Lesson 154. The Divine Union of Love

What kind of God do I believe in? Why do I accept this particular teaching and not another? Can I prove to myself and to others that I have true faith with a firm foundation? Upon what is my love founded, and from what source is it given to me? Why do I think that this way is right and not another?

Such questions require answers, and I myself, as well as each of you personally, friends, must find them. I cannot decide for you what is right and what it is best for you to believe. Each one of you must do this for yourself. We all individually bear personal responsibility before God for our hope. And the approaching trials will reveal what we have built upon. The faith of each one of us will be tested.

Matthew 4:1 says: “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.” The Lord Himself led Christ into the wilderness so that His faith might be tested. There was a risk that Jesus could fall under the pressure of these temptations, but He resisted with the firm foundation of His faith, which rested upon Holy Scripture. And by doing so, the Saviour gave us an example to follow.

Truth is not opposed to being tested. It will not suffer if it is examined and taken through fire or darkness. It will not become falsehood if I decide to test it. And it is consistent with itself. The only question is what I consider to be truth. If, for example, I take the Soviet Encyclopaedia as the foundation of faith, I will find in it many contradictions and facts based on human opinion, which for that reason are very easy to refute. The Soviet Encyclopaedia denies God. And such a foundation is extremely poor for my faith. What does such a hope give me? The theory of evolution, which no one has yet proved.

And Who is God? How many Divine Persons are there? Whom do I consider and call God? I often hear representatives of other religions mock me because of my confession of faith. They claim that I am an idolater because I believe in many gods. I do not enter into such disputes, but I decided to study this question for myself and become established in what the Bible says about it.

And I found it interesting that God is Love. He was not Love in the past, He did not become Love, and He is not becoming Love out of necessity; He is Love, and He is always Love. And this is the most important distinction between my God and all other gods who are called by that name. My Lord is interested in my salvation; He loves me and every person. He desires to save us all from the power of sin and eternal destruction, and He does everything possible so that all people may come to repentance. Love cannot be otherwise and is incapable of thinking differently. And God desires us to have love among ourselves.

A little earlier, we already considered the fact that love cannot exist alone; it needs someone like itself who also loves. It must be directed toward someone. The sun always shines, and the night sky is pierced by the rays of this luminary, but they are invisible to the eye until they find something from which to be reflected or until my gaze is directed toward the source of light. Surrounded by an abundance of light, I see utter darkness when I look at the night sky.

God cannot be Love if He is alone by His very nature and has no One equal to Himself. How can He be Love if His Love is not experienced by Someone like Him and is not manifested toward One equal to Himself?

But the Bible teaches that there is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, and that this is the Divine unity of Three Divine Persons. It does not explain the history of the existence or the nature of the Godhead and does not try to prove to me that He exists, but simply points out that God is God, that He is the Creator, that He is immortal, omnipresent, eternal, almighty, above all, and that there is no other like Him. The Bible does not attempt to prove Who the Godhead is, but simply tells of the Three Persons of the Divine Family, Each of Whom has His own purpose in the plan of creation and the salvation of humanity.

I am not expected to explain how the Divine Union of the Three Persons of the Godhead is constituted; this is beyond my understanding. Yet I can learn this from God’s revelation of Himself, and He does this through nature, through His Word recorded in the Bible, and through the Person of Jesus Christ. And the Bible teaches that God alone is worthy of the worship, service, and honour of all His creation. I can accept this and build my faith upon it, developing endlessly in this true understanding of Holy Scripture, or I can devise my own personal interpretation and believe in it, limiting myself by my own imagination.

Concerning the creation of man, Genesis 1:26–27 says: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness... So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Genesis 3:22 records what God said after the Fall: “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil...” These passages at the very beginning of the Bible show very clearly that God was not alone when He created the Earth and man.

The unity of the Three Divine Persons presents God to us as True, Righteous, and One in His plans and purposes. We should neither add our own conjectures to this nor diminish this truth.

God promises every sinner—everyone who receives Him and believes in Jesus Christ, Whom He sent—Eternal life in His personal presence. And this is already taking place. Through faith in Jesus, a person is born again and receives the gift of Eternal life, being called a son or daughter of God.

The Lord is not opposed to our studying His character and greatness within the boundaries He has established. The Bible comprehensively reveals to us the beauty and fullness of the Godhead, and God Himself teaches us the knowledge of Himself, establishing my faith in Him upon the firm foundation of Biblical teaching on which I build our relationship. This is His plan for me; He devised and is carrying out my salvation from the power of sin and darkness. But I may refuse to believe and reject it, choosing something else, and as a result perish in the darkness of error. I may also accept, believe, and develop endlessly.

Why is it so important to believe in the Godhead—in the Divinity of the Three eternal Persons presented on the pages of the Bible? Because this creates a true image of God and a complete picture of the entire plan of our Salvation.

God is Love. The Father loves the Son and the Holy Spirit; the Son loves the Father and the Holy Spirit; and the Holy Spirit loves the Father and the Son. And the Lord desires to see me within this love.

It is difficult for me to understand what relationships the Godhead has within Their Family, but I have been given the commandment to love my friend so that, through this example of interaction with my neighbours—people like me—I may come to know the harmony of Divine relationships. And by loving them and being loved by them, I begin to develop fully; we become one family created in the likeness of the Heavenly pattern. And our love for one another brings joy to Heaven.

God is interested in the salvation of man, and all Three Persons of the Godhead are involved in this process, which is accomplished by the Creator’s Love for His creation. And this cannot be said of any other god.

The Bible calls us to worship God, the Only One worthy of it. And as I give glory to the Father, being led by the Holy Spirit, Who brought me to this, I am accepted by Him in the name of Jesus.

It is a great mystery, but it is revealed to God’s children who desire to know the true Creator and Saviour.

1. Please read Genesis 1:26; Deuteronomy 6:4; Isaiah 6:8; Matthew 28:19; John 3:16; 2 Corinthians 1:21–22; 13:14; Ephesians 4:4–6; 1 Peter 1:2; and 1 John 5:7 in the light of our lesson.

2. What did you understand from this lesson? Was anything new revealed to you?

3. How do you picture God? Upon what is your understanding based?

4. Is the Divine Family interested in your personal salvation? What is being done for this purpose?

5. Have you been forgotten by God?

6. Why can love not exist alone?

7. How can I understand that God loves me?