Knowing God As Your Father

Feature 1 – October 2015 — Grace & Truth Magazine

Knowing God As Your FATHER

I heard a touching story about a humble pastor whose young son had become very ill. After the boy had undergone an exhaustive series of tests, the father was told the shocking news that his son had a terminal illness. The boy had accepted Christ as his Savior, so the minister knew that death would usher him into glory; but he wondered how to tell his son that he soon would die. After earnestly seeking direction from the Lord, he went with a heavy heart through the hospital ward to the boy’s bedside. First he read a passage of Scripture and had a time of prayer with his dear child. Then he gently told his son that the doctors expected him to live only a few more days. “Are you afraid to meet Jesus, my son?” asked his father. Blinking away a few tears, the little boy said bravely, “No, not if He’s like you, Dad!”

The Heart Of The Father
This father had imitated the Lord Jesus in such a way that he revealed the very characteristics of Christ to his son. This is exactly why the Lord Jesus came: to reveal the heart of a loving God to a world that had turned its back on Him. To those who believed in the Lord Jesus, to those who put their faith and trust in His finished work on the cross, “to them He gave the right to become children of God” (Jn. 1:12 NKJV). When the Lord Jesus became man – perfect and without sin – and walked here in this world, He not only provided the way back to the holy and righteous God, but He also revealed the Father. John 1:14 says, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

A little later we read: “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (v.18). This phrase, “in the bosom of the Father,” could also be read “on the bosom of the Father” – a place of intimacy. It is in the present tense, meaning that while Jesus was here on earth He was in the bosom of the Father. This tells us of:

• The nearness and deep attachment between the Father and the Son;
• The communion between Father and Son – where all the Father’s thoughts are shared perfectly by the Son; and
• The Son’s constant enjoyment of the Father’s love in all its fullness.

Compare this with John 21:25: “And there are also many other things that Jesus did, which if they were written one by one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. Amen.” Only the Father’s bosom could contain Him!

Why is this so important? Because the Lord Jesus revealed to us what the Father is! No one else can perfectly proclaim the Father as the One who knows all there is in that bosom – the place of access, communion and endearment. He speaks of the Father’s heart, out of which flows the truth of the Father’s name. The Lord said, “I have come in My Father’s name” (Jn. 5:43). A name in Scripture speaks of character, and our Lord fully manifested the Father’s character. The Son found His strength and refreshment in doing the will of the Father and His desire to finish that work (Jn. 4:34, 6:39, 17:4, 19:30). The Lord Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand” (Jn. 10:27-29).

The last words of the Lord on the cross were “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Lk. 23:46). In John 8:29 we see that the Lord was always aware of the Father’s presence. He said, “And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” The Lord Jesus knew He was going back to the Father and spoke of the Father’s house in John 14:2, “In My Father’s house are many mansions, if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” Flowing out of the bosom of the Father, all this is revealed by the Son. Jesus prayed, “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (Jn. 17:24).

The Revelation Of The Father
Wounded and hurting people can find help in the embrace of the Father. Actually we all need to experience daily the care of a loving Father. How is this possible? First of all, we must know the Lord Jesus. He said, “All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him” (Mt. 11:27). In John 8:19 we read: “Then they said to Him, ‘Where is Your Father?’ Jesus answered, ‘You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.’” This came out again in a conversation with His disciples in John 14:7-11, “‘If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.’ Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves.’”

Ways The Son Reveals The Father
As we begin, let us be reminded that the Son is the exact representation of the Father (Heb. 1:3). Now, let’s consider these points:

• The Son reveals the Father’s love. In Jeremiah 31:3 we read of Jehovah’s declaring to Israel, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” We read of that same love in John 3:16, Romans 5:8 and John 13:1. We hear the words of the Lord Jesus, “For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God” (Jn. 16:27). Listen to 1 John 3:1: “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!” The God of love, as the loving Father, is revealed in and through the Son.
• The Son reveals the Father’s compassion. In Psalm 103:13 we see that God is a compassionate Father: “As a father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him.” God is pictured as a compassionate father in Luke 15:20 and He is called “the Father of mercies and God of all comfort” in 2 Corinthians 1:3. As we read through the New Testament we see this compassion revealed through the heart of the Son. We read: “But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd” (Mt. 9:36). “When Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick” (14:14).
• The Son reveals that the Father delights in us. The Psalms speak of God’s delight in His people: “The LORD takes pleasure in those who fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy,” and “For the LORD takes pleasure in His people; He will beautify the humble with salvation” (147:11, 149:4). Proverbs 8:30-31 speaks of the Lord Jesus prophetically and says, “Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; and I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him, rejoicing in His inhabited world, and my delight was with the sons of men.”
• The Son reveals the caring heart of the Father. In Deuteronomy 32:10-11 the caring nature of God is compared to a mother eagle tenderly caring for her young. First Peter 5:7 encourages us to cast all our care upon this same Father, who has been revealed to us through our Savior.
• The Son reveals that we are brought into a friendship with God as our Father. Deuteronomy 33:12 describes the friendship God had with the tribe of Benjamin. That same friendship is enjoyed by us today through Christ. He declared, “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (Jn. 15:13-15).
• The Son reveals that the Father relates to us intimately and calls us by name. Just as God dealt with Job and later the nation of Israel (Job 29:4; Is. 43:1-2), He deals intimately with us through our Shepherd. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own ... My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me” (Jn. 10:14,27).

How Does This Affect You?
One of the things we learn from just these few characteristics among many is that the Father wants to have a relationship with us. He has provided the way through His Son. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (Jn. 14:6). Once we are in that relationship we read: “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Gal. 4:6-7). “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together” (Rom. 8:14-17).

While Romans 8 goes on to tell us that there is nothing that can separate us from this relationship, we have to admit that sin can hinder the enjoyment of it. First John picks up on this and develops the vital signs that give proof that we are really in the family of God. But the first thing that the aged apostle reminds us of is reasons why Jesus came in the first place. In 1 John 1 he begins by speaking of the incarnation of Christ, the Son becoming a man. Then he says, “That which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full” (vv.3-4). Why did the Lord Jesus come? He came that we might have a relationship with the Father and in that relationship have fellowship with God as our Father! Fellowship with the Father will produce real joy in our lives!

So many Christians never really enter into the joy of knowing God as their Father. Spend time with Him today, not as a distant God way up yonder somewhere, but as your Father who allows you to enter His very presence and call Him “Abba [Papa or Daddy], Father!” What a privilege! May you be enjoying it today!

By Timothy P. Hadley