Pastor John,
Several months ago, I was hugely blessed by two “thoughts for the day” that I read on one of your websites within two weeks from each other. One was a letter you had received from a brother in which he, among other things, wrote that the holy Ghost is not the third person of a “trinity”, but Christ himself. The other one was titled, ‘The Breath of Our Nostrils’, and it was about how Aaron Nelson and your son Elijah discovered a reference to Jesus’ descent into hell in the book of Lamentations. That verse (Lam. 4:20) was another confirmation from the Scriptures of the truth that the Lord, indeed, “is that Spirit”, as Paul called him. The verse from laminatations calls the Messiah (the anointed one) the “breath of our nostrils” – which is clearly a reference to God’s Spirit. By the time I read these “thoughts”, I had already believed in my heart that the doctrine of the trinity was a lie; but the Spirit used these two pieces of writing in a special way to make this revelation (that the Spirit descending on Jesus at the Jordan River was actually the Son himself “suddenly coming into His temple” – Malachi) more real and more personal to me than it had ever been.
Now, today, about two hours ago, I was reading today’s “Thought for the Evening” (8/5)*, and while doing it, I think I found another clue in the Bible that reveals this very same truth. It brought joy and excitement to my heart, so I wanted to share it. In today’s TFE (The Gods, Part Four) there is a quote from Psalms that goes like this: “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth” (Ps 33:6).
After reading this quote, I had the following thoughts: From John chapter 1 and Revelation 19 we know that Jesus IS the Word of God, and from a number of NT scriptures it is also clear that God created all things through His Son (except for the Son himself who was created by the Father). But here, in Ps 33:6, the Spirit reveals that the work of creation took place not only “by the word of the Lord”, but also through “the breath” (ruach) of the “mouth” of Jehovah. One of the very few things I know about Hebrew is that ruach (just like pneuma in the Greek) is not only the word for “breath” and “wind”, but also the word for “spirit”. Isn’t it clear then, that if God created all things through His Son, but the Scriptures also tell us that God did His creative work by His Spirit (the breath of His mouth), then the two cannot possibly be two separate persons? Isn’t it wonderful?
One of my favorite discoveries on the subject is how plainly Jesus spoke of this, when in John 14 he promised the disciples to give them “another comforter” that he also calls “the spirit of truth” that “shall be in [them]”; and then, right after saying this he adds, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you”. I had read these same verses so many times over the years, but it never occurred to me what is now so clear and obvious, after having learned the truth. Praise God for it!
Zoli