The Power of Three...And We're Not Referring To The Charmed Ones
Recently, a dear sister-in-Christ shared on her blog about the power of the Holy Trinity, i.e. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. She said: “It's hard to fathom God being one, yet being three and each of them being fully God. Not something our mind can comprehend, at least mine can't yet, but it's powerful and it's effective."
"They always work together and never differ from each other. Jesus would know what the will of God is, and the Holy Spirit will know too,” she added.
Hallelujah! Many of us, I believe, when we first received Christ, have also grappled with the concept of the Holy Trinity. Some denominations have even gone so far as to emphasize one over the other.
I shall not name them but as this sister above shared: “each one is fully God, and this 3 in 1 works man.”
It is no coincidence, and I’m sure those who have gone through Bible Foundations Class will know this, that the human being is made up of three realms – the body (flesh), soul and spirit.
My pastor from my previous church used to use the palm to illustrate the concept of the Trinity. So if you look at your palm from the top, you see your fingernails. You look at it face upwards in worship position, you see all the lines. If you look at it sideways, you only see your first three fingers.
Anyway, it’s still the same palm you’re looking at, just from three different perspectives.
At least that’s how she used to explain it.
It's really amazing how everything seems to occur in threes.
If God has a favourite number, it has to be THREE. Look closely at the things in nature. We are taught in Primary Three Science that all matter consists of three states: solid, liquid and gas.
Of course, later on, we are taught that composite states like colloid and gel do exist but simply put, the three states still suffice to explain the three states of water: ice, liquid water and vapour.
And do you realize in the Old Testament how the Tabernacle of Meeting is also made up of three sections? There’s the Outer Court where the altar of burnt offerings is made, the Inner Court where the Table of Showbread and the Lampstand are, and the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant is.
Sadly but true, the Chinese are perhaps the people who follow most closely to the design of the Tabernacle of Meeting as outlined in Exodus in the Old Testament.
If you would read carefully and do a simple sketch of the details God dictated to Moses as to the furnishings inside the Tabernacle, you would have noticed that they bear a canny resemblance to any Chinese temple you might visit today.
Of course, today, we know that the people during Moses’ time have only the shadow of things to come, and we know that the Tabernacle is actually a typology of our Lord Jesus Christ and His church.
I will explain the typology later.
Because the Bible says, all things are created by Him, through Him and for Him!
The modern Chinese temple also have three sections, and there’s usually an altar of incense in the outer court, the Inner Court would have lampstands and the so-called ‘junior’-ranked gods, followed by the more senior-ranked gods, and finally the Jade Emperor or the highest, and supposedly the god of the greatest authority in the Innermost chamber.
Notice in the Chinese temple, that there are also veils separating the different sections. And that the furnishings like lampstand and altar are all covered in gold. Why?
Because gold speaks of divinity. In addition, the utensils like plates, cups, etc are all in red – because in the Old Testament, the High Priest would sacrifice a ram and sprinkled its blood at the four corners of the altar and also, the utensils to cleanse them.
It is very clear that without the sacrifice of innocent blood, in this case, that of the innocent ram, no one can come before God. We know from accounts in the Bible that when the children of Israel went into the land of Canaan, they began to mix with the indigenous people, and consequently, they inter-married and adopted their culture, religion into their lives.
Because of this, they started worshipping other gods, against the First Law set out in the Ten Commandments, but at the same time, they ‘perverted’ the worship of their own God of Israel by adapting the worship to other gods.
Today, we are free from all these because Christ became our one-time and eternal sacrifice, and His blood shed for us perpetually covers us, so that when God communes with us at the mercy seat between the wings of the cherubim, He sees His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ covering us with His blood.
A bit more on Chinese religion. Contrary to popular belief, Taoism has no relation at all to Monkey God or the Goddess of Mercy. The early Chinese philosophers conceived Taosim as a truism, and explain it as the balance of what we know as ‘yin’ and ‘yang’ forces. Because they saw everything in nature as a duopoly – it’s man vs woman, day vs night, hot vs cold, and all things in universe, they reason, are in harmony, when these two opposing forces are in equilibrium. Of course, what they fail to reason beyond the duo-interplay of forces is that there exists a supernatural force that keeps the two forces in harmony, i.e. GOD.
The philosophers were atheist and did not believe in the existence of a higher being, as they reason that nature seeks to achieve harmony or equilibrium on its own accord. They fail to see that GOD is the third force that balances the two forces, if according to their reasoning. In marriage, a man and a woman comes together but a successful marriage is blessed because of the third party that comes into play – GOD. Christ is the centre of our marriage.
Pastor Joshua preached last week on the alignment of the mouth, mind and heart. We know that this is a parallel to the Body (Flesh), the Soul and the Spirit.
In the Book of Proverbs, we are told of the dangers of a loose and evil tongue.
Our Lord Jesus says in Luke 6:45: “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”
By the way, the Soul part is linked to the mind because it controls the realm of our emotions, feelings and thoughts.
Can you see how the Lord Jesus links the mouth to the heart?
Your spoken words are a result of what is in your heart, and your heart is where your Spirit man dwells.
James wrote in the New Testament: “And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. The tongue is so set among our members that it defiles the whole body…out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing.” (James 3:7-10)
Therefore, can you see the Trinity at work here in the alignment of the mouth, mind and heart? When Christ is in our hearts, all things are kept in balance, and we are in balance. The mouth, or tongue speaks forth good things because in our hearts dwell our Lord Jesus Christ, and our minds are constantly focused on Him.
In fact, we are not only balanced, we are exceedingly and abundantly blessed, and overflow with life.
In other words, Christ is the fountain of life, and if we make Him the centre of our lives, we become the fountain of LIFE!!!
Praise the Lord whose mercies endure forever!
Shalom,
Weiwen
In case you’re interested, below are the typologies of the materials used to make the furnishings in the Tabernacle of Meeting. As you read the last few chapters of Exodus and wondering the heck all these materials’ symbolic meanings, here’s the reference.
White (linen) - Righteousness and purity
Red/Scarlet - Suffering, sacrifice or blood
Purple – RoyaltyBronze - Judgment against sin
Silver - Ransom or Redemption
Gold - God’s glory or divinity
Acacia Wood – perfect humanity as God created Adam
Badger/Sea cow/Dolphin skin - Separation and protection
Ram’s skin - Consecration and obedience to God
Goat’s hair – Sin-bearing
Oil – Holy Spirit
Incense – Prayer and intercession
Finally, just a small revelation that came to me while I was reading Exodus 39. Do you know that all the priests’ garments during the Old Testament times were made of “blue, purple and scarlet thread”, and in Exodus 39:3, the Bible says: “And they beat the gold into thin sheets and cut it into threads, to work it in with the blue, purple, and scarlet thread, and the fine linen, into artistic designs.”So the priests’ garments during those times consist of an intricately woven mesh of blue, purple, red and gold threads and fine linen.
In the New Testament, we know that all who receive Christ automatically qualify as priests, and not just priests. The Bible calls us in 1 Peter 2:9, ROYAL priests.
Today we shared the lineage (origin, blue) of Jesus Christ even though we were born Gentiles but because of Christ’s sacrifice (red) on Calvary, God the Son was striped (think of the gold being beaten into thin threads) because of our sins, so that we are now washed as white as snow, covered in His righteousness (white linen) that we are worthy of being called ROYAL (purple) priests in the Temple of God!
Okies, final Shalom…Hallelujah!
posted by weiwen @ 12:35 AM
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