God's Trinity and the Properties of Light

There are so many things in the spiritual realm that are difficult for us to understand. We are creatures within time. I know that sounds kind of science-fictiony, but think about it. God occupies eternity. He always was, always will be. That’s pretty hard for a person like me, with a definite life-start-day and an impending (hopefully not too soon) life-end-day. I live within time. I can see it unfold throughout history. I know when things such as wars or artistic eras began, and I know when they ended. But God looks on all of creation and its history from a vantage point outside of time.

Wow. That’s amazing to me. And it is hard for us to understand many of these things about our God. Thankfully he has given us his word as revelation to who he is. And he also has given us creation as revelation.

I love when I see metaphorical examples of the nature of God within the world.

Take, for example, light. Light is an interesting study. It is comprised of three components. The first is visible light which is the colors of the rainbow, or white light. Visible light encompasses the light waves we can see with our eyes. You know when a light is on in the dark because you can see it.

A second component of light includes light waves we cannot see. In the spectrum of light there are ultraviolet waves, microwaves, x-rays. Those we cannot see, but we can see their effects. When you go to the dentist and get an x-ray on your teeth, you sit in a chair and they throw a heavy lead drape on you. That is to protect your body from the damaging effects of the x-rays. Those wavelengths of light are so strong, they can penetrate almost anything. We in our fragile human bodies cannot even stand to look at them or they would damage our eyes.

A third component of light is its giving of heat energy. If we’re outside on a cool day, we want to stand in the sunlight instead of the shade. That’s because the light from the sun creates heat. It is something we can feel but not see. Now think about this triad of light. Light we can see, light we cannot see but can certainly feel its power, and light energy we cannot see but can feel through its warmth.

When we look at the persons of the trinity, we know that Jesus is the person who became visible to us. He stepped out of eternity to enter time for us, to be seen. It reminds me of the visible component of light. The heavenly Father cannot be seen, but we know of his immense power. We cannot behold him. He is too powerful. Sounds like the super-potent wavelengths of light, right? And we know that the Holy Spirit cannot be seen but can be felt. Just like the heat energy from light.

Can you see how this creation of light gives us a glimpse of what a trinity can be? How three can be one? We cannot fully understand the godhead, but we can capture a greater understanding of that trinity when we learn more of the creation, during which time God made the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.