Beloved community, open your Bibles to Matthew 28. Then listen to the whole chapter. Matthew 28, with the focus and the preaching, will be on the last part. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Let us now listen to the words of the Lord. Later, after the Sabbath, when it becomes light, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to look at the grave. And there comes a great earthquake, because an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone of the opening and sat on it. And his face was as white as snow, and his clothes as white as snow. And he was afraid of him, and the guards shook, and he became as dead. But the angel answered and said to the women, Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who is crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, look at the place where the Lord has led. And go quickly and say to his disciples, He has risen from the dead, and goes before you out to Galilee, there you will see him. Look, I have told you this. And they went away quickly, and the grave with great fear and gladness, and with great fear and gladness, and went quickly to tell this to his disciples. And while they were on their way to tell this to their disciples, Jesus came up to them and said, Be greeted. Then they came up and took his feet and begged him. And Jesus said to them, Do not be afraid, go in here and tell my brothers that they must go to Galilee, and there they will see me. And while they were on their way, some of the guards came to the city and told the priests everything that had happened. And after they had held a meeting with the elders, they gave the soldiers a lot of money and said, You must say, his disciples came in the night and stole it while we were asleep. And when it is heard by the governor, they will satisfy us and make it that you are without worries. They took the money and did as they were taught. And this story is spread among the Jews to this day. And the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had ordained for them. And when they saw Him, they prayed to Him, but some doubted. And Jesus came near and spoke to them and said, I have been given all power in heaven and on earth. Go in, make disciples of all the nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And teach them to do all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the day, until the end of the world. Amen. Go in, make disciples of all the nations, and baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. And teach them to observe all that I have commanded you. Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Beloved, let us listen to Sunday 8 of the Heidelberg Catechism. Just before Sunday 7, we will be asked, what is a true faith? A true faith is defined as a firm knowledge through which I accept everything that God has revealed to us in His Word, and also a firm trust in the Holy Spirit through the Gospel in my heart. That God not only gave to others, but also to me out of great grace, only on account of the merits of Christ, forgiveness and eternal righteousness and holiness. Then we are asked, what should a Christian believe? Twelve articles are given. And then on Sunday 8, we are asked, how are these articles shared? In three parts. The first part is about God the Father and our creation. The second is about God the Son and our redemption. The third is about God the Holy Spirit and our sanctification. While there is only one Godly Being, why do you speak of three? Namely, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit? Answer, because God revealed Him in His Word in such a way, that these three different persons are the only true and eternal God. He revealed Him in such a way, because that is who He is. Beloved community, there are many things that are useful for us to do about Syria. To dig deeper. Many issues that are interesting and relevant today. You can think of politics here in South Africa, the Bala Bill. You can also think of international politics. At the moment there is the election in America going on. And all the implications of that, of Ukraine and Israel and so on. You can also think of ethical issues, such as abortion, where thousands and thousands of babies are killed every day. You can think of the family, the attack on families. Families, as the Lord commands, how a family should be. On the role of parents, the role of children. We can think about that. We can think about gender, about being a man, about being a woman. We can think about the attack on the Scripture. That the Scripture is the Holy Word of God. But there are certain questions that are more fundamental. You have to think of it like this, this is the foundation, and if that foundation is being torn apart, then all the rest will crumble. And a lot of the good that we have touched on, we will also say, is in a fundamental way in the sin. How fundamental is the sin for a community and for a society? And then within the sin, also the marriage, and being a man and a woman. But within the Christian faith, what is one of the most fundamental things for the Christian faith, or for you to be a Christian? It's one of the most fundamental aspects of being a Christian, or of being a Christian community. You can be completely wrong about your role as a man, and being busy being innocent, and it will have enriching implications for your marriage, for your family, and for society if that happens. But you can always be a Christian. and say such wrong ideas about masculinity and the family. But there are certain things, that if you let go of that ground, then you are no longer a Christian. That's how fundamental it is. If we let go of that, if we say, I reject this, Then you are no longer a Christian, then what you believe in is no longer the Christian faith. And if a church would do the same, then they are no longer a Christian church. It's something else. Three of the most fundamental aspects of the Christian faith, and it's also in this order, is the teaching of the Trinity, the teaching of the two natures of Christ, and the teaching of the Gospel. What is the Gospel? If you pray to the first one, then there are serious consequences for the other two. If you reject the teaching of the Trinity, by for example saying that Jesus is not God, there are many groups that have done it through history and still do it today. We recently had a conversation about the Jehovah's Witnesses and that is what they also say. That Jesus is not God, he is the archangel Michael. But you don't have to stay with the Jehovah's Witnesses. You can go to the Muslims. You can go to the Jews. You can go to the Mormons. You can go to some forms of Jewish roots, which also go so far as to say that Jesus is not God. It is very active and lively today. Those of you who have already been to the Boerenmark stall will also know how often there are conversations where someone finally says, no, but I do not believe in the Trinity. I am a Christian, yes, but I do not believe in the Trinity. In general, it will be that other Christians will say that he is still a Christian. Even if he rejects the Trinity, he still believes in Jesus, so he is still a Christian. How has this ground been given its price? How fundamental is the teaching of the Trinity? But then you reject it, and as a result you can no longer believe in the two natures of Christ. Christ is either just a human being, or something else, like the Jehovah's Witnesses believe, an angel. And if you do that, you no longer have a Gospel. Because a mere creation cannot save a son from the hand of God. A creation is not powerful enough. So see now, if you look at the one tower, what consequences it has for all the others. The building blocks together. You don't have the Christian faith anymore, if you don't start to lean on the teaching of the Trinity. It's easy to see it from this side, but people can also ask if it's from the other side. If you change the Gospel, will that have consequences for how you think about the Trinity? I wouldn't say always, but often it does. Why? Because where do we get to know the Trinity? Where did the one and only God reveal Himself as the One and Only? In the Gospel. There He clearly revealed that He is Father, Son and Spirit, and that He is one and only divine being. So, if you are going to change the Gospel to a certain extent, then you are also changing the revelation that God gave of Himself. There are many who find the Trinity really difficult. And there are aspects of the teaching that go beyond our understanding. We have to say that God is incomprehensible. I can't summarize Him with my little head and say, I understand everything about who He is. I can't do that. So there are aspects that we have to say. It is difficult. But still, we can understand the teaching. Beloved, it is right for me, it is right and serious for me, because I want to teach the lesson of the Trinity to others, to use these simple images. God is like a water molecule. It is one water molecule. If you make it warm enough, it is steam. If you cool it down, it is water. If you cool it down further, it is ice. But what do you learn from this? You learn the historical confusion of modelism. The chain of modelism. Because in the early church, there was a big battle. Against exactly this thought, that the persons of God, are not always there at the same time, but it is three forms. The Father is sometimes there, and then the Father becomes the Son, and the Son becomes the Spirit. It's not really three persons, it's three forms that appear. It's not how God is, it's just how he shows himself. What did you preach when you used this image? You preached modalism. Another image that is sometimes used is that of an egg. You get a bunch of other forms that do exactly the same thing. But what do they say? It's one egg, but it has a top, it's white and it's yellow. You see, there are three, and there is one. That's a nice picture of the Trinity. But think a little bit further. What is the idea of our God that you are conveying there? The egg yolk is not a full egg. The egg yolk is not a full egg. The egg white is not a full egg. He actually has a third of an egg, and a third of an egg, and a third of an egg, which are all put together, and then they are more than what they were when they were separate. It's not what the Bible says about the person of the Father, the person of the Son, and the person of the Spirit. What he has there, are three demigods. that come together and when they are joined together, then you have a greater being, an upper being God. It is something totally different than the Bible teaching about the Trinity, which is again spreading and proclaiming. No. The Bible teaches that the Father has a full part in the divine being. The Son has a full part in the divine being. The Holy Spirit has a full part in the divine being. They are not a third of the divinity, a third of the divinity, a third of the divinity. And when they come together, they are something more than what they were when they were separate. So how did the only God reveal Himself? He revealed Himself in the Gospel. In the Gospel you hear that man is sinful when he follows other gods. Because there is only one God. There are not three gods. There are not four gods. There are not more gods than that. There is only one God. And if you follow any other one, then you are doing apostasy. We also hear in the Gospels, that just with this one God, this one Yahweh, just with Him, there is salvation, there is redemption. Then you also hear that the Father saves, the Son saves and the Holy Spirit saves. And immediately you have to hear something in that language. In the divine being there is a unity and a trinity. A trinity and a unity. We don't have to be creative here. And we don't have to treat the Lord our God with disdain. By comparing Him with an egg. He has revealed Himself sufficiently in the Scripture. So use what the Lord has given you. To understand the teaching of the Trinity. And also to clarify for others. Look for example at Genesis 1, verse 26 to 27. And God said to them, Let us make men according to our image, according to our likeness, and let them hover over the fish of the sea, and the birds of the sky, and the birds of the sky, and over the whole earth, and over all the animals that crawl upon the earth. And God created man according to his image. To the image of God He created man and woman. Here we get, at the beginning of the Bible, God is already trying to reveal something of Himself. That He is the only One. It is still like a flower that is closed, but as the scripture goes on, it opens up more and more. You get more and more information. to be able to translate the teaching better and better. But already in the very first chapter of the Bible, you can say there is one God, He created, but this God, when He speaks with Himself, then He is not only speaking as if He is alone. There is more. Let us make people. We read this same verse in Genesis 3, verse 22. Then said the Lord God, not the Lord is more than one, but one Lord God, now the man has become like one of us. Genesis 11, verse 5-7, to see the city and the tower where the people were built. And the lords said, Yes, we. There is now one people, and they all have one language. Come, let us go down, and preserve their language. Isaiah 6, verse 8, where is it again? Then I heard the voice of the lords, saying, Who shall I send? I, one God, And who will go for us? Again, more than one. In the Old Testament, we read of the angel of the Lord. How many times has this special figure appeared? Genesis 16, when he appears to Hagar. Genesis 18, when Abraham offers sacrifice to Isaac. Genesis 22, when Abraham offers sacrifice to Isaac. Exodus 3, verse 6, at the fire in the forest of Dorim. Among other places. But let's read this part of the scripture. Then you see how this figure is identified as the angel of the Lord. An angel simply means the messenger. One who is the messenger, one who brings the message of the Lord. He is the angel of the Lord, so he is distinguished from Yahweh. Yahweh's messenger is sent. But every time, in every one of these events, at a certain point, Then when this messenger of Yahweh speaks, He will acknowledge that He is Yahweh. The messenger of Yahweh, who is distinguished from Yahweh, will make it known that He is also Yahweh. He is Yahweh who speaks. He will say, so I say, Yahweh. Now you have to ask, how does that answer us? Yahweh sends another one as Himself. And when that other one starts to speak, He says, I am Yahweh. But there is not one Yahweh. You get the same when you read from another figure in the Old Testament. The Spirit of the Lord. You read from the angel of the Lord, or the messenger of the Lord, and the Spirit of the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord, which is also involved in creation. You have to remember, it is only God who creates. Through the Scripture you hear all the time, it is only Yahweh, the Lord God, who is the earth and everything in it, the sea and everything in it, the heavens and everything in it. It is the Lord God who created it all. But then you read, the Spirit of the Lord was also part of this work of creation. So there is a link between, if He is involved in creation, then He is also Yahweh, because Yahweh is the One who creates. We read in Psalm 104, that He is the One who gives life. He is the source of life. It is Yahweh, the Lord. He is the One who has life in Himself and who can give it to others to live. But then it is said that the Spirit is the One who gives life. 2 Samuel 23, verse 2, where the man says that the Spirit is more than just a power. That's what many people think, the Holy Spirit is just a power. But already in the Old Testament it is shown that He is more than that, because the Spirit of the Lord speaks through the prophets. If I put on the power suit, then the electricity does not start talking to me, and saying certain things to me, and opening up my things to me. It is not what strength does not do, but one who is a person, who has an intellect, who knows things. He is one who speaks, who can reveal. That is what you read in 2 Samuel 23, verse 2. The spirit of the Lord who is busy speaking through the prophets. And again you can say that the prophets are the prophets of Yahweh. It is Yahweh who speaks through his prophets. And in this part it is the Spirit that speaks through the prophets. The Spirit is also connected to Yahweh. This testimony in the Old Testament was clear enough that before the Messiah came, before Jesus came, There were already Jews who, on the basis of the Old Testament, said that it seems that there is more than one God. The Jews had already said that. There is a Jewish scholar and theologian, Dr. Benjamin D. Sommer, I don't know much more about him, I just found out about him, where he studied the old Jewish rabbis and the Old Testament, and he said, I'm actually rather uncomfortable with my own conclusion here, but as a scholar, I got to call them as I see them. One of the conclusions that I came to, to my shock when I finished this book, is that we Jews have no theological objection to the doctrine of the Trinity. I said, you what? What did he say? It's not a Christian who defines the Trinity, but he says, as he reads the Old Testament, that we don't have any theological grounds to apply the Christian teaching of the Trinity. And that's in our own Old Testament. See that. The early church history was one of the parts of the scripture that had the biggest influence on the development of the teaching of the Trinity. As the church says, we see these things in the scripture, how are we going to interpret it? How are we going to interpret it? We see a unity and we see a trinity. What is the connection between the unity and the trinity? What will call us the unity? What will call us the trinity? What is the relationship between the three and the trinity? All those questions the church asked. And then they thought, how are we going to name it? How are we going to describe it? How are we going to... When I talk about the trinity, what words am I going to use so that the others, my brothers, understand? That's what I'm going to talk about. The text that had the biggest influence on us is Matthew 28. Where our Lord Jesus sends out his disciples to make other disciples. And then he says, teach them everything that I have commanded you to do. Among other things, this text is also one of Christ's commandments to his disciples. Teach them this as well. And what do they have to do with these new disciples? They have to baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. This is where the earliest forms of liturgy came from, that stayed with us, in the early church. The first form of liturgy was to baptize. where the church says, but Jesus has commanded us to baptize people in this way, so that at a certain point people will be asked, as an adult, do you believe in the Father? Do you believe in the Son? Do you believe in the Holy Spirit? And then it will be used further. Who is this Father? Who is this Son? Who is this Holy Spirit? And this is how the instruction takes shape. Let's look at what is further in verse 16. Our Lord went to Galilee with the eleven disciples, to the mountain where Jesus had ordered them. And when they saw Him, it is now Jesus, the Messiah, The one who just rose from the dead. And earlier in this chapter you read how the women, when they see him, they fall at his feet and beg him. You have to ask if someone... You say, but Jesus is not God, right? You can ask him, but can someone else than God beg us? And surely such a person will say, no, you can only beg God. But then you have a problem with this verse, because here women are falling down before Jesus to pray. And you don't realize that Jesus is helping them just like angels do. There are other cases where people fall down to pray to an angel, and then the angel turns, but Jesus doesn't do it. With Jesus it's as if he wants to show, it's appropriate. I am Yahweh that you should pray to. Here he reads it again in verse 17. When the disciples saw him at Galilee, they prayed to him. He also reads that some doubted. Again, there is no indication that Jesus cares for these people and says, No, I am not God, do not pray to God. He is the only one you should pray to. Actually, he is busy with those who doubt, Look at the next verse. Jesus came to them and said to them, All power is given to me in heaven and on earth. He is the Almighty. All power in heaven. Who? Who is also in heaven? God. Who is also on earth? God. God is the God of heaven and earth. And if this one has all the power in heaven, and all the power on earth, what is he saying? He is saying, I am equal to God. I have just as much power as God has. He says, I am God. Look how he is talking to those who still doubt Him. Among other things, there is another good that he does with this. But one of the things He is doing, is to move those who still doubt Him, to also begin to pray. That they also fall down before Him in prayer. To Me is given all power in heaven and on earth. But now the question can come, but is it given to Him? Does that mean that at a certain point He did not hate? Can it then be that he was not God, and now he becomes Godly? That he receives all this power? For unto me is given all power in heaven and on earth. Well, you don't just have to read the end of the Gospel, you also have to read the beginning of the Gospel. Who is this figure that comes here? Did he just come as a human being? And now, does he refuse to become God? That he was a simple human being and now he almost accepts the divine nature? Is that what we read about? Well, in Matthew 1, we read about the power, verse 23. And the power will become weak, and will be weak, and they will call him, this weak one, himself, they will call him Immanuel. That is when it is translated as God with us. Here you have God Himself, who accepts the human nature, not a human who in the end accepts the divine nature. We also read in Mark 1, how the last prophet, John the Baptist, will be sent. Look, I send my messenger for the face that will set out the way for you. The voice of one who calls in the desert, prepare the way for the Lord. That is in capital letters, the way of Yahweh. What is Johannes' goal? He is sent as the one who has to go before the Queen. When the Queen comes to her city, there is someone else who has to go before her and make sure that the path is straight and even, that the path is open. Because the honoured Queen is on her way to her city. That is Johannes the Doper's role. He is the one who goes forth to make the path straight, to prepare for the coming of the Great King. But who is this one? Is it just a man who is going to be a Great King, like David and Solomon? I'm going to read Isaiah 40, that's what Mark is talking about, 40 and on. There are a few places where I see this prophecy. But among others, 40 verse 3-5. A voice of one who calls, drive in the desert the way of the Lord, of Yahweh. Make right in the wilderness a great path, for whom? Our God. For Yahweh, for our God. And the holiness of the Lord your God will be revealed, and all flesh together will see it, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it." So read these two passages in the Gospels together. The first one that says, this one that comes, this blessing that will be born as a human being, he will not only be called a human being, he will be called God with us. And John is the doper who comes to prepare the way. He does not come to prepare the way for a normal king. He is sent to prepare the way for Yahweh Himself. For God Himself who comes. And then John comes and says to Jesus, He is the One. He is the One for whom I have prepared the way. Let us read in John 1. In the beginning was the Word. From the beginning was He. He has eternity in Himself. He is not one like us who does not have a beginning. In the beginning He was. He was from eternity. He does not have a beginning and He does not have an end. He is not a creation. It is something of the definition of being a creation. We have a beginning. We do not have eternity in ourselves. We do not always, always, always exist. But this unity, the Word, in the beginning was the Word. He was already. And the Word was with God. in front of the face of God, in front of Him. Here the word is being distinguished from a second one, from the Father. And the word was God. He was in the beginning with God. He was one and the same being with the Father. So they can distinguish each other, but they cannot be distinguished. So, what does it mean that on this one, who is the eternal God and has always had all power in heaven and earth, what does it mean that he is given all power in heaven and earth? Well, what has changed? He has also become human. He has also accepted human nature. And that after his humanity, To take this status, this position, to be able to sit on the throne of heaven, to receive all power in heaven and on earth. His humanity is also forgiven now. To me all power is given in heaven and on earth. Now you have to see how those disciples who are standing there, and see how their fellow disciples are trying to fall down before Him in prayer. How those other disciples who have won so far, they have power. There is only one God. Is He, is He that? Is He the Lord God? Do I have to bow before Him? Do I have to pray to Him? And now the Lord speaks to their hearts, to reveal Himself to them, that they also fall down in prayer before the Lord God. Because in the end, people can't read how one of the apostles doubted in the end about Jesus' divinity. They all believed it. He was ready to die for him. Go then to Mark 1, verse 19, and make disciples of all the nations, and put them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. In one name. In one name. There is only one God, with one name, which is above all names. And the Father has that name, the Son has that name, the Spirit has that name. It's not double in the name of God, the Father, of a doctor angel, the Son, and of an impersonal force, the Spirit. In the name of Yahweh, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Here you see how God works with His revelation. How He works with the Scripture. And from there you have to learn something from your own study of the Scripture. You have already given all of this in the beginning, in Genesis 1. Do you already read? We, plural. I, singular. But what does all of this mean? What does it mean to us? What does it mean to me? And as the scripture continues to give more and more, God is building it up for you more and more. That you can say, I believe in a one God. Father, Son and Holy Spirit. One divine being. The one who has eternity, who is almighty, who is sovereign. The one who is unchangeable. The one who is unique. You can't cut him into smaller pieces, as if he is dependent on smaller pieces. I believe in one God. And this one God is three persons. Father, Son and Spirit. The Father has a full part in divine beings. The Son has a full part in divine beings. The Holy Spirit has a full part in divine beings. The policy that we still follow today, the policy of the CIA, comes from a time when there was a big struggle about how we're going to use these words, what terms we're going to use to describe it, the ones we see in the script. And one of the battlegrounds was about two words, we must usios and we must usios. We must usios, which means to be one and the same. The Father and the Son and the Spirit are of the same kind. The mother of Oseous, is the one who is leading us, and who says, Father, Son and Spirit are one and the same being. There is only one divine being. And the Father has a part in it, the Son has a part in it, the Spirit has a part in it. Such a small word, which has such a huge difference, on how you lead your God. One God in three holy persons. Three persons in one holy divine being. That is the foundation. That is the foundation of the Christian faith. If you give that price, then you are no longer a Christian. Then there is no more holiness. You don't believe in this God, in the true God, the God of Scripture. You believe in another God. It doesn't say that each one of us should be able to describe and clarify all the fine nuances and all the details of the teaching of the Trinity in its finest details. It doesn't say that. But it says that if it is clear to you, and you apply it, Then you don't worship anyone else but the only God. You worship Him. There is no salvation if you worship the true God and then say, I want to worship another God, which I came up with with my imagination. That's why the Bible of Athanasius is so strong. If you don't keep this, what does it say? Here it is taught to you. If you deny this, then it is not possible for you to be saved. If you deny God, there is no other one that can save you. No, it is only this God that saves. It is only the one and only God that saves. Deny Him and then you are lost. Deny Him and then you are not a Christian. Deny Him, call on Him, even though they want so badly to have the name Christian Church in them. They are no longer a Christian Church. This is fundamental. My dear, if you want to dig yourself into a certain aspect of the teaching, then this is the one thing you can do. The teaching of the Trinity. You're never going to waste your time with that. You will never, when you have buried yourself in the teaching of God and the teaching of the Trinity, that you will say in the future, I could have been busy with something better. Guys, these will always, always be useful to you. If we just talk about your own life walk before the Lord, to pray to Him, to pray to Him with greater joy and joy and love, Well, how can I do it, other than to get to know Him better? Who is the God that I am praying for? So dig yourself in here, for your own prayer, for your own praise, for your own enjoyment of the Lord God. Your soul needs to know God, just like He revealed Himself. But it won't be a waste of time if it doesn't come to fruition. Who are you going to proclaim to the people around us? What does God need these people here in Pretoria and in Wrighton and beyond? Who needs them to believe in Him? They need this God. They need to hear who is the Father, who is the Son, who is the Holy Spirit. They also need to hear how the Gospel is trinitarian from beginning to end. It is the Father who in eternity decides to save certain people from the sinners and to save them by giving them to His Son. With the full knowledge that the Son cannot fail in a mission that He is undertaking. It is the blessing that goes to these people that are given to them, to become human so that they can die in their place and live in their place. It is the blessing that comes to save. It is the Holy Spirit that comes to bring people back to life, so that they can participate through faith in everything that Jesus Christ has commissioned. It is the one and only God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who saves sinners. Announce the Gospel, tell people about the Lord, but tell them about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who comes to save everyone who believes. He does this. He is successful. It will not fail. He is the Savior. He is Yahweh. Amen.