At the very top of the page is a colored line, if you turn that line on its side, you see a circle and if you twist that circle just right then you get an eternity symbol. Simply put: A line becomes a circle and then transforms into a symbol of eternity. All this made me think of the Trinity and this passage from the New Testament...
1 John 1 ( World English Bible )
5 This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
6 If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in the darkness, we lie, and don’t tell the truth.
7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
God is light, devoid of darkness. Normally, I think of light as just being white, but, when light is broken down into its spectrum, it has almost an infinity of colors. I remembered that one translation of “I AM” in Exodus 3:14 ( the burning bush, when GOD reveals himself to Moses as fire within a bush that cannot be consumed [Exodus 3:3-12] ) is “I will be what I will be” and thought that God could be conceived of in any way that HE wished to be. This concept is called a theophany ( some dictionaries refer to it as a revelation or disclosure of God ). Other examples of this concept are found in Exodus 13:21-22; 19:16-25; Deuteronomy 4:11-12,33-36, 5:4-22; Isaiah 6:1ff.; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 9:28-36 and of course Revelation 1:12-16.
Then, I thought about God presenting himself in various ways, I remembered God creating man in Genesis, chapter 1...
Genesis 1 ( WEB )
26 And God said––Let us make man in our image, after our likeness––and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the bird of the heavens, and over the tame–beast––and over all the land, and over every creeping thing, that creepeth on the land.
27 And God created the man, in his own image, In the image of God, created he, him,––Male and female, created he, them.
Man is both physical and something other than just physical. Man has a mind and a will in addition to his physicality. In other words… Humans are like their maker, complex. Note: see 1 Thessalonians 5:23. Man disobeyed God and sin entered the world. Sin caused a division between God and human beings, but God had a plan to solve the problem, Jesus.
The apostle Paul says the following to the Ephesian Christians...
Ephesians 1 ( WEB )
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, to the saints who are at Ephesus, and the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ;
4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without blemish before him in love;
5 having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire,
6 to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely bestowed favor on us in the Beloved,
7 in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,
8 which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence,
9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him
10 to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, in him;
Christ ( and his redemptive work ) was ( and is ) the plan of God before the foundation of the world to combat sin. Consider the underlined phrase above; “in Christ”.
Acts 24:24 Faith is “in Christ”
Romans 3:24 Redemption is “in Christ”
Romans 6:11 Alive to God “in Christ”
Romans 6:23 Eternal life “in Christ”
Romans 8:1 No condemnation “in Christ”
Romans 8:2 The law of the Spirit of life “in Christ”
Romans 8:38f. Inseparable love of God “in Christ”
Romans 9:1 The truth “in Christ”
Romans 12:5 One body “in Christ”
1 Corinthians 1:2 Sanctified “in Christ”
1 Corinthians 1:4 The grace of God “in Christ”
1 Corinthians 15:22 All made alive “in Christ”
2 Corinthians 2:14 Triumph “in Christ”
2 Corinthians 5:17 A new creation “in Christ”
2 Corinthians 5:19 God, reconciling the world “in Christ”
2 Corinthians 11:3 Simplicity “in Christ”
Galatians 2:4 Liberty “in Christ”
Galatians 2:16 Justified by faith “in Christ”
Galatians 2:17 Justified “in Christ”
Galatians 3:26 Children of God “in Christ”
Galatians 3:27 Baptized “into Christ” have put on Christ.
Galatians 3:28 You are all one “in Christ
With all the above blessings and more, why are you waiting? Put on Christ in Baptism and have your sins washed away!
Notice the response of the people to Peter’s first sermon on the day of Pentecost:
Acts 2 ( WEB )
36 “Let all the house of Israel therefore know certainly that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
39 For the promise is to you, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to himself.”
40 With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”
41 Then those who gladly received his word were baptized. There were added that day about three thousand souls.
God can transform himself into any form HE wishes, at HIS will. We can transform our lives through Jesus’ sacrifice for our sins by being baptized for the the remission of our sins and being born of the water and the Spirit ( John 3:1-8 ).
One final thought; I especially like how Paul makes his defense before Agrippa, when he says…
Acts 26 ( WEB )
1 Agrippa said to Paul, “You may speak for yourself.” Then Paul stretched out his hand, and made his defense.
2 “I think myself happy, King Agrippa, that I am to make my defense before you this day concerning all the things that I am accused by the Jews,
3 especially because you are expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews. Therefore I beg you to hear me patiently.
4 “Indeed, all the Jews know my way of life from my youth up, which was from the beginning among my own nation and at Jerusalem;
5 having known me from the first, if they are willing to testify, that after the strictest sect of our religion I lived a Pharisee.
6 Now I stand here to be judged for the hope of the promise made by God to our fathers,
7 which our twelve tribes, earnestly serving night and day, hope to attain. Concerning this hope I am accused by the Jews, King Agrippa!
8 Why is it judged incredible with you, if God does raise the dead?
9 “I myself most certainly thought that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10 This I also did in Jerusalem. I both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to death I gave my vote against them.
11 Punishing them often in all the synagogues, I tried to make them blaspheme. Being exceedingly enraged against them, I persecuted them even to foreign cities.
12 “Whereupon as I traveled to Damascus with the authority and commission from the chief priests,
13 at noon, O king, I saw on the way a light from the sky, brighter than the sun, shining around me and those who traveled with me.
14 When we had all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice saying to me in the Hebrew language, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’
15 “I said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “He said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.
16 But arise, and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things which you have seen, and of the things which I will reveal to you;
17 delivering you from the people, and from the Gentiles, to whom I send you,
18 to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’
Yes, God is light and the most beautiful light you will ever see – regardless of its color!
Enough said.
Gary
No comments:
Post a Comment