While three may be associated with the number of little piggies, the world that God created consists of many attributes separated in three parts. In the dimension of time, all exist in either past, present or future, with even the smallest increments of our lives broken down into yesterday, today and tomorrow. Every action will fall into the categories of thought, word and deed, while matter can be separated into mineral, vegetable and animal. Three is geometrically, the number of a cube, expressing length, width and height. Yet we never should limit God or His power to those three dimensions. While man plays on a three-dimensional chessboard, God plays on a chessboard with many more dimensions. When our problems seem too big for us to handle, God’s solutions make our problems look inconsequential. Even that power of God can be summarized in His omniscience (God knows everything); His omnipresence (God is everywhere); and His omnipotence (God is all powerful).
There are four numbers standing for perfection in the Bible. While three is significant in terms of Divine perfection, seven points to spiritual perfection. Additionally, 10 relates to ordinal perfection, while 12 signifies governmental perfection. God is perfect in every way, unlike His creation. All of creation changed when Adam sinned, and groans for the return of the Son of God, who will perfect all vanity (Romans 8:22-23).
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
Ecclesiastes 1:14
Obviously, the greatest example of God’s perfect divinity involves His existence as One God in three persons. While it is difficult for our human brains to completely grasp the ramifications of that fact, we first must understand that Father, Son and Holy Spirit operate in a completely unified way. That in itself is hard for us to comprehend, as whenever three people get together, even when formed in love, we lose sight of purposes, plans and goals. On the other hand, God’s omnipotence ensures that there are no mistakes along the way.
Notice in the Scriptures that Jesus always accomplished the will of the Father. It was not because the Son was less powerful or less knowledgeable, yet He willingly submitted Himself to the Father, just as a wife is called to submit herself to her husband in Ephesians 5:22. Submission is not a master-slave relationship, but instead, is best understood in the military in terms of rank, involving order and chain of command. At the same time, the Holy Spirit always testifies of Jesus! Instead of calling attention to Himself, He remains the unnamed servant modeled in the Old Testament when Abraham’s servant journeyed to find a bride for Isaac (Genesis 24:4).
We can see that God exists in plural form in the first verse of the Bible, as the Hebrew word for God, Elohim, designates plurality. When reading Psalm 2, an interesting exercise is to identify the pronouns. Who does the psalmist refer to in each verse, Father, Son or Holy Spirit? By spending time in this psalm, what becomes apparent is the conversation among the Trinity:
1 Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the LORD and against His Anointed, saying,
3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”
4He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The LORD shall hold them in derision.
5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
6 “Yet I have set My King
On My holy hill of Zion.”
7 “I will declare the decree:
The LORD has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
9 You shall break them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”
10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the LORD with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
Psalm 2
Certainly, that significance of three as divine perfection can be seen throughout the Bible. In the tabernacle, the Holy of Holies was basically a cube, with specific length, width and height. Not surprisingly, the third book of the Bible, Leviticus, deals with true worship of God, with the Holy of Holies being the highest place of worship. Worship is not repeating the words to memorized songs. Instead, the best description of worship is to love God in return. He loved us first, and demonstrated that love in the most powerful way. Nails did not hold Jesus to the cross; it was His love for us, and the Father’s love for us, as Jesus accomplished the Father’s will. That accomplishment, though it was brutal for Jesus and the Father (Isaiah 53:10), brought us near to God and removed the separation.
23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
John 4:23-24
While walking as a Christian certainly has its difficulties, that life change is as easy as 1-2-3. When we come to the Lord, and surrender our lives to Him, He opens the doors and closes them. Any trial that comes our way, He helps us to endure. Every step of our journeys as Christians is a part of His plan, to instruct us in His ways and draw us closer to Him. We have an intimate relationship with the Father, who wants us to call Him Daddy in our childlike adoration (Romans 8:15). At the same time, we have an intimacy with Jesus, our Savior, who carried each of our sins upon His shoulders, punished with death instead of us (2 Corinthians 5:21). Lastly, how could God be any more intimate with us, as He has given us the Holy Spirit to dwell inside of us all the days of our lives? Divine perfection carries us through each aspect of our lives, if we are willing to hand those lives to Him!
21 When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. 22 And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.”
Luke 3:21-22
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