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As emphasized before, we are limited beings and many things about God are beyond our ability to understand. Most of these are things that we either have no need to know or no right to understand. However, there are a few things that God wants us to know, even if we cannot comprehend them completely. We will look at some of them in this chapter.

There are a few things about God that, although they may seem contrary to logic, are not wrong. Logic is a manmade product and people are the product of God. Therefore, God is above logic. We cannot force Him into the limited framework of our logic.

For example, consider a child who only knows how to count from one to three. If we ask her what two minus one is, she can give the answer. However, if we ask her what one minus two is, she would say that it is impossible, because she has no concept of negative numbers. Likewise, heavenly mathematics is different to human mathematics. For example, in heaven, three is one and one is three.

Responding to these difficulties, we, as believers, should not consider them illogical, but neither should we try to understand them entirely. There will always be something wrong with any purported explanation. This it could lead to heresy or have negative effects on our faith.

According to the Bible, there are three Persons in the Godhead: the Father, the Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. The Father created the world, Jesus Christ sacrificed to save humanity, and the Holy Spirit guides us in our new life. In theory, we know that Jesus Christ has already ascended into heaven, is sitting at the right hand of God, and has sent the Holy Spirit to the world.

Yet in our daily devotional experience, we have a different feeling. We feel the Holy Spirit, but we do not feel distant from God the Father or the Son. These two Persons are as close to us as the Holy Spirit is. Furthermore, we feel that the three are equal. When we think about Jesus Christ, we feel that he is no different from God the Father. We also feel that the Holy Spirit in us is no less than God the Father.

Through our experiences, the believer feels that three is one and yet one is three.

The Bible says the same thing, confirming what we feel. It affirms that there is only one God. In the Old Testament, Moses wrote, “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.”184 In the New Testament, Jesus Christ said, “I and the Father are one.”185 Similarly, the Apostle Paul said, “one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”186 By definition, God must be above all, therefore there should not be any other Person that is also above all like him. “I am the LORD, and there is no other; apart from me there is no God.”187

Clearly, the formula “three is one and one is three” is beyond our logical comprehension. Some persons try to explain this mystery away instead of accepting it with humility. But all human explanations ignore a few facts in the Bible. If they conveniently ignore some details in the Bible they can explain everything. For example, some say that there is only one God, but he wears many different “masks” in different times of his plan of salvation. This view does not mesh with many other details in the Bible such as the fact that Jesus Christ prayed to God the Father. Be wary of those who only use part of the Bible and conveniently ignore parts that contradict their theories. This is a sign of heresy that will appear more and more in the last days.

We should be glad that God is above our understanding. If we could completely understand Him, He would no longer be our God. The mystery of the Trinity is a lesson teaching us that we cannot form God in our own image. While we live in this world, we have to accept many things that we simply cannot understand. Only when Jesus returns can we understand more. “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.”188 We will have to wait until the Last Day to understand more. But for now, let us live with faith and humility before God and other people.

The mystery of the Trinity leads to a similar mystery concerning Jesus: He is both human and God.

In the first few chapters of this book, we looked at historical evidence showing that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (or God because they are one). I hope that I have not emphasized his divinity to the point that we forget that he was also a human being like us.

He was born in a normal manner by a woman. He did not know how to speak or walk instantly, but spent time to grow in body and in wisdom. Before his ministry, he labored in his father’s business as a carpenter. During his ministry, he was hungry189, tired190; he slept191 and ate192; he was also angry193, sad194, and happy195. He experienced pain and temptation and death, just like anyone else.

Besides the fact that he was completely sinless, he was completely human, like you and I. That is the mystery: How can a person be both God and human? The most satisfactory answer should be “We do not know.” The most acceptable reaction should be humility and acceptance.

Only when we accept that Jesus Christ was both God and human can we see the effectiveness of his blood on the cross. Human beings are sinful and therefore must die. If God wants to die for us, he must become human; otherwise people would have to die for their own sins. But to die for other people, the sacrificing person has to be completely sinless. Otherwise he could only die for himself. For this reason, Jesus must be God.

In other words, God had to cut his relationship with people because they sinned. Therefore, a “mediator” was required to reconcile the two sides. The mediator had to be God, to show humans that He loves them and He wants them to come back to Him. This mediator also had to be human and represent humanity before God, offering the sacrifice to God. This sacrifice came from humanity, but it was perfect because it was the blood of God.

From the perspective of God, Jesus Christ was human. From the perspective of humanity, he was God. This way, salvation is both meaningful and effective.

I need to make it clear that Jesus was God first and then became a man, not a human being enlightened by God. We human beings can never become God. Desires to become God only reduce the glory of God and make us proud.

Since he was God first, Jesus Christ can easily be both God and a human being. Just imagine that you are living in a two-dimensional space and each of us is a circle in a plane. Imagine if Jesus Christ lived in a three-dimensional space as a sphere. If the Sphere Jesus comes to the plane Earth, then the Sphere would intersect with the plane as a circle like us. But the sphere is still a sphere. In reality, while we live in a three-dimensional space, God’s space has infinite dimensions. He can become man yet remains God.

The Bible said, “For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form”196 and

Who, being in very nature God,

did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,

but made himself nothing,

taking the very nature of a servant,

being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to death--

even death on a cross!197

Believers wholeheartedly accept this revelation, remembering what is taught in the Bible: “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”198

Are we looking for worldly wisdom, or a God that became man to save you and me?

AFTERWORD

Before I knew Jesus Christ, I only looked for the worldly wisdom.

I was born in a family that knew nothing about Christianity. During high school, sometimes I said that I was a Buddhist. But this only meant that I visited the pagoda on Buddha’s birthday. Sometimes I said that I worshipped my ancestors, but this simply meant that I paid respect to my ancestors during their death anniversaries to please my parents.

After high school, I was awarded a scholarship to study in Australia in 1968. In Australia, far away from the religious activities of my family, I lived a life of an atheist. Actually, I had faith but that faith was only in my own abilities. I had a goal for my life, but it was for a high social status in Vietnam after my graduation.

I was rather involved in community activities. When I was elected the president of the Union of the Vietnamese Students in Australia, I felt very proud of myself.

In 1975, Vietnam fell to the Communist. This event forced me to become an official representative of all the Vietnamese in Australia, who were comprised mainly of students. We were unable to sit still after what happened in Vietnam. In the beginning, we tried to raise funds to help refugees who had moved southward in Vietnam. But then when we were sure that Saigon would also fall, we tried to lobby the Australian government to help bring people out of Vietnam.

During this period, I had many opportunities to meet with many Australians. There were two types of people that made a strong impression on me. The first were the politicians. I do not want to generalize and say that all politicians are the same, but I will say that most politicians that I met during that period were not entirely sincere. When I wanted to see them alone, they coldly refused. But when I came with a TV reporter, they greeted me warmly so that they could have their faces on TV. They said that they loved the Vietnamese, but what they meant were some millions of people living vaguely somewhere on the face of the earth.

The second type of people that made a strong impression on me were the Christians. They sincerely tried to help us. They knew each of us personally. They cried along with the young students who suddenly had become stateless. They didn’t hesitate to try to provide a home away from home for those whose families were suddenly unaccounted for. In the midst of the hustle and the confusion of that time, I found myself asking how these believers could love others with such an unselfish love.

At the end of April 1975, we organized a hunger strike in Hyde Park, Sydney, to pressure the Australian government to help bring the Vietnamese to Australia. After about one day, Saigon fell. At that point we had to discontinue our strike. But not wanting to stop quietly, someone suggested to me that we have a prayer meeting before ending our strike. This was the first time that the word “prayer” came to me, and I agreed.

On the evening of April 30, about 50 students and a number of their friends sat in a park with candles in their hands, praying under the leadership of a university chaplain. This was the first time that I truly recognized my inability. Seeing my younger fellow students crying under the light of the candles, I felt as if my two hands were tied. For too long, I thought that I could be a great man and do great things and bring revolution to the world. That night, I realized that I was only a grain of sand, tossed around by the waves of life. I suddenly found myself saying within, “Dear God, help me because I cannot do anything.”

I returned to studying, finished the majority of my Ph.D. program at the end of 1975, and decided to leave Sydney to write my dissertation. Three months later, on the road back to Sydney, it was raining lightly outside. I was feeling proud of myself because inside my car, I had my dissertation ready for final submission. When I pressed down the gas pedal, the car made a turn. I was unable to control the car, and it it skided off the road. After spinning around a few times, the car stopped. When I stepped out of the car, I found that the wheels were badly damaged. I realized that I could have been killed.

This accident forced me to think about the meaning of life. I was reaching the zenith of a student career when I realize that I could have easily lost all degree, status and money. But more than that, I could have lost my very life. I shuddered to think that I could have been wasting so much of my life chasing fragile things. I told myself that I had to search for things higher than materialism and more lasting than this life on earth.

Now, I believe that God lets us find him if we genuinely search for him. The main condition is that we have to discard our preconceptions. When I look back, I recall that I did not search for the Christian God alone, but also for the god of other religions. That night, after reading a small book explaining the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, I prayed to Him, asking him to be the Lord of my life.

In the foreword, I said that believing is like renewing a love affair that was once broken. Now you understand that this love is the love between God and people and that Jesus Christ is the bridge that reconciles the two sides.

Ever since I first believed, I have had a peace that I could not understand before. My life is full of the “despite-love” that comes from God and will never fade. A feeling of powerlessness led me to the all-powerful; a near-death experience led me to a hope in an everlasting life in the nail-pierced hands of Jesus Christ.

My limited ability does not allow me to fully express all the blessings that I, and all other believers of Jesus Christ, have received, even in this world. Yet, unable to keep silent, I wrote this book, asking you to “let me share what I believe.”

Hopefully, after reading this book, at least you can tell yourself Jesus Christ is living and his plan of salvation makes sense. So will you come to him and taste the medicine that has changed the lives of billions of people in this world? Will you believe in Christ and step out of this human bondage? Why not?

Finished the Vietnamese Version in California May, 1985

Revised and translated to English in 2002

1 John 6:35

2 John 8:12

3 John 14:6

4 John 10:33

5 John 5:17-18

6 John 5:23

7 Mark 2:3-7

8 John 11:25-26

9 John 4:14

10 John 10:28

11 John 5:22

12 Matthew 25:31-33

13 Matthew 10:32

14 Matthew 7:22-23

15 Matthew 11:28

16 Matthew 16:15-16

17 John 8:46

18 Mark 2:1-3:6

19 Mark 2:17

20 1 Samuel 31:13

21 Mark 2:19

22 Mark 2:28

23 Mark 14:60-64

24 Matthew 27:24

25 Matthew 27:23

26 Isaiah 6:5

27 John 8:29

28 Matthew 5:3-12

29 Matthew 5:27-30

30 Matthew 5:38-42

31 John 7:15-17

32 Mark 6:45-51

33 John 2:1-11

34 Mark 6:34-44

35 Luke 5:18-26

36 Mark 7:31-37

37 John 9

38 Matthew 9:18-26

39 Luke 7:11-15

40 John 11:1-44

41 John 11:47-48

42 Matthew 12:25-26

43 Matthew 4:3-7

44 Matthew 24:24-25

45 Luke 7:22-23

46 1 Corinthians 15:19

47 Matthew 28:11-15

48 Matthew 27:65

49 John 20:6-7

50 Acts 5:28

51 John 19:34

52 Acts 10:41

53 John 20:11-18

54 Matthews 28:9-10

55 Luke 24:34

56 Luke 24:23-35

57 Luke 24:36-49

58 John 20:24-29

59 Corinthians 15:6

60 Corinthians 15:7

61 John 21:1-23

62 Luke 24:50-51

63 Acts 9:3-9

64 John 20:25

65 John 20:29

66 Matthew 5:21-22

67 Matthew 5:27-28

68 James 4:17

69 Mark 12:28-31

70 Psalm 14:2-3

71 Isaiah 53:6

72 Isaiah 64:6

73 Romans 3:23

74 1 John 1:8

75 Hebrews 12:23

76 Genesis 3:16-19

77 Genesis 6-7

78 Genesis 19:23-25

79 Exodus 7-14

80 Exodus 32:35

81 Ecclesiastes 12:14

82 Acts 17:31

83 Habakkuk 1:13

84 Proverbs 21:27

85 Genesis 3:19

86 Revelation 21:8

87 Romans 2:16

88 Romans 3:19

89 Matthew 13:50

90 Matthew 10:28

91 Romans 6:23

92 1 John 4:9-10

93 Galatians 3:13

94 Mark 8:31

95 Mark 14:21,49

96 Mark 14:24

97 John 19:30

98 Mark 10:45

99 Mark 15:33

100 Galatians 4:4-5

101 John 10:14-15

102 John 10:17-18

103 Luke 6:32

104 Romans 5:6-8

105 John 3:16

106 Matthew 11:28

107 Matthew 7:21

108 Matthew 18:3

109 Matthew 16:26

110 James 2:19

111 John 6:40

112 Matthew 6:25-26

113 Luke 11:9-10

114 Isaiah 55:8-9

115 Romans 6:23

116 Ephesians 2:8

117 Ephesians 2:8-9

118 Matthew 19:23-24

119 Romans 2:12 and 16

120 Exodus 20:12

121 Colossians 3:20

122 Romans 1:29-30

123 John 19:25-27

124 John 4:24

125 Matthew 23:13-14

126 Romans 3:24

127 Hebrews 12:2

128 Mark 12:10

129 Mark 7:8-11

130 Mark 10:25

131 Luke 6:12-13

132 Matthew 10:40

133 Romans 1:20

134 Isaiah 53:3-9

135 Deuteronomy 28:25

136 Hosea 9:17

137 Jeremiah 24:9-10

138 Jeremiah 31:4,8,10

139 Matthew 13:31

140 Genesis 1:1-2:3

141 Genesis 2:7

142 Matthew 5:45

143 John 8:32

144 (Find reference)

145 1 Peter 1:18-19

146 Acts 2:24

147 I Corinthians 15:22-23

148 I Corinthians 15:53-54

149 Acts 1:9

150 Psalms 110:1

151 Hebrews 9:24

152 Romans 8:34

153 Hebrews 4:16

154 Hebrews 4:15

155 Luke 12:15

156 John 14:27

157 Romans 8:28

158 Matthew 26:64

159 Mark 13:32

160 Matthew 24:43-44

161 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4

162 1 Timothy 4:1-2

163 Mark 13:21-23

164 Luke 21:9-11

165 John 16:7

166 John 16:7

167 Acts 1:4-5

168 Acts 2:1-8

169 Luke 1:35

170 John 16:12-14

171 Genesis 41:38

172 Judges 14:5-19

173 2 Peter 1:21

174 2 Corinthians 5:17

175 John 3:3,6-7

176 Romans 8:9

177 John 16:12-14

178 Romans 8:15-16

179 Hebrews 12:5-6

180 Romans 8:28

181 Galatians 5:16-18

182 Galatians 5:25

183 Galatians 5:22-23

184 Deuteronomy 6:4

185 John 10:30

186 Ephesians 4:6

187 Isaiah 45:5

188 1 Corinthians 13:12

189 Matthew 4:2

190 John 4:6

191 Mark 4:38

192 Luke 5:30

193 Matthew 23:13-36

194 John 11:33-36

195 Luke 10:21

196 Colossians 2:9

197 Philippians 2:6-8

198 1 Corinthians 1:18,25