«　WEEK 4　DAY 2　»

　　John 14:16-17 And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, Even the Spirit of reality……

　　2 Cor. 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

　　

　　Undoubtedly, the Father is God. Many passages in the New Testament speak of God the Father. For example, 1 Peter 1:2 says, “According to the foreknowledge of God the Father.” Ephesians 1:17 says, “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory....”

　　The Son is also God. Hebrews 1:8 says, “But as to the Son, Your throne, O God....” Here the Son is called God. John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Word must be Christ, the Son. Because the Word is God, the Son also is God. Not only so, Romans 9:5 says, “Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever.” Christ the Son is not only God, but He is over all, God blessed forever.

　　In Acts 5:3-4 we see that the Spirit is God. In verse 3 Peter told Ananias that he had lied to the Spirit; but in the next verse he said that he had lied to God. In these two verses the Holy Spirit equals God. Therefore, the Scriptures clearly reveal to us that all Three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are God. This does not mean, however, that They are three Gods. We have already seen that the Scriptures tell us clearly and definitely that God is only one. Although there are three—the Father, Son, and Spirit—yet the Three are not three Gods, but one. This is really a mystery! It is unsearchable! But praise the Lord, we can simply receive and enjoy this mysterious One according to what the Scriptures have said!

　　

　　Isaiah 9:6 contains the expression “the everlasting Father.” According to its literal meaning in Hebrew, this expression may be rendered “the eternal Father.” Hence, the Father is eternal.

　　The Son also is eternal. Hebrews 1:12 says concerning the Son, “You are the same, and Your years shall not fail.” Hebrews 7:3 also says that the Son has no beginning of days nor end of life, which means that He is eternal.

　　The Spirit also is eternal because Hebrews 9:14 speaks of “the eternal Spirit.” Hence, all Three—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are eternal.

　　John 14:16-17 says, “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever; even the Spirit of reality.” In these two verses the Son says that He will pray to the Father that the Father may send the Spirit. Hence, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit exist together at the same time.

　　Therefore, we do not believe that the Father ceased to exist and was replaced by the Son, then after another period of time the Son was replaced by the Spirit. We believe that the Three—Father, Son, and Spirit—are eternal and co-existent. (Truth Lessons, Level 1, Vol. 1, Lesson 2)