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Muskegon SDA Church

The Godhead

Jason Sliger

1. The Godhead: Tri-unity

Father in heaven, we thank you, Lord, that we can enter into your presence.

And today, we ask humbly that you would give us minds to be able to understand some of the complexity of Scripture.

Father, we want to rightly divide the Word of God, and we ask now that you send your Holy Spirit to be our instructor.

For we ask it in jesus name Amen In the years leading up to 1844 There were 2 men Who were really at the epicenter of the great religious awakening that was taking place primarily in New England, but obviously it expanded from there and began to take the world by storm.

We're all familiar with the first individual.

He was a Baptist who, as he studied the word of God, found this particular message in Daniel chapter 8, under 2, 300 days, then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

As William Miller studied this particular prophecy, he was moved by the conclusion that Christ would appear in 1844.

Now, those of us that have been in this faith for a while understand that Miller was correct in the date that he gave for this particular prophecy, but he was incorrect in the conclusion that he gave that Christ would come back in 1844.

And we could talk more about that another time, but Miller began to preach this message with great fervor.

And as he preached this message, there were many people that were converted and gave their lives to the Lord.

In fact, some historians estimate that some 85, 000 people were converted to the Advent message through the preaching of 1 Baptist minister.

That's some powerful preaching if you ask me.

Now, 1 of the men who listened to William Miller preach and was strongly persuaded by the message that he was presenting, was a young man by the name of Joshua V.

He was the second man at the epicenter of this great religious awakening that was taking place in the early 1800s.

Himes was a minister in a church called the Christian Connection.

Himes sat there and listened to William Miller preach, he was convicted that this message could not just stay in that local area, but it needed to be spread far and wide.

Himes was a very influential minister who was known as the Napoleon of the press.

He was very good at getting the word out.

He was very good at printing things and getting the word spread far and wide.

In fact, in the Ellen White Encyclopedia, it makes this statement about Himes' work.

Himes, published and edited the first Millerite newspaper, the signs of the times in Boston.

He led in organizing general conferences and camp meetings and published hundreds of pamphlets as well as the second and third editions of Miller's lecture.

It goes on, he organized extensive lecture tours for Miller and himself as far west as Cincinnati, brought about the manufacture of the great tent, at the time the largest tent in the United States for the use of those tours, and established a network of agents, book depots, and reading rooms from Boston to St.

Would you say this guy was energetic or what?

He was stirred by the message of William Miller.

He was convinced that something climactic was going to happen in 1844, and he put all of his youthful energy into proclaiming this message in partnership with William Miller.

Now here's the interesting thing to me as I look at this from today.

Himes were alive right now under the current Adventist persuasion, under the current climate in Adventism, they would have never worked together.

Miller, being a Baptist, believed in what we call today the Trinity.

He believed in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

Himes, coming from the Christian connection faith, was an ardent anti-Trinitarian.

He did not believe the way William Miller did on the doctrine of the Trinity.

They had polar opposite views almost on this particular point of faith.

However, when it came to the proclamation of the great second advent movement, the second coming of Jesus, the investigative judgment, and all the various attributes associated with it, these 2 men put their differences aside for the common goal to proclaim that Jesus was going to come very soon.

I'm not saying in any way, shape or form that this doctrine of the Trinity is not important, that we need to just kind of be sloppy in our interpretation of it or just brush it underneath the carpet.

I'm not saying that in any way, but What I do want you to see from this story is that for some, it wasn't as divisive as it is in the current Adventist climate that we live in today.

In fact, I would suggest that on subjects such of the complexity as the 1 that we are studying today, we would do well to take the advice of our prophet that the Lord has given to us.

In the book Acts of the Apostles, page 52, she says this, the nature of the Holy Spirit, and I think you can also apply this to the Godhead in general, the nature of the Holy Spirit is a what?

Men cannot explain it because the Lord has not what?

Men having fanciful views may bring together passages of scripture and put a what?

But the acceptance of these views will not strengthen the church regarding such mysteries which are too deep for human understanding." what does she say?

Now again, I don't believe that she, this is just strictly applicable to the doctrine or the understanding of the Holy Spirit.

I believe it also has a further, broader reach to the Godhead in general.

We have to remember when we study the concept of the Trinity that we are talking about God.

We cannot fully understand how he operates or how they interact with 1 another.

It is God, He is beyond our limited understanding.

However, there are passages of Scripture and there is divinely written inspired counsel that gives us a glimpse, if you will, into an understanding of the doctrine of the Trinity.

Now, if you were to go to our fundamental beliefs, this is what it states, fundamental belief number 2, it says, there is 1 God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, a unity of 3 co-equal persons.

God is immortal, all-powerful, all-knowing, above all, and ever-present.

He is infinite and beyond human comprehension, yet known through his, " what?

And this particular statement in some form or another was not officially voted in until 1931.

And so those who are of the persuasion of, you know, the anti-Trinitarian persuasion, have come up with the conspiracy that the church changed around the 1930s to this aberrant view of the Trinity that we have here today.

However, we're going to find in our third presentation, as I take the time to outline some of the history behind the development of this doctrine, that the development of this particular understanding was in the incubator far before 1930.

It was actually in the late 1800s that they began to get a better understanding of the Godhead and began to become the early Adventist pioneers, began to become disinterested and unsettled with the anti-Trinitarian understanding and began to switch or develop or grow in their understanding of this particular point.

In Testimonies for the Church, volume 3, page 255, the servant of the Lord says this, "'Those who desire to doubt will have plenty of room.

God does not propose to remove all occasions for unbelief.

He gives evidence which must be carefully investigated with a humble mind and a teachable spirit and all should decide from the what?

So God never intended to remove all doubt.

He never intended to answer every question.

If God did that, why would we need faith?

There are some things that we just, as humans, we have to say, I don't have an answer for that.

The Bible doesn't speak very plainly to that point.

We are going to have to wait until we get to heaven to get a broader and better understanding of these particular points.

Now she goes on and she says this, 3 years later she says, God gives sufficient evidence for the candid mind to believe.

Weight of the evidence, because there are a few things which he cannot make plain to his finite understanding, will be left where?

In the cold, chilling atmosphere of unbelief.

I Think we're seeing this take place right now Because there are a few and that group is actually growing who cannot make plain to their finite minds some peculiar points of scripture.

In fact, you know, this particular understanding, this aberrant understanding of the Godhead is taking our church by storm.

2. The Godhead: Three Eternal Persons

Father in heaven, we thank you that we can enter into your presence with singing and into your courts with praise.

We thank you, Father, for the many blessings, both seen and unseen, that were showered upon us this past week.

Father, this morning we sit at your feet in great expectation that you will teach us from your word.

We ask that you would send your Holy Spirit to enlighten our minds, that we may be drawn closer still to thee We thank you father for we ask it in jesus name amen As we embark upon this second presentation of the Godhead I want you to keep in mind that as we talk and discuss about God We have to remember that we are talking about God And there are some things about God that it is just not for us to understand.

There are going to be some unanswered questions, even perhaps a few unresolved passages of Scripture.

But this morning as we take a look at the word of God, we want to find where the weight of the evidence lies on this particular doctrine of the Trinity.

I wanna start with a passage from the inspiration, from inspiration, and it looks like my clicker's not going to work.

Testimonies for the church volume 3 page 255 Ellen White says this those who desire to doubt will have plenty of room We read this last week, but I want to remind ourselves of it.

He gives evidence which must be carefully investigated with a humble mind and a teachable spirit, and all should decide from the what?

Now, just in that statement alone, by the weight of the evidence, kinda gives you the idea that there may be some things that aren't going to be fully resolved, but we cast ourselves, or we cast our lot, where the weight of the evidence lies.

She goes on 3 years later Talking about the weight of the evidence and she says this and testimonies for the church volume 4 page 232 and 233 she says God gives sufficient evidence for the candid mind to believe, but he who turns from the weight of the evidence because there are a few things which he cannot make plain to his finite understanding will be left in the cold, chilling atmosphere of unbelief and questioning doubts and will what?

Make a shipwreck of Faith and by God's grace.

None of us will make a shipwreck of our faith Amen, So we need to know where the weight of the evidence is, not just on this particular Bible doctrine, but on any teaching of the word of God.

We wanna see where that weight is, and then carefully investigate the weight of the evidence, and then stand Where that evidence points us to stand now We are looking at 3 particular points in our study together on the doctrine of the Trinity of the Godhead And we've kind of summarized them this way We looked at this 1 Last week the unity of the 3 persons of the Godhead we spent ample time Solidifying in our minds that there is God the Father God the Son and God the Holy Spirit The 3 of them are equal as we see in the great gospel commission in Matthew chapter 28 in the last few verses there.

So we spent a lot of time defining this particular point so that we could build off of it.

They're 3 separate individuals working towards the common goal of the salvation of men.

Today We're gonna take a look at the second 2 and as I put this presentation together I realized that I probably should have done 1 presentation on the second point and then another 1 on the third point But we'll do what we can to get through our material together today The second point is the full eternal deity of Christ that he has always existed and the third point is the personhood and full deity of the Holy Spirit that he is a person that has also full deity just like the Father And just like the Son now as I mentioned last week any most antitrinitarian Sentiments all kind of boiled down to an objection to all 3 of these points that there are not 3 that comprise the Godhead that at some point Jesus was created in the distant aeon Passes of eternity or of the past and that the Holy Spirit is not a person But he is some force or spirit or something like that that emanates from God Most anti-Trinitarian doctrine will go back to those particular points objecting in these 3 areas.

So we have to know from the Bible, where is the weight of the evidence on these 3 points?

Let's take a look at these next 2 points in our study together this morning.

So we're going to start things off by looking at the eternal deity of Jesus that he has always existed.

Now before we do that, I want to just solidify in your mind yet again that the Bible writers fully understood that the Son of God was God also.

Let me read to you a few passages here so that we can understand this.

Titus 2 in verse 13, the Bible says, looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ so there Titus refers to Jesus as God our Savior And then we see this also in first Timothy chapter 3 and verse 16 and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.

God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit.

Who was it that was manifested in the flesh?

No, it was the Son of God that was manifested in the flesh.

And here Timothy refers, or Paul rather, to Timothy refers to God that was manifest in the flesh, Jesus Christ refers to him as God.

Isaiah chapter 40 and verse 30, the Bible says, "'The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, ' this is talking about John the Baptist, "'prepare ye the way of the Lord, "'make straight in the desert a highway for who?

Our God who was John the Baptist who did John the Baptist come to prepare a way for?

He's clearly we see that in his ministry that he came to prepare the way for the coming Messiah Jesus himself but in the Old Testament writer here refers to the Messiah as God.

Isaiah chapter 7 and verse 14, the Bible says, therefore the Lord himself shall, sorry, therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign.

The birth of Jesus, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and you shall call his name, and his name will be what?

Now those of you that know the Bible, and I think most of us know this point.

In Matthew chapter 1 in verse 23, the Bible defines the name Emmanuel for us and that name is what?

That is the name that was to be given to Jesus.

Now, Jesus could not be created and be equal with God.

And the Bible tells us that he was equal with God.

So he couldn't have been created if he was equal with God because God cannot be created.

If God is created, then he is not God, but he is a creation instead of the creator.

And the Bible makes this very clear here.

I think that if you were to just, if we were to just think about it a little bit, if the Bible writers are defining that Jesus is God, then I believe it would stand to reason that as God, he has always existed.

Now, we don't have to just kind of theorize that.

The Bible tells us that he has always existed Let me give you a few passages here on this Micah chapter 5 and verse 2 the Bible says this but thou Bethlehem Though thou be little among the thousands of Judah yet out of thee shall come forth unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel, whose going forth have been from what?

Who was it that was to be born in Bethlehem?

And this is an Old Testament messianic prophecy, prophesying the coming of the Messiah, the anointed 1.

And the Bible tells us, the Bible writer says, that his going forths were to be from old, from everlasting.

Now it's interesting that, as you understand, from this passage is talking about the birth of Christ, but not only do we understand this from a biblical standpoint, but even the prophet in the book, Patriarchs and Prophets and Desire of Ages, She specifically applies this Bible passage to the coming of Jesus in Bethlehem.

And the Old Testament writer says that his goings, his going forth would be from old, from Everlasting.

Isaiah chapter 9 and Verse 6 the Bible says this for unto us a child is born Unto us a son is given and his government shall be upon his shoulders and his name shall be called wonderful Counselor, what's the next 1?

The mighty God the Everlasting Father the what?

Now again, this is another messianic prophecy here that's talking about a child shall be born.

This is talking about the coming of Jesus when he would be born in Bethlehem as we just read a few moments ago.

But I think this passage is particularly fascinating because what we find is that Isaiah in 1 breath, He shows us the depth of the complexity of God the Son Notice all of these terms that he uses to describe Jesus he describes him as a child as a son as a Counselor as God as father as prince.

He is a very complexed being He is all of these things and more Isaiah is trying to describe the deepness the complexity of God the Son and He uses all of these terms to describe him.

Not only does he call him the mighty God, but he also calls him the what?

Now some people get a little, maybe a little tripped up by the fact that Isaiah here refers to him as the everlasting Father.

But be assured from our study together last week that Jesus is not the Father and the Father is not Jesus.

When Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane and he poured out his heart to his Father, he was not praying to himself.

He was praying to his Father, which was in heaven.

At the baptism of Christ, we hear the voice, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.

When we see the 3 aspects of God in the great gospel commission, they're all equal there.

So what does Isaiah mean when he calls him the everlasting Father?

Jesus, as we will see here in just a minute and most of us already know this Jesus was the father of this world in the sense that he was the 1 who created all things He created this earth.

He is the Great life giver and the great life Sustainer not only did he create this world, but it is through him through his teachings through his blood That he has shed he has given life To you and to me and in that sense I believe isaiah is trying to portray to us the father aspect of jesus when he refers to him as the everlasting father Clearly from scripture here.

We have 2 passages that seem to indicate that Jesus did not or was not created at some distant point in the past, but he has always existed as you would only expect from God.

Now here's another passage that you are well acquainted with in John chapter 1, verses 1 and 2, and then verse 14.

It's probably the first passage that comes to your mind when you think about the Godhead.

The Bible says this, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God.

Now, of course, our Jehovah's Witness friends say they have it that the word was a God in the small g there.

We're not polytheistic, we don't worship many gods.

So here it says, in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

And then it says this, the same was in the beginning with God.

If God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit are God Then they would have always existed together He would have been in the beginning with God and then he defines who he is in verse 14 And the word was made flesh And dwelt among us this God who is the word who dwelt with God the father in the beginning and became flesh That is referring to none other than Jesus our Messiah It's clear from scripture that Jesus has always existed.

3. The Godhead: A Historical Narrative

Father in heaven, what a blessing it is to be part of a people who have the hand of God leading them and directing them.

Lord, we thank you for what you have done in this great movement of people.

Father, we thank you for your patience with us as we slowly learn the truths of your word.

This morning, Father, our prayer is as David prayed that you would lead us in your truth.

Lord, we invite your Holy Spirit to be with us here.

We pray that you would guide us in the time that we spend together.

As we've gone through the last 2 studies in this three-part series, we have looked at 3 points from the Word of God.

And these are 3 particular points that those that are of a more anti-Trinitarian persuasion tend to not agree with.

What we have found from Scripture is that the Bible teaches that there is a unity of 3 persons in the Godhead.

We looked at that in our first presentation.

Many Bible passages support the threefold aspect of God in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

And after we solidified that from scripture, we then went to the spirit of prophecy, which confirmed our findings in the word of God.

In our study together last week, we looked at the last 2 points here.

The full, eternal deity of Christ, that he has always existed as part of the Godhead.

And the personhood and full deity of the Holy Spirit.

That he is not an energy or a force of God, but that he is a person who has always existed just like the Father and just like the Son.

Again, we looked at all of the biblical evidence that supports these 2 things, and then we went to the spirit of prophecy that confirmed our findings.

Now those again who are of some of the anti-Trinitarian persuasions tend to believe that at some point Jesus was created in the distant past at some point.

That there is not 3, there's not a threefold aspect of the Godhead.

And that the Holy Spirit is a force that comes from the Father and from the Son rather than being an actual literal person.

We have found that the Bible teaches something quite different.

This morning what I want to do is I wanna show you from the history of our church that we have always, well not always, but for a good period of time, we as a people have believed what we have studied in the word of God over the last 2 presentations.

And I wanna show you that this happened not just in the recent history, but also during the time of our great prophet, Ellen White.

Now just as a disclaimer, much of the information that I'm going to share with you this morning, I have borrowed from a Adventist historian by the name of Jerry Moon.

He's an associate professor and the chair of church history department down at Andrews University.

But he did two-part series, hour-long presentations showing the development from a historical standpoint of this particular doctrine of the Trinity.

He also co-authored a book entitled The Trinity, Understanding God's Love, His Plan of Salvation and Christian relationships.

So this is where I've got much of my information.

I've got other resources that I've pulled from as well.

But I wanted you to know where a lot of the information was coming from so you can go back to the resources yourself if you would like to.

The next thing I wanna state before I get into this is I want you to just hang tight with me.

We're gonna be reading a lot of quotes this morning.

I know sometimes when you get into quotes, it's easy to get disconnected, but in order for us to see this from a historical perspective, I want you to see what the writers themselves actually wrote rather than me regurgitating in my own words what they said.

Now it is no secret in the Adventist church that there were many of our Adventist pioneers who were what some define as anti-Trinitarian.

And This is just a brief list of some of these individuals.

James White, Jane Andrews, Joseph Bates, A.C.

And I'm gonna share with you some of the statements from these particular individuals, but many have defined these men as anti-Trinitarian in their persuasions, and some of them were, of course, stronger on this than others.

Those that came from the Christian connection, James White and some of the others definitely had more of a anti-Trinitarian leaning, but we actually see over history that they began to change that view, and I'm going to share that with you here in our study together this morning.

However, not all of our pioneers were anti-Trinitarian.

There was some, although they were few, that were Trinitarian.

He was the father of the GC president, W.A.

He was a convert to Adventism from the Seventh-day Baptist Church, and Baptists were Trinitarian.

And he carried that with him over into the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

And actually his son later wrote that his father grew so offended at the anti-Trinitarian atmosphere in Battle Creek that he actually ceased preaching for a period of time.

It was a very strong persuasion of anti-Trinitarian belief that was down in Battle Creek at a certain time, but this began to change over time.

Now I want to just kind of share with you a thought here that's something for you to keep in mind if you ever run into somebody who is of an anti-Trinitarian thought, and it's this.

Just because the pioneers believed in some anti-Trinitarian beliefs is not evidence enough that we should also believe the same way.

Historically and for always and forever, we have been a people of the book.

Irrespective of a person's position in the church, whether it be current or in the past, their beliefs do not dictate what we believe as Seventh-day Adventists.

What dictates what we believe as Seventh-day Adventists is what the Word of God says.

So even though there were some, even what we might consider prominent pioneers in the Adventist church that were anti-Trinitarian, this is not enough evidence for me to believe the same way they believe.

The only way that I would believe this way is if it's taught in the word of God.

And we've seen in our last 2 studies that clearly the word of God does not teach these sentiments.

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Series

The Godhead

3. The Godhead: A Historical Narrative

Transcript

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