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Knowing that Our Triune God is Eternal

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When we think about God and His creation, we sometimes let our ideas become as wild as something from a space movie. But the Bible gives us the real story. God tells us:

  • That He lives forever (Isaiah 57:15)
  • That He exists from everlasting to everlasting (Psalm 93:2)

When we see God at work in the Bible we see that:

  • God was there at the start (Genesis 1:1) and will be there at the end (Revelation 22:13)

And when He speaks of Himself in all three persons he says:

  • God was here before everything and will last through everything  (Psalm 90:2)
  • The Son was here before everything and keeps everything going (Col 1:17)
  • The Holy Spirit was there at the start (Genesis 1:2) and always knows what God is thinking  (1 Cor 2:11)

We should not mistake what 2 Peter 3:8 says—that one day is like a thousand years to God—to mean that one ‘God day’ is actually a thousand years for us. What Peter means is that God, who knows everything, is all-wise, all-powerful, and lives forever, doesn’t keep our agenda! This is great news! It means God, who created everything, isn’t far away. He’s here with us now, will be there waiting for us at the end, and promises to be with us always.

Savior, our only joy be though, as Thou our crown shalt be; Be Thou, O Lord, our glory now, and through eternity!

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Meditations

Knowing that Our Triune God Created Everything

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God, in all three persons, created everything. Anything that exists owes existence to God.

  • The Lord alone made all things (Isaiah 44:24)
  • There is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things (1 Cor 8:6)
  • All the hosts of heaven made by the word and by the breath [Spirit] of His mouth. (Psalm 33:6)

These passages show us that God, in all three persons, made physical stuff AND spiritual beings.

We also know that God didn’t have to do this. He wasn’t forced by necessity or something lacking in the Godhead. He freely decided to do this and shared his nature through that creation.

  • Man and Woman are a picture of God (Gen 1:26-27)
  • The stars declare God’s glory (Psalm 19:1-6)
  • Creation reveals God’s invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity (Rom 1:20)

Go outside on a clear dark night. Or Stand on a high mountain and look out. Or look down while your plane is taking off. Revel in the wonder of God’s creation!

Holy, holy, holy: Lord God Almighty! All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea. Holy, holy, holy: Merciful and mighty! God in three persons, blessed Trinity

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Meditations

Knowing that God, In All Three Persons, Is Sovereign

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Some people think that because God doesn’t need anything, because he is very smart, very good, very kind, and very strong that he gets to be sovereign, or in charge. But God isn’t in charge because of those things. God is in charge because He is God! God has the right to freely do whatever He wants over what He made.

  • Whatever the LORD pleases to do, he does it! (Psalm 135:6)

This absolute right belongs to all three persons of the one triune Godhead.

  • Our God in the heavens does whatever he wants. (Psalm 115:3)
  • The Lamb of God is lord of lords and kings of kings (Rev. 17:14 )
  • The Spirit sovereignly decides the gifts for individuals (1 Cor. 12:11)

The fact that God, in all three persons, is all good, all loving, all knowing, all powerful, and all wise, just means that he is always able to perfectly act on his rights: nothing can stop him.

  • God has planned it, so it will be: who can turn his hand back? No one. (Isa. 14:24–27)
  • God causes all things to work together for good for those who love (Rom. 8:28)

This is fantastic news. God never loses control. God, in all three persons, is truly in charge, even when things are bad and horribly sad. If God is behind a ministry or giftedness, He is able to make that ministry fruitful in his own way! As the hymn in Christ Alone says:

No guilt in life, no fear in death: this is the power of Christ in me 

From life’s first cry to final breath, Jesus commands my destiny 

No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck me from His hand !

Till He returns or calls me home, here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.

In Christ Alone
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Meditations

Knowing the Triune God Who is Spirit and Can Access Anywhere

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Our Triune God, in His nature, is spirit. This means that the triune God isn’t made of physical stuff. Jesus explained this when He spoke to a woman from Samaria. He taught her that God is not limited to a specific place in time and space.

  • Jesus said, “God is spirit, and when we worship Him, we must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:24).

When Jesus came back to life after His death, He told His followers that a spirit is different from what they were seeing:

  • He said, “A spirit doesn’t have a body that can be touched!” (Luke 24:39).

Some people may think that God is like a cloud or a ghost from a movie, but those ideas are wrong. When we say that God is spirit, it means that He is not like anything we can imagine. Physical things have limits, but spirit is limitless. Physical things can be hidden from our sight, but spirit doesn’t need to be seen to be there. The Bible tells us the truth:

  • God cannot be seen (1 Timothy 1:17)
  • No one has ever seen God (John 1:18)  
  • God is immortal (Isaiah 31:3)

Don’t jump ahead and think about Jesus becoming a human just yet! Know that because God is spirit, He can be present everywhere, at any time, always. This means that no matter how lonely or hopeless we feel, God sees us (Genesis 16:13). No matter how quiet our voice may be, He hears us (1 Peter 3:12)! No matter where I am, God is there with me (Psalms 139)! These facts should bring us to our knees to worship the greatness of our invisible God.

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Knowing that Our Triune God is All Powerful

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God, in all three persons, is omnipotent: that means all-powerful. What the Father thinks is spoken by the Son and the Holy Spirit makes it happen. Look at how this works in God’s creation (Gen 1:1-3; Psalm 33:6)

  • God exists by Himself without needing anything else.
  • The Spirit of God moved over the deep waters
  • God said: “Let there be Light”, His word made the heavens and God’s breath made the stars exist
  • And just like that, there was Light! Something that didn’t exist before suddenly appeared out of nowhere!

The Bible says that everything is held together by Christ’s powerful word (Hebrews 1:3). Jesus only used His power when the Father wanted Him to, but He always had those powers because He is divine (Phil 2:4; John 14:31).

But that doesn’t mean God can do absolutely anything. For example, God, with all His power, can’t change who He is (James 1:17). He can’t make Himself lie or make Jesus lie (Hebrews 6:18). He also can’t stop being God (Psalm 90:2). So, God is all-powerful, but He can only do things that make sense with His nature. That means He can’t create rocks that are too heavy for Him to lift or make shapes that don’t exist like square circles.

We worship an all-powerful triune God who is eternally true to Himself!