plainly states Jesus's relationship to God the Father, " Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.". So we see that the image of the Son of God has a physical body and must do the will of the image of God the Father. We now have one third of the image. The image of God the Father has also partially been defined in that the image of God the Son must do his will. We also know from the scripture given above that no man has seen the Father, that is to say the Father has no physical embodiment. Exodus 20:5-6 says, "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.". From these we see that God the Father insists that we obey him. In Genesis 6:5-7 we read, "And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.". God the Father grieves and repents ( changes his mind about something and then takes action ). God the Father does listen and makes decisions based on what he sees, as we read in Genesis 8:20-21, "And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour; and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake; for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again smite any more every thing living, as I have done.". Also, we see in II Kings 20:1-5, "In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah the son of Amoz came to him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, 5 ________________________________________________________________________________ and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord, I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore. And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying, Turn again, and tell Hezekiah the captain of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold I will heal thee: on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord.". Here God the Father has acted with compassion. As we have seen from the scripture, the image of God the Father is the center of will and emotion where the mind is. Thus far, we have two parts of the image of God for man giving us the body and soul. Now, let's explore the third part of the trinity, the Holy Spirit. John 14:16-17 tells us, "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abode with you for ever; 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.". In this passage Jesus is talking to his disciples, and we can see that the Holy Spirit is influenced by actions from the Father and the Son. Remember this discussion, when later we discuss the quenching of the Holy Spirit. John 16:13-15 further expands on the mission of the Spirit, "Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you.". Here we see that the Holy Spirit guides, directs, teaches and glorifies the Father and the Son. More understanding is obtained from Matthew 3:11-12, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than 6 __________________________________________________________________________________ |
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