The Feast of the Most Holy Trinity, 2024
Rev. Thomas Van Hemert
Holy Trinity
May 26, 2024
In the name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Almost everyone and everything has a name. We name our children after older, beloved family members. We ourselves have names. A first name, maybe a middle name, and a last name. The names that we are given make us part of a larger family, which has a name. Churches have names. Sometimes they’re named after saints: St. John Lutheran Church, St. Peter Lutheran Church, and the like. We name our pets. Our favorite sports teams and schools have names: Hawkeyes, Cyclones, Vikings, Stormin’ Pointers, for example.
So also do the thing or things we fear, love, and trust in above all things have a name. We call this “God.” Luther says whatever you fear, love, and trust in above all things, that is your God. But maybe, just maybe, what you fear, love, and trust in above all things isn’t the God of the Bible. Maybe it’s something of this world: your livelihood, your job, your children, your family members, your leisure time spent with friends, or even sports. If this is true for you, if you actually take time to look inward and examine yourself and there something other than the forgiveness of sins, assurance of salvation won by Jesus Christ, something other than that that you cannot live without in this life, then repent. God gave it to you. He can take it away. For He Himself commands that you have no other God’s but Him. He Himself commands that you fear, love, and trust Him above all things.
But Who is this God? What do we know about Him? What has been revealed to us about Him? Of course, we know Him as the Triune God. Three Persons in One Essence. But throughout the Bible in the Old Testament, God was known by many different names. For example, in Genesis 18 and 19, when God comes down from heaven to examine the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah, He first speaks with Abraham, who is living near the Terebinths of Mamre. Abraham calls Him, “Lord,” in the Hebrew “Adonai.” He simply calls Him, “Lord,” or “Master.”
Hundreds of years later, when Abraham’s descendants are slaves in Egypt, Moses sees God in the Burning Bush and speaks with Him. God calls out to Moses and tells him, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,” which means that He is the God of history. This also means that He is the God of the living because He says, “I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” He does not say, “I was their God, but not anymore because they’re dead.” He says, “I am still the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob because they are alive in Me because they had and still have faith in Me.” Then Moses asks for His name. And God says, “I AM that I AM.” We think this is where the name “Yahweh” comes from, and in a sense it is. But the name “Yahweh” does not mean “I AM.” “Yahweh” means “He is.” What God says is “Ahweh” because “Ahweh” is the first person-singular, “I AM.” Moses naturally changes it to “He is—Yahweh” because it wouldn’t make sense for Moses to say “I AM.” Moses says, “He is.” This is a distancing name! God is distancing Himself from us because He is our creator. We are beneath Him, created by Him, and have our existence only because of Him. He is our God. God is telling Moses from the burning bush that He alone is. So, by contrast, if He, God, is, then by definition, we are not. And so also, He is the only God who exists, and everything else has its beginning in Him.
Hundreds of years after this, the Prophet Isaiah sees a vision of the temple in heaven. He can’t even bring himself to call God “Yahweh” in his vision because He is absolutely terrified of God. He says, “Woe is me! For I am lost!” Which means, “I should not be here in this place among all of this holiness. I am a man of unclean lips and dwell among a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.” Isaiah is saying that he deserves to die because he has seen God with his own eyeballs. Because apart from faith in Jesus Christ, God is terrifying. He is too holy for our sinful nature. But God wanted Isaiah to see this in the vision. So He had the angel take the burning coal from the fire, touch it to Isaiah’s mouth, and atone for his sin.
Our God is a God that wants to dwell among His creation. He wants to be with us. So again, Isaiah prophesies and says, “Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel,” which means “God with us.” Isaiah also says that God’s name is called “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” As you can see, as the Old Testament progresses, the names of God are becoming more personal and less distancing. First was simply, “God.” Then it was revealed that His name is “I AM.” Then names like “King,” “the Lord of Hosts,” “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
When God came as Immanuel, as God Who dwells among us, His name is now Jesus, which means, “Yahweh, Who saves.” And so finally in the New Testament, at the end of His ministry, Jesus tells the disciples and reveals the fullest, most personal name of God. He says, “God therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Jesus is revealing the nature of God. God Himself is a family—a Father, a Son, and a Holy Spirit. Jesus even says that we can address God and call Him “our Father.” Jesus is our brother. And they have sent us Their Spirit, to create saving faith in us, which believes in Jesus as our Savior. Our God is Triune. This is precisely what Isaiah hears and learns when the angels in his vision cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy,” when they’re praising God. One “Holy” for each of the persons of the Trinity. And yet, there is one God.
Jesus has revealed to us who God is. We are so blessed to know God, the very God who created us, the very God who redeemed us, the very God who sanctifies us. We know Him; we get to converse with Him and speak with Him in prayer; we get to eat and drink of the Body and Blood of God for the forgiveness of our sins. We know Him because He has revealed Himself to us. He is no longer hidden or shrouded in mystery. He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. One God, three Persons, the glory equal, the majesty coeternal.
This is what we call “Revealed Knowledge of God.” What we know about God and His nature is because of what Holy Scripture says about Him, such as, that He loves us in such a way that He sent His Son to die for us because of our rebellion against Him.
There is also what is called “Natural Knowledge of God.” Natural knowledge of God is the knowledge revealed to us by what we see in nature, such as, when we see that there is a creation and know that there must be a creator; that there is bad in the world, which needs punished; good in the world that is deserving of praise according to God’s Commandments.
What is necessary for salvation is the “Revealed Knowledge of God,” which is given to us in the Bible and is what we hear regularly in the Divine Service. Because faith comes through hearing, and hearing the Word of God, that is, what God reveals to us about Himself. God is Triune. He is three Persons in one Essence. God is one. And also, what is necessary for saving faith is belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God—the Second Person of the Holy Trinity who is God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father.
This is what is required for saving faith—that we believe God is Triune and that we believe that Jesus is God from eternity, but also true Man, and that He died for our sins and was raised for our justification. What’s not required is that we have a perfect working knowledge of the inner-workings of the Holy Trinity, but rather, that we confess the Trinity.
At the same time, all analogies of the Trinity will not do. The Trinity is not like an egg. God is not like water in its three states of solid, liquid, and gas. The Trinity is not like anything of this world. We don’t have to perfectly explain this to be saved or perfectly understand this to be saved. For who has known the mind of the Lord or who has been His counselor? We believe in the Trinity. We teach the Trinity. We confess the Trinity. The Trinity is our God, Who has loved us and given us blessings beyond all measure. And when we get to heaven and walk through the pearly gate, we’ll see the Holy Trinity and say, “Oh, that’s how it works.”
In +Jesus’ name.
