This morning I’d like to tackle a rather difficult subject; difficult because there’s only so much we can comprehend and understand about it, but just because our understanding is limited doesn’t mean we should avoid it. Rather we should tax our minds to glean what is revealed, but be careful not to go beyond what God says.

In Deuteronomy 29:29 it says, “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever.”

From this verse of Scripture we can see that there are some things that God has chosen not to reveal, or at least not give us full disclosure for reasons only He knows. And you can rack your brain to the nth degree and still not be able to know what God knows about certain things. There are some things that we can study into and never fully understand, and there are some things we will never fully understand, even in eternity.

For example, we’re told that the incarnation of Christ will be something we will be studying throughout the ceaseless ages of eternity, which means there will always be something more to learn about the fact that God became a human being and took upon Himself our fallen nature. He no longer has a fallen human nature just like we will no longer have one when we’re raised from the dead, or translated when the Lord comes, but on the human side He was like us when He was here and will retain His humanity throughout eternity.

And so, we need to understand that Jesus gave up all to become our Savior. By faith we understand and believe that He became human, but we don’t know precisely how it all transpired, and we never will! Our knowledge will continue to increase the more we look into it, but there will always be new revelations, and it will be this way with many other avenues of study as well. And no doubt when we get to heaven we will find that we were perhaps mistaken about certain things.

As we look into our subject for today, we want to do so with the understanding that we’re not going to fully comprehend all there is to know about it. We can and should accept those things that are clearly revealed, but we’ll have to leave the rest for future revelations.

I’m sure you remember what God said to Moses as He spoke to him from the burning bush. He said, “Don’t come any closer Moses! Take off your shoes because this place where you’re standing is holy ground”, and this is the way I believe we should approach our subject this morning. We can observe and cherish what God allows us to see, but we should not try to pry into what He has not revealed, because if we do, we’ll surely make mistakes.

The reason we can’t fully understand some things is because we’re finite beings, and God is infinite! We have limits to our comprehension and understanding and God doesn’t. Even human language is finite, therefore it’s not possible for finite beings to fully describe infinite beings; and yet, we should exercise our faculties and try our best to understand what we can, but again, be careful not to go farther than what God reveals, because that will lead to fanaticism, and simply put, fanaticism is going beyond what God says. If God hasn’t said it, we better be careful not to put words in His mouth. Does this make sense so far?

Testimonies for the Church, volume 8, page 279 says, “The revelation of Himself that God has given in His word is for our study. This we may seek to understand. But beyond this we are not to penetrate. The highest intellect may tax itself until it is wearied out in conjectures regarding the nature of God; but the effort will be fruitless. This problem has not been given us to solve. No human mind can comprehend God. Let not finite man attempt to interpret Him. Let none indulge in speculation regarding His nature. Here silence is eloquence. The Omniscient One is above discussion. . .

“Those human beings who seek to intrude into the secrets of the Most High show their ignorance of spiritual and eternal things. . .

“We are as ignorant of God as little children, but as little children we may love and obey Him. Instead of speculating in regard to His nature or His prerogatives, let us give heed to the word He has spoken.”

Also, in 1 Corinthians 2:14 we’re told that “spiritual things are (what?) spiritually discerned.” In other words, if the Holy Spirit doesn’t work upon our mind, there’s no way we can come to right conclusions about God as a spiritual being.

First of all, if you haven’t already figured it out, I should tell you that the subject today is dealing with the Godhead, and I’ll tell you right from the start that I believe in a three person Godhead, but I don’t believe in the teaching of the Trinity, and I’m going to share with you why I’ve come to this conclusion. But before I do, let’s pray and ask for the Holy Spirit to be our Teacher this morning.

To begin with we’ll take a look at what the Bible has to say about the Godhead, and then we’ll read what God’s last day messenger wrote about it. There are so many different ideas and variations being advanced today about the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit that it’s totally unsafe to take someone’s word for it; we must go with what the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy clearly teach and resist the urge to speculate, or go beyond what God Himself has said.

Let’s take a look at several verses in Genesis to begin with. This may be elementary for most of us, but necessary I think to establish the plain truth about the Godhead, and besides, there may be some things here that you haven’t thought about before. Genesis 1:1, 26; 3:22; 11:7.

1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:

11:7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.

In every instance, the Hebrew word for “God” is “Elohiym”, which means “the supreme God” in the plural form. And so we know just from these few verses that there is more than one “supreme God.” There has to be at least two in order for the words “us” and “our” to make sense. We don’t have to speculate or twist the Scriptures to know this, because it’s very plain, and there’s no distinction in these verses that would indicate that one is superior to the other.

So if we put it in today’s English, Genesis 1:1 would read, “In the beginning, supreme Gods (plural) created the heaven and the earth.” And so, right from the beginning of the very first verse in the Bible, we have the teaching that more than one God was involved in the creation of heaven and earth.

Now, in the thinking of most Christians, there’s not a problem believing that the Father is a “supreme God”; and because Philippians 2:6 says that Jesus is “equal with God”, most believe that Jesus is also a “supreme God”, but what about the Holy Spirit? Is the Holy Spirit a “supreme God”? We think of the Father and the Son as having a physical form, which they do, because Hebrews 1:3 says Jesus is in the express image of His Father’s person, but what about the Spirit? If the Holy Spirit is God, is the Spirit considered one of the Elohiym? Or is it just an essence, or a perfume-like fragrance that proceeded from the Father and the Son?

First of all let’s find out whether or not the Spirit was even there during creation, and then we’ll talk about whether the Holy Spirit has a personality all its own or not.

Genesis 1:2; Job 26:13; Psalm 104:30 [READ].

Gen. 1:2 – And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Job 26:13 – By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

Ps. 104:30 – Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the earth.

By reading these three verses, it’s an undeniable fact that the Spirit was there at creation; there’s absolutely no doubt about it. You’d have to wrest the Scriptures to come to any other conclusion. The Bible doesn’t reveal that there were any other beings, or entities, or existence, or essence, or anything else other than a minimum of two, indicated by the words “us” and “our” all through Genesis 1; and if the Holy Spirit is also God, that would make at least three. And of course the Scriptures elsewhere give no indication that there are more than three, but exactly three. And we’ll see that as we go along. So the next question is, Is the Holy Spirit a person? Is the Holy Spirit one of three persons that make up the Godhead, or are there only two divine beings?

Ephesian 4:4-6 “There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.”

Notice: there is only “one body” (of Christ; that’s the church), “one Spirit” (Greek meaning being “divine God”), “one Lord” (Greek meaning being, “supreme in authority”), and “one God and Father” (Greek meaning being, “supreme divinity” and “parent”).

Now I don’t want to get too far into the weeds with every detail of these verses, but I do want to bring out the point that there is only one Spirit, one Lord Jesus, and one Father. The Spirit is spoken of as the “divine God”; the Lord Jesus is spoken of as “divine in authority”; and the Father is spoken of as “supreme divinity”, and there’s only one of each.

There’s nothing here to indicate that they are not separate and distinct, one from the other. In other words, they’re not all cobbled together into one as if they were three Gods in one, or one God who gave birth out of Himself to other parts of His essence, as taught by trinitarians, or that one God gave birth to a Son some eons ago and together they make up the Spirit, or variations of teachings similar to that.

The Trinity doctrine teaches that God the Father subdivided Himself into different parts; such as a Son, and a Holy Spirit. And so the Father would be the continuous source and sustainer of all these parts of His, because He would be in all these parts.

I’ve talked with several individuals over the years that say they teach against the Trinity doctrine, and that it’s the omega of apostasy in these last days, but in reality they’re actually believing and teaching the same concept as the Trinity when they say there is one God birthing others out of Himself.

And just let me say this as a side note, because we don’t have time to go into detail about it today. God the Father, as a “parent”, was obviously involved in the life of Jesus at some point, else He wouldn’t be called the Father, but was it before or after the birth of Christ as a babe in Bethlehem; or could it be both?

I would submit to you that Jesus has always been the Son in anticipation of the day when He would become human, because the plan of salvation was laid before the foundation of the world, as it says in 1 Peter 1:20. However, this did not become literally and tangibly the case until the divine seed was implanted in Mary’s womb. Since God is omniscient, or all knowing, there was never a time when this was not known and planned for. The birth of Jesus was truly “planned parenthood”, and even the Holy Spirit was involved, because notice what Luke 1:35 says, “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.”

Do you understand how all this happened? I have to confess that I do not, but I do know that both the Father and the Holy Spirit were involved in the pregnancy; that much is clear, and since this is a whole ’nother subject, that’s all I’m going to say about it for now. If you’d like more information, ask for the sermon titled “Who is Jesus”, parts 1 and 2, and I’ll send you a CD.

Now let’s get back to this idea of the Trinity for a minute. It becomes very interesting when you consider the Trinity doctrine, because it teaches that there is one God divided into three parts, rather than three individual Gods that are one in love, and purpose, and unity.

The way I like to think of the Godhead is how the Bible states that husband and wife become “one flesh” when they get married, but they’re still two individuals that are of different substance; and so is the Godhead. There is one Divine being whose name is the Father, one whose name is Jesus Christ, and one whose name is the Holy Spirit. Each One has their own name, their own personality, and their own particular work to do in our salvation.

If this were not so, Jesus would not have said what He did to His disciples in 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:”

Also in Matthew 3:16, 17 we have Jesus being baptized, the Holy Spirit descending upon Him, And the voice of the Father from heaven; three separate divine beings being manifest in one place.

And 1 John 5:7 says, “There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one”, but not one in substance, and you’ll see why this is important in a few minutes.

So, rightly understood, the Godhead is not a Trinity. You won’t find the word Trinity anywhere in the Bible or the Spirit of Prophecy, and there’s a good reason for that. Think of it this way: when you have a trio of singers, they all harmonize together, but they are three separate individuals; but if you have a trinity of singers, it would be like three voices coming out of one mouth; it doesn’t make sense, and it’s not supported by the Scriptures. Just as many pagan beliefs like Easter, and Christmas, and Lent, and sprinkling for baptism were incorporated into Christianity by the church of Rome, so was the doctrine of the Trinity.

Let me read to you the definition of the Trinity from “The Athanasian Creed.”

“Whosoever will be saved, before all things it is necessary that he hold the catholic faith; Which faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.

“Now the catholic faith is that we worship One God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity, neither confounding the Persons nor dividing the substance… And yet not three eternals but one eternal, as also not three infinites, nor three uncreated, but one uncreated, and one infinite. So, likewise, the Father is almighty, the Son almighty, and the Holy Spirit almighty; and yet not three almighties but one almighty.

“So the Father is God, the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God; and yet not three Gods but one God. So the Father is Lord, the Son Lord, and the Holy Spirit Lord; and yet not three Lords but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by Christian truth to acknowledge every Person by Himself to be both God and Lord; so are we forbidden by the catholic religion to say, there be three Gods or three Lords.

“So that in all things, as is aforesaid, the Trinity in Unity and the Unity in Trinity is to be worshipped. He therefore who wills to be in a state of salvation, let him think thus of the Trinity…

“This is the catholic faith, which except a man believe faithfully he cannot be saved.”

Now, you’re probably thinking one of two things after reading the Catholic definition of the Trinity: you might be thinking, “the Catholic definition of the Trinity sounds pretty good, what’s wrong with it?” Or you may be thinking, “this is all very confusing!” Well, let me explain something to you. By the way, the Trinity is what the SDA church teaches today in their 27 fundamental beliefs, but I’ll let you search that out for yourself.

“The Athanasian Creed” was written because there was a raging debate going on in the 3rd and 4th centuries about the Godhead. And so, people have been arguing and debating the Godhead for a long time. A bishop named Arius believed and taught that Jesus was created, and had a beginning, and was not of the same substance as the Father, and also that the Holy Spirit was created sometime after Jesus was created; this is called Aryanism, and Athanasius believed and taught that Jesus always existed and was of the same substance as the Father and the Holy Spirit; all three being co-eternal.

As the controversy over these two views spread, it finally made it to the ears of Emperor Constantine who became concerned about the division it was causing in the church. So he invited all the bishops to come to the city of Nicaea, in northwest Turkey, in 325 AD, to settle the controversy once and for all. Long story short, Arius was condemned as a heretic, and it was made a capital offence to even possess his writings. The problem is, Arius and Athanasius were both wrong!

Arius was right when he said that Jesus was not of the same substance as the Father, but he was wrong when he said there was a time when Jesus was not. Athanasius, on the other hand, was right when he said Jesus was co-eternal with the Father, but was wrong when he said Jesus and the Father and the Holy Spirit were of the same substance.

The main difference between Trinitarians and non-Trinitarians, when you boil it all down, has to do with the two opposing views regarding whether or not the members of the Godhead are of the same substance, or whether they are three separate individuals that have a substance all their own.

The word “substance” has to do with solid matter, and something that exists by itself. Do we believe in one God in three persons that are of the same substance, or do we believe in three individual divine beings that have individual substance that work together as one for the salvation of our souls?

Now, you might be thinking, doesn’t the Bible teach that there’s one God? how then can there be three separate individual beings in the Godhead? Doesn’t Deuteronomy 6:4 say, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD”? And didn’t Jesus reiterate this in Mark 12:29? Yes, but rightly understood that doesn’t mean what many people think. While it’s true that the Bible says there is only one God, we find that with many Bible writers, they include a plural number of persons when they use the word “one.” And aren’t we supposed to let the Bible interpret itself?

Regarding Adam and Eve, as already mentioned, Genesis 2:24 says, “They twain shall be one flesh.” And so, here we have two individuals spoken of as being “one”, and there are several other texts that teach the same thing.

1 Corinthians 3:8; 10:17

3:8 Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

10:17 For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread.

Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Acts 4:32 “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.”

This next one is clear as can be. This is part of Jesus’ prayer for us: John 17:21, 22 “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:”

These verses are telling us plainly that Christian believers are one as Christ and the Father are one. Are all Christian believers separate individuals and of different substance? Absolutely! And so are Christ and the Father; that’s what these verses are telling us.

According to Philippians 2:6-8, it’s clear that Jesus didn’t have to steal or borrow divinity from the Father; He already had it! And if He didn’t get it from the Father, that means their substance is separate from each other. “Jesus thought it not robbery to be equal with God” it says. The truth is, the highest voluntarily became the lowest in order to save us. Jesus humbled Himself and gave up His former position in the Godhead in order to make it possible for us to have eternal life. And because of that, the Father has exalted Jesus back to His original position of equality in the Godhead and gave “Him a name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,… and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,…” and the word “Lord” in the Greek means “supreme authority.”

And notice also what it says in John 1:1-4 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

We just read that in Christ “was life”, what kind of life? Desire of Ages, page 530 gives us the answer: “In Christ is life, original, unborrowed, underived.”

The word “original” means “preceding all others”, If Jesus’ life was “original”, that means He has no origin, or beginning when you think it through. That’s incomprehensible. John 1:3 says, “All things were made (or generated) by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” That means Jesus was not made.

“Unborrowed” means He didn’t receive life from someone else, because He is the source of life all by Himself.

And “underived” means He is not of the same substance as the Father. If the Father gave birth to Jesus way back when, then He would be derived from the Father, and therefore of the same substance, but He wasn’t; He is “underived.”

Now notice the words that follow what I just read from Desire of Ages 530, “The divinity of Christ is the believer’s assurance of eternal life.” Do you get it? The fact that the life of Christ is “original, unborrowed, underived”, is our assurance that we will live eternally! Is that important? Absolutely! That kind of assurance cannot come from a Trinity!

Let’s look at one more point before we move on. In Exodus 3 Moses asked God what he should say to the children of Israel if they asked the name of the God that would deliver them from the hand of Pharaoh, and in verse 14, “God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM… Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” And when we connect that with John 8:58, we have Jesus telling the unbelieving Jews, “Before Abraham was, I AM.”

When Jesus said that, the Jews tried to stone Him, because they understood He was claiming to be the God of the Old Testament. He was claiming to be “God Almighty”, to be “Jehovah”, which means, “The self-existent and eternal”, same as “underived.” And in 1 Corinthians 10:4 the apostle Paul agreed with that when he said it was Christ that led the children of Israel through their wilderness wandering.

And so, if we have enough faith to accept it, there’s plenty of evidence to show that Jesus is just as self-existent as the Father, and our salvation depends upon that fact. The gift of Jesus to the human race was not an inferior gift. Heaven gave its best! Anything short of this would not be a sufficient sacrifice. If heaven could have done better, or more to save us but didn’t, what does that say about God? No friend, the sacrifice of Jesus is more than adequate because He is God in the highest sense.

But what about the Holy Spirit? I’d like to read several texts that show clearly that the Holy Spirit has a mind, can think for Himself, can act for Himself, and can speak for Himself. There are quite a few texts, and this is by no means an exhaustive study, because there are well over 200 references to the Holy Spirit in the Bible. We’re only going to look quickly at about a dozen or so.

Romans 8:27: According to this verse the Holy Spirit has a mind and intercedes for us.

Acts 15:28: Here we have the Holy Ghost settling questions at the Jerusalem council about what newly converted Gentiles should and shouldn’t do.

1 Corinthians 12:8-11: The Holy Spirit is responsible for giving various gifts to individuals as He sees best.

Acts 16: 6, 7: Here we have the Holy Spirit making His own decisions by forbidding Paul and those with him not to go to certain places.

Luke 4:18, 19: Right after His baptism and wilderness temptation, Jesus was anointed by the Holy Spirit and sent out to preach.

John 15:26: The primary meaning of the word “Proceedeth” here means, “To depart”, or “Be discharged”, rather than “issue from.” In other words, the Holy Spirit is sent out for the purpose of bearing witness of Jesus and what He said. The job of the Spirit is not to glorify Himself, or to attract people to Himself, but to help people understand who Jesus is, and what He came to do. One who “testifies” is a person who knows or has seen something, and the Holy Spirit is that person.

John 14:26: The Holy Spirit is a teacher, and His teaching will help us remember the words of Christ. Read the entire chapter when you get the time and you will find that Jesus refers to the Spirit as “He” and “Him” over and over again. You can’t be a “He” and a “Him” unless you’re a person, and all persons have personalities all their own.

John 16:7-14: The Holy Spirit brings guilt to those that do wrong, He shows us what righteousness is, He warns of coming judgment, He guides us into the truth, and He shows us what’s to come in the future.

Acts 13:1-4: The Holy Ghost speaks, He calls people into the ministry, and then sends them forth to labor.

John 14:16: The Holy Spirit is “another” Comforter other than Jesus, and the word “another” means, “not the same.” Jesus and the Holy Spirit are two different beings.

Acts 5:3,9: Can anyone other than a person be tempted and lied to?

Luke 12:10: (Jesus speaking) The word “blaspheme” means “to speak evil of, or to defame.” If we dishonor the Holy Spirit by claiming He is not God, or that He’s nothing more than an essence that comes from the Father and the Son, wouldn’t that defame, or injure the reputation of the Holy Spirit? Wouldn’t that be Blasphemy? We better be very careful how we characterize the Holy Spirit, or we may become guilty of the unpardonable sin.

I think the reason many people have a problem with the Holy Spirit being the third person of the Godhead is because it’s not possible to describe just what the Holy Spirit is. And because they can’t explain it, they belittle Him by their speculation.

Notice what the messenger to the remnant says in Acts of the Apostles, pages 51, 52, “It is not essential for us to be able to define just what the Holy Spirit is…The nature of the Holy Spirit is a mystery. Men cannot explain it, because the Lord has not revealed it to them. Men having fanciful views may bring together passages of Scripture and put a human construction on them, but the acceptance of these views will not strengthen the church. Regarding such mysteries, which are too deep for human understanding, silence is golden.”

All we can do is take what’s revealed, and believe it, and leave the rest alone.

From all the Scriptures we’ve read this morning, who can totally explain the Holy Spirit? I mean, what is the Holy Spirit? In some places It’s described as a “He” and “Him”, in other places as “It”, a wind, a breath, a current of air, a breeze, and life itself. I can’t explain it, can you?

Just because the Holy Spirit proceeds from, or is dispatched from the Father does not mean that the Spirit is not a person. Just as one in a certain position can send someone else out to do a particular job doesn’t mean they’re not a person, or not important. The members of the Godhead all have different functions in the salvation of humanity, but that does not mean that one is less important than another.

One of the reasons the Holy Spirit is unexplainable is because He is a very unique member of the Godhead, and can manifest Himself in different ways. For example; in three of the Gospels it says the Holy Spirit assumed the form of a dove. In Acts 2 as tongues of fire. In Acts 8 the Spirit literally caught away Philip after baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch, and all of a sudden he found himself in the city of Azotus miles away from where he was. In Ezekiel 8 the Holy Spirit did the same thing to Ezekiel, and he sat around astonished by it all for a whole week.

And so, there are many example of the Holy Spirit assuming a physical form of one kind or another, but let me share one other thing along these lines. There’s an interesting story about Melchisedec that took place in Australia in 1893, and I’ll read it to you exactly as it was written.

At a counsel meeting at the Avalon school, the year 1893, there were present Elders Haskell, F. L. H. Baker, G. B. Starr, and their wives, and Sister Ellen G. White, also W. A. Colcord, who was editor of the Australian ‘Signs of the Times’.

Elder Colcord requested the privilege of reading some articles regarding the personality of Melchisedec. We all listened as he read, and we were surprised that Sister White listened also, with seeming interest, as she was not accustomed to listening to any argumentative writings.

But as Elder Colcord was reading, she interrupted him, saying: “Elder Colcord, I would not publish these articles, if I were you.” He inquired, “Why not?”

She added, “Because they are not correct.”

He then asked, “Who then was Melchisedec?”

She replied, “I will tell you who Melchisedec was. He was the Holy Spirit, and the third person of the Godhead, who took the form of humanity, and represented the Lord Jesus Christ to that generation.”

That ended the counsel on that subject. Elder Colcord offered no argument to refute her position, and we all seemed perfectly satisfied with the statement. In fact, I had never heard an explanation that was satisfactory before.

After the meeting, Elder Haskell said to me, “Elder Starr, when the Spirit of Prophecy speaks so plainly as that about a matter, it can be proved by the Bible, so, let’s look it up.” This we did.

We found that description of Melchisedec in Hebrews 7:3 was fully met by the Holy Spirit: “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a high priest continually.”

We found in Hebrews 9:14, the statement, “The Eternal Spirit,” that would meet, “Without beginning of days, nor end of life;” Then in Romans 8:26, “likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered.” And again, in verse 27, “He maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.” These statements make the Holy Spirit, a High Priest forever, but cannot be met by an angel or human being.

Elder Haskell published this matter as reported above in his paper at South Lancaster, Mass. Thus we have two witnesses of the truthfulness of Sister White’s statement regarding Melchisedec.”

Signed: G. B. Starr

So, it appears that the Holy Spirit is able to assume the form of a human being as well as the various forms I already mentioned, and how could the Holy Spirit do that if it was just a breath of air?

Study Hebrews 7 when you get the time and you’ll see that Melchisedec as the Holy Spirit fits perfectly with the character of God. Melchisedec couldn’t have been Christ because Christ was a priest after the order of Melchisedec, and He couldn’t be the Father, because the Bible says no human being has ever seen Him. So who but the Holy Spirit could Melchisedec have been?

You may never have considered this before, but when Jesus became human, He lost His omnipresence; that is, He could no longer be everywhere at all times. And so, He must now take advantage of the omnipresence of the Holy Spirit in order to meet with His people here on earth. How He does that, only God knows. That way Jesus is not limited, even though He still retains His humanity, and always will.

Now, after sharing with you much of what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit, I’d like to turn to the Spirit of Prophecy and read just a few of many very clear statements about the Holy Spirit.

And let me just say this before we read. If you believe that Ellen G. White was inspired by the Holy Spirit, and after reading what she has written still question that the Holy Spirit is the third person of the Godhead, then you have to believe that her writings have been tampered with and changed by the “brethren.” And if this is a part of your thinking, I would ask you to request the sermon CD titled “What About Book Changes?” There’s much evidence to show the fallacy of this unfounded teaching among us, and this is just another attempt by the devil to make the Testimonies of none effect. And why would Satan like to do this? The answer is in Selected Messages, book 1, page 48. “The workings of Satan will be to unsettle the faith of the churches in them, for this reason: Satan cannot have so clear a track to bring in his deceptions and bind up souls in his delusions if the warnings and reproofs and counsels of the Spirit of God are heeded.”

Alright, I’ve got several statements here to read to you about the Holy Spirit, and the first one is found in:

Evangelism 616, 617 “The Holy Spirit is a person, for He beareth witness with our spirits that we are the children of God…. The Holy Spirit has a personality,…. He must also be a divine person, else He could not search out the secrets which lie hidden in the mind of God.”

“The prince of the power of evil can only be held in check by the power of God in the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit.”

You see friends, this is one of the main reasons we must believe the Holy Spirit to be a person; if we don’t, then Satan has access to us, and we’re certainly no match for the devil.

One day as Sister White was giving a talk to the students at the Avondale School, she said this in the same reference in Evangelism: “We need to realize that the Holy Spirit, who is as much a person as God is a person, is walking through these grounds.”

Letter 89b, 1897 – “… no distance, no circumstances can separate us from ‘the Comforter.’ Wherever we are, wherever we may go, He is there, always a Presence, a Person connected with heaven, One given us in Christ’s place, to act in His stead.”

Manuscript #480, page 7 – “You are baptized in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. You are raised up out of the water to live henceforth in newness of life—to live a new life. You are born unto God, and you stand under the sanction and the power of the three holiest beings in heaven, who are able to keep you from falling.”

There it is again; believing the Holy Spirit to be a real being is to have power to keep from falling into sin.

Series B #7, page 62 – “There are three living persons of the heavenly trio; in the name of these three great powers—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit—those who receive Christ by living faith are baptized, and these powers will co-operate with the obedient subjects of heaven in their efforts to live the new life in Christ.”

There are more statements, but how many do we need? The Bible says, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses a thing is established”, and I’ve given you a lot more than that.

Friends, these statements are too clear to mistake what’s being said. The Godhead is not a Trinity, but a Heavenly Trio. They are not one God subdivided into three parts, but three individuals that are God in their own right. They’re all God in the highest sense, and are all “underived” and “self existent.” I don’t understand or comprehend the words “”infinity” and “eternal”, but I do know that all three members of the Godhead love you and me very much, and they want to save us so we can be with them for time without end. The question is, do we want to be with Them and all the rest of the saints that will gather around the great white throne some day soon. Oh, I hope you’ll be there. I want that with all my heart, and I pray that that blessed hope is what you want too.

 

Printed Sermon also available in PDF Trinity or Trio