Artwork by FullofEyes

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“I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.”

᛭ INPFSS ᛭

The Holy Trinity is one of the greatest mysteries of the Christian Faith. We can confess and teach the Trinity from the Bible, but He’s something we can’t fully wrap our minds around. So, there’s no analogy or metaphor that we can use because no matter what we pick it’ll won’t fit our human thinking or won’t fit the Bible, or both!

When it comes to the Trinity: “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” The best confession is simply “The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; and yet there are not three Gods but one God.” (Athanasian Creed)

The Triune God reveals more about Himself in the Bible and how He relates to your earthly life, your redemption, and your eternal life. So, trying to keep this mystery simple, I’m focusing on those three things in this way:

THE HOLY TRINITY BRINGS YOU INTO HIS LIFE, HIS FELLOWSHIP, AND HIS WORSHIP.

(I. He is the source of life.)

THE HOLY TRINITY BRINGS YOU INTO HIS LIFE… He gives life!—to you and everything… “Of Him and through Him and to Him are all things!” From the instant we’re conceived until the moment of our death, your daily life is His. He creates and also preserves it. “In Him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 4)

The Son and Spirit are also involved, but to simplify we say it’s God the Father’s work. Jesus Himself also talks this way, so that’s good enough for me! Besides creating the universe, God the Father also preserves it and also gives you “all that you need to support this body and life.” (SC II)

So, you have no life or livelihood apart from the Holy Trinity giving it to you. The Triune God creates and upholds everything, and also gives you all that you have, but we normally summarize it by confessing daily “I believe God the Father Almighty maker of heaven and earth.” (Apostles’ Creed)

(Transition.)

We now turn from First Article to the Son and the Second Article. Believing in a “creator” or “intelligent design” or an all-powerful cosmic being is not yet believing in “God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” For, “even if we were to concede that all people outside Christianity believe in one God, ’whether [believers in false gods], [Muslims], Jews, or Christians [in name only]’, they still [do’nt] know what His mind toward them is and cannot expect any love or blessing from Him. Therefore, they remain in eternal wrath and damnation. For they do not have the Lord Christ.” (LC II 66) So, THE HOLY TRINITY BRINGS YOU INTO HIS LIFE, and also into HIS FELLOWSHIP but only through the Son of God, Jesus.

(II. Our fellowship with Him is only through the Son.)

Apart from Jesus saying what He says about Himself, the Father, and the Spirit, we wouldn’t ever believe that God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It all hinges on Jesus! For the Father has called you “into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (1 Cor 1) By faith in Jesus “our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” (1 Jn 1)

And we have true fellowship with the Holy Trinity through the Son, because only the Son of God is both God and man. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (Jn 1) And “[His] blood cleanses us from all sins” (1 Jn 1), so even your sins don’t separate you from this fellowship. By faith alone you receive the benefits. For “God set Christ forth as a propitiation by His blood through faith” (Rom 3:25). That means God appointed Christ as the atoning sacrifice for sin, by the shedding of His blood, and we receive it all through faith in Him.

By believing in Jesus, you have the most intimate communion with the Trinity, for you’ve been “baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” Holy Communion also gives you fellowship with the Trinity, for “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ?” (1 Cor 10) Union with Christ means union with Father and Spirit, too.

## (Transition.)

Now we turn to the 3rd Article of the Creed. We’ve seen that THE HOLY TRINITY BRINGS YOU INTO HIS LIFE. He gives you life. That’s the Father’s work. THE TRINITY BRINGS YOU INTO HIS FELLOWSHIP. He redeems you. That’s the work of the Son. THE TRINITY BRINGS YOU INTO HIS WORSHIP. That’s the work of the Spirit.

(III. Receiving faith and eternal life from Him, we thus worship Him.)

First off, “Neither you nor I could ever know anything about Christ, or believe on Him, and have Him for our Lord, unless it were offered to us and granted to our hearts by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of the Gospel [1 Corinthians 12:3; Galatians 4:6].” Redemption’s accomplished by Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection. “But if the work remained [hidden] so that no one knew about it, then it would be useless and lost. So … God has caused the Word to go forth and be proclaimed. In the Word He has the Holy Spirit bring this treasure home and make it our own.” (LC II 38–39) I hinted about some of that already with Baptism and Communion.

And so THE TRINITY BRINGS YOU INTO HIS WORSHIP! The Spirit gives and strengthens your faith in Jesus only through the Word alone and Baptism alone and Communion alone. Scarcely anyone believes that anymore! “Being born of the Spirt” has everything to do with Baptism (Jesus is teaching Nicodemus about that) and God’s Word (Jn 8), His Supper (Jn 8 and 15).

All Christians are duty bound, confirmation oath bound to cherish such things. Christian husbands and fathers are especially duty bound (Christian mother’s, too) to have God’s Word and teach it and also pray at home (Dt 6). They are to order their lives and the lives of their household around the Lord’s Word and Sacraments. “Forsake not the gathering, as is the habit of some.” (Heb 13) The forsaking of the faith begins in the home and flows away from “Preaching and God’s Word” and the Sacraments, upholding the faith begins at home and flows through Word and Sacrament.

Word and Sacrament BRINGS YOU INTO WORSHIP of the Trinity. As Isaiah 6 shows, the Trinity is worshipped, “by angels and archangels,” by cherubim and seraphim! They sing out “Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Sabaoth, heav’n and earth are full of Thy glory!” The Spirit opens Isaiah’s physical eyes to see the true reality of the Temple at Jerusalem. Moses saw it on Mt. Sinai. Hebrews 12 tells us it’s what’s going on in our worship as well. We’re really in God’s throne room today “with angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven!”

It’s 100% true that this is God’s house and that we’re literally in His presence. Our church design confesses this truth. Our altars are designed like a throne. Angels even used to be painted on the walls around the altar [here/at Immanuel.] It’s why bowing is an appropriate ritual. It confesses, “I actually believe God’s literally in the building, and lest I see Him, I bow.” Sadly, many churches this reality is something they don’t really think about or it’s just a nice idea, not something that affects architecture or even what we do with our bodies. Worship is a full body experience in the Bible.

Isaiah 6 sounds familiar, right?—gathering in God’s presence, confessing sins sins, receiving forgiveness from the altar. No fiery angel but a funny robed guy takes from the altar and touches your mouth—no burning coal but the body and blood of the Son for you to eat and drink, and your iniquity’s taken away, your sin purged!

(Conclusion.)

“I believe in God the Father, who has created me; I believe in God the Son, who has redeemed me; I believe in the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies me. One God and one faith, but three persons.” (LC II, 7) That’s the Trinity in a nutshell. Still the most profound mystery.

THE HOLY TRINITY BRINGS YOU INTO HIS LIFE, HIS FELLOWSHIP, AND HIS WORSHIP.

He gives you life. He redeems you. He gives you eternal life, and He’s already brought you into the heavenly worship—“with angels and archangels,” “cherubim and seraphim,” “with the whole company of heaven.” When we worship the way we do, we’re just getting warmed up for forever.

᛭ INPFSS ᛭