Prof Zebulon No E16

B) The Trinity (Inter-Trinitarian Promises)

It is difficult for anyone to imagine what goes on in the Trinity. Even the best Biblical scholars cannot fully understand it. The Bible, however, gives us some indication. Someone asked me this question the other day in Sunday School class: "What did the Trinity do before the world was created?" The verses of scripture that immediately came to my mind were: Titus 1 : 1, 2 : "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began". God made a promise before the world began?! To whom did He make this promise? We weren't there; the angels? Maybe; but they don't need eternal life, they already have it. God had to have made this promise to Jesus Christ. So what actually does this promise involve? God the Father promised God the Son that He would give Him a redeemed humanity who would love, obey and serve Him for eternity. God even knew beforehand who this redeemed humanity would be because He wrote their names in the Lamb's book of life. What a promise!! Was it fulfilled? I believe so; and, as a matter of fact, it is still being fulfilled today.

Furthermore, Jesus Christ will, one day, return this promise to His Father when the elect, who were saved throughout all the centuries, will be presented to God the Father by God the Son. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 15:28 "And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all". The love gift that God gave to His Son will be reciprocated by the Son to the Father. These promises are sacred and cannot be taken lightly. Why? Because they become our reason to fulfill the mandate that is described in Matt 28:20 where the Bible says we must evangelize the world. Pretty important stuff, don't you agree?? We have a loving heavenly Father who cares for us and wants us to participate in these inter-Trinitarian promises.

G) Evangelism (Can all Christians evangelize?)

When we were saved, a whole bunch of things happened to us. We received inner peace, our sins were forgiven, the Holy Spirit inwelt us, we became children of God by adoption, our salvation was secured, etc., etc., etc. How many more reasons do we need to tell all our friends and enemies about the Lord Jesus Christ and what He can do for whosoever seeks Him in an honest way?

All this to say that anyone who is born-again can do evangelism, if only just to give a personal testimony of how you were saved. One does not need to know the doctrine of sublapsarianism or be able to get up in front of an audience and preach eloquent sermons; just talk to anyone about Jesus. You will see that the more you talk about Him the braver you get. Let's define brave. I'm not saying to evangelize your boss during business hours and be a pain. He is paying you to work, not to evangelize. I'm saying that bravery in evangelism has more to do with assurance and conviction.

If you are convinced about Jesus, the people around you will notice this and will, of course, scrutinize you very carefully. This is where Christian Living comes into play and we will discuss this in other studies. In closing, let's look at a verse in Ac 4:31 - "And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness”. Don't ever forget that the Spirit which was given to the Apostles on the day of Pentecost is the same Spirit that we have today.