Who God is
103. God the Father
The Father God is not like many of our earthly fathers. We
can get the wrong image of God because we try to define Him by comparing Him to
our earthly fathers. Someone said
that God made man in His image, and then man tried to remake God into man’s
image.
God the Father has a desire to “father
us.”
It was August 26, 1979, 5:30 PM Sunday, when the
words jumped off the page at me, “And He said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
Beginning and the End. I will give
of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all
things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son’” (Revelation 21:6-7).
The
surprising thing for me was that I, being a person of reason and intellect, did
not even know what that meant; all I knew was that I had a new Father. The Holy Spirit was all over me, and
the new birth took place. There
was no theology, no consciousness of forgiveness of sin. All I knew is that God
had become my Father, the Bible was The Word of God and that Jesus “wrote the
Bible” (that is how I expressed it).
Titus 3:5
states that we experience the new birth (regeneration) by two things: The Holy
Spirit and The Word of Truth.
Now, many
years later, I am just beginning to understand what “Father” really means. W.E. Vine’s Bible Dictionary defines
the Greek word “Father” as “Pater,” from a root signifying a nourisher,
protector, upholder, the nearest ancestor, the progenitor of the race of
people; the originator of a family or company of persons animated by the same
spirit as himself. Regeneration is
from two words: “palin” which means again, and “genesis” which means birth. Palingenis, or regeneration, is actually changing who your
Father is.
W.E. Vine’s
Bible Dictionary also defines the word “Abba” as an Aramaic word used by
infants to call their daddy. It
betokens unreasoning trust, while Father or Pater expresses an intelligent
apprehension of the relationship.
The two together express the love and intelligent confidence of the
child.
Pater.
At first, Father God was Abba to me, not so much Pater. There were so many things for my family
and me to face, that we needed the comfort of Abba. However, we should not miss the “Pater” definition.
This
world was created to have everything bring forth and reproduce after its own
kind. Therefore, our “flesh,” or our old nature, is our inheritance from our
natural father, his forefathers, and all the way, back to Adam. Our inheritance, therefore, is cursed
by sin, and everything we have coming to us is not good! It takes longer for some to realize
that, especially those of us that have decent fathers. Even at best, we are doomed to
failure and spiritual death. Look
at the millions of people who were subject to parental abuse, even sexual in
nature. This is more common than
uncommon now. The child did not
deserve this lot in life, but it is indeed his lot.
Recently,
there is a new survey trying to prove
that certain gay lifestyles are inherited by birth; therefore it is God’s plan
for these people to be gay. I say
that their lifestyles might have been inherited by birth just as my sin was,
but it just shows in a more vivid way their need for a new Father. I submit that it is possible that sin
itself could be written on our very DNA.
I would like to see a study to see what happens to our DNA after the new
birth.
This is not
a religious problem, it is a scientific fact. We all need a new Father!
We need to change our race.
We need a new progenitor; we need an originator
of a family, or company of persons, animated by the same spirit as Himself. When I saw that in W.E. Vine’s Bible
Dictionary I got excited. If God
becomes our Pater, then through the insertion of His Spirit into our body, we
are then animated by His Spirit.
That changes our race, our inheritance, our lot in life, what we have
coming, our very nature. The world
thought it was amazing when in the 1960s in South Africa a man actually
received a heart transplant; what would they have thought if they had known of
a LIFE TRANSPLANT.
So,
how does this happen? Thank God that He set up the Universe
so that Life is in the blood.
Jesus and we “drank each other’s blood” and exchanged races. He did the drinking of our blood in the
Garden of Gethsemene, and He poured out His blood voluntarily at Golgotha on
the Cross. We drink His (not only
in communion), but also when we partake of the Word of the Covenant. He circumcised our hearts, thus
shedding our blood. We must also
“take up our cross” as in Luke 9:23-24.
What
a deal. Jesus got our race, and we got
His. That is why His virgin birth
took place. One’s blood is
inherited by his father. Jesus’
Father is God Himself. He got
God’s blood just like Adam did.
Jesus is the last Adam.
Think of the Lord’s Prayer in light of this.
“Our
Father (Pater) who is in heaven.” The
literal meaning of the word heaven is “an elevated, high and lifted up mount, happiness,
eternity.” So we pray to our
Father (not our earthly father here on earth, not the Pharisees’ father, not
Satan who is below), but the One Who is High and Lofty, above all things,
circumstances and people. Praise God!
Next
in The Lord’s Prayer is “Holy is Your Name.” To me, that means a description of what our new inheritance
is. If your father’s name is
Smith, then you inherit what is Smith’s nature and Smith’s substance. If your father’s name is Satan, then
you inherit what is Satan’s nature and Satan’s substance. If your Father’s name
is Holy, then you inherit Holiness.
Praise God! Look at the Ten
Commandments not as a prescription for conduct, but as a description of
God. You can depend on Him, He
will not lie, steal or kill, He will take care of His own, etc. He is unchangeable and ABSOLUTE in His
ways. He is absolutely honest,
absolutely merciful. His wrath is
also absolute. Thanks be to Him
that He took out His absolute wrath absolutely on His Son, the Lamb of God who
took away the sin of the world. So
when God is our Father, our progenitor, His Spirit animates us, He writes His
laws upon our hearts and performance is ended. No longer do we need to use clever religious methods to
please an absolute God. That is ridiculous. He puts Himself into us just as our natural father did.
I usually
like to know from God what His responsibility is, and what mine is. If I can clear that up on any given
matter, it brings peace. I think
it also pleases God.
If
what we need to experience in new birth is, as it says in Titus, “The working
of the Holy Spirit and the washing of the water of the Word,” then my question
is, “What is our responsibility to prepare ourselves for those two things (not
only for our initial new birth, but progressive “births” into His image)?”
First, the
Holy Spirit came upon Jesus after His baptism when John the Baptist said,
“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). I submit that the Holy Spirit comes
upon those who have the nature of a lamb.
Humility is the key. Not
seeking our own plans, but willing to submit, willing to be led, not demanding
rights, not hanging on to our wretched pride. So often people experience the new birth and later
deliverances when they have reached the end of themselves, when they are
exhausted in trying to make life work.
Next, I
submit that God reveals His Word of Truth to the ones who are truthful and
honest. It is a sowing and reaping
law. Psalm 85 says that truth
springs up from the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven. Being honest, really gut-level honest
without masks and hypocrisy, is being humble. To admit that there is no good thing in our flesh, that all
our flesh wants to do is to sin, is humiliating! Often when someone who does not know Jesus asks me about
Him, I tell him to be honest with God and God will reveal Himself.
God
actively resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. We need to exercise absolute truth (as
we know it), which will translate into humility. God our Father does the rest.
Derek Prince writes about the Father God in
his book “Fatherhood.” [1]
One of the great themes of
biblical revelation is “Fatherhood.” Strangely enough, it is a theme that has
been somewhat neglected in many Christian circles. Personally, Fatherhood is a subject which I have not merely
studied in the Bible, but also been faced with in my own experience. My first wife, Lydia, and I raised a
family of nine. More recently, my
second wife, Ruth, has added three more children to our total family. So altogether I stand in the
relationship of father to exactly one dozen persons. Most of them are grown and now have families of their own.
The Fatherhood of God.
However, it is not with human
fatherhood that I want to begin. I
want to share, first of all, about the Fatherhood of God. The Fatherhood of God is the great fact
behind the universe. That there is
a Father who is our God is the fact behind all other facts. A Father who created the universe as a
father. A Father who has left the
imprint of His Fatherhood on every aspect of the entire universe. In Ephesians
3:14-15, Paul prays one of his great and wonderful prayers. He says: For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, [from] whom the whole family in heaven and earth [or every family
in heaven and earth derives its] name.
That is the King James version. However, the word that is there
translated “fatherhood” is the Greek word patria. And that word is derived directly from the Greek word for
father so that the most literal, straightforward translation would be
“fatherhood.” So, in this connection, I would like to give you also Phillips
translation of those verses which brings out this fact of the connection
between father and family or fatherhood.
Phillips translates it this way:
As I think of this great plan I fall on my knees before the Father (from
whom all fatherhood, earthly or heavenly, derives its name).
That is a remarkable fact! All
fatherhood in the universe ultimately goes back to the fatherhood of God, and
that fatherhood did not begin on earth, it began in heaven. Fatherhood is eternal with God. It did not begin with time, it did not
begin with human history, it began in eternity. Eternally, God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and He
is so described in many parts of the Bible. In his gospel John says, “In the beginning . . . the Word
was with God.” That was before creation ever took place. The divine Word, the eternal Son of
God, was with the Father. The
Scripture says He was in the bosom of the Father. That intimate, personal relationship between God and the Son
existed before creation ever began.
This is an absolutely distinctive feature of Christian revelation.
It makes Christianity unlike any
other religious faith that I have ever encountered in the world. It reveals something unique and
particular about the nature of God.
In God, eternally, there is fatherhood. There is a relationship.
When Jesus came to earth, His
ultimate purpose was to bring to the Father those who would turn to Him. This is stated in many places. 1 Peter
3:18 says: “For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the
unjust, that he might bring us to God…”
Why did Jesus die? That he might
bring us to God. Jesus was not the
end, He was the way. He said that
Himself, emphatically, in John 14:6:
Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to
the Father, but through Me.”
Jesus is the way but the Father is
the destination. I think many
times in our Christian faith we really miss the purpose of God. We talk a great deal about the Lord
Jesus Christ as our Savior, our Intercessor, our Mediator, and so on. All of that is wonderful but it stops
short of God’s purpose. God’s
purpose is not merely that we should come to the Son, but that through the Son
we should come to the Father.
There is something beautiful about
the language of Jesus in the prayer He prayed in John, chapter 17. That prayer opens with the word
“Father” and it occurs six times in that prayer. Jesus speaks there about having made known the name of God
to His disciples. In verse 6, He
says, “I have manifested Thy name to the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the
world.” Then He says in verse 11:
“Holy Father, keep them in Thy name, the Name which Thou hast given Me.” And
right at the end of His prayer, He says again: “I have made Thy name known to
them, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou didst love Me may be
in them, and I in them.”
What name was it that Jesus came
especially to make known to his disciples? It was not the sacred name Jehovah,
the Jewish people had known that name for fifteen centuries. What was the new and special
revelation, the great purpose, the name that Jesus wanted the disciples to
know? The name is “Father.” That is the ultimate name of God. That describes the nature of God in His
eternal character more perfectly than any other word that exists in human
language. The ultimate revelation
of God, therefore, in the New Testament is the revelation of God as
Father. And the ultimate purpose
of the New Testament, the reason why Jesus Himself came, is to bring us to
God. If we stop short of this
revelation of God, we have stopped short of the full and final outworking of
redemption’s purpose. But when we
come into the fullness of this revelation of God and into that direct relationship
with God as Father, it supplies certain things which are conspicuously lacking
in the emotional experience of perhaps the majority of the people in our
culture. The three things which
come out of this revelation and this relationship are: identity, self-worth,
and security.
Identity is a real problem for
modern man. An interesting commentary on this need was the success of the book
and TV serial, “Roots.” The essence of that story was a man looking for the
place or roots from which he came.
Humanity is busy with the same search. Men and women want to know from where they came, who is
behind them, how it started and who they are. Scripture and psychology agree that a person really does not
answer the question, “Who am I?” until he or she knows who his or her father
is.
Today, human relationships between
parents and children have been so greatly broken down that it has produced an
identity crisis. Christianity’s
answer to that identity crisis is to bring men and women into a direct,
personal relationship with God the Father through Jesus Christ the Son. People who truly know God as Father no
longer have an identity problem.
They know who they are, they are children of God. Their Father created the universe,
their Father loves them, and their Father cares for them.
That brings us to the second need
that is supplied by this revelation of God the Father – the need of
self-worth. I cannot count how
many people I have dealt with in my ministry whose great problem was not sufficiently
appreciating themselves. They had
too low a picture of themselves which caused them many spiritual and emotional
agonies. In 1 John 3:1 it says,
See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called
children of God; and such we are.
Once we really comprehend that we are
the children of God, that God loves us intimately and personally, that He is
interested in us, He is never too busy for us and He desires a direct and
personal relationship with us, that gives us self-worth. I have seen this happen again and again
in the lives of people.
Once I was in a meeting and I
literally ran into a lady. We were going in opposite directions at considerable
speed. She picked herself up and
she said, “Mr. Prince, I’ve been praying that if God wanted you to speak to me,
we’d meet.”
“Well,” I said, “we’ve met. But I can only give you about two
minutes. I’m very busy.” She began
to tell me what her problem was and after a while I interrupted her and said,
“I’m sorry, but I’ve only got one minute left but I think I know your problem.
Will you follow me in this prayer? And led her in a prayer in which she just
thanked God that He was her Father and she was His child, that He loved her,
that He cared for her, that she was special and that she belonged to the best
family in the universe. I said,
“Good-bye. I have to go,” and left.
About a month I later, I got a
letter from that lady in which she said, “I just want to tell you that being
together with you and praying that prayer has completely changed my whole
attitude toward life. For the
first time, I really have a sense of my own worth.”
The third great provision of God
through the revelation of Father is security. Behind the universe is not just some scientific force or
some great “bang,” but a Father who loves US.
A friend of mine was once feeling
lonely and blue late at night in the deserted, windy streets of a city. He just did not quite know if he was
going to make it through. As he stood
there on the street corner, he just began to say, over and over again,
“Father… Father… Father… Father…”
As he did that security came to him.
He knew that even though things were cold and bleak around about him, he
was a child of God in the universe that God had created for His children.
Look up these Scriptures (on the following
pages) and read them. Meditate on
them today.
1. The Father tenderly loves us. John 16:27
2. The
Father loves and pities us when we fall. Psalm 103:13
3. The
Father’s holiness is our comfort. Revelation 4:8
Holiness
and being holy is often misunderstood. Holiness is God’s personality of love. It is who God is. He is honest, unselfish and totally
just and fair. Holiness can never
do anything wrong, selfish or unloving. We will always be able to trust God
because He is holy. We are called to be holy. It means to be separated, sanctified (or “married”) to
God. As His blood covenant
partner, we are to be totally dedicated to Him. We can trust Him!
4. His love surrounds us. 1 John 4:8-10
God IS
love. He does not have love; love
is Who He is. The world has
various definitions for love, but most of them are not accurate. Love is unselfish and always chooses
the best for the other person. It
is not conditioned on the other person’s acts. God loved us first, even when we were deep in sin. Jesus died for us on the Cross with
unspeakable sufferings in Hell.
5. His justice will be done. Revelation 20:15
Many people
do not believe in Hell, but it is real.
We cannot earn our way out of Hell. Salvation is free.
But so many people do not accept the free gift of Jesus’ death for
us. People who reject the Lordship
of Jesus here on earth would not be happy in Heaven under His authority. Hell is the fairest place for those
people because they will be isolated and separated from what they do not
desire. It is God’s way of honoring their free wills. It is God expressing His
love to them in spite of the limitations that have put on God.
6. His will reigns supreme. Psalm 33:10-11
7. His creativity knows no bounds. Nehemiah 9:6
8. His memory can blank out sin. Psalm 103:10-14
9. His emotions reveal His care. Psalm 86:15
God enjoys
fellowship with us, but He does get angry and grieves over our bad
choices. He is compassionate and
would much rather show mercy; He is quick to restore us when we confess our
sin, but He does allow us to turn to our own ways if we continue to resist His
loving invitation.
10.
God made us in His image
(like Him) so He could relate to us and fellowship with us. Genesis 1:26-27
11.
While Jesus was here on earth and even though He was God Himself, He still
depended entirely on hearing from the Father. John 5:19
This is our
example for living out this life.
We need to respect the Father, our Creator and lover, to plan the best
for our life. We must do whatever
is needed to hear from Him. John
5:19
12. God is surely the
Father, but He does not force His fatherhood on anyone. He is only the Father of those who choose Him. John 8:42,44; John 1:12-13
Scriptures for this Lesson
John 16:27 (Amplified Bible) says,
27 “For the
Father Himself [tenderly] loves you because you have loved Me and have believed
that I came out from the Father.”
Psalm 103:13 says,
13 “As a
father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him.”
Revelation 4:8 says,
8 “The four
living creatures, each having six wings, were full of eyes around and within.
And they do not rest day or night, saying, ‘Holy, holy, holy, Lord God
Almighty, Who was and is and is to come!’”
1 John 4:8-10 says,
8 “He who
does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9 In this
the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten
Son into the world, that we might live through Him.
10 In this
is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the
propitiation for our sins.”
Revelation 20:15 says,
15 “And
anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Psalm 33:10-11 says,
10 “The
LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He makes the plans of the
peoples of no effect.
11 The
counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.”
Nehemiah 9:6 says,
6 “You
alone are the LORD; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their
host, the earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You
preserve them all. The host of the heaven worships You.”
Psalm 103:10-14
10 “He has
not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our
iniquities.
11 For as
the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who
fear Him.
12 As far
as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a
father pities his children, so the LORD pities those who fear Him.
14 For He
knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.”
Genesis 1:26-27 says,
26 “And God
said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the
cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the
earth.’
27 So God
created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and
female He created them.”
John 5:19 says,
19 “Then
Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do
nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the
Son also does in like manner.’”
John 8:42 says,
42 “Jesus
said to them, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded
forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me.’”
John 8:44 says,
44 “You are
of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was
a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there
is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for
he is a liar and the father of it.”
John 1:12-13 says,
12 “But as
many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to
those who believe in His name:
13 Who were born, not of blood, nor of
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
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