YOU and Jesus’ Intimacy With the Trinity (The 5:14 Conversations, Part 5)

Ephesians 5:14
Wake up, everyone who is sleeping!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you!
The 5:14 Conversations
Part 5:
Let’s Talk About You and
Jesus’ Intimacy With the Trinity
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This series of occasional discussions with David Bryant
explores the revolutionary impact on Jesus followers
of the anticipated 2024 American CHRIST Awakening.
Other parts of this series are available HERE.
Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4
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Christ Now: Welcome back to our ongoing series of conversations with David Bryant as we seek to explore and experience more of what the spectacular supremacy of God’s Son today is all about.
In Session 5, we begin a new subject. We’re exploring what defines the first step in any Christian’s great adventure in following Jesus, which is discovering more of who our Savior IS today, beginning with who he is TO us.
CN: Welcome, David.
David Bryant: Thank you. I think we’re about to open a treasure chest so full of blessings for anyone who wants to know more about who Jesus is that we probably won’t be able to cover it all in one part!
CN: I’m sure you’re right, David. So, let’s get started by asking quite simply: What does the little word “is” mean here? I suspect it packs a lot of punch when applied to Jesus. What do you mean by inviting us to explore and experience more of who Jesus IS?
David Bryant: Well, first of all, let me review for everyone again that there are seven dimensions of how we’re looking at Jesus. All of them flow out of this first one—who Jesus is TO us today. This dimension refers to his nature, his character, and his ways. We’ll talk more about that as we continue in this episode of our conversation.
But out of who he is TO us flow these other six dimensions of who Jesus IS:
Who he is FOR us today refers to every facet of his saving mission on our behalf.
Who he is OVER us today deals with how extensive his reign is both over the nations and over our own lives.
Who he is BEFORE us today looks at Jesus as a pioneer—a pacesetter moving out ahead of us.
Who he is WITHIN us today is all about how he lives his risen, ascended life within us, individually and corporately.
Who he is THROUGH us today helps us unpack how he ministers to the world by working through us, individually and corporately.
Who he is as he comes UPON us today explores how Jesus deepens and intensifies everything he’s already doing in our lives by the power of the Spirit.
CN: That’s a terrific outline. It provides us a good overview of the breadth and depth of who Jesus is and our relationship to him. So, then, who is Jesus TO us today.
DB: With this dimension, we want to focus on the person of God’s Son himself. It’s like developing a personality profile of Jesus, getting to know his personhood—his nature, character, ways, and very being.
Of course, the starting point is to simply state what the great confessions of the faith have said for 2,000 years: Jesus is God. To bow before Jesus is to bow before God. Above everything else, that truth is the most fundamental answer to the question, “Who is Jesus to us in terms of his person?”
CN: Well, I love the question you ask in your latest book, Christ Is NOW!, when you write: “How would you describe the Lord Jesus Christ if you tried to introduce him to someone who knew very little about him?”
Thinking back to Part 1 of our 5:14 Conversations series, we concluded that most of us would probably be at a loss as to what to say next after the first thirty seconds of talking about Jesus! So, how do we paint a richer portrait of him for others?
DB: Well, you know, when we want to share Jesus with others, we usually think about talking about the things he’s done for us. Of course, that’s part of our testimony and needs to be part of our witness to believers and unbelievers.
But then, how do I help someone know him as a person? For instance, if I didn’t exist, what would still be true about Jesus apart from what he’s done for me that I could share to introduce him to someone else?
The fact is that most believers know something about the impact of our Savior on our own lives, but we desperately need to know a whole lot more about who he is apart from us as the eternal, victorious, ever-living, exalted, and reigning Son of God.
How else will we grow in him and show him if we do not know him?
For instance, let’s start by digging into his intimacy within the Trinity. What does it mean that he is the tri-personal God of the universe? What do we learn about who he is as one who has been an inseparable part of that circle of love— Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—forever and ever and ever?
CN: In other words, he shares a oneness with the Father and the Holy Spirit that we can’t even begin to comprehend! But yet, exploring this is crucial in helping us define what’s at the very core of who Christ is as God in the flesh.
DB: Exactly! That’s who he is, and there’s no one else like him!
CN: Since you’ve made Jesus’ intimacy with the Trinity a major section in a chapter of your book, please share more about that insight into his personality.
DB: Here’s something you’ll find interesting. Although I expected it, over the years, I’ve had many people express a concern that I’m somehow violating the doctrine of the Trinity by my emphasis on the supremacy of Christ—by calling us to give him the preeminence, to give him first place in everything.
But, as you know, Paul himself does this in no uncertain terms in Colossians 1:18, among other passages. Who is Jesus to us? He is SUPREME—in everything and in every way. He is our “ALL in ALL”—Colossians 3:16.
Still, people frequently ask me: “What about the Father? What about the Holy Spirit? Aren’t you making too much of Jesus and downgrading the rest of the Trinity by doing so?”
CN: It’s easy to see why that confusion might be there. How do you respond?
DB: First, I ask: Is it really and truly possible to make too much of Jesus Christ—to become too passionate for him as Lord of all?
And then, I follow up that question with another: As we see the Trinity interact with each other throughout the Bible, how passionate are the Father and the Spirit for the supremacy and exaltation of the Son?
I have not yet found one person who says it is possible for a Jesus follower to be too passionate about the Son. Not one.
CN: Of course. But what about the implications of all that in terms of the dynamics within the Godhead?
DB: There are so many passages I could appeal to that reveal how central the Son is to the purposes of the Father and to the ministry of the Spirit. John 16:12-15 is powerful.
But let me take you to one of the great dramas in Scripture, when the answer to this concern comes through in a most dazzling way.
In Revelation chapter 5, we are allowed to view that great throne room scene. What do we see? Remember, John uses word pictures here because the reality of what he sees is too glorious for human words.
CN: In the symbolic imagery, we see the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—all three are there before us.
DB: Precisely.
The Father is pictured as the one sitting on the throne, with all the lightning, thunder, and rainbow, plus the hosts of heaven surrounding him.
Next, we behold Jesus represented to us as a Lamb once slain but who now resides at the center of the throne—in the lap of the Father, so to speak. But even so, he’s out front for all to see. Clearly, for all who look to the throne, he’s meant to be the center of attention, not only for John but for the myriads of angels and multitudes of saints singing the praises of the Lamb.
But then I ask people, “How can anybody see this phenomenal scene? How was John able to witness the drama and record what was going on, with the festive angels and the saints bowing in worship, unless there was light from somewhere?” Well, thankfully, John tells us: Seven lampstands hold blazing fires that fill the room, which John says represent the sevenfold Spirit of God, who sovereignly roams throughout the whole earth.
Look at that! It so happens that it is the Spirit of God, actively throwing his revelatory light on the throne of God, highlighting the Lamb at the center of the throne of God. In other words, here we behold the Spirit’s primary role—to serve us by showing us more and taking us into more of who Christ, slain but reigning victorious—declared by one of the elders to also be the Lion of the tribe of Judah. The Lion! Supreme!
CN: Clearly, then, this one passage—a vision of all that is to come—should make all of us want to make much more of Christ in his intimacy with the Trinity—to do so as much as the Trinity itself makes of him.
DB: Like I said, this incomparable, unfathomable truth is at the very core of who Jesus IS! Knowing it and living into it is at the core of the joyful, fulfilling life the Father wants for all who belong to Jesus. This is the “circle of love” we’ve been born again into by our union with the Son of God.
CN: Wow. I hate to stop, but we need to leave it there for now. I know you have much more to share with us about who Jesus IS to us today.
DB: You bet I do!
CN: OK. We’ll pick it up here next time.
Follow up with this 76-second video clip,
JESUS AS THE GLORY OF GOD.”

About the Author

Over the past 50 years, David Bryant has been defined by many as a “messenger of hope” and a “Christ proclaimer” to the Church throughout the world. Formerly a minister-at-large with the InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, president of Concerts of Prayer International (COPI), and chairman of America’s National Prayer Committee, David now provides leadership to ChristNow.com and Proclaim Hope!, whose mission is to foster and serve Christ Awakening movements. Download his widely read ebooks at ChristNow.com. Enjoy hundreds of podcast episodes. Watch his weekly vlogs at David Bryant REPORTS. Meet with David through Zoom or in-person events through David Bryant LIVE!

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