The Triune Council
Let’s use our imagination for just a moment. In the council of heaven millennia ago, Father, Son and Holy Spirit made a plan. The Father spoke, “Alright, it is agreed that we will create man in our own image and give him a free will. But man will have awesome potential for good and evil.” God the Son said, “He will have the ability to fellowship with us and with each other and to love freely.” The Spirit said, “Shall man be a spirit or a body? Can an eternal spirit be contained in a physical body?” The Father said, “Yes. And we will create angels as ministering spirits to the man.”
God the Spirit had a nagging feeling as he pondered this. Then he said, “Knowing that he will have a free will, we must give the man guidelines. When he becomes a society, one man’s freedom will be limited by the consequences of his behavior on others. If he does not limit his freedom by responsibility, I see awful consequences. The Father said, “Yes, you are right because man’s conscience is not absolute. It can be swayed by repeated impressions, whether they are true or false. It can be dulled by disobedience.
God the Son said, “Suppose man becomes selfish and decides to take what is not his. What will limit him?” The Father responded, “We will give him guidelines to not steal or covet.” God the Spirit said, “Father, you will give man an awesome physical body and a powerful sex drive. I know this is intended to bring oneness and pleasure between a man and a woman and to produce godly offspring, but what will keep them from taking any man or woman that they see and destroying their intimacy, not to mention their family? Who will care for vulnerable mothers and children? The Father said, “We will command them not to take other mates and to cherish their own.
The Son said, “Father, I see you are giving man emotions of love and anger. Why anger? Can he control it?” The Father answered, “They must have anger to defend the right. But he will have a choice to use it wrongly, only to gain what he wants. He must control anger and leave vengeance to us.”
The Spirit said, “How will this emotion of love be used as the powerful source for good that we intend for it to be?” The Father answered, “Since we are the source of love, man must have no other gods before us.”
The Son said, “Father, what if the enemy does deceive them and truth is trampled in the streets?” The Father answered, “Son, if that happens, then one of us will have to go into their world and turn them back to the truth by demonstrating our love. One of us must show them the way, the truth, and the life.” The Spirit said, “Yes, there will be a rebellion that will shake the heavens.” “Yes,” the Father said, “but the noble souls who overcome evil will be my chosen ones in whom I delight. They will be glorious!”
The Son thought carefully before he commented. “Father, when that time comes, I will go.” “But Son, they won’t receive you.” “I know, Father, but in my sacrifice they will see your love and find their way back to us. Satan will bruise my heel, but I will crush his head!”
God the Spirit was grieved at this thought, seeing a cross and a tomb. But he realized that this would be the way He could once again indwell the man and restore true communion between Creator and Creature. He saw that man would be born again and pass from death to eternal life by believing on the Son. He the Spirit could then lead men and women to do God’s will above their own.
The Father said, “Alright, let us make man in our own image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, and all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Father, thank you that you created us with a free will to choose to love you. Thank you that Jesus came to show us the way back to you. Thank you that he is the way the truth and the life. Thank you that he sacrificed himself for us. But thank you that death could not hold him. He was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world, but he rose again to be the victorious king. We rejoice in you during this season of Resurrection. Lord, we gave you scars, but you gave us freedom. Praise you for the cross. Praise you for the empty tomb. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.