Puzzling the Nature of God

When was the last time that you worked on a puzzle? One of the puzzles that you put on the table, five hundred pieces, a thousand pieces. Some of the kids’ puzzles are fun too; they’re only maybe ten or twenty pieces. Well, that’s something that, I don’t know, is kind of going away, maybe not as popular as it used to be.

I remember going to my grandpa and grandma’s house—this is my dad’s parents—and grandma always seemed to have a puzzle on the table somewhere. She worked on them all the time. She had been crippled from birth, and so one of her hands was not useful, but still she could put together a puzzle with one good hand better and quicker than any of us, the cousins, her grandchildren could. It was just kind of fun to sort it out and find it, put it together. She never seemed to mind.

My wife loves to do puzzles. We went through a phase where we were buying Star Wars puzzles, a lot of Star Wars stuff, and that was fun, and I liked to do them too, but sitting at the table my lower back would kill me after just a few minutes, so I didn’t have the patience. But I remember one time in particular, and probably aided from the benefit of photographs, where it was before the children were born, and she had—I don’t know, maybe we worked on it together. There was a really nice puzzle; it was just completed, and we’re both clumsy, and somehow, and I don’t remember how, it fell off the table. So I’ve got a picture of her on the floor in great tragedy; the puzzle had fallen over and was destroyed.

I remember one I almost embarrassed to admit that there was a time where my cousins, my Aunt Debbie’s and her children were putting together all kinds of puzzles, and I’m kind of a stinker, so I’d ask my wife to find a difficult puzzle. We found one with no edges that was black and white, and we sent it to them in a Ziploc bag with no picture. It was of trees and leaves. So I’m pretty sure they put it together, but it was kind of just a mean thing to do. I regret doing that.

Normally we have the edges in a box that you can see the picture. Well, the reason I bring this up is because there are times when we go through a topic in the Bible where it can feel like we’ve got all these pieces, and they must go together, they must paint a picture. But just like when we’re putting together a puzzle on the table, you need to have all the pieces, you need to have the correct order, you can’t have a piece that’s upside down, and you can’t force those pieces together. Because if you do any of those things, your image is going to be incorrect. You want to have the correct image.

In the Bible, God is providing us the image. We want to have the correct picture. Sometimes when we’re thinking of prophecy, we might think of that being puzzles, taking pieces, putting it together, and it’s all got to flow. But even, well, let’s say the laws of God; that’s not really a puzzle. It’s one to ten, right in a row; it’s easy to understand, so not everything has a complexity to it. But how about the nature of God? Who is God? What are his characteristics, what’s his nature? Well, that can be a little bit of a puzzle. We have lots of different pieces. How do they go together?

That’s actually one of the major doctrinal pieces that we have stated in our fundamental beliefs. One of the very first one. What is, who is God? Let’s turn to Isaiah chapter 28, because this lends to the idea of some topics being a little bit like a puzzle. Isaiah chapter 28; this is a very familiar scripture. Once you read it, if you don’t know what it is already, you’ll be like, oh yeah, of course, this is the one. Isaiah chapter 28, we’ll read verses nine and ten, ten being the focus here.

Isaiah 28:9-10

Whom will he teach knowledge, and whom will he make to understand the message? Those just weaned from milk, those just drawn from the breasts? For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little.

Now, there is some question contextually on whether this fits a puzzle method. UCG commentary writes a big thing on it. I’m not going to read it for sake of time. But contextually, we understand that God, just like in parables, he spoke to a people; some were not meant to understand. Some are not going to get it at this time. But little by little, piece upon piece, we can put together things guided by God, guided by his Holy Spirit, to understand the picture that God has put together for us. Like, who is God? What is his nature?

Is that something you feel like you can explain confidently? When somebody comes up to you with questions, do you feel like you’re going to be able to fire that off, or is it, I might have to research this a little bit. It’s a big topic. It is very complex, but we’re going to review some of that today. We don’t want to take pieces and assemble them in a way that only makes sense to us and have an incorrect picture. We want to put them together correctly, so we really do want to go through it and not eliminate or throw away any scriptures that might seem confusing because they’re part of the picture that God gave us. So we want to follow through faithfully with all the pictures to see what is the picture, not here’s the picture, let’s force the pieces to go together. But this is a challenge, again, because it’s a huge topic.

When this was presented at ABC, it was a four-part, one-hour segments that Darius McNeely presented when I was there, and we went through about half the slides each time and still didn’t get through all of it. So we’re not going to be talking about all the pieces today. If it’s a thousand-piece puzzle, we’re covering seven. But we’re going to go through how to put together the puzzle and get an idea as we go. But before starting, we need to be frank. We need to admit up front, we do not have a perfect understanding of all things spiritual. We don’t. Now, God does give us a very clear image. We understand what we see fairly well, but we do not understand it all. We don’t have a box cover to look at.

Deuteronomy 29:29

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Can we accept this? Can we accept that there are things that he understands that we do not? That he gives us a certain amount of pieces to understand, to seek after, and to look at, but still not being spiritual like he is, being stuck to a physical, that we’re not going to understand everything.

Isaiah 40:28

Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable.

Some things are beyond our comprehension. We’re not going to understand every single thing. We are limited to what he shares with us. But again, this doesn’t mean we can’t assemble what he’s given us. It means our picture is not in HD right now; it will be in the future, but it is a picture that he gave us to assemble, to put together. So we want to do that faithfully. Not by forcing things, not by leaving things out, but by having them in the correct order, just like a puzzle.

You know, if we have a strategy, a common strategy for putting together a puzzle, you’re going to have your edge pieces. And a lot of times you’ll separate your edge pieces, you put them all together, especially the corner pieces. The corners are so important because they help you get a good direction on the rest of the border. And then the insides are easier to put together. That’s kind of similar to how we’re going to approach this today as we look at who is God. We want to look at some very clear, some foundational scriptures. We might say corner pieces so that we can get into some of the smaller pieces and see where they fit in the picture to avoid confusion that, let’s be honest, there’s a lot of confusion about who God is. And some people don’t think there’s just one. There’s religions based on millions of gods. But we have a picture, we have evidence God wants us to assemble.

So we’re not going to attempt to answer questions about God’s character today; that’s fairly well defined. We know that he is love, mercy, justice, goodness, compassion; lots of those different qualities are his character, but we want to look at some of the essential characteristics of God that help tell us who he is, one being that he is omnipotent; he is all powerful. That’s one of his characteristics.

Revelation 19:6

Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns!

He’s recognized as being omnipotent; we recognize him as so. He even calls himself the Almighty in Genesis chapter 17. He has all power; he is all powerful.

Jeremiah 32:27

“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for Me?”

God is omnipotent. In all these cases, again, there’s a lot of scriptures that we can use as a piece of the puzzle; we can’t cover them all today. You don’t want to sit that long.

God is also omnipresent; he’s everywhere. How is he everywhere? We’re not spiritual; we’re physical. So it’s really hard for us to understand this part of the picture, but Jeremiah 23:23-24.

Jeremiah 23:23-24

“Am I a God near at hand,” says the LORD, “and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in secret places, so I shall not see him?” says the LORD; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.

We believe he means what he says. Even David, he writes in Psalm 139, you know, where can I go from you, O God? Where can I go from your spirit? There’s no way to escape. God is everywhere.

God is also self-existing and eternal. I’m going to read Psalm 90 verse 2 for you.

Psalm 90:2

Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God.

He’s self-existing and eternal. Isaiah 57:15 is a scripture where he says he’s the one who inhabits eternity, which is just a really cool scripture—inhabits eternity. So God is eternal, self-existing, and of course God is spirit.

John 4:24

God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

So he is spirit. That helps us to understand a little bit about his nature. Colossians 1:15 might back that up, because it talks about Christ being the image of the invisible God. Well, he’s invisible. We’re physical; we don’t see the invisible; we don’t see the breeze; we see the consequence of the breeze. God is invisible; he is spirit.

Well, let’s talk a little bit about the Godhead. I’m going to refer to it as the divine identity of God. Let’s turn to John chapter 1 and look at a corner piece. John chapter 1. And this is a review of doctrine, so it’s something you’re probably very familiar with, but it is good for us to review from time to time. As we’re putting together the pieces in our own Bible study and as we’re reading, the more we have it solidified within our minds, we understand the picture more clearly and where the other pieces go together.

John 1:1-4

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

So these are very, very easy to understand statements. We have two distinct beings. We have the Word, and then we have God, but the Word is God. But they were together as two beings, and they were both God. All things were made through him, speaking of the Word, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. So the Word is instrumental in all creation, which includes mankind. And again, this is kind of one of those corner pieces for us to remember. This helps set the rest of the puzzle, understanding identity here of God.

Now some have—it’s really nice to have these pieces because some will take a separate piece and then try to determine the whole picture off of one piece without having them fit together. For example, Colossians 1:15; I referred to it earlier. Let me read it for you.

Colossians 1:15

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

So at first glance, and we can see on why somebody would say, okay, Christ was the firstborn; this means he was a created being. Because firstborn means you had a beginning. But we have a corner piece we just read that states that the Word, and as we know, we go through the book of John, it is speaking about Jesus Christ. He didn’t have a beginning because he was with God. He was God; he was with God at the beginning before. It’s an incorrect view or interpretation of one piece. The picture is wrong if that’s our conclusion. What we need to do is take all the pieces together. So Colossians 1:15 is still a piece of the Bible. How does it fit? How can Christ be the firstborn and never have had a beginning?

Now John explains this clearly in the gospel as we go through. John 17:5 might be one we look at.

John 17:5

And now, O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

Once again, he wasn’t created. He was there at the very beginning. He even says it. But if we consider firstborn over creation that Paul writes about in Colossians 1:15, “over” is kind of a clue there. Over creation. This is an indication of preeminence. And in Paul’s day, the firstborn wasn’t strictly a designation of birth order, but also a position of preeminence and authority. Some of the Bible translations make it a little bit clearer to understand what Paul is actually saying. For example, the Complete Jewish Bible reads it this way: he is the visible image of the invisible God; he is supreme over all creation. And that helps make it a little bit more clear. And if we continue to read in Colossians, in the verses 16 and 17, it is very clear. He’s not saying that it is a created being. But anyways, that’s just an example where somebody can take a scripture and paint a picture with it, but they’re really using their imagination. They’re not using all the pieces, and that’s what we got to be careful to do.

So returning to the idea that we have from John that there is two distinct beings, let’s go to Daniel chapter 7, and we’ll confirm that there are other pieces that show us the same image. Daniel chapter 7. We’re going to read nine and ten, and then also thirteen and fourteen. Daniel chapter 7, starting in nine. Can you imagine seeing some of the visions Daniel saw? Wow.

Daniel 7:9-10

“I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated; His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was like pure wool. His throne was a fiery flame, its wheels a burning fire; a fiery stream issued and came forth from before Him. A thousand thousands ministered to Him; ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. The court was seated, and the books were opened.”

Right into the throne room, the Ancient of Days seated; wow, that’s a lot of activity going on. But let’s read verse thirteen.

Daniel 7:13-14

“I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.”

Now we have confirmation of the Old Testament throne room of God, two distinct beings. The Father and the Son, the Ancient of Days, the one that is like the Son of Man. Okay, let’s turn to Acts chapter 7. We’re going to take another look at a puzzle piece. Acts chapter 7. This time, a vision of somebody, right at the end of his life. Stephen becomes a martyr. Acts chapter 7. Once again, he’s given a vision into the throne room of heaven.

Acts 7:54-56

When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, “Look! I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!”

So again, throne room, two beings present: God and at his right hand, Jesus Christ. And there’s more pieces that we could turn to that reflect this. If we go through Revelation 4 and 5, we’ll see similar. But getting back to that divine identity, we see two beings here, but how does God express who he is? What are some of those pieces about him, what he says? Let’s hear some of those. We want to talk about now the oneness of God. We’ll start; I’m just going to read this for you.

Deuteronomy 6:4

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!”

Some refer to this as the Shema. Jesus quotes this in Mark 12 when he’s talking about the two great commandments. The LORD is one.

Isaiah 45:5

“I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me.”

So God describes himself as one. There’s no other God. Even his servants seem to understand this in different places. David is an example.

Psalm 86:10

For You are great, and do wondrous things; You alone are God.

So how can this be understood then? We’ve got pieces that indicate that there are two distinct beings; we’ve seen those, but then also God is identifying himself as saying, I am one. How does that go together in a puzzle? Well, God gave us the family structure, and that really helps us to understand oneness within a group.

Genesis 2:24

Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

That word one is echad. I’m not very good at the cool way they say it, echad, and it does mean one. But as we read here, it can include a group designation as one. In this case, it’s man and wife; they are one identity. Well, God doesn’t put duct tape or glue on their shoulders and now you’re permanently attached. That’s not what he means. But they are one. That’s what God called them, echad. There’s other examples of the same word being used in Nehemiah chapter 8, verse 1. It says, now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square. They wanted to hear from Ezra. They gathered as one, echad. And of course, if you don’t already know, you may have guessed it, Deuteronomy 6:4, the LORD is one. Same word, echad, one. So it’s easy to understand with the physical that it’s got that direct parallel to the spiritual. Just like a family is one unit. So we can have two beings that are one identity; they are God. The Father is God; Jesus Christ is with God and is God. He has a divine identity.

Now David understood this, and of course he only understood it because it was revealed to him to understand, because how do we know these things except God reveals them? But he recorded, Psalm 86:10, which we already read, you alone are God, but in Psalm 110 verse 1.

Psalm 110:1

The LORD said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.”

Of course, this is a scripture that Jesus used to confound the Pharisees about what this meant. David was privileged to understand; we’re privileged to understand. God is one, and that is how he describes; they describe themselves. There is one God, but also there is the identity, the family identity to individuals. Perfectly united, singular identity. Let’s turn to one more scripture on this, Genesis chapter 19, verse 24. And the reason why we’ll turn to this one is because it’s hard to ignore here. You got the tetragrammaton here, the self-existent, the name of God without the Hebrew vowels in it; that’s clearly identifying not just a spirit being, but God. Genesis 19, verse 24; this is when Sodom and Gomorrah are going to be destroyed.

Genesis 19:24

Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens.

So we have two separate beings from that same identity, the oneness of God, one identity, one unity, two beings. And this helps us to understand that creation conversation that we read about, Genesis 1, when it says, let us make man in our image; there’s a plurality to that Elohim word, with Hebrew, you put an IM on it, and you have a plural. Well, it’s God, but it is two separate or unique individuals with one identity. Let us make man in our image. A New Testament example you might turn to is John 10 verse 30, where Jesus Christ states, I and my Father are one. Okay, lots more pieces to that puzzle, but that gives us a base and a framework to continue to assemble our picture on.

We need to now include God’s Spirit, because we haven’t really talked too much about God’s Spirit, but we know that God is Spirit already.

1 John 3:2

Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.

Again, I read that just to preface that we don’t have complete understanding of what the Spirit is. God gives us a picture, but we don’t see it in HD yet. We see it in our physical vision. And someday, as John writes, we will see it perfectly in spiritual vision, because that’s what we’ll have. But the picture is still there to assemble. We still have a picture to look at, and that’s what we want to do.

There’s lots of descriptions of the Holy Spirit through the Bible. And what we’ll notice is that often, in many different places, lots of different pieces connect it to God’s power. Here’s a few examples.

Micah 3:8

But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD, and of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.

So that’s Micah 3:8. It’s connected to power.

2 Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Now that’s not a full picture, but it does give us a clue. It gives us a piece to build off of that there’s an association of power attached to God’s Spirit. We also see in different places how God works directly through his Spirit. Let’s turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Now this section can be used as kind of one of those corner pieces or definitely the edge where we’re getting a lot of stability from this section on the Spirit. We’re going to emphasize God working through the Spirit, but in your own personal studies, this is one to turn to and reflect on. It helps us to understand the spiritual much better than we would unaided. 1 Corinthians chapter 2; we’re going to read verses 6 to 11, although you could go further.

1 Corinthians 2:6-11

However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

So God works through the Spirit, and we, being blessed to have received his Spirit, boy, do we have a wonderful picture.

2 Peter 1:21

For prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.

Again, God works through the Spirit. Let’s turn to one more. Let’s go to Matthew chapter 10, as we’re considering God working through the Spirit. Matthew chapter 10; we are going to read. Verse 20 here, starting in verse 16; this is a section where Jesus is sending out his disciples.

Matthew 10:16, 20

“Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. ... for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you.”

Okay. God’s Spirit, God the Father, through the Spirit, was going to speak to the disciples. God works through the Spirit. So we are, the disciples were; they were encouraged and influenced directly by God’s Spirit, so are we, as having God’s Spirit. A wonderful gift. We also are.

Jesus told the disciples in Luke 24:49.

Luke 24:49

“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.”

So what would they receive on Pentecost? The Spirit, right?

Acts 1:8

“But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

Okay, so how are they going to receive the power? Well, in that case it was a divine giving of it. Well, it’s always a divine giving, isn’t it, because it’s of his power. But what does Peter tell us in Acts 2:38? I’ll read it for you.

Acts 2:38

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

So again, it is there to be received by the repentant willing to make that covenant with God. We can receive that Holy Spirit that God works through, that is associated with his power and more. The Spirit is also called a guarantee for us of what’s next. Paul mentions that in several places. The scriptures are 2 Corinthians 1:22, 2 Corinthians 5:5, Ephesians 1:14. Like I said, there’s a lot of puzzle pieces we don’t have time to go through, that you can put together and see. It’s a guarantee of what comes next.

You know, we’ve used it in kind of an impersonal way, and there’s a lot of pieces that describe the Holy Spirit in sort of an impersonal way. For example, in Joel 2, and in Acts 2, when it quotes Joel 2, it says, I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Kind of impersonal, like it’s a thing you’re just going to give. Titus 3 has a similar reference, a little impersonal. Ephesians 5:18, it talks about being filled with the Spirit, as if it could be poured into a container of a type, a little bit impersonal. And several places in the book of Acts, Acts 2, Acts 4, it does say they were filled with the Holy Spirit. 1 Thessalonians 5:19 says, don’t quench the Spirit. Again, an impersonal thing, like you could pour water on it and it would go out. 2 Timothy 1:6 says, stir up the gift of God, as if you have to get it going. Impersonal.

And the reason, of course, that I’m bringing all these up is because there are some religions that believe that the Spirit is an individual being, much like we saw there are two beings as stated in Scripture. But sometimes again, the pieces, the puzzle pieces, we need to assemble them together in the way that God intends, which means right direction, all the pieces in order. No forcing. Now, Trinitarianism, they believe in a three in one. They believe that the Holy Spirit is an individual being, and so is Jesus Christ, and so is the Father, except that they’re also all one individual being. Not like a family, but like they’re, it’s really one guy, but it’s three guys. And even in their doctrine recorded, it sounds strange, and they say it’s hard to understand. It is hard to understand. Especially when we have all the pieces.

But the Holy Spirit, even though it can sound like he is an individual, we need to take all the pieces into account. But there is some difficulty with it. When we’re reading an English Bible, what was once Greek, there are times where the Holy Spirit does sound like an individual, and a lot of times it’s because pronouns. They attach to it a he instead of an it as an example. But as you probably know, all languages are not the same, and how they use pronouns are not always the same. An example given in Is God a Trinity booklet by UCG talks about French, and in French, a book might have a masculine pronoun attached to it. But if we translate it that way into English, we would say, I’m going to read him. But that’s incorrect, because it’s a thing, not a person. So there are some grammatical errors when we translate all things from Greek to English as if it was a person. There are some errors. So it’s okay as we’re reading through the Scripture, and you’ll notice that sometimes I do; I don’t read it the way it says exactly when it’s the Spirit. I don’t say he; I say it, because that is our understanding.

Now, all pieces of the puzzle have to fit together. We have to. So what I’d like to do is look at some Holy Spirit pieces, pieces of Scripture, and I’d like for us to consider both sides of that consideration. One being that the Holy Spirit is a separate being, and the other that it is from God. It is power of God; it is how he works through; it is part of who he is, part of his mind. It’s, again, we’re not spirit; we don’t understand it all, but the difference between a being and not a being, okay? So let’s turn to Matthew chapter 28; we’re ready here in Matthew. We have our framework in place. Let’s look at Matthew chapter 28, and we’re going to read verses 18 to 20.

Matthew 28:18-20

And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Now I will tell you that when I was younger, I heard mister say that this was a perversion that goes all the way back to Nicene Council, and it wasn’t written this way originally. And I even have notes of things being scratched out or things changed. So it can seem like this is a difficult scripture. If the Holy Spirit is a being, this is one that you would point to and say, this shows us that it is a being. But remember all the pieces of the puzzle. Remember what we’ve read so far. God and how he identifies himself as one with two beings. But remember, the Holy Spirit is part of how we are connected to him. When we are baptized, we receive the Holy Spirit. It is a huge part of God and how we connect to God. So when Jesus Christ is talking about how we baptize, he is not incorrect in saying that we do it in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Not a being, but part of him, a thing, a connection. His power, his mind, what he works through. Both of those orientations for the picture fit in this puzzle piece. That of being a being and that of also not being a being. They both fit.

Let’s look at some more puzzle pieces. More puzzle pieces that include the Holy Spirit. John 14:26.

John 14:26

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

This is one where you get to somewhere the grammar. I’m going to read it as it is printed, not as how I have it noted in my Bible because I have changed it. But John 14:26: but the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. Once again, if we’re considering this as a being, it makes sense this way that we could put it into that context and say, okay, this is a being that’s going to come and help us do these things. In this case that piece could be fit that way, but also consider the other pieces that we read about being connected to God’s power. This also fits, and don’t forget the grammar part. It, not necessarily he; it will help. It will be a helper. Why? Because God works through his power. We already saw those pieces. So in this case, once again, both of those orientations fit. So let’s keep looking at pieces, okay? Let’s look at the next piece. Let’s look at, well, I’m just going to read this one, Luke 1:35.

Luke 1:35

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”

All right, so this, once again, you could say, if it’s a being, maybe it makes sense that the Holy One, the Holy Spirit will come upon her, but it also makes sense if it’s a part of God, but not a being. The Holy Spirit’s going to come upon her, okay? Let’s go to John chapter 7. This is another one. I appreciate your patience as we go through. There’s so many pieces, but we want to kind of take some, try to paint a little bit of this picture so that we have a clear understanding. John 7:37-39.

John 7:37-39

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

This is one of those pieces that if we understand the Holy Spirit as being from God, but not a separate being, well, this makes sense. It’s going to be coming through. Just like that’s how God works. We saw the other pieces, but if we believe this is a being, this is one of those pieces where you got to force, because it doesn’t really make sense in a being form, because it’s written in an impersonal way. It’s going to just flow out; the being is going to come in and flow out. It’s hard to understand. Let’s look at another piece, Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8; there’s a lot that Paul says. We’ll just read a couple scriptures though, Romans 8:9-11.

Romans 8:9-11

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Now again, if we consider this as from God, but not a being, well, this makes sense. It can be called the Spirit of Christ; it can be called the Spirit of the Father; it is part of his nature; it’s part of who he is; it’s part of his power. But if we’re saying this is a being, this is a real problem. We really have to force this because, well, is it from Christ or is it from the Father? How does that work? We can’t put everything under, well, we just don’t understand. It has to fit all the pieces. This doesn’t fit.

Matthew chapter 1. Matthew chapter 1. We’ll talk again. We read Luke 1 where it talks about the angel speaking to Mary, I believe. Matthew chapter 1; this one, I believe, is speaking to Joseph. Matthew 1:18-20.

Matthew 1:18-20

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not wanting to make her a public example, was minded to put her away secretly. But while he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take to you Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.”

Now again, if we’re understanding, as we do, that this is from God, but not a separate being, well, this makes sense of the Holy Spirit; we understand. But if this is a being, we have some strange questions here, because wouldn’t this suggest that the Holy Spirit is then the Father, and Jesus Christ is the Son? We know Jesus Christ is the Son, but Jesus Christ always refers to the Father, right? Wouldn’t he refer to the Holy Spirit as his Father, if this was a being? This is some of the places where the puzzle pieces don’t fit in the examples that we have, we see in mainstream Christianity. But Trinity was pushed really hard. It was pushed really hard, and there was persecution over it, even today. There are still Christian groups that will not accept you as a Christian if you don’t believe the Trinity, and that’s how strongly they believe it. But the puzzle pieces don’t all fit.

Let’s turn to Revelation chapter 22. Revelation chapter 22. We’re going to read verses 1 to 3.

Revelation 22:1-3

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.

You know, there’s a conspicuous absence here, once again, if we consider the Holy Spirit as a being. You have the throne room of God, like we saw a couple of different times. God, the Father, as we know, Jesus Christ, the Son, the Lamb. There’s a conspicuous absence in many different places. Another one is John chapter 17. I’m going to turn there, if you’d like to; you certainly could. John 17, otherwise I’ll just read it for you, first three verses. There’s many of the puzzle pieces have this conspicuous absence.

John 17:1-3

Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him. And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”

Again, no Holy Spirit. I’m just going to read two more.

1 Corinthians 8:6

yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live.

1 John 1:3

that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

Again, there’s no mention of a third being. Paul addresses, in all of his thirteen epistles, and he opens up; he addresses greetings from the Father and Jesus Christ. In none of those introductions is a Holy Spirit being included. Neither in any of the scriptures are we told that we should worship a third being as a God being. All the pieces have to fit. All the pieces have to fit in this puzzle to see who is God. And we’ve assembled some of these pieces, but some of these pieces are a cornerstone, the corner piece of our understanding, to know that God is one. There are two beings in the God family, but God even refers to himself as one, and a beautiful part of that is the plan overall. The plan of what these wonderful beings, what God is doing. And we see that in various places. I’d like to turn to it in conclusion in Ephesians chapter 1. It’s not the last scripture we’ll read, but this is the beginning of the conclusion. Ephesians chapter 1. Just seeing an overall picture here. Here’s an example also of one of the introductions from Paul.

Ephesians 1:1-6

Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 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, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

This is the beginning of a revealing of God’s plan that Paul understood; he’s sharing. There was some type of agreement; there was some type of plan; I’ve heard it referred to as the compact, between God the Father and who would become Jesus Christ, to do something with us, with children; he has a purpose for the God family, the one God family.

Ephesians 1:5-11

having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.

We could go on here, but we read an eternal purpose here, and that there is a unity; there is a unity in Christ, in the God family for this eternal purpose of this, again, a compact that the family of God, the one family would expand from two to many, many. We read that in many places. But just as confirmation, and this is the last scripture, let’s go to John chapter 17. Kind of a confirmation of this understanding that as we read was before the foundations of the world, before creation, as we read about it. That they had come up together with this plan. John 17, and we’re just going to read the end of this prayer here, verses 24 to 26, but again, this is one of those sections; it’s like an edge piece. Read the whole thing.

John 17:24-26

“Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

There’s a confirmation here of the relationship between God and the Father, but also of the plan, the compact, the steps moving forward into the God family. So as we assemble the picture one piece at a time, we need to remember that we must do it in the fashion that it was intended. God didn’t give us the box cover, but he did give us many pieces, and they all must fit. They can’t be forced. They can’t be upside down. They have to fit in a way that they all work together to paint a picture, and God does show us piece by piece. He shows us who he is, and the beautiful realization as we assemble who he is that you are in that picture, that he has a plan for you before you knew you; you were there.

Now to conclude, I am going to read the UCG fundamental belief that was put together not with a preconceived idea, but with what the pieces told us. God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. We believe in one God, the Father, eternally existing, who is a spirit, a personal being of supreme intelligence, knowledge, love, justice, power, and authority. He, through Jesus Christ, the creator of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, he is the source of life and the one for whom human life exists. We believe in our Lord Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who is the Word and has eternally existed. We believe he is the Messiah, the Christ, the divine Son of the living God, conceived of the Holy Spirit, born in the human flesh of the Virgin Mary. We believe that it is by him that God created all things, and without him was not anything made that was made. We believe in the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of God and of Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the power of God and the Spirit of life eternal.