How the believer should give things over to the Supreme of Heaven.

Grace Bible Church
Pastor Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Tree of Life
Weekly Review
The Supreme Court of Heaven.
How the believer should give things over to the Supreme of Heaven.

We are now ready to study the main doctrine that is referred to in our ninth commandment which is “You shall not bear false witness,” that is the Doctrine of the Supreme of Court of Heaven. This really addresses how the believer should give things over to the Supreme of Heaven.

Point 1 is an Introduction. The supreme court of heaven is composed of the three persons of the Godhead--God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Even though they are three persons in the godhead, they have the same divine essence, that is they are equal to one another and therefore, we call that the divine essence the Trinity.

The doctrine of the Trinity recognizes God as being one in essence, but three distinct persons who possess equal, perfect, eternal and infinite identical essence.

Therefore, even though the word Trinity is not found in the Bible, we use the word trinity to describe three persons in one Godhead. There is only one divine nature or being and that is God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

So, this divine being is tripersonal, involving distinctions between the Father, Son, and Spirit, all of whom live within the believer. These three persons are joint partakers of exactly the same nature and majesty of God.

Distinctions are made between the members of the Trinity, as described in 2CO 13:14, The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God [the Father], and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.

So, the word “trinity” was first used by Tertullian in the second century to designate a Biblical doctrine concerning the purpose of the indwelling of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Under this principle, the plural pronoun for God, which is Elohim, is used to designate such passages as GEN 1:26, 3:22.

GEN 1:24-26, Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind: cattle and creeping things and beasts of the earth after their kind”; and it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creeps on the ground after its kind; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

GEN 3:22, Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”.

We are also taught this principle of the word “us” as in ISA 6:8, Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”

Since we are in the book of Gen, look at GEN 11:1-7, Now the whole earth used the same language and the same words. And it came about as they journeyed east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly.” And they used brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. And they said, “Come, let us build for ourselves a city, and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name; lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have the same language. And this is what they began to do, and now nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. “Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”

In JOH 17:21, in our Lord’s prayer, He prays that we may all be one; even as Thou, Father, {art} in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.

We also have passages like PSA 110:1, “The Lord [God the Father] said to my [David’s] Lord [God the Son].”  

The distinction is also delineated in PSA 2:7, “I will announce the decree of the Lord [God the Father]. He said to Me [God the Son], `You are My Son [deity of Jesus Christ].

This day [day of incarnation] I have begotten You.” = quoted three times in the New Testament, in ACT 13:33, HEB 1:5, and HEB 5:5.

Probably one of the best passages on the word Trinity is found in ISA 48:16 “Come near to Me; listen to this.  From the first, I have not spoken in secret.  From the time it took place, I was there.

And then I want you to look at the remainder of the verse which looks like this:

And now the Lord God [God the Father] has sent Me [God the Son], and His Spirit [God the Holy Spirit].”

And in MAT 28:19, “Go therefore and make disciples [Bible students] of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.”

This is a reference to the pre-Canon period of the Church-age in which water baptism was practiced to illustrate the baptism of the Holy Spirit by the use of ritual.

Joh 10:30, Jesus said to the crowd, “I and the Father are one and the same.” 

He was referring to divine essence not the human nature of TLJC.

Now, the pertinent attributes of divine essence is related to the function of the supreme court of heaven and include the following:

1. Divine integrity or holiness, which is composed of God’s justice and righteousness. This means that God is always just and righteous in His dealings with mankind. As the Supreme Court Judge, God can never be unfair, unjust, or even play favoritism in any way.

For example, the Bible teaches that God is righteous or right in all that He allows and does; DEU 32:4, “The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.

The second pertinent attribute of divine essence related to the function of the Supreme Court of Heaven is:

1. Omniscience, which means that all of the three judges have known all of the facts of every case from eternity past. God is all knowing, God knows all things!

Now, it is also God’s intention that every believer come to understand that there are certain doctrinal situations in the Bible that God wants us to learn “in this life” or “in what we humans call time.” Also, remember, anything which God did not intend for us to know was not included in the canon of scripture.

DEU 29:29, “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and our children forever.”

Certainly you will not understand the doctrinal content of the Bible all at once, for knowledge is built on knowledge; but, if you stay with it long enough it can be done.

Isaiah tells us why and how in ISA 28.

ISA 28:9, “To whom would He teach knowledge? And to whom would He interpret the message? Those just weaned from milk? Those just taken from the breast? For He says, ‘Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there. Indeed, He will speak to this people Through stammering lips and a foreign tongue, He who said to them, “Here is rest, give rest to the weary,” And, “Here is repose,” but they would not listen. So the word of the Lord to them will be, “Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, A little here, a little there,” That they may go and stumble backward, be broken, snared, and taken captive.

Remember, every book in the Bible was written by a human author who understood what he was recording.

2PE 1:12-19, Therefore, I shall always be ready to remind you of these things, even though you already know them, and have been established in the truth which is present with you. And I consider it right, as long as I am in this earthly dwelling, to stir you up by way of reminder, knowing that the laying aside of my earthly dwelling is imminent, as also our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me. And I will also be diligent that at any time after my departure you may be able to call these things to mind. For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well‑pleased”‑ and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.

And here are the two passages: 2PE 1:20-21, But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation,  for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Rom 8:28, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”