God is an overflowing fountain filled with Great Joy and Love. In His fullness of love, joy, glory and perfect righteousness; He needs nothing more to fulfill Himself. He is complete. God, the Father loves the Son with such tremendous love; the son existing from eternity past as part of His triune being. Father, son was the best way for God to illustrate this relationship in a manner that our finite human minds could comprehend. So let me try to help you understand this relationship; because this becomes crucial in our understanding God’s Will as well as God’s great love and pleasure in His son. In order to begin to comprehend God’s great pleasure, we will need to travel back to the creation where “God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). Note God (singular) said Let US (plural).
Photo used by permission Sarah Barba ©2013 Sarah Barba
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead Romans 1:20
He created man with Body, Soul and Spirit. Just as God is Body (Christ-the Son), Soul (The Father) and Spirit (The Holy Spirit); thus, He created mankind in His image as a triune being. There are moments when the Scripture refer to Christ’s willingness to obey the Father, even to die on the cross in humble obedience to the Father’s will. Yet, if you have ever ordered your body to get out of bed in the morning and found it
rebellious; you might understand the significance of that fact and that this is not contradictory to the concept of God being “Body, Soul, and Spirit”. Indeed, that makes it even more awe-inspiring to think that Christ came to earth and for a moment in time was separated from the Father and the Holy Spirit. He found it necessary to pray. When He died on the cross with the sins of the world laid upon Him, the Father and Holy Spirit had to turn away; because in their perfect righteousness they could not look upon Him. Add that fact to the agony of what was the cross and you must agree, we will never fully understand the depth of Christ’s suffering and sacrifice, nor the depth of His love for us to be willing to endure the penalty of our sin. Because I feel it is key for you and I to understand God’s deep love for His “son”, I want to share also with you another approach to this concept of the Trinity which I find as complementary to the one I just presented. I read Love Seeking Understanding-a meditation on the trinity by John Piper (the article in its entirety can be found athttp://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/taste-see-articles/love-seeking-understanding
In a nutshell (following Jonathan Edwards), I would describe the Trinity like this: The Father is God existing in the primal, unoriginated, most absolute manner. The Son is God eternally generated by the Father’s having a clear and distinct idea or image of himself, so much so that his image or reflection of himself is God—the Son. The Holy Spirit is God existing as the infinite Spirit of love and delight flowing eternally between the Son and the Father.
The Father has always existed. And there never was a time when he did not have a perfectly exact and full Idea or Image of himself. This is the Son who therefore is equally eternal with the Father. “God’s idea of himself is absolutely perfect and therefore is an express and perfect image of him, exactly like him in every respect; there is nothing in the pattern but what is in the representation—substance, life, power nor anything else…But that which is the express, perfect image of God in and in every respect like him is God to all intents and purposes…” (Jonathan Edwards, An Essay on the Trinity, p. 101). Biblical passages that point to this understanding of God the Son are 2 Corinthians 4:4; Philippians 2:6; Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:3.
When God is said to “be love” (1 John 4:7, 16), we must think that there has always been two Persons in God between whom love could flow. And the Scriptures teach plainly that the Father loves the Son (Matthew 3:17; Ephesians 1:6; John 5:20; 17:26) and the Son loves the Father (John 14:31). God’s infinite love for his own glory (Isaiah 48:11) was satisfied from eternity in his beholding and enjoying his own glorious Image in the person of his Son.
By John Piper. ©2013 Desiring God Foundation. Website: desiringGod.org
Let me dispel the idea or objection that any of you might have that God is thus self-absorbed and egocentrically motivated. First of all, God is the perfect essence of righteousness, beauty, joy, justice, glory, and love. He did not need us to prove that fact. Instead, His love and joy within the trinity was so great that He wanted to share it rather than to keep it to Himself. Therefore, He created the universe which displayed an outpouring of His beauty. From the intricacy of the tiniest microbe to the blazing wonder of the continuously burning gases that make up our sun; how can one not marvel at the beauty of God’s creation? How much more magnificent can you imagine, God Himself is. Then He created mankind so that He might lavish man with His love, His joy, and His Glory.
Ah, but you see there was one thing. For man to be able to feel that love and to be overwhelmed by joy or delight, man needed to have free will. If you have no choice; how do you understand? God walked in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve every day; yet, when tempted, Adam chose to love the creation more than the creator.
So, we have begun this journey to delve deep into the fountain and I do not know how many days this journey will take; but let me conclude today with these truths.
1. God delights in His love for His Son with perfect Blissful happiness.
2. God desires to lavish that overflowing fountain of love and joy upon you and me.
3. God willingly paid whatever price needed to provide a way for us to experience that delight which can be only found in a relationship with Him
When you have time I think you will be inspired by watching The Heavens Declare The Glory of God
©2013 Effie Darlene Barba
Photo used by permission Sarah Barba ©2013 Sarah Barba and can be purchased at http://fineartamerica.com/featured/missouri-sun-sarah-barba.html
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.