Trinity in the afterlife?

[Nichole]

I have been pondering this question off and on for quite some time now. I assume others have thought this too. God is 3 persons in 1 essence, but after death and we go to Heaven, what will we actually see? Will we see Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.........3 actual people or 1? And I know we may never know the answer of God's true nature, but I thought it would be interesting to know what others thought! :idea:

[Kirkhaven]

Wow, great question! I guess I've really never considered it that closely before. But what I have considered, is that Jesus will always have a resurrection body. One in which He'll always bear the scars that He received for us.

[JustinHesychast]

Ya, that's a really interesting question. I've never thought about it, but from the top of my head I would have to think something along the lines of: We may or may not see the Spirit in a form, we will see Jesus Christ, and we will not see God since no human can see him in his fullness since Adam and Eve.

[buzuxi02]

Most likely you will see the second person of the trinity, Jesus Christ. He is the visible image of the invisible God.

[Kirkhaven]

Most likely you will see the second person of the trinity, Jesus Christ. He is the visible image of the invisible God.

Agreed. "He who has seen Me has seen the Father" Jesus said.

[ArmyMatt]

yeah, you'll see the glorified Son of the Father, for in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily

[Nichole]

Wow..........great responses! :D

[Philothei]

We do not know excactly what we will see ...because even St. John the Evangelist who wrote the Revelation i was difficult for him to write what he saw... in a vision... so much more to see it in reality. And how do we know that God's reality is our reality? We do not. The fathers say that we will live in total spiritual bliss. I have no answer of how we will perseve the Holy Trinity...

Maybe we will only 'see' the Son and/or the Father as Adam and Eve did lived in the "presence" of God in the Garden...

personally I do not think these things I will be happy to end up there... first.

God bless,
Philothei

[SaintMarina]

I will be happy to end up there... first.

God bless,
Philothei

:amen:

[Dorothea]

I agree with others who said we will see Christ. Of course, when you think about it, we will because He will judge us when He returns. So, definitely Christ. I just read the other night (I'm reading the OT)....I'm on the story of God telling Moses how to erect the altar, etc. Moses wanted to see Him, but God said He could not see God the Father in the face ever, but God sent His Son to walk past Moses so that Moses could see Him.

[Nichole]

I agree with others who said we will see Christ. Of course, when you think about it, we will because He will judge us when He returns. So, definitely Christ. I just read the other night (I'm reading the OT)....I'm on the story of God telling Moses how to erect the altar, etc. Moses wanted to see Him, but God said He could not see God the Father in the face ever, but God sent His Son to walk past Moses so that Moses could see Him.
Oh.........where is that found in the OT?

[Kirkhaven]

Oh.........where is that found in the OT?

It's found in Exodus 33:12-23

Here is the main portion of it:

(Starting at verse 18)

Then Moses said "Now show me Your glory".
And the Lord said "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But" He said, "you cannot see My face, for no one may see me and live".
Then the Lord said, "There is a place near Me where you may stand on a rock. When My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with My hand.until I have passed by. Then I will remove My hand and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen".



I am especially amazed by the tenderness of the Lord in this passage, much like a Parent is with their child.

[Nichole]

It's found in Exodus 33:12-23

Here is the main portion of it:

(Starting at verse 18)

Then Moses said "Now show me Your glory".
And the Lord said "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But" He said, "you cannot see My face, for no one may see me and live".
Then the Lord said, "There is a place near Me where you may stand on a rock. When My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with My hand.until I have passed by. Then I will remove My hand and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen".



I am especially amzed by the tenderness of the Lord in this passage, much like a Parent is with their child.
Awesome~~~and thanks! :) I agree with you on the tenderness of the Lord! ;)

[buzuxi02]

yes, visually only the Son can be seen or heard. For he alone became incarnate and took on a material form. This is demonstrated in our entire understanding of iconography and why we can now depict God the Son incarnate.

In the afterlife perhaps we will sense the Father and the Spirit in other ways, as we do now. Perhaps our christian experience of the Holy Trinity is a small foreshadowing of how we wil behold the triune God in the world to come.

In Rev 22.1, "And he showed me a pure river of living water, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb."

Here we see the persons of the Trinity sitting on His throne, the Spirit being portrayed as living water. As John 7.37-39 says, "....Jesus stood and cried saying 'If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believes on me as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this he spoke of the Spirit which they that believed on Him should recieve. For the Holy Spirit was not yet given because that Jesus was not yet glorified.

[Philothei]

It's found in Exodus 33:12-23

Here is the main portion of it:

(Starting at verse 18)

Then Moses said "Now show me Your glory".
And the Lord said "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. But" He said, "you cannot see My face, for no one may see me and live".
Then the Lord said, "There is a place near Me where you may stand on a rock. When My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with My hand.until I have passed by. Then I will remove My hand and you will see My back; but My face must not be seen".



I am especially amazed by the tenderness of the Lord in this passage, much like a Parent is with their child.
I love this passage also and St Gregory of Nyssa has written about it in his book "The life of Moses" ... as well... It is a wonderful book worth while to read...



"Gregory of Nyssa, one of the Greek Cappadocian Fathers,was considered one of the great spiritual leaders of the 4th century. Gregory's THE LIFE OF MOSES reflects his "spiritual sense" of the scriprtures. He maintained that the ultimate purpose of the Bible was not its historical teachings but it capacity for elevating the soul to God. Gregory saw the totality of the spiritual life as a continual growth for straining ahead, as in the words of St. Paul, "Forgetting the past, I strain for what is still to come." Gregory frames an immensely significant synthesis of the earlier Hellenistic and Jewish traditions in this work. He describes the spiritual ascent as taking place in three stages, symbolized by the Lord's revelation of Himself to Moses, first in light, then in the cloud, and finally, in the dark."


CBD has an excellent price tag for that book....

http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=21123&p=1010575

[Kirkhaven]

[quote=Philothei;44119207]I love this passage also and St Gregory of Nyssa has written about it in his book "The life of Moses" ... as well... It is a wonderful book worth while to read...

Thank you for the recommendation. I had no idea that St. Gregory had written on this. But since I do order from CBD, I'll get a copy and will read it in the spring.

[Philothei]

You are welcome I read this book some 14 years ago.... time to read it again ... I was in grad school then....lol.. I only remember that I used it for my paper I wrote in my class in Cappadocian fathers....