect. 14:15 Amen? 14:16 As we heard last night, one of the questions that was put there 14:20 in the book of Job is, "Can you search the limits of God?" 14:24 And the answer is, of course not. 14:27 Paul, in the New Testament, says, "Without controversy, 14:30 great is the mystery of godliness." 14:34 Now what we're going to try and do this evening is 14:36 continue to understand this wonderful beautiful mystery 14:41 that is God as a unity, singularity, 14:46 as well as a plurality. 14:48 Now the title of our whole series is, Unknown God. 14:52 And we're seeking to understand the role and person 14:54 of the Holy Spirit. 14:56 But before we can really get to understand who and what and 14:59 the work of the Spirit is, we have to understand 15:02 what is God in His nature and in His character. 15:05 And that's what we began to do last night. 15:08 So that's a little bit of review. 15:09 Are you ready for some new material now? 15:11 Okay, now we started in Genesis chapter 1 15:13 right at the very beginning in a good systematic 15:16 treatment of who God is and how He reveals Himself. 15:20 And we came across that important passage there 15:23 in chapter 1, and God said, "Let Us make man in Our image." 15:31 And who remembers the analogy that we used last night, 15:33 the illustration? 15:34 What is this? 15:36 This is a mirror. 15:38 And when I look in the mirror, is that me there? 15:40 Is that me? 15:42 What is that? 15:43 That's a reflection or an image. 15:46 And so while that is not me, that is certainly an accurate 15:50 representation of me. 15:53 In other words, it would be a little strange to look in the 15:55 mirror and see curly hair and glasses, and then to look at me 15:58 and see bald and no glasses. 16:00 Right? You would say, "Oh that's strange." 16:02 Or look there and see a woman, and to look 16:05 here and see a man. 16:06 Right? You'd say, "Well that's something. 16:07 The mirror is broken." 16:09 Right? 16:10 Okay, so when we look at the thing that God made 16:15 in His image, what is that thing that God made in His image? 16:19 Very good. A family. 16:21 "Let Us make man in Our image." 16:24 Plural possessive pronoun. 16:26 "Let them..." 16:28 "Them" as a plural represents a plural; an "Us" and an "Our". 16:32 The very first thing that God says to the man and the woman, 16:35 both of whom were made in His image is, "Make another." 16:38 And so the thing that in its most sublime beauty 16:44 that is in the image of God is not just a male 16:46 or just a female. 16:49 But the family unit is the thing that is 16:52 truly in the image of God. 16:53 We're going to unpack that further as we continue now. 16:57 Genesis chapter 3, we noted that verse yesterday, 16:59 "Man is become like one of Us." Right? 17:03 "Man is become like one of Us." 17:04 Genesis chapter 1, 2, and 3. 17:05 Now what we're going to do is go to Genesis chapter 11. 17:09 This is now new material. 17:11 Genesis chapter 11. 17:12 This is the story... 17:13 Well, who knows what story this is? 17:15 What's right there in Genesis chapter 11 just after the flood? 17:19 A little bit of a building project. 17:22 Okay, very good. The tower of Babel. 17:24 And let's just read through this because there's two interesting 17:28 things that emerge here. 17:29 Two very important things. 17:32 We'll pick it up in verse 1, "Now the whole earth had 17:34 one language and one speech. 17:37 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, 17:39 that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, 17:41 and they dwelt there. 17:42 Then they said to one another..." 17:44 These are the people after the flood. 17:46 Now watch this language here. 17:47 "Come, let..." What does your Bible say? 17:51 "'Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly.' 17:54 They had brick for stone and they had asphalt for mortar. 17:57 And they said..." Here's our phrase again. 17:59 "'Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower 18:03 whose top is in the heavens; 18:04 let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be 18:07 scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.' 18:08 But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the 18:11 sons of men had built. 18:12 And the Lord said, 'Indeed the people are one and 18:15 they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do. 18:18 Now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them.'" 18:21 Now let's just pause here for a moment. 18:23 The story is basically being told of a people who are 18:25 going to build a city and build a tower. 18:27 And this refrain occurs three times, 18:29 "come let...," "come let...," "come let..." 18:33 So people here are unified and they're going to do a thing. 18:37 But watch, it's very interesting what Moses does here. 18:39 Under the inspiration of the Spirit, Moses keeps 18:42 this same refrain. 18:44 But notice that he changes the subject of the refrain. 18:47 Now it's somebody else who's giving the very same phrase. 18:51 Notice verse 7. 18:52 "Come, let..." What does your Bible say? 18:56 "'Come, let Us go down there and confuse their language, 19:00 that they may not understand one another's speech.' 19:02 So the Lord scattered them abroad over the face 19:05 of all the earth, and they ceased building the city." 19:07 Who is the "Come, let Us," in verse 7? 19:10 It's God Himself. 19:11 Okay, so don't miss that. 19:12 Don't miss that very fascinating little stylistic element 19:15 where Moses says that the people say three times, 19:18 "Come let us do something," "Come let us do something," 19:20 "Come let us do something." 19:21 And Moses says that God then said, "Come let Us." 19:27 God here is referred to by Himself as a plural. 19:31 God refers to Himself in the plural. 19:33 And we've talked a little bit about why this is. 19:35 It's because the word there in the Hebrew is the word "Elohim," 19:40 which is in the plural. 19:42 Now there's another very fascinating thing here. 19:45 Look back at verse 6. 19:48 It says, "And the Lord said, 'Indeed the people are one.'" 19:55 Now I'm going to ask you a very simple question. 19:57 "People," is that a single unit, is that a single individual, 20:02 or is that a plural? 20:04 Okay, so check this out. 20:06 "The people," plural, "are..." What does the Bible say? 20:11 "...one." 20:12 "The people are one." 20:13 Now yesterday I told you there's a word. 20:15 You might not remember it. 20:16 But it says that when the man and the woman become one flesh, 20:21 that word is the word "echad." 20:23 You remember that? The word "echad." 20:25 Not the word "yachid," which is a different word, 20:28 which means solitary, alone, completely alone. 20:32 The word "echad" means not just one, but unity. 20:37 Unity. 20:38 That's the very same word that we have here in verse 6, 20:41 "Indeed the people..." 20:42 That is a plural entity, a plurality; or echad. 20:47 The man and the woman, two, are echad. 20:51 Now that's going to become very important for us 20:52 in just a moment because we're going to look at 20:54 one of the most significant, arguably the single most sacred 20:59 text to Jewish persons in the entire Old Testament. 21:03 We're going to look at what the Jews call, the Shema, 21:05 which means, hear or to listen. 21:08 We're going to go there in just a moment. 21:09 But at this point, I just want you to put this idea on a shelf 21:11 in your mind that a plural can be one. 21:15 And that's not necessarily inherently contradictory. 21:18 Are we together on that, everyone? 21:20 Because, the man and the woman became one. 21:22 And here, the people are... What? 21:24 The people are one. 21:25 Now, you're in Genesis 11. Go to Genesis 18. 21:29 Now under normal circumstances, if we had more time, 21:33 we would just read the whole story of Genesis chapter 18. 21:36 We would just read it through. 21:37 But I'm just going to quickly rehearse it for you. 21:40 A man by the man of Abraham... 21:42 What's his name, everyone? 21:44 A man by the name of Abraham is sitting in the door of his tent 21:48 under the trees, and he looks out. 21:50 And as Abraham looks out, he sees three travelers. 21:53 How many travelers does he see? Three travelers. 21:55 And in keeping with Middle Eastern custom, he rushes out 21:58 to meet the three travelers. 21:59 And he invites them to his place, "Hey, come. 22:01 Wash your feet, have a meal, get some water." 22:03 And so the three travelers come to Abrahams tent 22:05 there under the oaks. 22:06 I think it was at a place called Mamre. 22:08 And they sit down and they begin to interact. 22:10 They're talking, they're conversing. 22:12 Now Abraham thinks that he has just invited three travelers, 22:15 three sojourners that are just making their way. 22:17 He doesn't know that who he has actually invited in is 22:22 God Himself and two angels. 22:25 He doesn't know this. 22:26 Because they just look like ordinary travelers. 22:28 Now in the course of their time they spend together, 22:31 they talk and they eat some food. 22:34 And then they say, "Okay, well we've got to get going. 22:36 Okay, we've got to get going." 22:37 And so they say to Abraham, "We're going to go." 22:40 And so Abraham, the Bible says, sees them out. 22:42 Right, we do that. Don't we? 22:43 When people come to our house and they get up to leave, 22:46 do we just say, "Okay, see you." 22:47 Do we see them to the door? 22:49 Yea, yea. 22:50 In some families, you say bye to them in the living room, 22:52 then you say bye at the door, then you say bye outside 22:54 of the door, then you say bye at the car, and then you wave. 22:56 Right? It's like a series of goodbye's. 22:58 So that's kind of what Abraham's doing here. 23:00 He has had lunch with the three, He has had a meal with them. 23:03 And then he sees them out. 23:05 And as he is seeing them out, God says... 23:08 And this is right toward the end of Genesis 18. 23:10 God says, "Am I going to withhold this thing 23:14 that I'm going to do from Abraham, seeing that Abraham 23:17 is My guy and I know that he will command his 23:19 household after him? 23:20 Can I withhold from Abraham what I am about to do?" 23:24 And as Abraham is seeing them out, God is thinking this. 23:26 And then God turns to Abraham. 23:29 And the other two, the Bible says, continue to walk. 23:32 God turns and He says to Abraham, "Abraham, let Me 23:35 tell you what we're doing here. 23:37 There is a cry that has come up to us, a great cry 23:40 from a certain city, a pair of cities." 23:43 What were those two cities? Sodom and Gomorrah. 23:45 "We have heard a great cry that has come up to us. 23:47 And we're going down to see if in fact it is as we have heard." 23:50 Right? We find this many times in Scripture. 23:52 In Genesis chapter 3, God comes down to see what Adam has done. 23:55 In Genesis chapter 11, He goes down to see the 23:57 tower that the sons of men had built. 23:58 We just saw that. 23:59 And here in Genesis 18, He turns and He says to Abraham, 24:02 "We're going to Sodom and Gomorrah to see if it's 24:05 as we've heard. 24:06 And if it is, those cities are going to be destroyed." 24:09 Now Abraham is immediately concerned because 24:11 he knows somebody who lives in one of those cities. 24:13 And who is that? Lot. 24:14 Okay, so now Abraham says to God... 24:18 And this is at the point where he realizes, "Whoa, these are 24:20 not just ordinary travelers. 24:21 These are not just ordinary sojourners. 24:23 This is," in fact he calls Him, "the Judge of all the earth." 24:27 He says that to Him. 24:28 He says, "What? You're going to go destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?" 24:31 Because Abraham knows what kind of a city it is. 24:33 Okay? 24:34 And so he says, "What? Will not the Judge of all the earth 24:38 do the right thing?" 24:39 Right? You familiar with this? 24:41 And he says, "What if there were 50 righteous there?" 24:44 And God says... Does anyone know what He says? 24:46 He says, "Well if there were 50 righteous, 24:49 I would..." What? 24:50 "...I would preserve it." 24:51 And then Abraham says, "But what if there were 45?" 24:54 God says, "I would preserve it." 24:55 "What if there were 40?" "I would preserve it." 24:56 "What if there were 30?" "What if there were 20?" 24:57 "What if there were 10?" 24:59 All the way down, they're bargaining down to 10. 25:01 And God said, "Hey, if there were 10, I would preserve it." 25:04 Now this is just how Genesis 18 ends. 25:07 And let me just walk you through that. 25:09 Go to Genesis chapter 18. 25:10 Let's just read the last little bit there. 25:13 We'll pick it up in verse 31, the last three verses. 25:15 "And he said, 'Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself 25:18 to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?' 25:20 So He said, 'I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.' 25:22 Then he said, 'Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak 25:24 but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?' 25:26 And He said, 'I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.'" 25:28 Now look at verse 33. 25:29 "So the LORD went His way as soon as He had finished speaking 25:33 with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place." 25:36 The word "LORD" there is capital "L" capital "O" 25:38 capital "R" capital "D". 25:39 That's Jehovah. Okay? 25:41 So Abraham has just been talking face to face with God. 25:46 Right? With who he calls, "the Judge of all the earth." 25:50 And then after this conversation is done... 25:51 Remember that there's no breaks in the 25:55 way that Genesis was written. 25:56 In fact, the way that the whole Bible was written. 25:57 The chapterisation, the versification, 25:59 was added many many centuries later. 26:01 In fact, millennial later in this case. 26:03 Now look at the very next thing that we read. 26:06 Chapter 19 verse 1, it says, "Now the two..." 26:10 What does your Bible say? 26:11 "Now the two..." Well who are the two angels? 26:14 Oh, simple. 26:15 They're the ones that were... 26:16 How many people had lunch with Abraham? 26:19 Three, and one turned to talk. That was God. 26:23 And the two angels made their way to where? 26:26 They made their way to Sodom and Gomorrah. 26:27 And you know the story, right? They show up and they meet Lot. 26:30 And Lot says, "Hey, come stay at my place." 26:32 "No, we'll just sleep in the square." 26:33 "No, you're going to stay at my place," and he brings them over. 26:35 Do we know the story? 26:36 Now you might be saying, "What does this have to 26:37 do with the unknown God?" 26:39 Ah, now this is a very interesting point. 26:42 We went through all of that little story in Genesis 18 26:45 and 19 to establish a very simple fact. 26:47 And that is, that God; Jehovah, Yahweh... 26:52 Okay? God... 26:53 Who, everyone? 26:55 God is on the earth. 26:59 Are you with me on that? He's on the earth. 27:01 We know that because He was just eating 27:02 cheese in Abraham's tent. 27:04 Okay, that's what it says. 27:05 He's on the earth, He was just talking to Abraham. 27:09 After that conversation is done, He begins to walk and 27:12 starts to catch up to the angels that have gone ahead. 27:15 Are we together, everyone? 27:16 Well as the angels arrive there, they stay at Lot's house. 27:19 You know the story, that the wicked people of 27:21 Sodom and Gomorrah, Sodom in this case, 27:23 they come out and they say, "Hey, we want these guys." 27:26 They're blinded. 27:27 And they basically say, "Hey Lot, let me tell you what's up. 27:29 We're not just ordinary travelers. 27:31 We're here to find out if what we've heard 27:32 about this city is true. 27:33 We've seen that it is the case. 27:35 This city is going to be destroyed. 27:36 Get your family and get out." 27:38 Right? 27:39 I'm telling you a very familiar story that you would know. 27:42 Now watch this. 27:43 As the angels lay hold on Lot and his wife, 27:48 begins to drag them and the family out, 27:50 a very interesting thing happens. 27:52 I'm in Genesis 19 now. Let's pick it up in verse 19. 27:56 "Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, 27:59 and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me 28:01 by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, 28:04 lest some evil overtake me and I die." 28:06 The angels had said, "Run to the mountains." 28:08 But he's like, "Uh, I don't really like camping. 28:11 I don't want to... I can't go to the mountains. 28:13 I mean, I don't even... Where do I sleep? 28:14 I don't have a sleeping bag. I don't have a tent." 28:16 So he says, "I can't do that." 28:17 Verse 20, "See now, there's a city over here. 28:20 Just a little one. Just a small city. 28:22 Near enough to flee to. It's just a small one. 28:25 Please let me escape there, is it not just a little one, 28:28 and my soul will live." 28:29 Verse 21, "And he said to him, 'See, I have favored you 28:32 concerning this thing also, in that I will not 28:34 overthrow this city for which you have spoken.'" 28:36 Lot was apparently a bit of a city boy. Right? 28:38 And so he says, "I can't go camping. 28:39 I want to go to the city." 28:40 "Okay then, go to Zoar." 28:41 Verse 22, "'Hurry, escape there. 28:43 For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.' 28:45 Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar." 28:47 Which means, little. Or insignificant. 28:49 Now verse 23, "The sun had risen upon the 28:51 earth when Lot entered Zoar." 28:52 Now just stop right there, I want to get the story 28:55 very simply in our mind. 28:57 Lot has come out of the city. Right? 29:00 And the angels have said, "Run away. 29:02 Run away to the hills." 29:03 "Well, I don't want to go to the hills. 29:04 Can I go to this little city? Can I go to Zoar?" 29:06 "Go to Zoar because I can't do what I'm going to do 29:10 until you get there." 29:11 And so it says that Lot makes his way to Zoar. 29:13 Now watch what happens as God, who had been talking to Abraham, 29:19 has now apparently arrived at the scene. 29:22 He is now at the scene as well. 29:25 And one of the most intriguing verses in all of Genesis 29:29 occurs in verse 24. 29:30 Okay, and you'll understand why we went through this 29:32 whole story to establish this. 29:34 Loot at Genesis chapter 19 verse 24. 29:36 It says, "Then the LORD..." 29:38 That's capital "L" capital "O" capital "R" capital "D". 29:40 That's Yahweh. 29:42 That's the God of the Old Testament. 29:43 "Then Yahweh rained brimstone and fire on..." 29:48 What two cities? 29:50 Sodom and Gomorrah. Now watch this. 29:51 "...from the LORD..." Capital "LORD". 29:55 "...from the LORD," Yahweh, "out of the heavens." 30:01 Now look at that verse again. 30:03 "Then Yahweh rained fire and brimstone 30:05 on Sodom and Gomorrah from Yahweh out of the heavens." 30:09 I want to ask you a simple question. 30:10 How many Yahwehs do you have in that verse? 30:14 You have two Yahwehs in that verse, don't you. 30:17 Do you see it? 30:18 You have two Lords in that verse. 30:20 Now you might be saying, "Well wait a minute. 30:21 How do we know there's two Lords there?" 30:23 Very simple. 30:24 Because one of those Lords was just eating cheese in 30:26 Abrahams tent and then discussing with Abraham 30:29 the destruction of Sodom and how many people would 30:30 need to be there in order for Him to preserve it. 30:31 He then turns. 30:33 And the point of this is to let you know 30:34 that God's feet are on earth. 30:36 He is with Abraham. 30:38 Are you with me? Yes or no. 30:40 So when He finally shows up and Lot has made his way to 30:42 Zoar, it says, "Yahweh, Jehovah, the Lord, rained brimstone and 30:48 fire from Yahweh out of the heavens." 30:53 Question, what direction does rain come from? 30:58 No, rain doesn't go up. 31:00 Maybe it does here. 31:01 Rains comes from up, but it comes down. 31:04 Are you with me on that? 31:05 I misunderstood what you were saying. 31:06 Rain comes down. 31:07 So you have Jehovah there, Yahweh there... 31:11 Right? 31:12 ...who is having fire and brimstone come down. 31:14 So He calls to Him, "Bring it down." 31:17 You've got two Jehovahs in that verse. 31:18 Two Yahwehs in the verse. 31:20 I'm using those names interchangeably because 31:22 we don't know exactly what the correct pronunciation is. 31:24 Okay? 31:25 Now the point is basically this. 31:26 We might read that and think, "Whoa." 31:28 I remember one time, I studied this with a Jehovah's Witness. 31:30 Just went through the story with a Jehovah's Witness 31:31 on the airplane. 31:33 And he was like, "Oh yea," "Oh yea," "Oh yea," "Oh yea." 31:34 And we get down to verse 24, he was like... 31:38 "I've got to study that out," he says. 31:40 "I've got to study that out." 31:41 I said, "You do that, you study it out." 31:43 The point is basically this. 31:45 This is not some radical strange weird thing when we follow 31:49 the basic directionality that Genesis has us headed in. 31:52 In Genesis chapter 1, "Let Us make man in Our image." 31:55 In Genesis chapter 3, "Man has become like one of Us." 31:58 In Genesis chapter 11, "Come let Us go down and 32:00 confuse the language." 32:01 Here in Genesis 18, the Lord is having lunch with Abraham. 32:05 And then the Lord calls down fire and brimstone 32:08 from the Lord out of the heavens. 32:10 What we're seeing here is a common thread of hints. 32:16 What word did I say, everyone? Hints. 32:18 Now do these passages prove that God is a Trinity? 32:23 No, they don't prove that God is a Trinity. 32:25 But what they do is very interesting. 32:27 They get us headed in a direction that when we 32:29 get to the New Testament becomes crystal clear. 32:33 If all you had were the Old Testament... 32:35 Let's just imagine that the New Testament does not exist 32:38 and all we have is the Old Testament. 32:39 So we're Jews, let's just say. 32:40 If all you had was the Old Testament, 32:42 I'm going to go on record as saying, 32:44 you would not emerge from a study of the Old Testament 32:47 as a Trinitarian. 32:48 You wouldn't. 32:49 That's why the Jews are not Trinitarian. 32:51 If all you had was the Old Testament, what you could say 32:54 is that there are hints and suggestions that point in the 32:59 direction of the plurality of God. 33:02 But you would not say, "Oh, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit." 33:06 But what is hinted at and what is suggested 33:09 and what is directional in the Old Testament 33:11 becomes explicitly clear in the New Testament. 33:14 Are you with me on that? 33:16 Now I want to show you just a couple more things here 33:17 that I find very interesting in the Old Testament. 33:21 Just a couple. 33:22 Go with me to Numbers chapter 6. 33:26 Numbers chapter 6. 33:27 We leave Genesis, through Exodus, Leviticus. 33:29 Numbers chapter 6. 33:32 Now this is another passage that I find intriguing. 33:35 Not as proof, but as suggestive. 33:39 What's the word that I used there, everyone? 33:41 Suggestive. 33:42 I want to be very clear on that word. 33:44 It's suggestive, it's not definitive. 33:46 It's not definitive. It's suggestive. 33:48 Now look at this. 33:49 In Numbers chapter 6, this is God speaking to Moses. 33:54 And He says to Moses, "Moses, when the priests put My blessing 33:59 and My name on the people of Israel, they need to do it 34:03 in a certain way. 34:05 And when they do it in that certain way, they have to 34:07 do it just like this." 34:10 Okay, now you'll be familiar with this blessing. 34:11 Verse 22, Numbers chapter 6 verse 22. 34:14 "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to Aaron 34:16 and his sons, saying, "This is the way you shall 34:19 bless the children of Israel, say to them..."'" 34:20 God is very particular. 34:22 "This is how you do it." 34:23 And watch how the blessing is to be pronounced. 34:25 The official priestly benediction from God 34:28 on His people through the priests. 34:30 Verse 24, "Yahweh bless you and keep you." 34:34 Verse 25, "Yahweh make His face shine upon you, 34:37 and be gracious to you." 34:38 Verse 26, "Yahweh lift up His countenance upon you, 34:41 and give you peace." 34:42 Verse 27, "So they shall put My name on the children of 34:46 Israel, and I will bless them." 34:48 Now isn't it interesting that the official priestly blessing 34:52 and benediction that God gives to Moses to give to the people 34:57 is a threefold blessing. 34:59 Yahweh do this, Yahweh do this, Yahweh do this. 35:03 Now, does this prove the Trinity? 35:06 Not at all. 35:07 Does it prove the triune nature of God? 35:10 Not at all. 35:11 But it's suggestive. 35:12 Particularly when we get to the New Testament and 35:15 Jesus begins to say very radical things like, 35:18 "I and My Father are one." 35:23 Right? 35:24 So the official priestly benediction 35:26 is a threefold blessing. 35:28 Let me show you another one of those. 35:29 Go with me to the book of Isaiah. 35:32 Isaiah chapter 6. 35:34 Isaiah has wondered into the temple. 35:37 I don't know if he wondered there or not 35:38 but he has made his way to the temple. 35:40 And as he goes into the temple, he sees the Lord of hosts. 35:43 And as he sees the Lord of hosts high and lifted up, 35:46 he sees these angels that are flying around that 35:48 have three pairs of wings. 35:49 And with two they cover their feet, and with two they cover 35:52 their face, and with two they fly. 35:54 And these angels are crying out something. 35:57 Oh, what are they crying out? What is it? 35:59 Not "holy" one time. Not "holy, holy" two times. 36:06 They're crying out what? "Holy, holy, holy." 36:09 Which raises the question, why three? 36:12 Why is the number of holys that the angels cry out three? 36:17 It's the very same thing that we find in Revelation 36:19 chapter 4 verse 8, "Holy, holy, holy." 36:23 Now, does this again prove the Trinity? 36:25 No, it's not proof. It's not determinative. 36:28 But it's suggestive. 36:30 Now in this very passage, there's something 36:31 else quite interesting. 36:32 It says here in verse 7, we'll pick it up in verse 7, 36:36 "He touched my mouth with this coal and he said, 36:38 'Behold, this has touched your lips; 36:39 your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged.' 36:41 I also heard the voice of the Lord, saying, 36:44 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?'" 36:52 "Who will go for Us?" 36:53 The, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts," 36:56 in this very same passage refers to Himself as an "Us." 37:00 Are we beginning to see a bit of a pattern here? 37:03 God referring to Himself with plural pronouns? 37:07 God referring to Himself as Elohim in the plural? 37:10 "Yahweh bless you and keep you. 37:11 Yahweh make His face to shine upon you. 37:13 Yahweh be gracious unto you." 37:14 "Jehovah rain fire and brimstone from Jehovah out of the heaven." 37:18 Are we beginning to see a bit of a pattern here? 37:19 Yes or no. 37:20 Stay in Isaiah, look at chapter 9, Isaiah chapter 9. 37:24 And then I think this will be our final text from 37:26 the Old Testament and then we'll get into the New Testament. 37:28 No, we'll look at one more in the Old Testament. 37:30 Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6. 37:31 It's the one I told you we'd look at there. 37:32 The most sacred text to a Jewish person; the Shema. 37:37 But before we do that, Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6. 37:40 Look at this one. You'll know this one. 37:41 The Christmas season is just past here not too long ago. 37:44 And this is a passage that we often associate with 37:46 the Christmas season. 37:48 "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; 37:52 and the government will be upon His shoulder. 37:53 His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, 37:56 Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." 38:01 Now that's very interesting. 38:03 The Son is called Mighty God. 38:08 The Son is called Everlasting Father. 38:11 Now sometimes that throws people off. 38:12 They say, "What? How is He the Son and He's the Father?" 38:16 Well, He's the Father in this sense. 38:18 In this particular sense, He is the Father of the human race, 38:22 the new Father of the human race. 38:23 Adam, of course, was the first father. 38:25 He failed. 38:26 But Jesus, in a very special sense, Paul refers to Him 38:29 in the New Testament as the second Adam. 38:31 Right? He's the new Father of the human race. 38:33 That's why we have to be born again. 38:35 We were born the first time under the old Adam. 38:37 And we're born again under the new Adam. 38:39 Can you say amen to that? 38:40 So here's a very interesting thing. 38:41 Think about this. 38:43 If you have a horse, what is the... 38:47 I don't know if this is the correct language. 38:48 The son of a horse is what kind of an animal? 38:51 I know that's really bad. 38:52 I don't know anything about horses. 38:54 Foal, okay. 38:55 But what kind of an animal is it. 38:57 Is it a chicken? 38:59 It's a horse. Okay. 39:00 So let me make it very simple. 39:01 Horse, horse. 39:02 If you have progeny, if you have descendants 39:04 from a horse, it's a horse. 39:05 If you have a pig, you have a pig. 39:07 If you have a fish, you have a fish. 39:09 If you have a human, you have a human. 39:10 Right? So think this through. 39:11 If the Son is Mighty God, what's the Father? 39:17 He's God. He's God too. 39:18 So if the Son is God and the Father is God, 39:21 then how many Yahwehs do you have there? 39:24 You have two. 39:25 So what we see here is very fascinating. 39:27 In the Old Testament, we don't have proof positive 39:31 that God is in fact a plurality in terms of a triunity. 39:35 But we do see suggestions. 39:38 We see... What's the word, everyone? 39:40 ...suggestions that hint in that direction. 39:42 Now what we're going to do is we're going to transition 39:43 to the final passage. 39:45 This is the one I was mentioning there. 39:47 Deuteronomy 6. 39:49 And if you were to ask one of your Jewish friends, 39:53 what is the essence of the Old Testament, 39:56 what is the most important, most central, most sacred verse 40:00 in the Old Testament, they would almost certainly take you to 40:05 Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4. 40:07 Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4, referred to by the Jews as 40:11 the Shema, the Shema. 40:13 Which means; listen, hear. 40:16 Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4, "Hear, O Israel: 40:21 The Lord our God, the Lord is..." 40:25 What does your Bible say? 40:27 "...one." 40:29 "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one." 40:31 Now what this actually says in the Hebrew is, 40:34 Jehovah or Yahweh, Yahweh Elohim... 40:37 Yahweh is the appropriate personal name of God. 40:41 Again, we don't know if that's the exact right voweling. 40:46 But, Yahweh. 40:47 "Elohim Yahweh echad." 40:52 Okay, now let me unpack that for you there. 40:54 "The Lord our God, the Lord is one." 40:58 "Jehovah," or Yahweh, "Elohim..." 41:00 Remember that's our term for, that's a plural word for God. 41:04 Again, "...Jehovah echad." 41:08 "Yahweh Elohim, Yahweh echad," 41:11 is exactly what that verse is saying. 41:13 Now here's an interesting thing. 41:15 We've already seen how the word "echad" is used 41:19 in Hebrew thinking. 41:20 "The two become echad." 41:24 That's Genesis chapter 2. 41:25 In Genesis 11 with the building of the tower of Babel, 41:27 "Behold, the people," many, "are echad," one. 41:33 And so here when it says, "Jehovah is echad," 41:37 is doesn't mean Jehovah is a rigid singularity. 41:41 The word for that would be "yachid." 41:43 That would be the... 41:44 In fact, I think I've got an interesting little thing. 41:47 Let me just read this to you. 41:48 Very interesting great little book here. 41:51 It's actually not particularly little. 41:52 But it's a book called "The Trinity: 41:56 Understanding God's Love, His Plan of Salvation, 41:58 and Christian Relationships." 42:00 By Woodrow Whidden, Jerry Moon, John W. Reeve. 42:03 Love this book. 42:04 Great introduction to the subject. 42:06 Let me just read you a very short statement here 42:09 on this particular word "echad." 42:13 The authors write, "What is striking about this important 42:16 word translated as 'one' in English is that it is 42:20 the Hebrew word 'echad.' 42:22 It means, one among others. 42:25 The emphasis being on a particular one. 42:28 The possibility of there being others is inherent in 'echad,' 42:32 but 'yachid' precludes that possibility. 42:35 Another way to explain 'echad' is that it refers to the oneness 42:39 that results from a unity of numerous persons. 42:44 Now Moses most certainly had the Hebrew word 'yachid,' 42:47 which he could have employed if he wanted to describe the 42:50 Lord God of Israel as an exclusively unitary being." 42:56 He does not say, "Yahweh is yachid." 42:59 One in the solitary sense. 43:01 He says, "Yahweh is echad." One in the unified sense. 43:06 In the same sense that a man and a woman are one family, 43:11 one flesh. 43:12 In the same sense that the people are unified in language, 43:15 they are unified in purpose. 43:17 This is why, as Christians, we affirm this glorious wonderful 43:21 sublime and yet mysterious truth that God is one, 43:26 but He is three Persons that comprise one God. 43:31 Now, that's sort of the Old Testament. 43:33 That gets us headed in a direction. 43:35 We transition now to the New Testament. 43:37 We're going to look at several passages in the New Testament 43:40 that strongly suggest. 43:41 What is implicit in the Old Testament becomes increasingly 43:45 explicit in the New Testament. 43:47 And we run into so many passages in which God is 43:51 very explicitly, I would say, communicating not just 43:55 plurality, but now triunity. 43:59 Not just two, but three. 44:02 And one of them is Matthew chapter 3. 44:04 Join me there if you would. 44:06 Matthew chapter 3, this is the story of the baptism of Jesus. 44:11 And in the story of the baptism of Jesus, we encounter 44:14 all three members of the Godhead; 44:18 Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 44:20 We'll pick it up in verse 14, Matthew chapter 3 verse 14. 44:24 "And John tried to prevent Him, saying, 'I need to be baptized 44:27 by You, and are You coming to me?' 44:28 But Jesus answered and said to him, 'Permit it to be so now, 44:31 for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.' 44:33 Then he allowed Him. 44:35 When He had been baptized..." 44:37 "He" is Jesus. So there's one. 44:39 "...Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, 44:41 the heavens were opened to Him, and He saw the Spirit of God..." 44:44 There's a second entity. 44:46 "...descending like a dove and alighting upon Him." 44:49 Verse 17, "And suddenly a voice came from..." Where? 44:53 "...heaven..." Okay, question. 44:55 Where is Jesus at this point? 44:57 He's standing in the muddy waters of the river Jordan. 44:59 Right? And so the voice comes from heaven. 45:03 "This is My beloved..." What? 45:06 "...Son, in whom I am well pleased." 45:08 This is an unambiguous triadic reference. 45:12 A triadic reference. 45:13 Do we see the Son here? 45:15 Yes or no. 45:16 Do we see the Father here? 45:18 Do we see the Spirit here? 45:21 So we see Father, we see Son, and we see Spirit. 45:24 Again, what's implicit in the Old Testament becomes 45:27 explicit in the New Testament. 45:29 Now stay in Matthew, go to chapter 28. 45:31 From the beginning of Matthew... 45:32 By the way, it's very interesting. 45:34 This is something that just occurred to me recently. 45:37 In Jesus' baptism, all three are present. 45:40 He's present, His Father is present, 45:42 and the Spirit is present. 45:44 When Jesus gives the command... 45:45 This is so awesome. I can't believe I... 45:47 This was literally staring me in the face for years. 45:51 This is just one of the great things about Bible study. 45:53 You read it, you read it, you read it, you read it. 45:55 And one day you wake up and you read it in a new way. 45:57 And you think, "How did I not see that before?" 46:00 But as the gospel of Matthew comes to a close and God gives 46:04 command to the disciples to go baptize, 46:08 guess who shows up? 46:10 All three. 46:11 Right? Look at this. 46:12 Matthew chapter 28 and verse 18, "And Jesus came and spoke 46:15 to them, saying, 'All authority has been given to Me 46:17 in heaven and on earth. 46:18 Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations..." 46:21 What's the next word? 46:22 "...baptizing them..." So there's the context. 46:24 "...baptizing them in the name..." 46:27 And by the way, I was sitting just today right over here 46:30 in the housing for 3ABN with my good friend, 46:33 Dr Ranko Stefanovic, who's getting ready to do a live 46:36 program on this, which is going to be absolutely awesome, 46:39 and he showed it to me right in the Greek. 46:41 He said, "David, look at this." 46:42 This is not "names," plural. 46:46 It's "name," singular. 46:48 "...baptizing them in the name..." singular. 46:51 But watch this. 46:52 "...of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 46:58 teaching them to observe all things that I have 47:00 commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, 47:01 even to the end of the age." 47:02 Now there's several things that we need to note here. 47:03 The first one is very fascinating, and that is this. 47:08 There's a single name which argues for the 47:10 singularity of God. 47:12 Amen? 47:13 There's only one God. 47:14 But in that single name, there is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 47:20 Now what is clear in the English is super duper clear, 47:24 super duper duper clear... Right? 47:27 That's the theological term; super duper duper. 47:32 Because, in the Greek it's literally "and the." 47:36 Everyone is preceded by the definite article. 47:39 "And the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit." 47:46 Now the fascinating thing is that just as in the Greek 47:49 as also in the English, when you have a list of things 47:52 that are preceded by the definite article... 47:54 In the English, that would be "the". 47:55 Right? 47:56 In the Greek, it's "to". 48:00 When you have a list of things, whether it's two or three 48:03 or more, it is usually always the case, it's almost always 48:09 the case that the things that are being described are 48:11 the same kind of thing. 48:13 Let me give you an example. 48:15 Peter, James, and John. 48:17 That's a list of three. 48:19 Peter, James, and John. They're all people. 48:22 It's not Peter, James, and horse. 48:25 Okay it's not Peter, James, and fruit smoothie. 48:28 Okay, it's the same kind of thing. 48:31 Here's another one. 48:32 Gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 48:36 They're the same kind of thing. They're all gifts. 48:39 Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego. 48:41 So when you have things that are set off in this list fashion, 48:46 especially when they are preceded by the 48:48 definite article, "the Father, the Son, the Holy Ghost," 48:52 you're dealing with the same kind of thing. 48:55 Now I have a question. Is the Father a Person? 48:58 Yea of course, of course. 48:59 He's a personal being. 49:01 Is the Son a personal being? 49:03 Well, guess what the Spirit is then. 49:06 A personal being. 49:07 And we're going to unpack that in even greater detail 49:09 tomorrow, in our session tomorrow. 49:10 But the point is basically this. 49:12 In the baptism of Jesus, Jesus is being baptized. 49:15 There's one. 49:16 The Father's voice comes, "This is My beloved Son." 49:18 There's two. 49:19 And the Spirit descends. How many is that? 49:21 Three. 49:22 In the context of the baptism, you go all the way through the 49:25 gospel of Matthew and when Jesus gives the command to the 49:28 disciples for them to go baptize, He says, 49:30 "Baptize in the name," singular, "of the Father, 49:34 the Son, the Holy Spirit." 49:36 The three show up again in the context of baptism. 49:39 Are you with me on that? 49:40 Now, from the gospel of Matthew, we go to the gospel of John. 49:46 And this is a passage that you'll just, 49:47 most of you will just know. 49:49 If you don't know it, don't feel bad. 49:51 But many of you will just... 49:52 If I began quoting this passage, you could easily finish it. 49:55 For many of you. 49:56 It goes like this, John chapter 1 verse 1, 49:59 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 50:04 and the Word was God." 50:06 Okay, now just do the math there. 50:09 Okay, just think this through. 50:10 "In the beginning was the..." 50:12 Okay, we'll just use our books here as an illustration. 50:19 "In the beginning was the Word." 50:20 That's an entity. Right? 50:22 "And the Word was with..." which communicates adjacency. 50:26 "...with God." 50:28 So here's the Word and here's God. 50:29 So how many entities do we have here? 50:32 Two. Now watch this. 50:33 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, 50:37 and the Word was God." 50:39 So do we have plurality? 50:42 But we also have what? 50:44 Singularity. 50:46 Plurality and singularity. 50:47 This was the very point that Jesus was making 50:50 when He used the phrase, the phrase that He so often used, 50:53 "Son of God." 50:55 In fact, go to John chapter 5 and find out how the Jews, 50:59 the Jews of Jesus' day, related to Jesus 51:02 when He used that phrase. 51:05 John chapter 5 verse 17. 51:09 "But Jesus answered them and said, 'My Father has been 51:11 working until now, and I have been working.'" 51:14 Verse 18, "Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, 51:17 because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that 51:21 God was His Father..." 51:23 Now look at this phrase here. 51:24 "...making Himself..." What does your Bible say? 51:27 "...equal with God." 51:30 Okay wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. 51:31 In Jewish thinking here, as well as in modern thinking, 51:35 my son, is he worth less than me? 51:39 Is my son my equal? 51:42 In terms of essence. 51:45 Am I more of a human being than my son? 51:47 No. No, no, no. 51:48 We're not equal in terms of authority for a time. 51:51 He's under my supervision for a time. 51:53 But the point is this. 51:55 He is 100% a human being. I'm 100% a human being. 51:58 So when Jesus said, "I'm the Son of God," 52:01 "My Father is working..." the Jews said, "Are you kidding? 52:05 How could He say such a thing." 52:07 When He calls Himself, "the Son of God," 52:09 He is making Himself... 52:11 What was the phrase? 52:12 ...equal with God. 52:14 Well look, if you have just... 52:16 And this is what we were just on in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6, 52:18 "Wonderful Counselor, Everlasting Father, 52:19 Mighty God." 52:22 And so, if the Father is God and the Son is God, 52:26 how many entities do we have? 52:28 We have two entities. 52:29 Here's the Father, here's the Son. 52:31 And they both are... They're both one. 52:34 Just like, "In the beginning was the..." 52:37 "and the Word was with..." 52:38 "and the Word was..." 52:40 Getting a feel for it here. 52:41 Jesus says this... 52:43 By the way, the Jews fully understood what He was saying, 52:45 clearly understood what He was saying, because they said, 52:47 "Hey, You're making Yourself equal with God." 52:49 Now when we get to John chapter 10, Jesus spells out 52:53 this little formula, if I can use that language, 52:59 absolutely explicitly. 53:01 John chapter 10 verse 30. 53:03 Jesus says, "I and My Father are..." 53:10 There it is. 53:11 "I and My Father..." Entity, entity. 53:16 "...are..." What? 53:17 But in what sense are they one? 53:20 Well, they're one in the Old Testament sense. 53:21 They're one in the echad sense. 53:23 In the sense that they're unified. 53:26 Not that there's just a rigidly singular God. No. 53:29 There's one God who is comprised of a kind of divine family. 53:35 God as a society, God as a community. 53:38 God as a fellowship of co-equal co-eternal Persons. 53:43 Now somebody is going to say, "Wait a minute. 53:44 There's no Holy Spirit in these verses." 53:46 True enough. 53:47 We're going to get to the Holy Spirit in just a bit. 53:49 But maybe there's something I should just say here. 53:52 In fact, we're going to spend most of our time in the 53:53 Holy Spirit tomorrow night, the next three nights. 53:55 We're still just sort of laying the ground work here. 53:57 But the point is basically this. 53:59 What is hinted at in the Old Testament 54:02 becomes increasingly clear in the New Testament. 54:05 And then becomes expressly clear in the writings, 54:09 for example, of Paul. 54:10 What's hinted at in the gospels... 54:13 Not even hinted at. 54:14 What is spelled out increasingly clearly in the gospels 54:16 becomes just absolutely crystal clear by the time we get 54:21 to the epistles of Paul. 54:22 This is what is sometimes referred to as 54:24 progressive revelation. 54:27 And progressive revelation is just what it sounds like. 54:28 What's the root word of revelation? 54:30 Reveal. 54:31 So progressive revelation would be a progressive revealing. 54:33 You see a little bit here. 54:35 And you can just think of a tablecloth that covers, 54:38 you know, a long table. 54:40 So we just start peeling that cloth back and it's clear there. 54:44 And then it gets clearer and clearer and clearer and clearer. 54:45 And as the whole thing begins to unfold, the picture begins to 54:48 emerge that's very clear, very compelling. 54:51 Okay? Are we together, everyone? 54:53 Is this helpful at all? Are we learning anything? 54:56 Now, there's just one more passage that I want to go to 54:59 here tonight that I think will be good for us. 55:00 And it's also a passage in John. 55:03 And then we'll get into the epistles of Paul tomorrow night. 55:06 This is John chapter 8. 55:11 John chapter 8. 55:13 Jesus here is having a discussion, you can almost 55:17 call it an argument, with the religious leaders of His day. 55:22 And in the context of the whole dialogue of 55:24 John chapter 8 verse 58, it has to do with descendancy, 55:28 lineage, and fatherhood. 55:30 And at one point, Jesus even goes so far as to say to them, 55:33 "You are of your father, the devil." 55:35 I mean, that's not mincing words. 55:37 That's strong medicine. 55:39 "You are of your father, the devil." 55:40 Now as this begins to get to a real climax, 55:45 pick it up in verse 48. 55:46 "The Jews answered and said, 'Do we not correctly say that 55:49 You are a Samaritan and You have a demon?'" 55:51 I mean, they're just pulling out all the stops at this point. 55:54 "You're a Samaritan." 55:55 It's like, "Nanny, nanny, boo, boo." 55:57 Right? They were really upset. 55:58 That was like the lowest insult. 56:00 Well, as this dialogue continues to escalate, 56:03 we pick it up in verse 56. 56:05 Jesus says, "'Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, 56:09 and he saw it and was glad.' 56:10 And the Jews said, 'Are you kidding? 56:12 You are not yet fifty years old, how have You seen Abraham?'" 56:15 And then Jesus uttered some of the most 56:17 phenomenally sublime words in all of the New Testament. 56:22 He said, "Most assuredly," count on this, definitely. 56:26 "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM." 56:34 He's literally taking the phrase from Exodus chapter 3 56:38 when Moses stood at the burning bush, 56:39 "Who shall I say sent me?" 56:40 "I AM that I AM." 56:42 And the Hebrew word there is, "hayah." 56:45 It means, to exist. 56:47 That's what the word means. 56:48 It's what we get the word "Yahweh" from. 56:50 Hayah, to exist. Yahweh. 56:52 "I am Him who always is and always has been 56:55 and always will be." 56:56 "I AM that I AM." 56:58 "The One who was and who is and who is to come." 57:00 That's how it says it in Revelation. 57:01 We'll look at that tomorrow night. 57:02 But Jesus there, speaking to the Jews, the Jewish leaders 57:06 of His day, says, "Before Abraham was, I AM." 57:12 "I am the Jehovah God of the Old Testament." 57:16 And the very next verse, they pick up stones to stone Him. 57:20 Friends, this picture is emerging. 57:22 God is a singularity, but also a plurality. 57:27 Is it coming clear? |
Revised 2014-12-17