Mount Zion Ministries
Bringing the Power of Resurrection Life to the Nation by Grace alone – through Faith alone – in Christ alone
Mount Zion Ministries
Discipleship Training Program
Lesson 2 – The Eternal Godhead
Extracts from the Authorised Version of the Bible (The King James Bible) The rights in which are vested in the Crown Are reproduced with the permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.
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Mount Zion Ministries
Bringing the Power of Resurrection Life to the Nation by Grace alone – through Faith alone – in Christ alone
Lesson 2 – The Eternal Godhead
We believe in the Eternal Godhead who has revealed Himself as one God existing in Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, distinguishable but indivisible.
Proof texts
Matthew 3:16-17 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven , saying, This is my beloved Son , in whom I am well pleased.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father , and of the Son , and of the Holy Ghost .
Mark 1:10-11 And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him: And there came a voice from heaven , [saying], Thou art my beloved Son , in whom I am well pleased.
Luke 3:22 And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him (Jesus), and a voice came from heaven , which said, Thou art my beloved Son ; in thee I am well pleased.
2 Corinthians 13:14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ , and the love of God , and the communion of the Holy Ghost , [be] with you all. Amen.
Matthew 3:16-17 And Jesus, when he was baptised, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. In this passage, the man Jesus was baptised by John the Baptist. As the Scripture tells us and as is attested in Mark 1:10-11 and Luke 3:22, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus in the form of a dove and at the same time the voice from heaven declares that Jesus is “My beloved Son”.
The Voice of God, or the Lord This passage also shows us the Trinity in action. The voice of God – the same voice that spoke to Moses upon the mount Sinai:
Exodus 19:3-8 And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel. And Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him . And
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Mount Zion Ministries
Bringing the Power of Resurrection Life to the Nation by Grace alone – through Faith alone – in Christ alone
all the people answered together, and said, All that the LORD hath spoken we will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD. The voice from the heavens was also the same voice that spoke to:
ELIJAH
1 Kings 17:2 And the word of the LORD came unto him, saying …
JONAH
Jonah 1:1 Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying …
DEBORAH
Judges 4:6 And she sent and called Barak the son of Abinoam out of Kedeshnaphtali, and said unto him, Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded , saying, Go and draw toward mount Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun?
MALACHI
Malachi 1:1 The burden of the word of the LORD to Israel by Malachi. As a final, but by no means last, example the first chapter of Genesis has many examples of the phrase – ‘and God said’. Out of 31 verses, there are ten separate occurrences of that phrase.
Genesis 1:3 And God said , Let there be light: and there was light.
Genesis 1:29 And God said , Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. So, this is the Voice that spoke over the River Jordan, the day that Jesus was baptised. That Voice had been speaking for over two millennia and still speaks today. It is the Voice of Father God, the First Person of the Trinity. The object of that Voice’s exaltation was Jesus and He is designated as My beloved Son.
Jesus Jesus is the Son of God and the Second Person of the Trinity. Jesus, in His great High-priestly prayer…
John 17:1 … lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father , the hour is come; glorify Thy Son , that Thy Son also may glorify Thee. Jesus knew who He was, and who the Father was. Not only did Jesus know who He was, Peter also acknowledged Him
Matthew 16:16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God .
John 6:69 And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God . In the Gospel of John, we read…
John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father ,) full of grace and truth.
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Mount Zion Ministries
Bringing the Power of Resurrection Life to the Nation by Grace alone – through Faith alone – in Christ alone
So, Jesus is the only begotten of the Father, the Son of God attested by God as His Son and by a human as the Christ, the Son of the living God. He is the Second Person of the Trinity.
The Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost is the Third Person of the Trinity.
Matthew 3:16 And Jesus, when he was baptised, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: Jesus acknowledged that His anointing and power came from the Holy Spirit:
Matthew 12:28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God , then the kingdom of God is come unto you.
Matthew 12:31-32 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost , it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. This is a very severe warning given to mankind by the Son of God which reveals the awesome standing of the Holy Ghost within the Godhead. A commentator has written: The blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men: by which is meant: not every ignorant denial of, and opposition to, His deity and personality; nor all resistance of Him in the external ministry of the word; nor every sin that is knowingly and wilfully committed; but it is a spiteful usage of the Spirit of grace, an opposing, contradicting, and denying the operations wrought, or doctrines revealed by Him, against a man’s own light and conscience, out of wilful and obstinate malice, on purpose to lessen the glory of God, and gratify his own lusts: such was the sin of the Scribes and Pharisees; who, though they knew the miracles of Christ were wrought by the Spirit of God, yet maliciously and obstinately imputed them to the devil, with a view to obscure the glory of Christ, and indulge their own wicked passions and resentments against Him; which sin was unpardonable at that present time, as well as under that dispensation then to come, when the Spirit of God was poured down in a more plenteous manner. [John Gill on Matthew 12:31] Further Scripture references to show that the Holy Ghost is an integral part of the Godhead and the powerhouse of God.
Matthew 3:11 I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he (Jesus) shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost , and with fire.
Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost . (The Trinity in action).
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Mount Zion Ministries
Bringing the Power of Resurrection Life to the Nation by Grace alone – through Faith alone – in Christ alone
Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (The Holy Ghost is the power of the Highest).
Luke 4:1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. (Even Jesus, the Son of God was filled with the Holy Ghost).
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost , whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (The Trinity in action).
Acts 1:8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. (The Holy Ghost empowers). Furthermore, the personality of the Holy Ghost can be seen from the following Scriptures:
Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God , whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Thus, the Holy Spirit can be grieved – however, a power or a force cannot be grieved.
Isaiah 63:10 But they rebelled, and vexed His Holy Spirit : therefore, He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them. This portion of Scripture shows that the Spirit of God is separate from God, as the verse talks about His Holy Spirit and not Him; also, only a Person can be vexed not a force or power.
Romans 15:30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit , that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me. So far, we have studied the three Persons and part of their roles. But the statement of faith says that we believe in the Eternal Godhead. Eternal means without beginning or end. We will live for all eternity with God, but we are not eternal. We are created. The Angels are not eternal; they too are created by God. But God transcends time; He is eternal. He had no beginning and will have no end.
Genesis 1:1 In the beginning – God In the beginning – God was already there ready to start the work of creation.
Genesis 2:1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
Luke 2:13-16 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men”. And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, “Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us”. God is the Creator God and is eternal. If He were not eternal, He would have had to be created and therefore, subordinate to a higher power. But He is the Highest Power – He is the Lord God Almighty. Scripture itself attests to this fact
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Mount Zion Ministries
Bringing the Power of Resurrection Life to the Nation by Grace alone – through Faith alone – in Christ alone
Deuteronomy 33:27 The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting (H5769) arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them. Everlasting is the same word as used in Isaiah 60:15 for eternal (H5769)
Isaiah 60:15 Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal (H5769) excellency, a joy of many generations.
So, God is eternal, and He has revealed Himself as ONE GOD . One of the best-known passages from Deuteronomy and one that the Lord Jesus Himself quotes is:
Deuteronomy 6:4-5 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Mark 12:28-30 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments [is], Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord : And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment. Jesus Himself strengthens (as if that were necessary) the portion of Scripture from Deuteronomy and agrees with it. Paul also writing at a later date confirms this in his letter to Timothy:
1 Timothy 2:5 For [there is] one God , and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
In Summary The second article of faith can be proved by Scripture, so that we can believe in the Eternal Godhead who has revealed Himself as one God existing in Three Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, distinguishable but indivisible.
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