The Father God
The Father God
12/29 Reading Portions: 2 Chronicles 34; Revelation 20; Malachi 2; John 19
Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Malachi 2:10
ABBA
In Christ’s day, the Jewish mind was not unfamiliar with the concept of God as the heavenly Father. The prophet Malachi, here, expresses an understanding of one Father who has created God’s people— written over four hundred years before the birth of the Lord Jesus in Bethlehem.
In Matthew’s Gospel, which was written specifically to a Jewish audience, the Lord Jesus referred to the heavenly Father in 40 verses of Scripture, from the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:16) until the Lord’s ascension into heaven (Matt 28:19). Even Philip’s request and confusion concerning the heavenly Father implies that he at least grasped the concept (John 14:8). Moreover, when Jesus told the Jews who opposed Him, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30), they knew exactly what He was saying— that He was very God (John 10:31-33).
Yet, the concept of the heavenly Father could not fully be comprehended until the coming of the Son. When Philip made his request of the Master, the Lord Jesus replied,
“Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father.” John 14:9
The prologue to John’s gospel states,
No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, He has made Him known. John 1:18
Since the fall of Adam, our relationship to the heavenly Father has been fractured, separated by sin. Yet, in the reconciliation made by the atoning sacrifice of Christ, our relationship to the Father is restored by the redemptive blood, suffering, and death of the Christ upon earth. Because we have been redeemed by God’s grace, we have received heavenly adoption as sons, and because we are sons (which includes you ladies— you are not second class citizens), by the Spirit we may cry, “Abba! Father!” (Gal 4:6).
Our relationship with Abba,
Restor’d by God’s own Son;
In Christ’s name we now ask Father,
Because of what Christ’s done.
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