The Brightness of His Glory

Jim Reynolds

Description

The Holy Trinity is the fullness of God in time and space: the visible revealing the invisible.

We, as Christians, so often seek to comprehend the spiritual with our minds rather than our hearts, all to our own detriment. The Holy Trinity cannot be “figured” out in our minds. He must be experienced in order to be understood. Just as “the brightness of his glory” can only be found in the darkness of the cross; the Holy Trinity can only be found in the journey of a seeking heart, and Jim takes us on a journey through scripture in search of the Holy Trinity in order that we come to know Him whom we seek, “even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12).

Sujets

• Biblical Commentary
• Philosophie et théologie
• Religion
• Trinity

Informations

• Publié par: WestBow Press
• Date de parution: 18 août 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781664275768
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE BRIGHTNESS
OF
HIS GLORY
 
 
 
 
JIM REYNOLDS
 
 
 
 

 
Copyright © 2022 Jim Reynolds.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
 
WestBow Press
A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.westbowpress.com
844-714-3454
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7577-5 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6642-7576-8 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022915280
 
 
 
WestBow Press rev. date: 08/18/2022
CONTENTS
The Holy Trinity Revealed As Through A Glass Darkly
Introduction
The Seeking Heart
Chapter One Look Up: What Do You See?
Chapter Two What Do We Really See?
Chapter Three Abraham Meets The Image
Chapter Four They Meet Again
Chapter Five Moses Meets The Image
Chapter Six David Meets The Image
Chapter Seven Isaiah Meets The Image
Chapter Eight The Coming Of The Light
Chapter Nine The Light Is Introduced
Chapter Ten Light Meets Darkness
Chapter Eleven The Light Sets His Face To Jerusalem
Chapter Twelve Face To Face
Chapter Thirteen Light’s Final Preparations
Chapter Fourteen The Battle Of Calvary
Chapter Fifteen Darkness Prevails Or Does It
Chapter Sixteen As By Fire
Chapter Seventeen The Heat Is Turned Up
Chapter Eighteen There Is Another Fire
Chapter Nineteen The Way Of The Cross
Chapter Twenty Fire Becomes Fire
Chapter Twenty-One The Consuming Fire Of Grace
The Skeptic
Conclusion
Epilogue
Addendum
THE HOLY TRINITY REVEALED AS THROUGH A GLASS DARKLY
INTRODUCTION
Whenever I discuss anything concerning the Holy Trinity, I get these raised eyebrows and condescending smiles with half hearted words of encouragement: As if what I am seeking to do is not for us to know: That we should simply accept the Holy Trinity on faith and leave it at that. These, however, continue in saying, in order to understand the Holy Trinity is beyond us here on this earth. After all, everything will all be cleared up once we get to heaven. Besides, they insist, anything I come up with differently from their established position can’t possibly be Biblical. So, I am told that I shouldn’t go making up my own doctrine just to be able to write a book on the Holy Trinity.
With that, I began researching scripture to see once and for all if they are right: That I am simply making up an explanation of the Holy Trinity that is not for us to know.
The first thing I noticed in the Old Testament was that the Hebrews had three words for our one word God: El, Eloah, and Elohim (Actually, there are several more words for God, however these others are translated into English as “Lord”, “Almighty”, etc., but not God).
Now, why did they do that?
So, the next thing I did was find where they used each word for God as they did.
Every place they used El for God I colored that word green. Next, everywhere I found Eloah used for God I colored that word with a red pencil. Finally, everywhere I found the writers of the Old Testament used Elohim for God I colored that word blue.
Next, I went through my color coded Old Testament to see why each word was used as it was: To see why El was used where it was; likewise Eloah; and why Elohim was used instead of one of the others. After all, there must be a reason El was used where it was rather than Eloah or Elohim: Also, why Eloah and Elohim were used and not El.
As exact as the Bible is there has to be an exact and clear reason why Moses and the others used each word where they did (I concentrated on the Pentateuch, Book of Job, Psalms and Isaiah).

You see El in its simplest form means “Almighty” and deals with God’s authority, title and his being. Eloah means “Deity” and deals with our relational references to God. Elohim is the plural form of Eloah and deals with our actual encounters and interactions with God.
Also note: each contains El. Thus, El is found in Eloah and in Elohim; and Elohim not only contains El, but also includes Eloah within itself. Thus, none are separate from the other. All three are one, and as I later discovered, all being one had different functions: Thus, one in three. We find Elohim was used exclusively in the first thirteen chapters of Genesis. God was mentioned eighty four times from Genesis chapter one through chapter thirteen and all eighty four times Elohim was used, and each time Elohim referred to some action or interaction God had with us: God (Elohim) “created” (1:1) … God (Elohim) “moved” (1:2) … God (Elohim) “formed man of the dust of the ground” (2:7) … God (Elohim) “sent him forth from the garden of Eden” (3:23) etc.
Not until we get to Genesis chapter fourteen is there any reference to God’s (El) authority, title or anything dealing with God’s being.
Finally, the references to Eloah come almost exclusively in the Book of Job, and all these references pertain to our relationship with God: “O that one might plead for a man with God (Eloah) as a man pleadeth for his neighbor”(Job19:21) .
Can we see how intimate the relationship is between God (Eloah); whereas references to God (Elohim) are matter of fact actions and interactions.
One more from Job will confirm this intimate relationship we find in God (Eloah): “For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God (Eloah)”(Job 19:25, 26) .
Then there are the combinations used throughout the Old Testament of the different uses for God: “And God (Elohim) said unto him, I am God (El) Almighty be fruitful and multiply…” (Genesis 35:11) . Here we have God (Elohim) calling himself God (El). Thus, we see there is a difference in person, yet of the same essence.
The Old Testament Hebrew writers were on to something. They didn’t use three names for God just to be different. Of all people they knew that:
Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord.
Deuteronomy 6:5
So why did they use three words for God if God is but one: Except for the fact that the three had to be one, and there is no question this fact is also true in the New Testament as confirmed by Jesus, Eloah himself: “And Jesus answered… Hear O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord” (Mark 12:29) .
Thus, the Holy Trinity is a fact, and a fact so obviously known to the Old Testament saints that the word Holy Trinity itself need not be expressed anywhere in the Bible. They didn’t believe the Holy Trinity to be true. They knew the Holy Trinity to be true: Thus, no need for any explanation.
Yes, we today accept the Holy Trinity by faith as true, but shouldn’t we move off of belief onto knowing the Holy Trinity as the Old Testament saints knew Him.

In discovering what the Old Testament saints have known all along, lots and lots of scripture will be used so that scripture itself will bring to light the Holy Trinity in His full essence.
All scripture quotes are from the King James Version .
THE SEEKING HEART

CHAPTER ONE
LOOK UP: WHAT DO YOU SEE?
On a bright morning or even a partly cloudy sky we look up and see this shining heavenly body passing overhead giving us light and warming us with its wonderful essence.
We like it.
Oh, at times it gets hot and at others it shrinks behind the clouds, but it is always there.
At times, we take that heavenly ball for granted and give it little thought. That is, until it hides for days behind the storm winds of winter, and when it reappears after days of seemingly hide-and-seek we rejoice with a sigh of relief that it is still there. We call it the sun, but is it really the sun?

What we see is a yellow ball the size of a quarter or at times just before sunset it appears as an orange then briefly red globe the size of a silver dollar.