All right, well, we are in session two now in your collection of handouts, relationships and roles of the father and the son. As you can as you can tell, what we're going to do here is talk about in these next sessions together the specific ways that father, son and spirit are talked about in scripture and in particular, their relations to one another. Because there is one God, but the study of the Trinity has to focus upon the specificity of Father, Son, and Spirit. Otherwise, you're just talking about the attributes of God. I mean, all of the attributes of God are the attributes of the Father and of the Son and of the Spirit. So the specificity of them has to be the ways in which they relate together and the roles that they carry out. So we're looking in this session particularly at the relationships and roles of Father and Son. It begins with a review we noticed from the earlier session that there are these two clear themes that have to be held together to undergird the doctrine of the Trinity. I think of them as pillars that uphold this block doctrine of the Trinity, two pillars that have to be in place, both of which have to be there or you don't have Trinity. One of them is distinction. So you have to have father, son and spirit or distinct. If you don't have that, if father, son and spirit are not distinct, they're just three names for the same person. Then you don't have Trinitarian monotheism. You have Unitarian monotheism. You hear it right. So Unitarian monotheism is Judaism. It's Islam, but it's not Christianity. What distinguishes Christianity is its belief that the one God is three. So Father, Son and Spirit have to be distinct. But the other pillar is the equality pillar and the equality that exists among the Trinitarian persons is the strongest kind of equality that there is. I didn't say this in the earlier session. I'll say it right now. It's the strongest kind of equality that there is. Do you know there are different kinds of equality? Well, there are. So, for example, you and I are equal because we are the same kind of thing. We are humans, right? So you're a human and I'm a human because we're the same kind of thing. We're equal. Well, that's a particular type of equality that two things might have. Two cats are equal because they're both feline. Two dogs because they're both canine. We're equal because we're both human. OK, that's a kind of equality. And there's a sense in which that equality is true of the Trinitarian persons. What kind of being is the Father? Divine. What kind of being is the Son? Divine. OK, so they do have that. But there's a kind of equality that's even greater with Father, Son, and Spirit. Here's another kind of equality. an equality of proportionality. I could draw on the board here three circles of different sizes. Right. And well, they're also the same kind. They're all circles, but they're different sizes. And oh, no, I'm using the wrong illustration here. So scrap that equality of proportionality. Imagine a pie divided into three equal pieces. So each is equal to the other because each is one third of the pie. Right. So there's a sense in which father and son and spirit are equal in proportion as well. What what degree of divinity does the father have. Thirty three percent. Right. One third. Right. No. 100%. What percent of deity does the Son have? 100%. What percent of deity does the Spirit have? 100%. So they have that too. But the kind of equality that the Father, Son, and Spirit have is the greatest kind, which is an equality of identity. An equality of identity that the Father possesses not merely the same kind of nature as the Son, not merely the same proportion of divinity as the Son, The Father possesses the identically same nature as the Son, and the Son possesses the identically same nature as the Spirit. One nature of God, hence one God. And that one nature of God is the full possession of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. OK, so so here we have these two pillars that have to be in place to understand the Trinity distinction. Father and Son and Spirit are distinct from each other. But equality, Father and Son and Spirit are equally God with the strongest kind of equality that there is, namely an equality of identity. And we saw that in John one one. I won't repeat that. And there's the definition of the Trinity again. I won't repeat that again. Let me read now Paragraph C under the introduction. The Christian faith affirms that there is one and only one God eternally existing while fully and simultaneously expressed in three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each member of the Godhead is equally God, each is eternally God, and each is fully God. Not three gods, but three persons of the one Godhead. Each person is equal in essence as each possesses eternally, simultaneously and fully the identically same and undivided divine nature. Yet each is also an eternal and distinct personal expression of that one undivided divine nature. Because of this, now follow me carefully here, because of this, what distinguishes each person of the Godhead from each other person is not and cannot be the divine nature. You see that you can't distinguish father and son and spirit on the basis of nature. Why? Because the identically same one and undivided divine nature is the full and eternal possession of the father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit. So at the level of nature, they're completely the same. So what distinguishes them? OK. Picking up again, so what distinguish each person of the Godhead from each other person are the relationships that each has with each of the other persons and his particular roles in relation to the others. So those two words, relationships and roles, seem to me to be the main biblical categories that explain what distinguishes the father from the son from the spirit. I mean, think relationship. First of all, father is father. Well, what does that mean if you don't have a child? Right. In this case, a son. So the father is who he is. in significant part because he is the father of the son, the son is who he is because he is the son of the father. So that relationship defines who they are in their personal distinctiveness, who they are in nature is identical, who they are in personal distinctiveness is seen by the names father and son. Now, spirit is harder to see because it doesn't have that relational name that the father and son have. But here's the second point you see, that relationship gives rise then to role. So father functions, acts, carries out the role of father. Makes sense, huh? He acts in a fatherly way, where the son acts in a sonly way, a filial way, right? So you have what they do reflects who they are in relationship to one another. What they do reflects the eternal relationship that each has as father, son and spirit. And actually, the way to get at the relationship, I think, of the spirit is through the back door of role. You look at the role of the spirit as always supporting the son and always who always seeks to carry out the will of the father. And you realize that his relationship is one that is third in the Trinity, as he's often called that the third member of the Trinity. in service, as it were, to father and son, just as the son is in service to the father and the like. So relationships and roles then are the key terms, I think biblically, that help us understand what distinguishes father, son and spirit. So in light of both the equality of essence, yet differentiation of relationship and roles that exist among the persons of the Godhead, we now consider just how these relationships and roles are expressed within the Trinity of persons. OK, so here's here's where we go from here, looking at relationships and roles and starting now with the father. Roman numeral to the father's unique role within the Trinity. It seems very clear when you look at the biblical data that the father has a position that is above son and spirit. Now, notice I said position, not nature. Right. So don't think that I'm talking about a subordination of the son in nature to the father. Absolutely not. But in role, he is In the highest position, he is in the in the supreme position of authority among the persons of the Godhead. Here are some examples from Scripture. Psalm two, verses seven to nine. I will surely tell you the decree of the Lord. Now, again, you've got to learn to read your Bible if you're going to get these things with Trinitarian lenses on. That is, you have to ask the question when you come across divine names or divine pronouns, is that referring to God generically, the one God, or is that referring to one or another member of the Trinity? You just have to do this. And sometimes it's not easy. Now, here, it's kind of easy because as you keep reading, you realize who this Lord is. You tell me. Let's keep reading. I will surely tell you the decree of the Lord. He he the Lord said to me. Now, who would these be? The he and the me will keep reading. You are my son. Ah, now go back. How does that help you? So who is the Lord? I will tell you the decree of the Lord. Who is that? It's got to be the father, right, because he has a son. OK, so so now we realize, oh, this is the father. The father is the one who decrees this. He, the father, said to me, the son, you are my son. Today, I have begotten you. Ask of me, father, and I, father, will surely give you the son, the nations as your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as your possession. You will break them with a rod of iron and you will shatter them like earthenware. So, by the way, this psalm is a description of the role that the Son has in his resurrection and ascension, in his exaltation over all things. He is given the nations. and to rule over them. And here, in this particular psalm, it's not a rulership of saving the nations. He does that too. That's what he's doing right now. But at the end of history, he will have a rulership over the nations to bring judgment on the nations. This is fulfilled in Revelation 19, when Jesus comes again in his second coming and executes the wrath of God on the nations of the world. There is no mercy. There is no gospel of grace any longer. It's over when the son comes in his second coming. This is what this text is about. And who is it that gives the son this authority to execute judgment? The father does that. You see it. Ask of me, I will give you the nations as your inheritance, the ends of the earth as your possession. So indeed, the father has this primacy over the son, this primary position. Not in nature. He doesn't have a nature that's superior to the sun. He has a nature that's identical to the sun, but he has a position, a role, a relationship as father to son that is superior to the sun, supreme in position and authority. Or Matthew six, nine and ten, another passage, pray this way, our father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done. on earth as it is in heaven. Now, this is fascinating because this is from the lips of Jesus who proclaimed he was bringing in the kingdom. Right. The kingdom of heaven is upon you is at hand. So is it the kingdom of Christ that he's bringing or is it the kingdom of the father? Which is it? I think the answer is the kingdom of the son is the kingdom of the father. How does the father rule? Through his son, how does the father create through his son? How does the father redeem through his son? You see it. So this is all ultimately of the father. He is the one who designs it, plans it, purposes it, puts it in place and executes what he does through the work of his son. So, again, it is ultimately the kingdom of the father. that he grants the son to be the one to administrate. First Corinthians 1528, we'll come back to this text at another point. In fact, many of these we will look at more than once. When all things are subjected to him, that is the son, I mean, I'm not giving you enough context here to be fair, right? If we had more context, you could tell that when all things are subjected to him, the son, then the son himself also will be subjected to the one who subjected all things to him. So who's the one who subjected all things to the son, the father, that God understood as shorthand for God, the father may be all in all. So here the father has this highest position that the son acknowledges when Everything is put into subjection to the Son. Isn't that a remarkable thing? That at that moment when everything is now the Son's, it's all under his feet. He is king. He is over all. And at that very moment when everything acknowledges the supremacy of the Son, what does the Son do? Puts himself in subjection to the Father. that it might be showed that the father is all in all. So, again, indicating the son is the first to acknowledge the ultimate supremacy of the father in the Trinitarian order. Ephesians 1 3. Blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ. who, Father, has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And then he begins to enumerate what those blessings are, beginning in verse 4, just as he chose us in Christ. In love he predestined us to adoption and so on. So Paul goes through, I count seven different blessings that he enumerates in verses 4 to 14. that the Father brings to us in the Son. But here is the point. Every one of them is from the Father ultimately. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. So every blessing we have in this life and in the life to come is a blessing designed for us by the Father. And brought into reality through the work of the Son, because all of them are accomplished in Christ. Blessings that come in Christ. So again, the Father has this highest place overall. Here's another passage, Philippians 2, just a remarkable statement of this. It's very much like 1 Corinthians 15, 28, similar kind of emphasis. Just before verse nine, you remember the passage speaks of Christ who was obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. So he has given himself to die for us. Therefore, for this reason, God highly exalted him. Who do you suppose God is there? It has to be the father because he's exalting his son. God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the son, the name that is above every name. Now, just stop right there. A name is bestowed upon him by another. What does that mean? Well, it means the one who bestows the name has a higher position. than the one upon whom the name is bestowed. Right. So the father bestows on him the name that is above every day. By the way, I don't think this name is the name Jesus that we're going to see in just a moment here. I think it's a different name because this is a new name. This is one that's bestowed on him now at this point. But he received the name Jesus in his incarnation. You shall name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. That was already been around a while. But this is, I think, my hunch is, I can't prove this, my hunch is that it's the same name that is mentioned in Revelation 19. When the sun comes again, it says he has a name written on him that no one knows. Have you ever noticed that in Revelation 19? He has a name written on him that no one knows. I think it's probably this name. This name is bestowed upon him. by the father, indicating the father's highest place, the primacy of the father, so that I'm continuing on now in Philippians two, so that at the name of Jesus, notice is not the father at the name of Jesus. Every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. But notice, there's not a period there. to the glory of God the Father. You see it. So indeed, there is a primacy that that that is owing to the father and ultimacy of glory that redounds to the father. But I mean, more on this later. The direct object of worship is the son, not the father. By the father's design, the father designs that his son be put in center stage position. The spotlight be put on his son. He wants the primary worship of the church to be the worship of the son. But as the son is worshiped, because everything the son did was to fulfill the will of the father right down to the end, not my will, but yours be done right, because everything that the son did was the will of the father. Therefore, when you honor the son for what he did, It necessarily rebounds to the glory of the father who sent the son, whose work was accomplished by the son, whose will was fulfilled by the son and so on. So indeed, the father has this primary position over the son and obviously over the spirit as well. Capital to be top of the next page, the father then is Grant architect and wise designer of everything in creation, redemption, and consummation. He's the grand architect and wise designer of everything that takes place in creation, redemption, and consummation. That is, in the whole of the universe, everything that is done is the ultimate design and will and purpose and intention of the Father. Well, here's one passage that makes this clear. Think pronouns here. OK, I'm going to put you to work. You've got to think pronouns. The previous verse actually begins the sentence here in all wisdom and insight. He made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his kind intention, which he purposed in him. Stop, have you figured it out? OK, so it has to be because of the in him, who's the in him? Jesus, right, Christ. So then the previous pronouns have to be pronouns that refer to the father. So let me read it again and look at the verbs that are used. Look at what is said of the father in the work that he does in all wisdom and insight. He, the father, made known to us the mystery of his the father's will, according to his the father's kind intention, which he, the father, purposed In him, the son, you see it. So there is a purposing and intending a willing that is attributed specifically to the father. So, I mean, goodness, we talk about divine providence and divine decree and so on, which is true. Yeah, I'm you know, there's an appropriate place to use language like that. However, in a passage like this, that's simply, though true, is not precise enough. True enough, but not precise enough to indicate what is being communicated here. There is a particular role the father has as designer. And what is it he's designing? Keep reading in this passage, verse 10, with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is the summing up of all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth, heaven and earth. Whenever you see heaven and earth, what verse ought to come to your mind? Genesis 1.1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. So heaven and earth is always, whenever you see it, is always a reference to everything created. All created reality. Heaven and earth, all created reality. So what has the Father designed? for all things to sum up in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. It's really what we saw in 1 Corinthians 15, a moment ago, where everything is put in subjection to the sun. All is under the sun and the sun reigns over all things. And this was by the design of the father. And then moving on into verse 11. In him, in Christ also, we have obtained an inheritance Having been predestined according to his the father's purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his the father's will. So here we have it again that the father is the one who wills, counsels, designs, purposes, plans, intends, and so on. I mean, it's just a passage that is rich in indicating that the ultimate purpose the father has in all things that is his alone. He is the one who has done this. OK, so he is the grand architect, the wise designer of creation, redemption and consummation. He also is the giver of every good and perfect gift. We see that in James 117. Every good thing given, every perfect gift is from above coming down from the father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. That must have been from another translation in my head or shifting shadow. In Romans 8, 31 and 32, what shall we say to these things? If God is for us, again, you have to think Trinitarianly. Put on Trinitarian glasses. You always ask, is that God generically or is that one or another Trinitarian person? Well, keep reading and you'll see it has to be the Father. If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare his own son. So it has to be Father, right? So God who is for us is God the Father. He who did not spare his son but delivered him up for us all, how will he, the father, not also with him the son freely give us all things? Oh, what a glorious promise that is. How precious. He will not withhold any good thing from us. Right. How do we know that? Look, he gave the son. I remember straining at times in teaching to come up with illustrations of things. And I know on this first one time, this is many, many years ago. I thought it's sort of like if you had a rich uncle and he spared no expense to build you the home of your dreams, every detail, just as you would hope this home to be with exquisite material. And you go in to sit down for your first meal and you notice there's not a salt and pepper shaker there. Do you think this uncle who spared nothing to provide this home for you is going to begrudge you a salt and pepper shaker? Really? Yeah, he who did not spare his own son. This is the father, so he's the one who gives us everything. And really, I mean, I could put another verse here that we've already looked at in this category. Ephesians 1 3. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. So indeed, he is the one who is the one who's given us all things. Yet, capital letter D, the Father often provides and works through the Son of the Spirit. In other words, the Father does not carry out his work unilaterally in most cases. In most cases, he works through the agency of Son and agency of the Spirit. If you wonder about agency of the Spirit, yes, indeed. Who sends the Spirit into the world? I heard son. That's correct, but it's not the full answer. Who sends the son and the spirit into the world? The father through the son is the answer. So, for example, I mean, Jesus will say in Acts one, wait in Jerusalem for what the father promised. You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you'll be my witnesses and so on. But the spirit who comes, listen to the way Peter puts it in his sermon in Acts 2.33. This is in the Sermon on the Day of Pentecost. Acts 2.33, Peter says, Jesus, having ascended to the right hand of the Father, listen, having received from the Father the gift of the Holy Spirit. He, the Son, has poured forth that which you both see and hear. So do you hear it? So from the father through the son. So, indeed, there is an ultimacy that is given to the father to do his work, but he does his work through the son, through the spirit as agents of his work. And really, as all of Ephesians 3, 1, 3 to 14, make this clear, and that's the passage I'm preaching on on Sunday, so I will preach it right now to you. Right. We'll wait. We'll wait for that for Sunday morning. OK, so the father has this highest position of supremacy and authority in the among the members of the Godhead. So now Roman numeral three, the father in relation to the son in particular. And it's very clear that the son is under the headship, the authority of the father, just the names father, son indicate that. Now, let me clarify one thing for you. Some people have thought. that after God created the world, after he created man and woman, and after the man and the woman had children, so after there was a human father and a human son, say, Adam and Cain, or Adam and Abel, or Adam and Seth, so after there was a human father and son, then God thought to himself, huh, boy, that would be a good illustrative analogy to use for who I am in relation to this second person in the Trinity. So I'll call myself father and him son based upon what you are. You know what the problem with that is, is that the names father and son predate creation. We know this from texts that speak of the father's design as father to elect, the father's design as father to appoint his son before creation to be the one in creation to come. First Peter 120, for example, he appoints the son. So indeed, the primary father son relationship is in the Trinity reflected in finite created form among us. You see the difference. So this is this is the eternal father who is the eternal father of the eternal son. And as eternal father and eternal son, guess what? He's son of the father. He does the will of the father. He is under the headship of the father. He always is son of the father. And the father has this authority over him. Well, that sonship, headship relationship. is evidence in a couple passages of scripture, generally speaking, and then I'll look at some areas of that specifically. But look at first Corinthians eleven three. I want you to understand that Christ is the head authority over every man and the man is the head of a woman that is of his own wife. So there's headship, their authority over wives submit to your husbands and God. Obviously understood as God, the father here is head of Christ. So there is a relationship of headship of God, the father over God, the son. That is the basis for the relationship of the headship of a man over the woman and Christ over the man. So, indeed, the fundamental relationship is one of headship of the father over the son. Or look at Hebrews one versus one and two. You'll have to follow me carefully here. This is a tiny bit tricky, but you'll get it. So just track with me. Let me read the verse first. God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets in many portions and in many ways in these last days, he has spoken to us in his son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also made the world. What you have in these opening verses is the expression of headship of the Father over the Son in three episodes of the Father-Son relationship. Those three episodes are in eternity past, it's the headship of the Father over the Son. In the incarnation, headship of the Father over the Son. And in eternity future, headship of the Father over the Son. All three are mentioned in these opening verses. Do you see them? OK, look at it again with me, God, after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions, in many ways in these last days now that he is not stated there, but but it's implied, right? He has spoken to us in his son. So who's the speaker? The he who speaks? It's the father and he he speaks in his son. So I take it this I take it, it means this, then that everything the son says. He says what the father wants him to say. Everything the son says, he says in obedience to the father, and isn't that exactly what Jesus declared? I do not speak on my own initiative. I speak as the father tells me. I mean, over and over again, you see language like this in John's gospel. We'll look at some of it here in just a moment. So indeed, God spoke to the prophets in many portions in many ways. But in these last days, he has spoken in his son. So he, the father, speaks through the son. So in the incarnation, it's the primacy of the father over the son in all that the son speaks. He speaks as the father wants him to speak. OK. That's that's in the incarnation. But then he goes on to say, whom the son, whom he, the father appointed heir of all things. This is eternity future. Don't you see it in it after his resurrection, after his ascension, he gives to the son the universe. He gives him all things. I mean, this is why I don't know. Have you ever struggled with the temptation of Christ? where Satan offers him the kingdoms of the world. And have you wondered what I've wondered? How is this a temptation? I mean, doesn't the son already have everything? He's eternal God. And here's the answer to this as God. Yes, he has everything. He is creator of all things and therefore he owns all things and it's all his. But this temptation comes to Jesus the second Adam, the son of David, the Messiah, who came to win the right to reign over all things. And I mean, you might put his mission this way. I came to buy the nations with my shed blood. So what does Satan offer him? Bow down at my feet. Worship me right now. And you can have the kingdoms of the world, no suffering, no cross, no agony, just bow and worship. They're there. They're yours now. This was a real temptation. It was everything he came for was being offered him by Satan. Notice Jesus reply to Satan is not. Satan, who do you think you are and don't you understand who I am? Huh, he did not challenge or contest the offer. What did he contest? The terms of the offer, right, the terms, you shall not. So what were the terms now down in worship at my feet and what is his response? You shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only. I will not accept the terms of the offer. The offer. I'll tell you what, it's tempting. This is what I came for. But I will do I will gain those nations the way my father has designed through the cross and not apart from it. OK, so here we have this this eternity future reality. He's heir of all things. He's appointed heir of all things as the one who went to the cross as the one who accomplished the work necessary to be given the nations. This inheritance is his because. But who gave it to him? The father did whom he appointed heir of all things. And then, here's the look backwards now at eternity past. Through whom also He made the world? Through whom, the Son, He, the Father, made the world. So how did creation take place? As the Father created through the Son. The Son was the agent of the Father. So Hebrews declares the father is the creator, but he did it through the agency of the son. So what you have in this one verse is all three episodes of the relationship of father and son in eternity past, in the incarnation and in eternity future. The relationship of father and son is one in which there is headship of the father and submission of the son. OK, now let's take a look at these three episodes. separately, and we start with the one that everybody agrees with, and that's the submission of the Son during His incarnation and earthly mission. That is, while He is here on earth accomplishing the work the Father sent Him to do, it's very clear, everybody agrees with this, that He is in submission to the Father. For example, John 8, 28 and 29, Jesus said, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am He, And I do nothing on my own initiative, but I speak these things as the Father taught me. And he who sent me is with me, he has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him." Okay, now think about those verses for a moment. Where he says, I do nothing on my own initiative. Hyperbole? Overstatement for the sake of effect? I do nothing on my own initiative? But rather, I do I do as the father taught me. No, this is not hyperbole. This is not overstatement. This is literal truth. You know what it means, my friends? I mean, you know, I hear people say, I want to be like Jesus. I just look at them and say. Do you have any idea? what you are saying when you say you want to be like Jesus, because here's Jesus. There was never a single day of his life when he woke up and said to himself, what do I feel like doing today? It didn't happen once. Instead, what did you wake up and think? What is the father's will for me today? Every day, without exception, every moment, every word, every deed, Every step of the way, doing as the father directs incredible obedience. Flawless obedience of the son to the father. So, indeed, this is not hyperbole. This is not overstatement. This is literal truth. I do nothing on my own initiative. I speak these things that the father taught me. He who sent me is with me. He's not left me alone. I always do the things that are pleasing to him. And then I comment here, this is typical of how Jesus spoke over and over in John 4, when the disciples asked Jesus why he was not interested in eating. Remember, he was with the Samaritan woman. They went away to get something to eat. When they came back, they offered him food. And he said, I have food to eat that you don't know of. And they didn't see a McDonald's around. You know, there's nothing nowhere to get food. So what do you mean you have food to eat that we don't know of? And he said, my food, here it is, my food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work. This is what I live for. This is what sustains me, what nourishes me. What gives me my deepest satisfaction and joy in life is to do the will of my father and to accomplish his work. I mean, so I think we can agree there's absolutely no question that the son in his incarnation submitted to the father. Now, what about here? Here's the question now in front of us. Is that relationship, father-son relationship, in which the father is head of the son and the son submits to the father, is that merely an incarnational reality when he takes on our human nature? And so he is the God-man. Is it merely an incarnational reality or does that incarnational reality picture or portray what is more fundamentally always true of the father-son relationship. Which is it? Is it an exception to the otherwise very different father-son relationship? Or is it a picture of the ever-present father-son relationship? Well, it looks pretty clear from Scripture that the answer is what you see in the Incarnation is what is. What always is. It always is this way because the father is always the father. The son is always the son and the son always does the will of the father and carries out the work of the father. So here's an example, some examples of this in terms of the son in eternity past 40 times in John's gospel. Jesus mentions the fact that the father has sent him think of that language. What does it mean for the father to send the son? I mean, really, can you can you imagine what that word means for the father to send the son without invoking at some level the notion of authority and submission? I mean, it isn't merely saying the son came. You could say that these statements just could say the son came from heaven. But most of them don't say that. Most of them say the father sent him from heaven. The father sent the son. Well, doesn't that imply a position of authority the father has to be the sender, the sending agent and the son assenting to what the father wants them to do? OK, well, we'll look more at this in just a minute. Now, some of these Statements of the father sending some of them might be understood as a sending that occurred during the incarnation itself, like being sent from Nazareth down to Jerusalem. But most of them refer to his being sent or coming forth from heaven. So, for example, John 3, 16 and 17, very familiar verses. God so loved the world that he, the father, gave his only son that whoever believes in him would not perish, but have everlasting life. Now look at this next verse, for God did not send his son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through him. So this is ascending into the world. That means the father is the one who is the one who decides to send his son. I mean, otherwise, what does it mean in John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave that he gave. If instead, it's just the son who says, you know, I think I'm going to go. You know, I think I've decided I'm going to do this. What do you think, Father? OK with me. I mean, that's not the point here, is it? It is rather, I mean, I don't have the verse here, but think of 1 John 4, 10. In this is love, not that we love God, but he loved us and gave his son to be the propitiation for our sin. You hear it there? That this is this is love, what love the father has for us, that he would send his son. There is no way that makes sense without invoking the notion of the authority of the father to send the son. You tell me how it makes sense without that. The reason I'm stressing this is because there are a lot of people out there who absolutely hate this view. I know it because I've heard from them. I could show you my email list and some of them are dear friends. Millard Erickson, for example, who was my first boss, hired me at Bethel Seminary and I love him. I respect him. But he and I differ on this very strongly and he has very negative, harsh words to say about this view. And he argues there is no sense of authority of the father over the son in eternity past, none whatsoever. And I just look at these texts and I say, how do you make sense of this? This is not that it does not indicate even a joint project, a father and son coming up with a plan together. We'll see that in a minute. It says specifically the father. This is why the father should be should be honored in this is love, not that we love God, but he loved us and gave his only son. Wow. So. I tell you, friends, what we have at stake right here, as we do with so many things, is will you be faithful to the Bible? Or will you go with your own intuitions? This is what's at stake. I mean, Miller's Miller Derrickson's intuitions are it can't be. There's no way because he doesn't like implications of it. Namely, I mean, we'll get there. Huh. If God is this way and he creates us in his image, guess what? There's authority and submission here that reflects him. And he knows where this is going and he doesn't like it. So I just look at these texts, my friends. OK, here's another one, John 638, John 638, for I have come down from heaven. Now, look carefully. Look at this. I have come down from heaven. Not to do my own will, but. To do the will of him who sent me. Now, it's that middle phrase in particular that is just shocking, shocking because, you know, he didn't have to give that middle phrase. He could have said this. Let me let me read the verse in another way that would have made the same basic point. He could have said, I have come down from heaven to do the will of him who sent me. True. Right. But he didn't say it just that way. He said it this way. I have come down from heaven. not to do my own will, but to do the will of Him who sent me. Well, I submit to you, my friends, there is no way to make sense of that unless you appeal to the ultimate will of the Father in sending the Son. That is not the ultimate will of the Son. Not that the Son ever begrudges the will of the Father or defies the will of the Father or does not embrace fully the will of the Father. But here's the point. It doesn't originate in the Son. It originates in the Father. Not to do my own will. but the will of him who sent me." Am I crazy? Or is that what this text says? Look at the next one, John 8, 42. I have proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on my own initiative. But he sent me again the middle phrase here. You don't need it. Jesus could merely have said, I proceeded and forth. I proceeded forth and have come from God who sent me. Fine. Fine. Even that would still you would still raise the question. I have proceeded forth and come from God who sent me. You would still raise the question. Well, if God sent him, then it implies some authority that the father has in sending the son. You would still get the basic point there. But it's as if Jesus goes overboard to make it clear. This is the father who did this. So he says. I have proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on my own initiative, but he sent me. Wow, these are just powerful statements that indicate that the son comes from heaven to do the will of his father. By the way, this is so different from I remember a sermon I heard many, many years ago. Or this is how the whole thing in heaven was described in this sermon, that the father was speaking to the other Trinitarian persons talking about the sin on the earth out there. And the father said, my wrath is kindled against them and I'm going to bring judgment upon the whole world. And the son, upon hearing that in his compassionate, loving heart, says, Father, I have an idea. How about if I go and become one of them? and take on their human nature. And then you could put their sin upon me. I could bear their sin and pay the penalty for their sin so your wrath would be directed at me and not to them. Would you do that, Father? And begrudgingly, the father says, OK, son, I'll do that. It is so demeaning! to the Father, who sent His Son, who loved the world to give His Son, not to recognize this is the greatest gift ever given, when the Father gives us His Son. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all. How will he not with us with him freely give us all things? This is the father's gift. What an incredible gift. How could anyone look at this gift and not bow with gratitude and humility and in a longing to live life to the glory of this one who has given so much? It's from the father, it's amazing. So, indeed, I did not come on my own initiative. Now, look at John 10, 36. Here's another amazing statement. John 10, 36, do you say of him whom the father sanctified and sent into the world, you are blaspheming because I said I am the son of God. What is the phrase in here you think I'm why this verse is included in this discussion? You say of him whom the father sanctified and sent into the world, You're blaspheming because I said I'm the son of God. Sanctified, what in the world is that? I mean, it cannot be what we normally think of sanctification to be, namely to make holy. I mean, the son is holy. So the root meaning of sanctification is to set apart. Right. So here it is stating that the father set the son apart. sanctified him and sent him, set him apart and sent him into the world. And of course, the point Jesus is making here is is. Therefore, I have complete legitimacy to call myself the son of God, because I am from the father sent by him to do this. OK, then other things I won't spend much time on this, but you look, for example, at statements in the New Testament and God creating John one three. I'm sorry, Jesus created John 1, 3, 1 Corinthians 8, 6, and so on, and all of them specify that the Son creates from the Father. So creation is by the Father through the Son. Ephesians 1, 9 to 11, we've already seen this already, that the Father is the one who ordains the Son to have highest place over all things, gives him judgment, John 5, and so on. So in eternity past, the son obeyed the father as the father's instrument of creation as and as sent from heaven to do the will of the father. The son submitted to the father then in eternity past. What about eternity future? Yes, indeed. And that is after the resurrection and the ascension of Christ, the submission of the son to the father continues. So this text in First Corinthians 15, again, we looked at a shorter part of it earlier. Let me read it to you, and I'll translate the pronouns here, right? For he, the son, must reign until he has put all of his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be abolished is death. For he, the father, has put all things in subjection under his, the son's, feet. But when he says all things are put in subjection, it is evident that he, the father, is accepted. He's the exception to the rule. He, the father, is accepted who put all things in subjection to him, the son. When all things are subjected to him, the son, then the son himself also will be subjected to the one, the father, who subjected all things to him, the son, that God, the father, may be all in all. So here is this day coming. When everything is put in subjection to the Son, remember Hebrews, we do not now see all things subjected to him. Remember that phrase in Hebrews 2? Read the paper. You'll realize real quickly all things are not in subjection to him. This world we live in is a case in point, right? But the day is coming when everything will be in subjection. In that day, the son himself will be in subjection to the father. Now, Revelation 1.1. I mean, it's amazing the little indicators that there are. So what is the book of Revelation? Well, some people, usually the answer given, what is the book of Revelation? Well, it's the revelation of Jesus Christ, which he gave to an angel, which the angel gave to John, which John gave to the seven churches, that comes to us. True enough, but not precise enough. Look at this opening verse, Revelation 1.1, the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his bondservants the things which must soon take place. He sent and communicated it by his angel to his bondservant, John. Did you see it? You see it? Which God gave him. Yeah, it is the revelation of Jesus Christ to the angel to John to the seven churches. Yes, yes, it is. But it's the revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him. So it's actually the revelation of the father through the son to the angel and so on. So now what one more point here, you might think that if the relationship between the father and the son is one of authority and submission in eternity past in the incarnation, in eternity future, you might think, well, then that means there can't be any real love in a relationship that has authority and submission. That's why many people in our culture think you've got to have an egalitarian relationship if there's going to be true love. Well, look at these two passages with me, John 1431. I do as the father commanded me. Does that sound like authority and submission to you? Few bet it is. I do as the father commanded me. so that the world may know that I love the Father." Get the point. Not only is it the case that an authority and submission relationship does not conflict with love, even stronger, an authority-submission relationship is the context within within which the love of the Son is shown to the Father. How do I show the world I love the Father? I obey Him. I keep His commandments. My obedience testifies how much I love the Father. Amazing. Now, turn it around. What about the love of the Father for the Son? John 15, 9 and 10. As the father has loved me, so I have loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love just as I have kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. So how does the son abide in, dwell in, experience the fullness of the father's love for him? Through obeying the father. Now, let me just help you kind of intuit this better. Imagine in a home, two sons, two boys. And this one boy loves his parents, has a very positive attitude about home life and understands that the rules that his parents have given him are for his good and are helpful. And his basic attitude toward his parents is one of compliance and willful and joyful obedience. The parents who love that boy can love him in a way that he can receive it because he obeys his parents and is with them in this relationship. Whereas the other son in the family has a rebel's heart. He just he does not like his parents, doesn't want, doesn't like the rules of the house, is just defiant against anything that they say, believes they're against him and not for him. The parents can endeavor to love him just as much as they do the other son. But guess what? He does not abide in the love of his parents because of a defiant heart. So here is Jesus who says, I experience the love the Father has for me. I abide in his love because I keep his commandments. By the way, the admonition here is to us, right? You abide in, let me, you will abide in my love if you keep my commandments. So indeed, it comes straight across to us as well. You want to experience the true joy of Jesus love for you. Obey him. Follow him. Keep his commandments and you enter into the experiential reality of abiding in his love. OK, so. Few points of application and we'll close. We have a whole session devoted to relevance later, but just a few points to think about. Marvel at the wisdom, the goodness, the care, the thoughtfulness with which the father exercises his authority. Using absolute authority always to bring about what is best. I mean, isn't it incredible to think of the authority of the father? He designs everything. And to know that that one who designs everything is absolutely wise, just, good, holy in all of his ways. What incredible strength it brings to us to know that. Secondly, marvel at the father's plan and purpose. to place his son, not himself, his son on center stage. He directs attention and honor to the son as the son seeks and all that he does to glorify the father in that relationship of a kind of deferring to the other, you know, from the father's vantage point. Look at my son from the father, from the son's vantage point to the glory of the father. You know, it's a beautiful thing to see. Third, marvel at perfect, loving, joyous obedience of the son. He never sinned and hence was always obedient in all that he did. His submission to the father was absolute and uncompromising. What an amazing life he lived and more more on that as we look at that tomorrow. Any questions for clarification before we close today? Yes, please. Yeah, well, it is it is it is fulfilled in Jesus, there's no doubt about it, that this child born, this son given is is Jesus. Now, I think your question particularly is in relation to everlasting father. I'm guessing. Right. Yeah. So I think it's an intentional play on words that he is what what child born son given. Is in his birth a father. No one except this one. So here is a child born, a son given, who at his birth as a son is a father. I think that's why he uses father is the irony, the ironic intended irony with son. So he's a son born who is a father. In what sense is he father? He's creator. He made everything. Everything is from him. And so I think that's why it's using that. It's not to confuse this with the father. So it's not it's not indicating that that's the case. But in this way, he is father in that he created everything. I think that's what it is meaning. Thank you. Good question. Anybody else? Question comment before we close tonight. Yes, please. Yeah, I think for us it'll be the same. both for the millennial reign and for eternity, namely to work in us so that we always obey from our hearts. In other words, our obedience in heaven and in the millennium, but I'll just speak about heaven, it's simpler. Our obedience for eternity will be an obedience that is not automatic. We will willfully choose to obey, and the spirit within will move us to do so. So it really will be the fulfillment of Ezekiel 36, 28, which says, I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes. You will be careful to observe my ordinances. So this is progressively being fulfilled now, but only partially. But in that day, when we are made perfect, it will be fulfilled completely. So our obedience will be a full-orbed, full-force, passionate obedience every day of our lives forever. It will be anything but automatic. And it will be all Spirit-driven. It will be the greatest love of our life every moment to please the Father and honor His Son. and by the power of the spirit within. Wow, heaven is going to be amazing. Amazing. Anybody else quickly here? Yes, please. One more and then we'll call it quits. Yes, please. Yes. Yeah. Are you going to be here tomorrow? We'll tackle that one tomorrow because it has to do with his humanity. All right, let me close this in prayer. Shall we do that? Father, thank you so much for the privilege of Spending this time tonight with people who really do long to know your word better and know you better. Myself included. I am so grateful, Lord, for the inestimable privilege of coming to know you better. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. And I know these people here feel the same way. We acknowledge you are a great God, an amazing God. and a God whose beauty and excellence is beyond our full comprehension. But we want to know you better. So please Lord by your mercy open our eyes and hearts to see and behold and embrace glorious truths about you that we might honor you with greater fervor and zeal and that we might be made more like you. as we see you as you are increasingly. So do this work, we pray. Thank you for the privilege tonight. Give us good rest and bring us back tomorrow night for a good time together again, we pray in Christ's name. Amen.