In yesterday’s post, I wrote about the Son “flesh” and the Father “Spirit” to remind us that God is Spirit and that God is not flesh. Two thousand plus years ago, God who is Spirit wore Son of God or Son of Man flesh so that He could be visibly seen and audibly heard in the physical realm.

Each time that Jesus referred to Himself as Son of Man while referring to God as Father, He was differentiating between the physical realm flesh and the Spirit. He was differentiating between the temporary Christ suit and His eternal Spirit being. “Son” equals flesh and “Father” equals Spirit. Again, there is only ONE Spirit of God, also known as the Holy Spirit. There is not a separate Spirit of God who made Himself known in flesh and then stayed in flesh to sit on the throne next to a God who was never in flesh. There is only one God who was temporarily in flesh as the Christ whose flesh would be crucified at the appointed time.

Let’s again look at some of the ONE GOD Scriptures to emphasize that there is truly only one God.

“I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not acknowledged me, so that from the rising of the sun to the place of its setting people may know there is none besides me. I am the LORD, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:2-6 NIV)

“There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6 NIV)

“Remember this, keep it in mind, take it to heart, you rebels. Remember the former things, those of long ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.” (Isaiah 46:8-9 NIV)

To recap, there is only ONE GOD. He is Spirit. He did not become a second Spirit of God when He robed Himself in temporary flesh and then eventually sit beside Himself on a throne in Heaven. The references to the Son sitting next to the Father are to remind us of when God intentionally took on flesh as an earthly king and a heavenly King. It was not to divide our allegiance between two separate Spirits of God.

Now let’s talk about the picture attached. Next month marks the 40th anniversary of the death of my youngest brother, Robby. The photo was taken just a few months before he died in a tragic car accident just before his 20th birthday. When I picture Robby in Heaven, this is how I picture him because that’s how he is remembered by me. I know analytically that he doesn’t look like that in Heaven because Robby’s flesh and blood body did not go to Heaven. His spirit being went to Heaven to be with God. I was at Robby’s funeral. I saw his temporary/earthly body in the casket. I saw the casket buried in the ground. And I know that all that is remaining of his human form is physical DNA that can be found in his decomposing skeletal bones. But Robby wasn’t ever just flesh and bones, he was a spirit being inside that temporary body.

So why is this important to the discussion of one God? Let’s see if I can make this understandable. We picture Jesus sitting on a throne in Heaven the way that He was present on earth (more than 2,000 years ago). The image we have of him doesn’t ever age or change. It is a fixed image in our mind of what He looked like when He was here in bodily form. But what we miss in that image is that Jesus is Spirit. He is the one and only Holy Spirit of God. He was only temporarily in bodily form for a period of time on our calendar. The essence of who He was then is His Spirit who is the Creator God. Jesus is not sitting next to God. He is God.