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01.010. GOD OUR HEAVENLY FATHER

8 min read · Chapter 11 of 100

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Lesson Nine GOD OUR HEAVENLY FATHER Scripture Reading: Matthew 6:19-34.

Scripture To Memorize: “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. They will be done, as in heaven, so on earth. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you” (Matthew 6:9-14).

81. Q. What among other things was the mission of Jesus?

A. It was to make God known unto us.

Matthew 11:27—“All things have been delivered unto me of my Father; and no one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal Him.” Hebrews 1:3—“who being the effulgence of his glory, and the very image of his substance.” etc.

82. Q. What does Jesus say about this phase of His mission?

A. He says: “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9).

83. Q. What does the Apostle John say on this subject?

A. He says: “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him” (John 1:18).

“He hath declared him,” i.e., revealed Him to men, in His essential nature, attributes and works.

84. Q. What is the favorite New Testament designation for God?

A.It is: Father in Heaven, or Heavenly Father. In the Old Testament Scriptures the Hebrew name Elohim, as we have learned, is used to designate Him as “the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity” (Isaiah 57:15); and the name Jehovah is used to designate Him as the covenant God, the Deliverer and Benefactor of His people. But it is not until we open the pages of the New Testament that we find Him revealed in His true spiritual relationship with His covenant children through Christ, viz., as their Heavenly Father. This brings Him close to us, helps us to understand Him and to know Him more intimately. George Meredith says: “I hold to the word ‘Father.’ No young child can take the meaning of ‘Spirit.’ You must give him a concrete form or he will not put an idea in what he is uttering. He must address somebody. Later, when he throws off his childishness, he will, if you are watching and assisting him, learn to see that he has prayed to no false impersonation in addressing an invisible ‘Father’” (From The Letters of George Meredith).

85. Q. What words are we told to use when we come to God in prayer?

A. Jesus Himself tells us to say: “Our Father who art in heaven” (Matthew 6:9).

86. Q. What kind of Fatherhood is indicated by this designation?

A. Spiritual Fatherhood, or the Fatherhood that God bears towards His covenant children through Christ.

(1) There is a sense of course in which God is Father of all men, viz., in the sense that they all derive their personal nature from Him. See Genesis 2:7. Acts 17:25—“he himself giveth to all life, and breath, and all things.” Hebrews 12:9—“the Father of spirits.” (2) But this type of Fatherhood is not, in fact never was, the ground of salvation. Acceptance and reconciliation of man with God have been from the very beginning on the grounds of faith and obedience. Hebrews 11:6—“Without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing unto him, for he that cometh to God must believe that he is,” etc. Noah obtained deliverance, not on the ground that he was created in the image of God, but on the ground of his faith which manifested itself in obedience to God’s commands. Other cases in point are Abel, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, etc. See the entire eleventh chapter of Hebrews. (3) It is sheer folly for any man to expect God to save him on the ground of his morality, respectability, culture, good citizenship, and the like. Salvation is the gift of God, offered by grace, and accepted by faith. Ephesians 2:8—“For by grace have ye been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Romans 6:23—“the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (4) It is obvious that those living under the Dispensation of Grace, i.e., under the new covenant, have little or no right to say, “Our Father who art in heaven,” who have not acknowledged His Fatherhood by themselves submitting to the terms necessary to adoption into the household of faith. “Father” is the relationship He bears especially to His covenant people, i.e., to those who are “in Christ.” These truths need to be emphasized in our day of loose thinking.

87. Q. What are Christians called, in the New Testament?

A. They are called “children of God.”

Romans 8:16—“that we are children of God.” 2 Corinthians 6:17-18—“Wherefore come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord . . . and I will receive you, and will be to you a Father, and ye shall be to me sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” Note well: Be ye separate!

88. Q. How do we become children of God under the new covenant?

A. By accepting Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God; by turning from sin and offering ourselves as a living sacrifice unto God; by confessing Jesus as our Christ, in the presence of witnesses; and by being buried with Him in baptism and raised up to walk in “newness of life.”

John 3:5—“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” Mark 16:16—“he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” Acts 2:38—“Repent ye, and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins.” Luke 13:3—“Except ye repent, ye shall all in like manner perish.” Matthew 10:32—“Every one therefore who shall confess me before men, him will I also confess before my Father who is in heaven.” Romans 10:10—“for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Romans 6:4—“We were buried with him therefore through baptism into death; that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life.” Galatians 3:27—“For as many of you as were baptized into Christ did put on Christ.” 2 Corinthians 5:17—“Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature.” Romans 8:1—“There is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.” Cf. Acts 8:12, Acts 8:35-40, Acts 16:14-40, Acts 16:30-34, Acts 18:8, etc.

89. Q. What is this process whereby the sinner is inducted into the household of faith, called, in the New Testament Scriptures?

A. It is called Adoption.

(1) Romans 8:15-17, “For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, 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.” (2) Explain what adoption means: the right to wear the family name, to enjoy the privileges of the family, and to receive a just portion of the family inheritance, etc.

90. Q. When do we have the privilege of calling God our heavenly Father?

A. We have this privilege as a consequence of being adopted into the spiritual family of God, the church.

Galatians 6:10—“the household of the faith.” Ephesians 2:19—“the household of God.”

91. Q. What does Jesus say about calling any man “father” in a spiritual sense?

A. He says: “Call no man your father on the earth; for one is your Father, even he who is in heaven” (Matthew 23:9).

92. Q. What are God’s dealings with us in the relationship He bears to us as our heavenly Father?

A. He exercises towards His children all the obligation, privileges and prerogatives of Fatherhood.

(1) He loves us—so much that He gave His most priceless treasure to redeem us from sin. John 3:16. (2) He is merciful to us. Psalms 103:13-14—“Like as a father pitieth his children, so Jehovah pitieth them that fear him; for he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” (3) He protects us. Matthew 6:13—“and bring us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Psalms 34:7—“the angel of Jehovah encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.” (4) He provides for us—on the condition of course that we earn our daily bread by honest toil. Matthew 6:11—“Give us this day our daily bread.” Cf. Genesis 3:17, Matthew 6:19-34. (5) He puts His Spirit within us. 2 Corinthians 1:22—“God who also sealed us, and gave us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” (6) He gives us the Family name. Acts 11:26—“the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.” “Christian” means of, or belonging to, Christ, (7) He gives us a place at the Family Table, i.e., the Lord’s table. 1 Corinthians 10:21—“the table of the Lord.” Cf. 1 Corinthians 10:16; 1 Corinthians 11:23-30. (8) He gives a portion of the Family Meal, i.e., the communion of the body and of the blood of Christ. 1 Corinthians 10:16. (9) He disciplines us. Hebrews 12:7-11. (10) He eventually gives us a just portion of the eternal inheritance, the joys of heaven. 1 Corinthians 2:9—“things which eye saw not, and ear heard not, and which entered not into the heart of man, whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him.” Romans 8:18—“For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward.” 1 Peter 1:4—“unto an inheritance, incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.” (11) As our Father, He has the inherent right to require obedience, and to exercise disciplinary measures for disobedience. He has all the obligations, rights and privileges of fatherhood.

93. Q. What great lesson should we learn from these truths?

A. That we should deem it a most blessed and precious privilege to belong to the church, the body of Christ and the household of God; and to be thus privileged to say, “Our Father who art in heaven.”

REVIEW EXAMINATION OVER LESSON NINE 81.Q.What among other things was the mission of Jesus?

82. Q. What does Jesus say about this phase of His mission?

83. Q. What does the Apostle John say on this subject?