November 9, 2023 | Silver Spring, Maryland, United States | Ted N.C. Wilson, President, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists
Hello, friends. Today, we are going to consider a profound question—”Who is God?”
To those who rely on human wisdom alone, God is a mystery—simply an idea they argue against. However, God, in His love and compassion, graciously reveals Himself to those who, through the eyes of faith, are willing to see.
There are two primary ways in which God reveals Himself. The first is through Creation. In Psalm 19:1-4, David declares: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.”
For those who are willing to see, the Creator’s hand is visible throughout nature—from the stars in the heavens to the creatures of the deepest sea; his amazing design can be clearly seen.
The second way He reveals Himself is through Scripture, and it is through Scripture where God’s supreme revelation is seen through the life and death of Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, we can know the Father. We read in 1 John 5:20—”The Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true.” And Jesus Himself said, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent” (John 17:3).
When we seek to know God from the Bible, we can’t place ourselves above God and treat Him as an object to be studied, analyzed, and quantified. We must submit to the authority of His self-revelation—the Bible. And the Bible is its own interpreter, as we compare Scripture with Scripture.
The Bible reveals that God is self-existent, for He has “life in Himself,” as we read in John 5:26. He is all-powerful and omniscient, knowing the end from the beginning as the “Alpha and Omega,” recorded in Revelation 1:8.
God is omnipresent, transcending space and time, and yet He is fully present everywhere and at all times—as indicated in Psalm 139:7 and Hebrews 4:13.
God is all-powerful, and nothing is impossible with Him. He is unchangeable and perfect. “I am the Lord, I do not change,” He says in Malachi 3:6.
As Seventh-day Adventists, we believe Scripture teaches there is one God and that this one God is three co-eternal persons who work together in unity. We fully embrace our Fundamental Belief number two, which states:
“There is one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, a unity of three coeternal Persons. God is immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, above all, and ever-present. He is infinite and beyond human comprehension, yet known through His self-revelation. God, who is love, is forever worthy of worship, adoration, and service by the whole creation.”
Let’s look briefly at what Scripture says about the Godhead. In the book of Genesis, we hear God referring to Himself in the plural several times. In Genesis 1:26, God declares: “Let Us make man in Our image.” In Genesis 3:22, He says, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil. . .” And in Genesis 11:7, we hear God saying, “Come, let Us go down.”
Some references refer specifically to the Holy Spirit, such as in the Creation story where we read in Genesis 1:2, “the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” And in Isaiah 48:16, we see the three persons of the Godhead: “And now the Lord God [the Father], and His Spirit [the Holy Spirit] have sent Me [the Son of God].”
The Incarnation of Jesus Christ is a beautiful example of how the three members of the Godhead work closely together–The Father gave His Son (John 3:16), Christ gave Himself (Gal. 1:4), and the Spirit gave Jesus birth (Matthew 1:18, 20).
Each member of the Godhead was present at the baptism of Jesus, with the Father stating, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17); Christ giving Himself to be baptized as our example (Matt. 3:13-15); and the Spirit empowering Jesus as He descended upon Him in the form of a dove (Luke 3:21, 22).
Shortly before His death, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit as a helper (John 14:16), and He commanded His Church to baptize “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28.19).
Today, the Father and the Son reach out to us through the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, “When the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, He will testify of Me” (John 15:26). And in 2 Corinthians 13:14, we have the beautiful blessing—“The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.”
You know, friends, water is an interesting substance–it can cascade down thundering waterfalls, filling lakes and rivers that flow into the mighty sea. It can be frozen solid, turning into ice that covers the poles of the earth, and it can rise as a vapor—icy cold or steaming hot. Three forms—liquid, solid, and vapor—and yet all are one substance: water.
Perhaps God is a bit like that—one God, yet three distinct Persons with unique characteristics and roles—all working together to save as many as possible for eternity.
Ellen White tells us, “There are three living persons of the heavenly trio; in the name of these three great powers—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, and these powers will cooperate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their efforts to live the new life in Christ” (Evangelism, p. 615).
What a beautiful promise this is! Make no mistake about it. The divine Trinity works in unison as one within the Godhead from eternity to eternity. I invite you to allow God to use you, to share this wonderful truth of a Triune God who is carrying out His plan of salvation for each one of us.
Let’s pray together now.
Father in heaven, thank you for the privilege of knowing that God is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and that all of these three persons work together in a powerful way as one helping us in this whole process of salvation. We thank you for the marvelous way in which you instruct us and help us to understand more clearly the beautiful characteristics of God. We recognize that we will never fully understand all the magnificence of God. But you have given us an indication, and we are so grateful. Thank you for hearing us. And we ask all of us in the name of Jesus. Amen.