Eternal Love

A couple from Texas ended life together the same way they began their relationship 62 years earlier—holding hands. Thomas and Delma Ledbetter died less than ninety minutes apart in a nursing home where they were brought when both of them became ill. Staff pushed their two beds together and Thomas reached over and grabbed his wife’s hand.

Their two daughters said their parents loved to travel the country and go camping together. Tom first held Delma’s hand on their first date. They never wanted to be apart. Family members shared, “Their love was a testimony to many, and was surely a match made in heaven.”

There’s an even deeper bond of unity within the Godhead. While Jesus was dying on the cross, He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34). Christ suffered from a broken heart when sin separated Him from the Father. Sin breaks our connection with God as Jesus experienced when He willingly took our sins upon Himself and died in our place. Christ’s separation from His Father killed Him.

We have little comprehension of how the death of Jesus affected the reciprocal love relationship within the Godhead. For all time the Father, the Son, and the Spirit had been united. They were co-eternal, co-existent, and expressed unselfish love and devotion far beyond what we can understand. John writes that Jesus “was in the beginning with God” (John 1:2).

Father, Son, and Spirit are all divine and are all God. Human organizations put final authority into the hands of one person—a president or chairperson. The Godhead share their divine qualities while each is still completely God. Together they are one in authority and purpose. The love between a devoted husband and wife only gives us a tiny glimpse of the loving relationship that exists within the Trinity.

Apply It:

Think about a happily married couple who exhibit the qualities of loving oneness.

Dig Deeper:

Isaiah 42:1; 1 Corinthians 12:12; 1 John 4:8

Key Bible Texts

I and my Father are one. (John 10:30 KJV)