Deuteronomy 18:15-19
15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
13 When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”
14 They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”
15 “But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
Matthew 28:16-20
16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Deuteronomy 4:39 (KJV)
There is No One Else
39 Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
John 10:30
Jesus and the Father are One
30 I and the Father are one.
John 14:28
Jesus Is Going Bank to His Father
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.
John 17:1-5
Jesus Prays to be Glorified
1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:
“Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. 4 I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.
As Jesus walked with His Disciples to Caesarea Philippi He asked His Disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”...This is an interesting question...The people who followed the Old Testament and the Bible had been expecting a Messiah...Since Moses wrote thousands of years ago before Jesus walked the earth about a Prophet would come from your fellow Israelites, the people of Israel were expecting Someone Grand...The people were expecting an Anointed One from God...But they were not expecting One like Jesus...
Jesus came to earth, lived His life, died, then resurrected and gave His Disciples a Great Commission...The Disciples were to baptize all nations in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit...Jesus spoke and taught much about His Father -God...And He talks about the Holy Spirit for the most part in John chapters fourteen through sixteen...So the people around Jesus would hear Him talk about a Holy Spirit...
Maybe the first mention of God being a Holy Trinity may have been by Ignatius of Antioch...He wrote and spoke of the Trinity around 110 a.d., talking about obedience to "Christ, and to the Father, and to the Spirit"...Justin Martyr (AD 100–c. 165) also wrote, "in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Savior Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit"...But the first one to use the words Holy Trinity or Trinity was Theophilus of Antioch late in the second century...He defines the Trinity as God, His Word and His Wisdom in the context of a discussion of the first three days of creation...But the first person to use the word trinity was Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, also known as Tertullian...He wrote about the Trinity in the early 200's AD was the first to mention the primitive form of a Trinity...He was the first person to bring God, His Son and the Holy Spirit together as One...God in three distinct and separate parts, yet still One...And Jesus said He was getting to go back to His Father and that if the Disciples loved Him, they would be glad that He is going back into heaven, for the Father is greater than He...Many interpret this particular mysterious verse as Jesus was a Messenger to earth, to teach us about God and the human potential...Jesus is speaking of God who is the Originator of All Life and All Creation and is greater than this One who is sent as our Messenger...God is the Totality of All Things, and Jesus, as a Man, is lesser in that respect...
Those who thought a Messiah was coming what would they expect from God...Could not God do literally anything to and for the Messiah, He would send?...Couldn't the Messiah be a part of God, if God so desired?...Couldn't the Messiah, be God's Son, if God wanted Him to be?...God would and did send His Son to earth and for us...What would His Son be like?...Would not and could not His Son be a part of Him?...What could the Messiah, this Prophet that even Moses wrote about do?...Was He going to be just a Man, and a Moan only?...Would God give Him the power of miracles?...Would not the Messiah be Divine, if He is God sent?...God could create and make the Son of Man into anything...After all He is God, and He would be the One who would send Him...Nothing is impossible for God...So I guess, I wonder why many think that His Son could not be a part of His Father...I am a son, with a father...And I have always thought that I am indeed a part of my father...I can do many of the things my father taught me to do...So, I personally expect Jesus to do many of the things His Father has taught Him to do...But the problem is many cannot make or believe that Jesus is a part of God, and God and Jesus having this Duality...This Duality of the Father and the Son being One...Now Jesus says more than once, that He and God are One...So one either believes He has this special and unique relationship that is mysterious, and we explain it by not only a Duality of the Father and Son, but we add the Third Piece, the Holy Spirit, and believe that the Holy Spirit is Divine...So both Jesus and the Holy Spirit are Divine...So we now have the Trinity...And the Trinity is a Divine God, who mysteriously is One...We have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit as Tertullian wrote about...Had Tertullian focused on the Duality of Jesus and the Father being One, and called God and His Son a Duality (instead of the Trinity), I think I would have used that thought process and thinking also...I would have believed in this Duality concept also...Because, I do believe that God and Jesus are One...Yet, they are separate, a Father and His Son...So I also see this Duality...
Now all this is very confusing for me, because I am not a theologian...But I most definitely see the mystery of the Trinity, and how others believe that God is the Only True God...What I cannot see if God was and did send His Son and a Messiah to us -couldn't He be anything that God wanted Him to be?...