A happy New Year 2025 to all my Friends! Loving relationship is the most important of all human interactions. It forms the basis of human existence and the foundation upon which all decent societies are built. The origin of relationships is founded upon the nature of the Creator God who reveals Himself in His Trinitarian nature as the God who is Love (1 John 4:8).
God has lived from eternity in their Loving Tri-Personal relationship in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. (Matt.28:19). Their Tri-Personal Love relationship in one another is the basis of human relationships. Humanity was created to reflect God’s divine Loving Tri-Personal likeness (Gen.1:26-27), hence, the term I call, “Triune Life.” (You may read the footnote below under Triune Life at the end of this post to get a fuller explanation of the term).
Rublev’s Icon of the Trinity. Living The “Triune Life” (Wiki Commons)
Let us begin with the most basic subject by which we identify God: LOVE! Why Love? Because the Bible states, “God is Love” (1 John 4:8, 16). God is Love, or, Love is God, it conveys the same meaning. Love is God’s inherent spiritual nature. Love is the substance of which He is composed. Love is God’s inseparable reality. Humans were created to live by and in His Love-image to reflect Him in His underlying Love through His Tri-Personal Being in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. (Gen.1:26-27; Matt.28:19) God also gave another vital pillar to stand upon, besides Love – it is freedom or free-will.
God did not create Adam a rebellious being. Adam acquired sin from someone apart from God – Satan the devil (see Gen.3:1-6). Be that as it may, the Bible states God created humanity in His Love-image. Adam’s nature rests upon two eternal vital pillars – Freedom and Love. Though the underlying image of God’s Love can never be eradicated from humanity, it lies dormant deep in the heart their very essence of our humanity, waiting to be awakened by our freedom to make choices (free will). We can choose between liberty (righteousness) or bondage (sin).
Each topic I will write about will follow what I call the Triune Life format, to reveal God’s intrinsic nature of Love. The format follows three steps revealing the three-dimensional aspect of how the Tri-Personal Being of God in the Father, Son, and Spirit (Trinity), are directly and collectively involved in the life of humanity as it concerns His divine Love. We do this individually and collectively to bring humanity to God’s salvation or His condemnation. Scriptures tell us, “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe has already been condemned, because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son” (John 3:18).
Love’s three-dimensional Ascent or steps are:
1 Rebellion-Holy Spirit (Love)
2 Deliverance-Jesus
3 Rest/Reconciliation- Father
There is a fourth ascent, called ‘manifestation.’ It reveals the subject under discussion, in this case it is the divine Love expressed through the heart, mind, and actions, of humanity.
4 Manifestation-Love…Humanity
This three-dimensional ascent or steps appear in an ascending order, so I will call each an ascent or step. There are 3 three ascents (steps) and the fourth step is the manifestation of the subject under discussion, which is Love. I call these four-step process the Triune Life, for the three ascents (steps) directly involve the Triune God of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit (Trinity). The fourth step is the manifestation of God’s divine Love. Each ascent dovetails into the next and finally reveals the manifestation of the topic – Love!
The three progressive Ascents which leads to Love are: i) rebellion, ii) deliverance, and iii) rest. These Ascents represent the movement of God’s Love in an inward, outward, and upward, trajectory in humanity. The fourth step is the divine Triune Love being manifested in the life of humanity. I will expound each ascent and how they are connected to each other and to God’s Love.
First Ascent – Rebellion: The first Ascent of Rebellion reveals the energy that is opposite from Love. Therefore, the first Ascent represent the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity. So, here we see two conflicting energies: Love and rebellion. (Gal.5:16-17) Why is this, what does the two opposing energies teach us? This first Ascent is intended to remind and teach us that before embarking on this journey of Love, we must first understand who we are and where we came from. We cannot understand our road to Love without the knowledge of our past. Our past shapes our future.
Paul informs us masterfully how the Love of God is made to manifest in the life of humans, “For we know how dearly God Loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His Love” (Rom.5:5, NLT). The important point about this first Ascent is it reveals a person’s relationship with the Holy Spirit, because He is the personification of the divine Love, the opposing energy of rebellion, working in humans.
This is God’s inward act of revealing His divine Love in humanity. Why the Holy Spirit? Because in the Person of the Holy Spirit is the manifest power of God’s Love in humans – the reverse of the spirit of rebellion. (1 Cor.3:16) We read this truth explained by Paul is 1 Corinthians 13. (Please see the proviso below which explains in more detail about God’s Love).
He (Holy Spirit) enters the human life to replace the evil spirit of the rebellious heart of humanity we inherited from fallen Adam. The rebellious heart causes humans to commit sin and bring on all the negative consequences leading to suffering, unhappiness, pain, loss, and ultimately death. We read in Paul’s epistle to the Romans, “We know how dearly God Loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His Love” (Rom.5:5). Yes, by filling humans with God’s Love, the Spirit empowers humans with Love and defeat rebellion and sin.
This first Ascent calls for an answer to the obvious question, how did rebellion first invaded and entered and became part of the human character and psyche, when Scripture clearly tells us humans were created in God’s Love-likeness? (Gen.1:26-27). God did not create humans to rebel and sin, but to Love. Yet, Paul said, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom.3:23).
The “Glory of God” means the source and sum of all that He is in nature and substance by which He has eternally existed in Love. If God created humans in the likeness of His Love, how did sin and rebellion become an intrinsic part of mankind? Paul answers by saying, “You know the story of how Adam landed us in the dilemma we’re in—first sin, then death, and no one exempt from either sin or death” (Rom.5:12, MSG).
Rebellion, sin, and death became part of mankind’s lot through Adam’s fall at the hands of Satan, the devil. (Gen.3:1-6) Paul gives us the ultimate punishment for rebellion and sin, “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom.6:23). Here, we see God’s promise of Love to save humanity from sin and death, and more importantly, to bless humans with immortality. The path to Love ultimately leads humans to God’s gift of immortality. (John 3:16)
Jesus was abundantly clear about His role as Savior, “But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate (Holy Spirit/Love) will not come to you; but if I go, I will send Him to you” (John 16:7). So, the Spirit cannot enter human hearts without Christ’s mediation as our Redeemer and Savior.
So here, in the 1st Ascent, we see why we stress upon rebellion and sin, because the Holy Spirit brings the Love of God and empowers us to defeat all the negativity of rebellion which produces sin and ultimately death. (Rom.5:12)
Later, Jesus the second Adam, who came from God, entered our humanity and defeated the devil in His own temptation and through His cross rescinded the death penalty which hung over all humanity. Jesus rescued us from sin, rebellion, and death. Thus, Jesus opened the way for humanity to receive the Holy Spirit and the divine Love from God. (Matt.4:1-17; 1 Cor.15:45; John 16:7; Rom.5:17, 5) This first Ascent of rebellion is really the step showing how Love defeats rebellion for it reveals the human relationship with God’s Love through the Holy Spirit.
Now we come to the second Ascent of Deliverance. What is Deliverance? It is God’s miraculous act of liberating humanity from the spirit of sin, rebellion, and death. Paul tells us, “For the wages of sin (rebellion) is death” (Rom.6:23). This is the stark reality of sin and a rebellious heart – it brings death, literally!
Paul said this, “For since by a man death came, by a Man also came the resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor.15:21). Through the sin of the first Adam, humanity has inherited death, so also by the Second Adam (Christ/Immanuel), came the resurrection or human salvation. So, Deliverance points humanity to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. (John 3:16-17)
This second Ascent of Deliverance is the outward act of God’s Love for humanity. (John 3:16-17) We have seen God’s inward act through the Holy Spirit in the human heart. Is there some sort of reversal of order here? Not so, because Scriptures tell us, “We Love because He first Loved us” (1 John 4:19). Humanity cannot defeat rebellion and sin, if God had not first Loved us, and moved us through His Spirit (His Love) to embrace and conform to God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ.
Humanity cannot receive Christ without the Spirit’s move in a person’s life. The Trinity works as One Tri-Personal Being in you and me, and every other human God calls. Humanity first receives God’s Love through the Spirit who supplies the faith and Love to receive Jesus as Savior and Redeemer. This is God’s Tri-Personal Being moving in your life and mine.
In the act of Deliverance, Jesus lived the perfect human life. He was baptized for humanity in the Jordan, He fasted and overcame the devil in the temptations. (1 John 3:8). He went about doing good and healing all who came to Him. (Act.10:38). Then He suffered the most excruciating and humiliating deaths at the hands of His Roman captors. He was betrayed and crucified at His cross. (Heb.12:2). After three days God resurrected Him from the dead. He was seen by many for forty days. (Act.1:3). Then He ascended into heaven, where He was appointed by God as humanity’s High Priest forever, mediating for mankind. (Heb.4:14). All believers await His second coming when He will be given power, and resurrect His people to immortality. (1 Cor.15:51-57).
Jesus was resurrected from the dead, ascended to the Father and became our eternal High Priest, where He forever mediates for sinners before the Father. (Mark 9:31; Act.1:9-11; Heb.2:17)
Third Ascent – Rest: Now, with the Messiah Jesus having opened the way for the Spirit as recorded in the Book of Acts, humans enter the third ascent of Rest! (Act.1:4-5; 2:1-4). This ascent reveals the human relationship with the God the Father, and thereby the Triune Godhead. This Triune union has been severed since the fall of Adam. What does rest mean? It means peace and the eradication of human condemnation and unity with the Trinitarian Godhead. This is God’s upward act of Love for humanity in bringing humanity to Himself in divine completeness. Paul said this about how peace and rest is attained with the Godhead through God the Father, “And through Him (Jesus) God reconciled everything to Himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross” (Col.1:20).
So, rest means reconciliation and oneness with the Triune God has been achieved with the Father when He surrendered His Son and gave us the gift of His Spirit to make human union with the Triune God a reality again. Thus, this union shows the Father caresses humanity in His Love, thereby, spontaneously channeling the divine Love to flow from the Triune Godhead to humanity, accomplishing the fourth Ascent of the Manifestation.
Consequently, it is God’s Love shed abundantly in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which empowers the divine relationship with the Tri-Personal Godhead that brings peace and reconciliation with God the Father in Christ. (Rom.5:5; 2 Cor.13:14)
Jesus, Shown Defeating Satan in the Temptations. (Matt.4:1-17)
So, there you have it. That is how the divine Love enters human life to replace the devil’s rebellious spirit through the three ascents and the manifestation of divine Love through the Father, Son, and Spirit. It has to take a personal relationship with the Tri-Personal God to remove the cause of separation between God and humanity. Sin brings on evil, human suffering and pain upon mankind. My hope is you will receive Jesus in your hearts before our heavenly Father in prayer, and entreat Him through faith to fill your heart with His Love (Spirit) by receiving Jesus as your personal Savior.
Fourth Ascent – Manifestion. What is manifestation? It means with the three progressive ascents (steps) through the 1) Spirit (Rebellion/Love), 2) Jesus (Deliverance), and 3) Our heavenly Father (Rest/Peace), the end-result is the manifestation of God’s Love in humanity.
This is how God’s divine Love is made to enter human life. Let us now answer the vital question about Love. When Love enters the human life, how do we recognize it? What does the Spirit (Love) do to us? Yes, what does Love look like in a typical day in a person’s life is inspired by the Holy Spirit?
How do we identify the Spirit’s work of Love on a day-by-day basis? Paul told the Romans, “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, so that the body of sin might be annulled, that we are no longer enslaved to sin” but by Love through His Spirit. (Rom.6:6; Rom.5:5).
Jesus is the personification of Love as God’s only Son in the Triune Godhead. Jesus took our humanity upon Himself and became the only human who lived a life in perfect Love in the Spirit. Becoming Jesus’ disciple means to become Love as God is Love. In this passage, Jesus gives us two fundamental hallmarks about Love – self-denial and taking up our cross daily. (Luk.9:23). Self-denial or self-discipline is the primary motivating force in the application of Love. Why is self-denial an indispensable part of living in the Spirit’s power of Love? (Rom.5:5)
Manifestation – God Is Love!
When we consider Love’s opposing energy, we can have a clearer picture and answer as to why self-denial is paramount and mandatory? Rebellion, Love’s opposing nature, shows itself in selfishness, greed, lust, self-worship, idolatry, etc. Self-indulgence, depravity, and corruption are the footprints of the fallen humanity inherited from the rebellion of Adam. These and such fruits stand up against God’s nature of Love. Humans acquired this self-centered rebellious nature from Adam’s fall at the hands of the devil in Eden.
Yes, it requires personal change through an act of acknowledgement that we harbor the spirit of rebellion and sin by receiving Jesus as personal Savior, and be given the divine Spirit of God’s Love in exchange for the curse of the rebellious spirit. Jesus explained the scriptures as it relates to human deliverance to His followers, “This is what is written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem” (Luk.24:45-46).
Dove-Symbol of Holy Spirit
“God’s Love Poured Out Through The Holy Spirit” – Rom.5:5
Let us end in prayer. Prayer: Let us end this post in contemplative prayer to our great triune God: “Almighty God, Father of all humanity, Father of Lights, thank You for Your infinite mercy for humanity, that though death has been our tragic lot because of Adam’s fall in Eden, You prepared the Second Adam in Your Son Jesus Christ, to enter our temporary existence as the Immanuel and Savior and redeemed and saved us from sin and death. (Rom.6:23).
Prayer is A Solemn One-On-One Spiritual Love Dialogue Between a Person and God the Father.
“Thank You most mighty God of Lights that through Your Son, Jesus, You have shone Your divine Light through Him upon humanity. Thank You that in Jesus You have brought humanity out of our darkened and deathly world into your marvelous “Light of Life” (John 8:12).
“Grant Your promised celestial life in Your Son through Your Holy Spirit, and open our eyes to the wondrous gifts You have divinely conferred upon us all so we may serve one another in Your Love. We praise and glorify You in your Son, Amen.”
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to write me in the space provided below, or you may email me on bulamanriver.net. Thank you for visiting.
Blessing:
Until we meet again in my next post, may the blessings of the God who ceaselessly expresses Himself in His dependable Triune Love, be with you always (Matt.28:19). May the Spirit enliven your spirit and make all things concerning you and your loved ones be an ever shiny success. Be strong in the Lord’s joy. Have a happy Christmas and a great New Year.
Kiang, (Your Servant In Christ)
*Triune Life: “Triune Life” speaks of the process of theosis or deification of humanity. What is theosis or deification? “It refers to apotheosis, meaning “making divine.” Theosis or deification is a transformative process whose aim is likeness to or union with God (as taught by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Eastern Catholic Church).” (Wikipedia.org)
The belief in the process of ‘deification’ is understood in accordance with Jesus’ teaching, when He said, “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I have said you are “gods” ’? If He called them ‘gods,’ to whom the Word of God came—and Scripture cannot be set aside (cannot be broken)” (John 10:34-35; Psa.82:6). (You can read about the Triune Life at: http://bulamanriver.net/9199, and other posts)
The Human Resurrection to Immortality Through Jesus
“The Empty Tomb” – Persuasive Imagery of Jesus’ Own Resurrection to Immortality and the Promised Deification of Humanity in Christ Who Directly Reflects the “Image of God” (Col.1:15; Rom.8:29; Gen.1:27; John 11:25; 1 Cor.15:45-47)
Adam was solitary and incomplete until God made Eve. He said, “It is not good for the man to be alone (solitary). I will make a helper suitable for him” (Gen.2:18, italics mine). So, God gave Adam a family to raise composed of a father, mother, and offspring, to reflect Himself in His plural Being. The Bible states that the Church’s or humanity’s destiny is to marry Christ, the second Person of the Triune Godhead, in the new age to come which will be an everlasting divine relationship. (2 Cor.11:2; Eph.5:23-27, 32; Rev.19:7) The Bible is abundantly clear about God’s nature and declaration of Himself in His relational Triune Being from the past, the present, and the future. God has never lived as a solitary Being, but a Tri-Personal Being.
It’s noteworthy to understand that Eve was not created an individual creation from the dust of the earth as was Adam. She was not created apart from Adam as an individualized separate human being, instead, she was taken out from Adam’s side to show she was biologically one and indivisibly part of Adam, like God is in His Tri-Personal Being of the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit. Eve was not detached (solitary) from Adam, but intrinsically inseparable from Adam’s innermost humanity, as God is in His divine triunity. When Adam saw Eve, he said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man” (Gen.2:21-23) God created humanity to reflect Himself in His unified Tri-Personal Being (Trinity)
Rublev’s Icon of The Trinity (Wiki Commons)
Each one of us was created as an indivisible relational human being incubated and given birth from Adam’s mold as one species, for God created humanity to reflect the eternal likeness in His triunity. We are born for relationships with the divine triune Love as our guiding principle. All this show that humans were created to be indivisibly one to reflect God’s Tri-Personal image of Oneness (Trinity), not solitary separateness.
When God sent Jesus His eternal Son, He became human in order to unify humanity spiritually to the Triune Being of God through Christ once for all time. Hence, when the prophet Isaiah proclaimed Jesus’ coming, and gave Him the prophetic name, Immanuel (Isa.7:14). The name means “God with us” (Matt.1:23). Humanity is ‘organically’ one with the Triune God through Christ, just as humanity is one with Adam who was created in God’s image and likeness. (Gen.1:26-27)
Most religions believe God as some solitary being. The true God is not solitary by any means, He is the one Triunity in His Tri-Personal Being. God consist of three Persons in One divine triune Godhead. (Matt.28:18-20) They exist in One “homoousion” meaning consisting in one substance, or “consubstantiality.” The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist in One hypostatic union, One substance, like Eve was biologically part of and never physically separate, but of one substance from Adam, for she came out of Adam. Likewise, humanity is made of one spiritual substance with the triune God through Jesus Christ who took our humanity upon Himself and joined it to the divine Light of God in His triune Being forever.
The three-dimensional Triune Light/Life/Love is opposed to living the one-dimensional solitary life of the fallen humanity inherited from Satan through Adam’s rebellion. For additional information about the Triune Life: http://bulamanriver.net/?p=8036. Also at: http://bulamanriver.net/9092.
**Bulamanriver: is the metaphor describing the union of man with the Love and Light of the Triune God flowing in humans, making possible the “Triune Life” – the source of the miraculous life in man. To read the different facets of the life of the Bulamanriver, you may obtain a copy of my book, “Bula Man-River,” from Amazon.com; xulonpress.com, barnesandnoble.com, and other online book stores. All proceeds will go towards furthering the work of Gospel of Jesus Christ around the world.
“Bulamanriver” Book Cover
***Mission Statement: Read the Triune Love Mission, Vision, and Value statements at: http://bulamanriver.net/8664.
Mission, Vision, Value, Statements
(Our Home address: www.//bulamanriver@gmail.net).
****The “Love-Fruits of the Holy Spirit:” *the fruit of patience, *the fruit of kindness, *the fruit of contentedness, *the fruit of modesty (unboastful), *the fruit of humility, *the fruit of honor, *the fruit of unselfishness, *the fruit of calmness and dignity, *the fruit of forgiveness and compassion, *the fruit of delighting in good and shunning evil, *the fruit of tolerance, *the fruit of responsibility, *the fruit of enduring hope, *the fruit of steadfast perseverance, *the fruit of joy, *the fruit of peace, *the fruit of goodness, *the fruit of faith, *the fruit of gentleness, *the fruit of self-control, *the fruit of zeal and spiritual fervor, *the fruit of friendship, *the fruit of sharing and generosity, *the fruit of prayerfulness, *the fruit of hospitality, etc. (1 Cor.13; also Gal. 5:22-23; Rom. 12:9-21).
God is never without His Love activity through the Love-Fruits in the Spirit, for His activity and His triune Being are essentially and eternally one through Love (1 John 4:16). The act of God is not one thing, and His Being another, for they coinhere mutually and indivisibly in one another. God can never be anything but Love. These Love-Fruits may seem ordinary and mundane, but when empowered and propelled in the Spirit’s power, they are transformed into divine elements of growth and maturity.
The “Love-Fruits” of the Holy Spirit:
These Love-fruits speaks volumes and gives us a peek into the different tones of God’s Love. They are not rules to live by as if they are legalistic requirements to follow. They tell us how God in His Tri-Personal Being in the Father, Son, and Spirit, have lived in One unified shared Love-experience from eternity as God, and desires to share His “Triune Life” with believers. They reveal the holy emotions of the Tri-Personal Being of God. These are not human emotions, they reveal the divine passion and desire of how God lives “naturally” in an intuitive and spontaneous fashion together as One God who is Love.
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