In the previous article, we traveled to the spirit of Ancient Rome and witnessed the graces that the most Holy Trinity placed in the souls of great men the likes of Cicero, Seneca, and Virgil, in order that they may unknowingly prepare the culture of Rome to recognize the teachings of Christ when they came. Magnificent as those graces were, the lights received by the Romans, like those given to the Greeks before them, were indirect. They were not fire in themselves, but fertile wood to kindle a great cosmic fire when they come in contact with the flames of the Giver of Life.
However, God also, and most importantly, elected to share Himself in a more direct way through revelations to His chosen people, Israel.
Let There Be Light
The first appearance of the Holy Trinity is revealed in the very first passage of Sacred Scripture. Yet, most readers lack the eye to see it, in large measure due to the fact that the wide majority of us do not read it properly. Divine Revelation must be read in the same spirit in which it was written, namely, with awe, reverence, obedience, and total abandonment to the Holy Spirit.
In Genesis 1, we are told that God created the heavens and the earth, and that the earth was a formless void, with darkness covering the face of the deep. The Holy Text also tells us that a wind from God swept over the waters, before speaking light into being. In essence, God the Father’s Will commands. His Will is executed by His Word, Jesus Christ, and the wind from God covering the face of the deep is the Holy Spirit. Thus the first act of creation reveals Trinitarian Truth.
Behold, the Man Has Become Like One of Us
Another revelation of the Trinitarian reality occurs directly after the disobedience of Adam and Eve. In Genesis 3:22, after having pronounced the punishments for Adam, Eve, and the serpent, the Lord says “Behold, the man has become like one of us” (emphasis added). This passage is a clear insight into the Trinitarian reality, in the sense that God speaks in a plural form.
Clear as this may be, non-trinitarian theologians, especially Jewish rabbis and Muslim scholars, are of the opinion that in this passage God is either speaking to the angels or that He speaks about Himself in the third person, as kings and emperors do. Both of these hypotheses are erroneous.
The conclusion that God was speaking to the angels is flawed for two reasons. First, the presence of angels is never mentioned in the text, and second, God and the angels do not have the same knowledge of good and evil, because the former is the Creator and the latter are the created.
The second conclusion is also wrong, because every time the Lord Jesus refers to Himself throughout Scripture, He does so in singular. God is not inconsistent, and if He referred to Himself in the fashion of majesty once, He would do it always. Instead, God speaks in plural in Genesis and in singular elsewhere, in order to show that He is One and Three.
The Three Visitors
In Genesis 18, the Sacred Texts speak about a time when three mysterious men standing near a tree appear in front of Abraham’s tent. The passage offers no description of them, but they must have been of an extraordinary appearance, because Abraham bows down on the ground and calls them “My Lord.”
Evidently, Abraham’s reaction is one of adoration and worship. Nevertheless, Jewish rabbis argue that the three men are the three Archangels, and that Abraham was addressing God in gratitude for the visit of the celestial beings. Additionally, they argue that because two of the angels go into the cursed city about to be destroyed while the Lord stays with Abraham, then the visitors must be angels, because God cannot separate from Himself.
This hypothesis cannot be, for two simple reasons:
First, anyone who is remotely acquainted with angelic nature will know that it would be inconceivable for an angel to hear the name of the Lord and not offer a word of adoration. Furthermore, an angel will never allow anyone to call him Lord or to adore him, as we see in Revelation 19:10.
Secondly, the fact that the two entities appear to separate in the spectrum of space and time does not mean that they are separated in nature and essence, because in God both His nature and essence transcend space and time, as happened at the Incarnation, or on Pentecost. In both of these instances, the Second and Third Persons of the Trinity ministered in the world while their essence was in Heaven, because their essence is Heaven itself.
Daniel and the Empty Thrones
During his captivity in Babylon, the prophet Daniel had a vision that boldly illustrates the Holy Trinity, as well as the sacred mission of the Second Person of the Trine Perfection. In Daniel 7:13, the prophet Daniel speaks of a vision where God, sitting on His throne, is approached in a cloud by “Someone like the Son of Man” to whom He gives eternal kingship over all nations. In the same vision, Daniel sees thrones other than that of the “Ancient of Days,” one of which belongs to the One who is given authority over all creation.
In Daniel’s vision, God the Father is seen sitting on His throne, the Son in the image of the “Son of Man,” and the medium through which the prophet sees is the Holy Spirit. Additionally, as previously mentioned, the Holy Text speaks of more thrones other than that of God the Father, and thrones are just for the ruling, which means that the “Ancient of Days” rules in company. Who could rule with God, but God Himself?
Further, when Our Lord is in front of the High Priest on the day of His passion, He quotes this precise passage from the Book of Daniel, linking it to Himself.
A Journey Into the World
Over the last five articles, we have journeyed across time and explored the way the Holy Trinity has revealed Himself to mankind since the ancient days, so that no man can ever claim that God has been silent. No, God has spoken directly to His people Israel and indirectly to all nations, especially to those who were in search of the good, the true, and the beautiful, like Ancient Greece and Rome. This act of love was done in order to prepare the world for the coming of Christ and the foundation of His Church.
Editor’s Note: This is the final article of a CE original series on the Beauty of the Holy Trinity. Click here for more.
Photo by Fabian Kleiser on Unsplash
