Not being a believer in the “Committee of Three” doctrine, AKA “The Trinity,” or good ol’ three-in-one espoused by so many, I feel now is a good time to accurately explain what has gone on in human time and what happened on Christmas day, whenever you personally feel that was. I celebrate it on December 25th. Before I begin, I know that a couple of caveats are in order.
First, many Trinitarians do not really believe in three gods, but have had the Godhead explained to them in this fashion for so long that they feel they MUST defend the Trinity at all costs even though the idea of three people being omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent at the same time is not even logically possible and is scripturally unsound. The Trinity is a misguided attempt by a Universal church that was solidified in 325 A.D. at the Council of Nicea, resulting in a document called “The Nicean Creed.”
Second, many people have never read the Bible for themselves all the way through, if at all, and therefore are not knowledgeable about what God has to say about himself. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” This is the actual crux of the matter. God, the Creator of all things, the Father of light, is an invisible Spirit. A Holy Spirit. Scriptures like, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD”, “And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one.” How about, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.”? It is this child’s coming, the child who is also called the Everlasting Father, that I want to tell you about.
“Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?” In the beginning God had a plan. The plan was completely thought out and the Greek word “logos,” which is used in the New Testament Scriptures and translated “Word,” indicates that it was an integral part of His innermost being. Logos, according to Strong’s, means, “something said (including the thought); by implication a topic (subject of discourse), also reasoning (the mental faculty) or motive; by extension a computation…” It was a law He made unto Himself that he would enact and carry out by “His own counsel.”
As with any good plan, He made contingencies. They were needed because this was going to include beings created in His own image that could choose for themselves what they wanted to do. It would even be possible for them to make wrong choices. Having the idea laid out completely in His mind, the plan was set and completed. The universe was created by the Word of God. He spoke and created everything. The only thing He did not just speak into existence was man. He took clay from the ground of the Earth and sculpted Adam. Then the breath of God himself breathed life into the creature and “Man became a living soul.” A conscious, sentient being with the capability to make decisions, similar to the animals in that he had a body of flesh, similar to the angels in that he had a spirit, different from both because he did not have to listen to either flesh or spirit. He was free to do whatever he wanted. His mate was created in a similarly unusual way. Taken neither from a foot-bone to be a servant nor from a skull-bone to be a master and not created separately again from the clay but rather taken from the flesh and bone that covered the man’s heart and vital organs, a rib, she also was endowed with this decision-making capability called “The Soul.” “Bone of my Bones, Flesh of my Flesh, she shall be called Woman.”
He placed the pair in a garden and they lived a perfect life and should have lived happily ever after. Adam had received one commandment from God, which he passed on to Eve. They were tempted and enticed by the commonest temptations that have plagued man for 6000 years, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Thus Adam sinned and by his sin, death entered into the world. Work became the curse of man, pain in childbirth became the curse of woman and slithering on his belly in the dust became the curse of the serpent. Just as when we make a rule for our children and they have to suffer the consequences if they don’t follow it (which is hard for us to do sometimes. Sometimes it’s better not to make a rule if you are just going to cave in to feeling sorry for having to enforce it, but that’s for a different day.) So God had to separate Himself from man. “by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned”
A blood sacrifice was made and God gave long coats of animal skins to them for a covering and they were banished from the garden. The blood of animals could not pay for what man had done, however, but did allow for the rolling ahead of people’s sins to the next year. Some animals and items were acceptable to God for such a sacrifice from Cain and Abel’s time, through Noah, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and finally through Moses, who spoke with God and received direct and exact instructions for the carrying out of sacrifices. Throughout the Mosaic Law there is a recurring theme that the sacrifice must be one of only certain types of animals and must be the best, most perfect specimen that the person offering the sacrifice could find. But no lamb, no matter how perfect, no scapegoat, no matter how pure, no ox, no matter how fine, could really pay for what Adam had done, but they could buy time. Rolling on year after year.
The only way to redeem (buy back) mankind and reinstate the communion with God would be by an ultimate sacrifice. The LORD had not required his people to sacrifice their children because there was not anyone that was born perfectly righteous and holy. To pay the price would require something totally different. As Abraham had said to Isaac, God would provide himself a lamb. “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” The virgin could conceive because the power of the Most High God created within her an egg that was fertilized by his Spirit and not the seed of Adam. This nonviable tissue mass, er, this embryo was both God and man at the same time. The almighty, omnipresent, omniscient and invisible God came and lived among his creation as one of them. By being born without the seed of sin, he would have the opportunity to live his life as a man without sin and thus be able to sacrifice himself on behalf of mankind by his own choice. As God, he would be able to heal the sick and raise the dead, even raising Himself after three days. He had to live perfectly as a human being and do the will of God completely. You cannot look at God, He is invisible, but you can see Him in the face of His son, Jesus Christ, who is the “express image of His glory.” “Express image” here is the Greek word, “charakter,” a graver (the tool or the person), that is, (by implication) engraving ([“character”], the figure stamped, that is, an exact copy or [figuratively] representation):—express image.
So, God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
The WORD, the logos, the thought/idea/computation/plan/motivation came and suffered every temptation that man can suffer, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. Born to a poor, insignificant family, even though both Mother and Stepfather were direct-line descendents of King David, in a stable, which was little more than a cave behind the inn, wrapped in barn rags and laid in the trough the oxen ate from. His family was caused to flee to Egypt to escape a killer, and they returned to their little village where he grew up, always resisting temptation, knowing it was all up to him. As a man, he prayed often, many times all night long and, having subdued his flesh to the Spirit, did many mighty and compassionate works as God, healing and saving and forgiving. Then, this innocent man gave his life as the supreme sacrifice, fulfilling all that was needed and taking on every sin that could ever be conceived. Since God cannot sin and cannot abide sin, this innocent man, who was God, was forsaken in his hour of need to die alone, hanging between heaven and earth. When he cried out with a loud voice, “It is finished!” as the priests under the Mosaic Law did when the sacrifice was completely consumed, the veil in the temple, which had kept people from entering the presence of God, was ripped from top to bottom as the sacrifice was completed.
Death could not hold him, however, since he had no sin and now we can enter into the presence of almighty God, who came and lived among us as a man. “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus…” “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” He promised his followers then, “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.” His Ghost (the spirit of a dead person that has come back) returned on the day of Pentecost and, since the price had been paid for man’s redemption, was able to fill anyone that wanted it. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God…” except that we are not perfect, but purchased.
The Good Book says (and I have to memorize this because I am going to be the angel…stop laughing…it’s acting…I am going to be the angel in our Christmas program, Dec 18 at 10 am), “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”
