One of the most illuminating names of God is the one especially revealed by our Lord Jesus, the name of Father. While God had been called by many names, Christ alone has revealed Him to us under the all-inclusive name of Father–a name that holds within itself all other names of wisdom and power, and above all of love and goodness, a name that embodies for us a perfect supply for all our needs.
Christ, who was the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father, was the only One who could reveal this name, for He alone knew the Father. “As the Father knoweth Me,” He said, “even so know I the Father” (Jn. 10:15). “Not that any man hath seen the Father save He which is of God, He hath seen the Father” (Jn. 6:46).
In the OT, God was not revealed as the Father so much as a great warrior fighting for His people (Ex. 15:3) or as a mighty king. The name of Father is only given to Him there six or seven times; while in the NT it is given about 268 times. Christ, who knew Him, was the only One who could reveal Him. “Neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal Him.”
All the discomfort and unrest of so many of God’s children come from this very thing: they do not understand that God is truly their Father. They think of Him as a stern Judge, or a severe Taskmaster, or at best as an unapproachable dignitary, seated on a far-off throne, dispensing exacting laws for a trembling world. But of a God who is a Father, loving, full of compassion; a God who will be on their side against the whole universe, they have no conception.
But I must make it plain that it is a Father such as our highest instincts tell us a good father ought to be. Sometimes earthly fathers are unkind, or selfish, or even cruel, or they are merely indifferent and neglectful; but none of these can by any stretch of charity be called good fathers. But God, who is good, must be a good Father or not a Father at all.
Had all who used the name known what it meant, it would have been impossible to misrepresent His character and doubt His love and care, thoughts that have desolated the souls of His children through the ages.
Moreover, since He is an “everlasting Father,” He must in the very nature of things always act as a good father ought to act, and never in any other way. It is inconceivable that a good father could forget, or neglect, or be unfair to his children. A savage father might, or a wicked father; but a good father–never!
But you may say, “What about the other names of God? Do they not convey other more terrifying ideas?” They only do so because this name of Father is not added to them.
Has He been called a Judge? Yes, but He is a Father Judge, when He deals with His children. He corrects as a loving father would. There is “no condemnation” to those in Christ.
Is He a King? Yes, but a King who is at the same time the Father of His subjects, and who rules them with a father’s tenderness. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our frame; He remembereth that we are dust” (Ps. 103:13-14). It is not “as a judge judges, so the Lord judges”; not “as a taskmaster controls, so the Lord controls”; not “as a lawgiver imposes laws, so the Lord imposes laws”; but, “as a father pitieth, so the Lord pitieth.”
In our Lord’s prayer in John 17, He says that He has declared to us the name of the Father in order that we may discover the wonderful fact that the Father loves us as He loved His Son. Which one of us really believes this? We have read this chapter over, I suppose, oftener than almost any other chapter in the Bible, and yet do any of us believe that it is an actual, tangible fact, that God loves us as much as He loved Christ? If we believed this to be actually the case, could we, by any possibility, ever have an anxious or rebellious thought again? Would we not be absolutely sure always under every conceivable circumstance that the divine Father, who loves us just as much as He loved His only begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, would of course care for us in the best possible way, and could not let us lack any good thing? No wonder our Lord could tell us so emphatically not to be anxious or troubled about anything, for He knew His Father and knew that it was safe to trust Him utterly.
Again, our Lord draws the comparison between earthly fathers and our heavenly Father: “If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?” Can we conceive of a good earthly father giving a stone or a serpent to a hungry child instead of bread or fish? And yet I fear many of God’s children actually think that their heavenly Father does this sort of thing to them, giving them stones when they ask for bread, or curses when they ask for blessings.
But not only is our heavenly Father willing to give us good things, He is more than willing. Our Lord says, “Fear not, little flock, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Why should we ask Him in such fear and trembling, and why should we torment ourselves with anxiety lest He should fail to grant what we need?
The principle is announced in the Bible that if any man provides not for his own household, he has “denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.” Since we are of the “household of God,” this principle applies to Him, and if He should fail to provide for us, His own words would condemn Him. I say this reverently, but I want to say it emphatically, for so few people seem to have realized it.
We may have been accustomed to think that our doubts and fears were because of our own unworthiness and arose from humility; and we may even have taken them as a sign of special piety, and have thought they were in some way pleasing to God. But if, with their earthly parents, children should express doubts of their love, and fears lest their care should fail, would these doubts and fears be evidences of filial piety?
If God is our Father, the only thing we can do with doubts and fears and anxious thoughts is to cast them behind our backs, and have nothing more to do with them ever again. We can do this. We can give up our doubts just as we would urge a drunkard to give up his drink.
“Behold,” says the apostle John, “What manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” The “manner of love” bestowed on us is the love of a father for his son, a tender protecting love, that knows our weakness and our need, and cares for us accordingly. He treats us as sons, and all He asks in return is that we treat Him as a Father, whom we can trust without anxiety. We must take the son’s place of dependence and trust, and must let Him keep the Father’s place of care and responsibility. Because we are the children and He is the Father, we must let Him do the father’s part. Too often we take on our shoulders the father’s part, and try to take care of ourselves. No wonder we are told to cast all our care upon Him, for He cares for us.
The children of a good, human father are at peace because they trust in their father’s care; but the children of the heavenly Father too often have no peace because they are afraid to trust in His care. They make their requests known to Him perhaps, but that is all they do. It is a sort of religious form they feel is necessary to go through. But as to supposing that He really will care for them, no such idea seems to cross their minds; and they go on carrying their cares and burdens on their own shoulders, exactly as if they had no Father in heaven.
The remedy for your discomfort and unrest is to be found in becoming acquainted and united with the Father. “For,” says the apostle, “ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, ‘Abba, Father.'” Is it this “spirit of adoption” that reigns in your hearts? You may ask how you get this “spirit of adoption.” It comes simply as the result of the discovery that God is in very truth a real Father. When we have made this discovery, we cannot help feeling and acting like a child; and this is what the “spirit of adoption” means. It is nothing mystical nor mysterious; it is the simple natural result of having found a Father where you thought there was only a Judge.
In order to come to the knowledge of the Father, we must receive the testimony of Christ, who declares: “The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works.”
The whole authority of Christ stands or falls with this. If we receive His testimony, we set to our seal that God is true. If we reject that testimony, we make Him a liar.
“If ye had known Me,” says Christ, “ye should have known My Father also; and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him.” Let us make up our minds that from now on we will receive His testimony. Let other people worship whatever sort of God they may; for us there must be “but one God, even the Father.”