We are studying the facility that God Himself became in His part of the combined effort to reach and save humanity.  Before the earth was created God was the only potentate, the Great I AM and the Ancient of Days. When humanity fell into sin, in His great love and mercy toward us He took on the role of a Father.  Jesus shared a very close and intimate relationship with the Father whilst on this earth and we too may participate in just as close as a relationship if we heed God’s council to come out from among them, be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing.

What does it mean to worship God in Spirit and in truth?

Revelation 14:7 Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. 

To worship God in spirit and in truth is to know Him as He really is the three persons of the Godhead.  The understanding of the Godhead is important to our salvation because when the Holy Spirit comes into our life, He brings the Godhead with Him and this is a reality that we all may experience.

John 17:20-21 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;  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.

Here is revealed the spiritual impact of the Godhead dwelling in us.  The unity that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have is extended to those who believe on Christ.  That by believing on Christ, the Holy Spirit may be sent to them and through the Holy Spirit both He, the Father and the Holy Spirit in them will bring about this precious oneness.  This is the source by which many people may be thoroughly united in one through the Godhead.

John 17:20:22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: V23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

25 O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. V26 And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare [it]: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

The Godhead reality is the method by which they may be made perfect in one and it is the method by which the love of the Father can actually be in us because the Holy Spirit is in us.

Those who are baptized in the threefold name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, at the very entrance of their Christian life declare publicly that they have accepted the invitation, Come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 6BC 1075.3

The Godhead is brought out as the step that is taken in baptism.  To be baptized in the threefold name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost at the entrance of the Christian life.  Upon baptism God declares I will receive you and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord almighty.

2 Corinthians 7:1 Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.

Because of this threefold union in us and the possibility of God being our Father, we have these precious promises to be made perfect and holy in the fear of God

Colossians 3:1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

When we have accepted Christ, and in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit have pledged ourselves to serve God, the Father, Christ, and the Holy Spirit--the three dignitaries and powers of heaven--pledge themselves that every facility shall be given to us if we carry out our baptismal vows to come out from among them, and be . . . separate, . . . and touch not the unclean thing. When we are true to our vows, He says, I will receive you (MS 85, 1901).  {6BC 1075.8}

Jesus promises that we will come and make our abode with you and that we will be made perfect in one and the love of the Father will be bestowed upon us.  This is a reality for those who become baptised in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.  The three dignitaries and powers of heaven pledge themselves that every facility shall be given to us If we carry out our baptismal vows to come out from among them and touch not the unclean thing.

2 Corinthians 6:17,18 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 

When we make a baptismal vow in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, that we will come out from among the world, God promises to receive us and be a Father to us.  His role as a Father then is to train us and raise us up in His ways.  We are a family, and He, the first person of the Godhead is the facility namely Father of such children.

Ephesians 3:14,15 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, 

The Father of Jesus has taken the position of Father over the whole family in heaven of which we too may become members if we accept God’s invitation to come out from the world.  God created all living beings in the universe with the human family last of all.  It isn’t revealed how far in the past the beginnings of life took place in the universe, but we do know that the human family was the youngest in the heavenly line of created beings, and as the youngest member of this developing heavenly family, the Father appears very ancient and longstanding to us.

Daniel 7:9,10 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment [was] white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne [was like] the fiery flame, [and] his wheels [as] burning fire.  A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened

The Ancient of Days is surrounded by thousands upon thousands of created beings and God is the Father of them all.  In his role as the Father he is described as the most ancient.

Daniel 7:13,14 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, [one] like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.  And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion [is] an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom [that] which shall not be destroyed.

Psalms 90:1,2 LORD, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. The mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou [art] God. 

The Father, the ancient of days to humanity is the patriarch of the whole human family.  How is God a Father to us and what is his work towards us?

Psalms 103:13,14 Like as a father pitieth [his] children, [so] the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we [are] dust. 

As the facility of Father toward us, we His sons and daughters are treated with pity and compassion.  He knows that we are but dust, that our human constitution is weak and frail.  Thus He pities us standing before Him in our sense of sinful weakness.  The other paternal care in this Fatherly facility is;

Hebrews 12:9,10 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected [us], and we gave [them] reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?  For they verily for a few days chastened [us] after their own pleasure; but he for [our] profit, that [we] might be partakers of his holiness. 

As a Father whose children need chastening care, God pities us and corrects us.  When God chastens us we are wise to be in subjection to this.  For earthly parents corrected us for their own pleasure but God does it for our profit that we might be partakers of His holiness.  This is our comfort that the Father is not going to fail in His work in training us His sons and daughters, to develop a condition of His holiness.

James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. 

Our Father is benevolent.  He delights to give gifts to His children so that every good and perfect gift comes from Him.  He does not alter in the slightest, there is not even a shadow of turning with Him.  We may have perfect confidence that God will bestow on us the gifts He has promised and find comfort in the fact that He does not falter.  In the work of saving or making holy His manner is that of a Father.  He pities and corrects us as His children, and bestows every good and perfect gift unto us.

Examine God’s character through his name that the facility of Father He offers us may become more meaningful.

Exodus 3:13-15 And Moses said unto God, Behold, [when] I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What [is] his name? what shall I say unto them?  God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this [is] my name for ever, and this [is] my memorial unto all generations.

I AM makes a very important impression upon the mind of Moses and all those to whom this message comes.  I AM THAT I AM is present tense.  God’s name reveals that past, present and future are all a present picture part of Him.  I AM in the past, I AM in the present, I AM in the future.

The facility of the Godhead is always present and this is something for us to appreciate that we are His sons and daughters and therefore past, present and future may also dawn upon our mind as one grand present consciousness.

1 Timothy 6:14-16 That thou keep [this] commandment without spot, unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:  Which in his times he shall show, [who is] the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom [be] honour and power everlasting.

Our heavenly Father, the great I AM, is also the only potentate, king and ruler of the universe.  When a ruler is a potentate his word is supreme and can’t be contradicted.  God is the great potentate of the universe but He is also the same pitying, correcting, benevolent, gift giving Father who created us and brought us into existence.

Isaiah 40:28,29 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, [that] the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? [there is] no searching of his understanding.  He giveth power to the faint; and to [them that have] no might he increaseth strength.

Another dimension of the facility of help that is offered to us in the Godhead is God’s own unwearying energy.

When as His sons and daughters we are faint and have no might, He gives of His own never ending power to sustain us. Do we ever have to give over to these overwhelming senses of our weakness and faintheartedness with God as our Father?  When our mind is preoccupied by these realities, what chance have we of withering or fainting?

God is our pitying, correcting, benevolent Father whose name is the great I AM.  He is the only potentate, our creator and with His own inexhaustible energy supply He promises to sustain us IF we stay true to our baptismal vows to be separate and touch not the unclean thing.

Romans 8:15-17 [19] For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.  The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with [him], that we may be also glorified together.  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time [are] not worthy [to be compared] with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 

Through the conviction of the Holy Spirit we are no longer at all in danger of becoming fearful or in bondage with such a pitying God, even though we may faint or fail, He will strengthen us again. He is our Father working closely with us in our own restoration program.

The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God and joint heirs with Christ. This is our privilege.  God has offered to be a Father to us in Christ Jesus that we may join the Godhead.

The Apostle Paul wrote that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.  This promise is attained if we take hold of this work of the Godhead, the three dignitaries of the Godhead who have pledged every facility to help us on our way. 

1 John3:1-2 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

The inheritance of heaven is that we shall be just like Him.  We will be pure just as He is pure.

1 John 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

He fainteth not, therefore He will continue to communicate energy and power to those who are sinful and weak that they may take hold of this hope and overcome.  He will give strength to those who feel faint and are ready to give up. With this new courage and new hope we can move on in the path of purification to be pure as He is pure.  In the knowledge of getting to know God as our Heavenly Father lies our true salvation because he offers this facility as our Father to save us.

Matthew 5:43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 

 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Loving our enemies can be wearying and tiring, but God fainteth not and He is our Father.  Therefore love your enemies and don’t worry about the wearying experience but bless them that curse you and pray for them which despitefully use you and persecute you

Matthew 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 

 5:46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 

 5:47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more [than others]? do not even the publicans so? 

 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. 

The Lord is at work to chasten us for our profit that we might be partakers of His righteousness, of His perfection.

Let us exercise our faith upon these precious facilities offered to us in the worship of God, that when we become faint and weary in our battles, we may be sustained by the hope that is in us.

Amen.