SHARON ROCKWELL | CONTRIBUTOR

A nearby freeway has a new billboard that simply says “God is One. Not three-in-one.” Our first-grade granddaughter was able to read the short message and exclaimed to her mother “That’s not right! God is three in one—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And Jesus is the Son. He died on the cross but now He is alive!” What joyful words to hear from a child whose parents and Sunday School teachers have poured into her biblical truths in ways she can understand and even differentiate false doctrine when she sees it!

All for His Glory

That anti-Trinity billboard is sponsored by a group focused on correcting what they see as biblical errors. But their beliefs contradict doctrinal truths and distort the gospel. The truth of the gospel should be clear and close to us all “in our mouths and in our hearts” (Rom. 10:8). This is especially relevant in the Easter season. This is a time to strengthen our understanding about God’s plan for our salvation. God created this world for His glory. This is a remarkable precept to remember: everything exists for the glory of God. This one truth will dictate how we think and behave. “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).

We know from the story of creation that while in the garden, Adam was given one commandment: he could not to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The consequence would be death, both spiritual death in an immediate separation from God and physical death of decayed bodies. In defiance, Adam ate from the tree and failed the test. The result was God’s judgement on all mankind. His justice demands payment for all our sins.

So why would God create and sustain a world that would fall into sin, exchanging His glory for their own? Before the creation of man, God planned that His Son would be slain for sinners. Revelation 13:8 tells us that “everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain” will become a worshipper of the beast.

A Plan Before Time

Before time began, the holy Trinity planned that God’s grace, His immeasurable kindness to underserving sinners, would be revealed through the saving work of the Son. This was not an afterthought to man’s sin, but part of the eternal plan. Jesus the Son would willingly come to earth and live a life perfect in every way. Man could not satisfy God’s wrath for his sins or save himself from death. So God offered His perfect son to die on our behalf. Jesus would be falsely accused and ordered to be crucified on a cross. By shedding His blood on the cross, Jesus took our sin and the punishment we deserve and exchanged it for His righteousness and life. His suffering was once for all our sins, that He might restore us to God. Three days after Christ’s death on the cross He rose from the dead, on Easter morning, fulfilling prophecy of His triumph over death and confirming that He was the Messiah, Son of God.

Early on, God told Moses “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy (Ex. 33:19). Some will receive God’s mercy for salvation and some will not. God the Holy Spirit calls His chosen ones to himself and applies salvation to them. This drawing is not against our will, rather individuals “come most freely, being made willing by his grace” (WCF 10.1). We are saved through faith which is a gift of God (Eph. 2:8). Our faith gives us the ability to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and at that moment of belief we are justified, declared righteous in God’s eyes.

A Glorious Grace

From the moment of justification on, we stand before God as perfectly righteous through His son. God the Son is both just and the justifier of the one who puts his faith in Him.  What an amazing plan to save us while we are still sinners! God the Father promised an inheritance to God the Son of an elect group of people. We are not our own after our salvation but belong to God in Christ. The Holy Spirit transforms us to become more Christlike while on earth, moving us from sin toward holiness. Our salvation does not depend on our holding on to God, but on the Father’s faithfulness of the promise to His Son.

God is three in one—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And Jesus is the Son. He died on the cross but now He is alive! And because He lives, and we live in Him, we can be assured that God will bring us into His heavenly kingdom at our death, and we will glorify Him and enjoy Him forever. Hallelujah!

Photo by Aaron Burden on Unsplash