"THE FULNESS OF THE GODHEAD"
The holy Spirit can be explained in its context of the Godhead,
as the essential ethereal life force, and PERSONAL SPIRIT, of
both the Father and the Son whereby God exists, in all His
inherent godliness and holiness. In contrast, ungodly men have an
unholy personal spirit. The holy Spirit of God, is not at all
another person, nor a spirit being other than the Father and the
Son, but rather, IS THE CORE SUM AND SUBSTANCE OF
HIS SPIRIT SELF. AMONG OTHER THINGS, HIS HOLY
SPIRIT, IS THE DIVINE AGENCY AND POWER
THROUGH WHICH IS EXPRESSED THE NATURE,
CHARACTER, PERSONALITY, LIFE, AND VOICE, OF
BOTH THE FATHER AND THE SON. The holy Spirit or holy
Ghost, is not another Son of the Father as the religious carnal
mind tends to believe. Ask yourself this, "If Jesus Christ is the
ONLY begotten Son of the Father, whose Son is the holy Ghost?"
The holy Spirit is the creative, life emanating, life giving,
SUPERNATURAL POWER (Matt.1:18), and LIFE FORCE OF
GOD'S BEING, containing HIS SOUL, which motivates and
moves, AS THE WILL OF GOD- Gen.1:1-3. It can be "poured
out" (Ac.10:45) of Himself to influence and be shared with His
creatures. The Bible says that life is in the blood. Man cannot
exist in this world without blood. Spiritually speaking, THE
HOLY SPIRIT IS THE LIFEFORCE AND THE BLOOD OF
GOD--AN EVIDENCE OF HIS INTANGIBLE, INTRINSIC
ESSENCE. When Christ gave of His natural blood and life, it was
a great sacrifice, as well as a symbolic gesture that released God's
life and Spirit into the earth, activating the power of God unto
salvation.
>br> The holy Spirit is also personified as the "POWER OF THE
HIGHEST" (Lk.1:35), through which the complex, compound
and manifest reality of the Father and the Son can communicate
(2Cor.13:14) with us. He can speak (Ac.2:4; 13:2; 8:29; 19:6;
21:11; Jn.16:13; 1Ti.4:1; Heb .3:7; 10:15), hear (Ac.5:3,4), testify
(Ac.20:23; Jn.15:26), bear witness (Ro.8:16,26; 1Jn.5:6), reason
(Ac.10:28), guide (Jn.16:13), forbid (Ac.16:6,7), teach (Jn.14:26;
1Cor.2:13; 1Jn.2:27) and He can even ordain elders - Ac.20:28.
The holy Spirit, is the manifest intrinsic nature of God which
reproves the world of sin (Jn.15:8), and glorifies the Son on earth -
Jn.15:14.
Jesus said, "The words that I speak...ARE SPIRIT..ARE LIFE."
Jn.6:63. The Lord speaks in and through the holy Ghost, HIS
OWN SPIRIT - Ac.28:25; Isa.6:8,9. The holy Spirit can be
expressed from the Father, through the Son unto man. Christ
makes intercession for us (Ro.8:34) through HIS SPIRIT - Ro.8:26.
We are told that THE FATHER "CALLS' us (1Ths.2:12;
2Ths.2:13,14), THE LORD CALLS (Ac.16:10; 1Cor.7:17),
JESUS CALLS (Ac.22:21; 26:16; Rev.3:20), CALLING US
THROUGH THE DIVINE AGENCY OF HIS OWN
OMNIPOTENT HOLY SPIRIT ESSENCE, NAMELY, "THE
HOLY GHOST" Ac.13:2. To be in harmony with other
scripture, this can be seen simply, to portray ONE God, calling us
by the VOICE OF HIS OWN SPIRIT--ONE GODLY SPIRIT,
ONE VOICE made manifest in the human plane of consciousness.
"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." Ro.1:20
Much truth concerning the Godhead can be found in natural
things. As a basic principle, we see the earth composed of the
animal, vegetable and mineral kingdoms. But, all are ONE
CREATION.
The Godhead consists of TWO DISTINCT ENTITY'S, and
can be likened in a way, to the body and spirit of the Adamic
creation. The body and the spirit have a personal corporeal form
and essence. The holy Spirit, like unto man's soul, does not. It is
intangible spirit substance without shape or form.
In like manner to body and spirit, the heavenly Father and
heavenly Son SHARE TWO DISTINCT FORMS, such as does
man while alive on earth. The body is visible, the spirit-soul is
not. The Christ [body] is visible, the Father [Spirit-Soul] is not.
Man's spirit resides in a flesh body while on earth. The Father's
Spirit dwells in Christ's glorified flesh body in the heavenlies. The
two are corporately one. There are actually many wondrous ways
in which man is created in the likeness and image of His Creator.
Here, we are just touching on a small facet of this great truth.
Consider this. At the moment of man's physical death, his spirit
becomes separated from his earthly body. The one form become
manifest as two distinct forms when viewed in the spiritual realm.
In much the same manner, Christ, when He became separated from
the Father in the death realm of this earth, became a distinct form
here. During this time when the God-Son was separate, He could
still communicate with His God-Father in heaven [more
specifically, He could commune with His inner Spirit]. The
fulness of the Father was in His body-Col.2:9. Therefore, Christ
Himself was the fulness of the Godhead in an earthly body.
Upon His literal bodily death, and after His return to the Father,
the two became one again, in a heavenly fulfillment of the fulness
of the Godhead body. He and the Father are truly One God.
The adamic man is also like the Godhead, in that mankind
exists in the basic form of TWO DISTINCT BEINGS--male and
female. When the two leave their former abodes and join together
in a union of marriage, these two are also said to become one. The
two make up ONE human family or race, just as the spirit and
the body make up ONE human being. Correspondingly, The
Father and the Son make up ONE DIVINE FAMILY, known as
the GODHEAD. The Father and the Son are two distinct
components, yet are also expressible in a ONENESS such as
Adam and Eve had in creation (Gen.2:24; 5:2), as a man should
have with his wife (Matt.19:5), and such as Christ has with His
church-1Cor.12:8; 2Cor.11:2; Gal.3:28.
The nature of the Fathers holy Spirit is also that of the Son's,
especially in all aspects related to created life. The Lord said to
my Lord, "Let US [TOGETHER] MAKE man in OUR IMAGE,
after OUR LIKENESS." Gen.1:26,27. Ask for our booklet, "In His
Image" for a fuller understanding of this. He wishes to share this
likeness of His image with us in fulness, whereby we might
become complete "partakers of THE DIVINE NATURE." 2Ptr.1:4.
This He is doing in a gradual work of progressive salvation.
In mathematical terms of analogy, the Godhead could be
more likened unto 1 x 1 x 1, than to 1 + 1 + 1. ONE Father,
ONE Son, ONE holy Spirit, still equals ONE GOD. The fact is,
things equal to the same things are equal to each other. Look at it
this way. A FAMILY is ONE UNIT, has ONE NAME, but has
more than ONE MEMBER with INDIVIDUAL NAMES. The
Father and Son are ONE FAMILY NAMED GOD, and we as His
sons, become ONE with "the FAMILY OF GOD". Eph.3:15. In
the same principle that A CLUSTER of grapes is ONE
CLUSTER but has more than one grape, and ONE FLOCK has
more than ONE SHEEP, so likewise the GODHEAD is ONE
PLURAL UNIT.
Water is that which God often uses in His word as a symbol of
HIS OWN SPIRIT BEING. Water is ONE SUBSTANCE, yet
has more than ONE PROPERTY. It can be manifest in THREE
DISTINCT WAYS. WATER [FATHER], ICE [CHRIST], STEAM
[HOLY SPIRIT]. It exists as a liquid, a solid or a gas [vapour].
All forms of water are EQUAL in hydrogen and oxygen molecules
in their three separate states, yet are different in appearance or
manifestation. So it is with the Godhead.
A flame of FIRE is ONE THING, yet it always has three
separate elements---heat [able to be felt..eg. the anointing], light
[able to be seen..eg. the word, revelation, visions etc.] and fuel [the
basic source of the flame]. In the Bible, FIRE is also symbolic of
God's Spirit.
The Son's will, was ever in UNISON with the Father's will,
both in His humanity and in His divinity- Jn,4:34; 5:19, 30; 6:38;
Chptr. 8; Heb.10:7 etc. In this sense only, could He be considered
subservient to the Father. It is also true, Christ served as a
subordinate in the human meaning of belonging to an inferior or
lower order when He came to earth (Phil.2:6-8), but He is ever a
divine co-ordinate of the Godhead arrangement, in every work of
creation and redemption- Jn.3:34,35; 5:17,18; Jn.14:10.
So we see the Godhead is really not that difficult to
comprehend. Just as ALL humanity is ONE flesh (1Cor.15:39),
so ALL THAT IS GOD is ONE SPIRIT. If more than one have
the same titles and same function, such as Creator, Saviour, King,
Shepherd, Rock etc., then they of necessity are equal to each
other in these capacities, and are worthy of the same honor and
worship from their creation. GOD is ONE DIVINE UNIT, yet
both the Father and the Son have uniqueness of personality -
Jn.10:30; 17:11; 21,22. "ALL MEN SHOULD HONOUR THE
SON, EVEN AS THEY HONOUR THE FATHER." Jn.5:23. No
wonder Jesus Himself proclaimed His DIVINE [not human]
EQUALITY with His Father - Jn.5:18. He revealed A PERFECT
ONENESS in His DUALISTIC DIVISION of existence, and now
dwells forever in the fulness of God, as our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, the blessed and only Potentate - 1Tim.6:15.
"WORTHY IS THE LAMBKIN SLAIN TO GET POWER
AND RICHES AND WISDOM AND STRENGTH, AND
HONOR AND GLORY AND BLESSING!
And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and
underneath the earth and on the sea, and all in them, I hear also
saying
TO HIM WHO IS SITTING ON THE THRONE---TO THE
LAMBKIN---BE BLESSING AND HONOR AND GLORY AND
MIGHT FOR THE EONS OF THE EONS!" Rev.5:12,13
[Concordant Literal]
"Salvation be OUR GOD'S who is sitting on the throne
AND THE LAMBKIN'S!"
Rev.7:10 (Concordant Literal)
"Hear O Israel, YAHWEH [singular] our ELOHIM
is ONE YAHWEH."
Deut.6:4
"I AND MY FATHER ARE ONE"
Jn.10:30
K. Ross McKay
|
|