Part 3. The Three Persons of Trinity and the God Is Light Metaphor
A little more explanation of the three components of the light spectrum may further the explanatory power of our metaphor for the Trinity doctrine. This we can do by comparing the three parts of the light spectrum with the three persons of the Holy Trinity as shown in the diagram of the light spectrum. Remember that the entire electromagnetic spectrum—all of light—is the same fundamental nature, but has three distinctly different components, just as the Trinity has one divine essence –whose name is Yahweh—in three distinct persons.
First, God the Father is like high energy light as shown in the spectrum diagram. The Father is so powerful that mortal humans cannot live in his presence, as attested by the Apostle Paul and by Moses, for the Father is the one,
1 Timothy 6:16 who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.
When Moses asked to see God’s glory, God had to shelter Moses in the cleft of a rock (Exodus 33:22), because
Exodus 33:20 “. . . you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”
Just as high energy light may be used to destroy or create physical material, so too the Father’s power is destructive of mortal bodies. Like Moses in the cleft of the rock (which represents Jesus, the rock of our salvation and Rock of Ages cleft for us), all men must be hidden in Jesus to protect them from the unbearable powerful presence of the Father.
Second, God the Son is like the small visible portion of the light spectrum. Jesus is God contracted to a human span. Jesus is the one that we can see, touch and hear with our physical senses (1 John 1:1-3). Jesus was a flesh and blood teacher confined (Luke 12:49-50) to a central point in history for a brief period of time, so that all people might know who God is. When we look at Jesus and extend our vision into the limitless distance, we see God revealed and explained (John 1:18, John 14:9), because Jesus is the visible “image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15).
Third, God the Holy Spirit is like the low energy part of the light spectrum. The Holy Spirit is a separate person of the Trinity. He is referred to by personal pronouns and is sent by the Father and the Son to communicate with us and remind us of what the Father and Son have taught, so that we may be comforted in fellowship with them (John 14:16-21). How this communication might be accomplished suggests an interesting speculation in my experience with the physics of light and my medical training about the human brain.
We are all familiar today with communication by radio and television, let alone so-called smart phones. These devices send and receive electromagnetic radiations of low energy light. A properly tuned receiver antenna on any of these devices can select the wavelength for a desired program or message and translate it into audible and visible messages that make sense to us.
Our human brains are unimaginably complex electrical circuits that are like tuned antennas that may receive input of low energy light waves. The brain in its thought processes is also constantly emitting extremely weak electromagnetic waves of light, which, if we had sufficiently sophisticated technology, could be deciphered to interpret the thoughts of the brain generating these waves of light. I think that God Who created our human bodies and brains obviously possesses such technology, and that is why the thoughts of men are known to him before words are formed on tongues (Psalm 139:2-7; Mark 2:8). Of course this is mere speculation on my part, but it perhaps provides a plausible physical mechanism that challenges skeptics who deny the power of God to “know the human heart.” (Psalm 44:21; Acts 15:8).
Finally, the God Is Light metaphor offers additional illumination of Jesus, who is fully God and fully man all at once. This seeming contradiction has mystified many and engendered mocking from skeptics. But the physical nature of light is similarly mystifying, as seen in quantum mechanics, a most successful scientific theory and the basis of much practical technology today.
What quantum mechanics shows unquestionably, in every conceivable test and circumstance, is that light exists and is measured as two incongruous entities that are both true all at once. Light is both a stream of individual particles (photons) and a continuous wave at one and the same time. This seemingly contradictory conclusion is nevertheless a solidly established empirical scientific fact. This conclusion about the nature of light bothers the bias of scientists, who cannot see how it can be true, but is it has proved true nonetheless and is undeniable. In the same way, the truth of the entire Holy Bible is that Jesus is wholly God and wholly man all at once, human bias and denial notwithstanding!
Conclusion:
Though there is much more that can be said, and many other Scripture passages that can be offered in support of the God Is Light metaphor, this is enough to peek behind the veil of mystery surrounding the Trinity and its three persons who are the LORD God (Yahweh Elohim). This glimpse of the nature of our God via metaphoric comparison with the physics of light helps to appreciate and acknowledge the manifold wisdom and truthfulness of our creator who is at the beginning and end of all things, all at once. If such a claim seems excessive, let us remember that this metaphor is biblical. It is given under inspiration to the Apostle John, though in his contemporary context he could not have understood it, even as Daniel and Isaiah could not comprehend clearly all the ramifications of the prophecies God inspired in them.
The source of John’s inspiration is the triune God himself, whose holy words are true, and who has as much concern for his 21st century children as for first century believers, just as Jesus prayed to his Father (John 17:20-21).
Alleluia! We are hidden in the cleft of the rock, which is Jesus. Alleluia! In Jesus we are able to see and know the God who is light. Alleluia! Jesus has torn open the veil and given us entry into the presence of the Almighty in the Holy of Holies where we worship together! Alleluia for the Trinity, for the God who is light, who is unique and unimaginable by men and wholly different from all false gods. What would you expect of the true and living God? That he be like a man?!
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