The Bible reveals that the Son is called the Father (Isa. 9:6) and that He is the Spirit (2 Cor. 3:17). Consider the revelation of the Triune God in chapter fourteen of John. In verse 8 Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father and it suffices us.” Apparently surprised at Philip’s request, the Lord Jesus answered, “Am I so long a time with you, and you have not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. How is it that you say, Show us the Father?” (v. 9). Then the Lord went on to say, “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me?” Here the Lord seems to be saying, “Philip, have I been with you so long and still you don’t know Me? Don’t you realize that when you see Me, you see the Father? I am one with the Father. The Father is in Me, and I am in the Father. Apart from Me and outside of Me, there is not such a Person called the Father.”
Isaiah 9:6 says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given...and his name shall be called...The mighty God, The everlasting Father.” According to this verse, the Son given to us is called the everlasting Father, or the Father of eternity.
Not long ago a certain preacher said that the Father in Isaiah 9:6 is merely similar in meaning to the title “father of his country” applied to Washington and the “father of electricity” applied to Edison. Even if we accept this kind of understanding, we need to ask of what father is the Son. According to Isaiah 9:6, He is the Father of eternity. The title “Father of eternity” actually means “the eternal Father.” Some versions translate the Hebrew in this way. The Father of eternity means the Father who exists forever, the eternal Father. The phrase “of eternity” denotes One who is self-existing and everlasting. Therefore, the Father of eternity is the Father who is self-existing and everlasting. Who is this Father who is self-existing and everlasting? Are there two such Fathers—the Father in the Godhead and another Father who is the Son in Isaiah 9:6? The answer to this question is that the Father in the Godhead is the Father of eternity, and according to Isaiah 9:6 the Son is also the Father of eternity. There are not two divine Fathers! There is only one Father of eternity, the Father who is self-existing and everlasting.
After the Lord Jesus made it clear in John 14 that He and the Father are one, He went on to speak concerning the Spirit as another Comforter: “And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever; even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you” (vv. 16-17). Actually, this other Comforter is the Lord Himself in another form. First He was the Comforter in the form of the flesh. Then He became another Comforter as the Spirit. This Comforter is the Spirit of reality. According to John 14:17, the Spirit of reality will not only be among the disciples, but will also be within them.
In John 14:20 the Lord Jesus went on to say, “In that day you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.” The day spoken of here is the day of the Lord’s resurrection. Here the Lord seems to be saying, “In that day you will know that I am in the Father. Then you will no longer ask Me to show you the Father. Realizing that I am the Father, you will also know that you are in Me and that I am in you as the Spirit is in you (v. 17). This is possible because I am also the Spirit.”
If the Lord were not the Spirit, how could we be in Him, and how could He be in us? If He were not the Spirit, we could not enter into Him, and He could not enter into us. For this, the Lord must be the Spirit, the holy pneuma, the heavenly air. Because He is the Spirit, the pneuma, the air, He can be in us, and we can be in Him. The disciples came to know this on the day of Christ’s resurrection. On that day they knew that He was in the Father, that they were in Him, and that He was in them.
The Lord’s words in John 14 indicate that the Three of the Godhead—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are one. This is confirmed by the apostle Paul. First Corinthians 15:45 says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.” This means that the Lord Jesus as the last Adam in the flesh has become a life-giving Spirit. Furthermore, in 2 Corinthians 3:17 Paul declares, “Now the Lord is the Spirit.”