Do we practice knowing the Triune God?

By John Pearring

I’ve cheated, a bit, for this week’s reflection. I’m taking a section out of my book, Confessions of a Homeless Catholic. The following are excerpts from chapter two, “Where are we going?” The entire chapter is built upon Saturday’s first reading from this week.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/120520.cfm
Isaiah 30:19-21, 23-26
Matthew 9:35-10:8

However my heavenly digs will look, Romans 14 tells us that at some point we must meet up with God, face-to-face. If our accounting with God works out OK we then tramp off to our eternal place where folks can come by and hang out. And have a burrito or two. And check out our garden. Go for a walk. I’m certain of this. Lots of long walks in our next life.

A journey to anywhere other than heaven would be a journey toward oblivion. Recognition of God will be extremely important. So, we should begin imagining the face of God now, for God is with us now. We have only to imagine. Here’s how I know this:

He  will be gracious to you when you cry out,
as soon as he hears he will answer you.
The Lord will give you the bread you need
and the water for which you thirst.
No longer will your Teacher hide himself,
but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher,
While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears:
“This is the way; walk in it,”
when you would turn to the right or to the left.
(Isaiah 30:19-21)

We Christians read this Old Testament text through the knowledge that the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit were being imaged in those words. In this passage, Isaiah foretold the Lord as the Father, Jesus as the Teacher, and the Holy Spirit as the voice in your ears. 

That’s my assumption, of course, but I’m standing on the insights and opinions along with several billion other Christians. Hindus and Muslims hint at similar divine experiences as we cross into eternity. For Christians though, the Teacher has in fact already come to our realm, following on the heels of the Father in the temple, and the Holy Spirit in the lives of the prophets. 

The invisible Holy Spirit is the counselor whom Jesus called to live within us. Consequently, Isaiah’s prophecy has been fulfilled. “With your own eyes you shall see your Teacher, While from behind, a voice shall sound in your ears.”

We can imagine God in these three persons today, I believe, because the Holy Spirit is with us right now. That’s one person of God. The Father feeds us with the gift of his son, the source of all bread and water. That’s the other two. And, there we have it. 

Some more details might help. So, for practical purposes, the Father surrounds us with a creation that mirrors our eternity. Jesus teaches us through the scriptures. And, the living Holy Spirit whispers in our ears. Reread Isaiah and his ancient prophetic voice in that light. The scene should make us shiver in our shoes. God is here. We have not been abandoned. Far from it.

What Isaiah wrote about as coming later, we Christo-centric folk realize the scripture has already taken place. 

When Jesus left the disciples on Pentecost he said he must return to the Father in order for the Spirit to follow. And now the Spirit is with us. From behind, the Spirit follows us all the days of our life, letting us know which way to go. “This is the way; walk in it.”  

I am saying I, generally, know what happens when we cross over to the next, the eternal life. I’m inferring first that we have an eternal life to come.

I do not describe these images of God as three persons – Lord the Father, Teacher as Son, and the Spirit – as temporary, or in past tense, or in some distant future. God always was Lord, Teacher and Spirit. Always is. Always will be. Consequently, that’s the way God is right now. 

The most difficult of these three images is probably that God has a son in the person of Jesus. Difficult to most of us, I think. So difficult that Christians are accused of making up the whole Jesus-as-God image as some conjured story. 

Through a biblical lens, the ancient scripture tells us about God as “Lord.” Lord is used rather than speak God’s name, as I Am Who Am, or just I Am. There is no clear distinction, on the surface, that the Hebrew people considered God as three persons. Isaiah, however, reveals an intentional and physical/mystical imaging of three persons with Lord, Teacher, and the Whisperer.

This triune view of god as one comes up often. God is Lord, and also the creator or the ultimate authority (1), and the one (2) who speaks through prophets by filling them with his Spirit (3). That’s all three of them, isn’t it? The Messiah, the Holy One, or the Christ was yet to come. 

The Jews are not clear in their minds about this anointed one as being God incarnated. He will be a king, Mashiach in Hebrew. A High Priest. Only later, as described in the New Testament writings, we find that Jesus takes Messiah one step further. He is the only begotten Son of God. Therefore, Isaiah’s Teacher has arrived. Jesus is followed by a Spirit, but not just for ordained prophets. He is for everyone. 

So, has God changed from the Old Testament, from Isaiah’s descriptions? I say, no. God is immutable, unchangeable. In God "there is no change, nor shadow of alteration." (James 1:17) In fact, this imagery of the Father Lord’s abundance and grace, the Teacher’s message and the Voice in our ear have been physically real forever, and will be into our eternal life. When we pass on, this is how we will experience God, too. The difference will be that we then know God in the full light of eternity.

We are told by Isaiah that, “No longer will your Teacher hide himself, but with your own eyes you shall see your Teacher.” After our death Isaiah predicts that Jesus and the Spirit are lit up much more than we experience now. I clearly see this “your own eyes” reference as Jesus. 

In our current life, Jesus is not visible. When we pass on, though, Jesus in person will lead us by the hand. Now, in his words and in the scripture that speaks of him, we follow him. The Holy Spirit guides us from behind in a breath as warm as the wind. In the next life, a veil is removed as the Spirit’s breath turns into a clear voice, and Jesus physically holds our hands. And, then, they take us to see the Father.

That meeting with the Father is the biggest appointment of our existence and the completed transition of living with God.

It’s probably better to grasp that God connection with our personal life right now. The truth will be definitive and indisputable at our death. Consequently, if some don’t think that the hand that is holding theirs belongs to Jesus, their brother, then when he leads them forward to the Father they will most certainly be confused and frightened. 

Picture yourself after death, without assurance that God will be meeting you. Consider that all will be darkness. If you haven’t imagined anything at this point, think of it now. Throw out my story of meeting the three persons of God as one, and simply go to raw shock. 

Instead of the light of Jesus imagine some incredibly lit up being, or thing, taking your hand. If you don’t imagine Jesus, what might you think? You might think you see some approaching fire, and then the source of that fire grabs your hand. I’m pretty sure screaming may be involved.

If we have never imagined the Spirit speaking into our ears, we will most certainly be fearful. Consider those moments in this life when we thought we heard someone invisible talking to us. These experiences don’t always arrive to our ears as friendly, especially if the voice is foreign. If we avoid God’s voice now, what will our brain tell us when God’s voice cannot be ignored? Yeah, probably more screaming. 

The voice of the Spirit, if unrecognizable to us now, may well be indistinguishable later from that of a demon. How will we know that it is God’s Spirit speaking to us and not some nefarious being if we haven’t desired or intently listened for God’s voice now?

If we don’t know in our heart and mind that God has our best interests at heart, then how will we react to the Father’s face when all we feel is painful fire and this ominous voice in our head? If our underlying imagination is that God does not care for us, if we sincerely believe that God is an impersonal force, then we may turn God’s physical kindness and bright goodness into Dante’s visions of chaos and ensuing hell. 

Will we lash out like a ranting raving basket case, cussing, spitting to put out the fire? What else could we think is happening to us? 

My imagined death to eternity scenario projects a better, more loving picture for us than a dark, fiery, demonic-voiced plot preceded by thinking there is no God. 

What can help us to not fear death? Someone waiting for us that we love, like family and friends? Why would they be waiting for us, though? Well, I’ve imagined that, too. I would be waiting for my wife and children. This is the joy of reunions. A promise from someone they trust that they will be waiting for them can go a long way. 

So, we do not have to fear death. I’ve got this from a higher authority. Everyone we love will be waiting for us. Especially the ones who created us. My folks will be waiting for me. My wife and I and God will be waiting for our children’s arrival in heaven. We were blessed as co-creators with God. Joanne and God really did all the work, but I get to be there for DNA reasons.

In the same fashion that Jesus appears to me now in my friendships and in the faces and touch of my loved ones, I’m certain he will reach out to take our hands at our death. Jesus’ hands will be reaching for us. As this is happening, the voice of the Spirit, similar to our life now but without the white noise of life, will quietly urge us to take Jesus’ hand and compel us to follow him to our Father. 

I suggest we practice this experience of imagining Jesus and the Spirit for a very logical reason: oblivion is way more frightening than the kind hands of Jesus and the still voice of the Spirit, not to mention our newly sin-free parents standing in the wings. 

That sin-free part is pretty awesome.