06.06. Abba Father

Abba Father Galatians 4:6 ; Isaiah 64:8

    And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

    Isaiah 64:8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.

    What do we believe about God the Father. Most of us could write a lot about the Son the second person of the trinity. We might not be able to write as much about the Holy Spirit as the Son but still most know some about the Spirit the second person of the trinity. But what about God the Father? How much could we write about Him who is the first person of the trinity?

I- The Trinity:

As we have previously discussed Christianity is a "monotheistic" religion. That means we believe in only one God. However, we know and understand from Scripture that God is a trinity, or three in one. C.C. Ryrie defined the trinity well when he stated , "There is only one God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three eternal and coequal Persons, the same in substance but distinct in subsistence." (Ryrie, Charles Caldwell, The Ryrie Study Bible. Chicago: Moody Press, 1985. pp. 2032. Page 1970. ) The Baptist Faith and Message says, "Baptist believe in ’one and only one living and true God’." (Hobbs, Herschel H., The Baptist Faith and Message. Nashville: Convention Press, 1971. pp. 150. Page 34 ) The Trinity has been discussed down through church history. Today when we must defend the Trinity it is usually the defense of the deity of Christ or the distinct personage of the Holy Spirit. Without future argument we will study God the Father with the given of God being one God that manifest Himself in three ways, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit.

II- God the Father:

We might wonder what God the Father was doing in eternity past. He was not a lonely God who had no one to talk to. He was having fellowship with the Son. He was also planning the redemption of man. He was busy creating the angels and the stars. In John 14:8-9 Phillip asks Christ to "Show us the Father..." Christ said to him, "...he that hath seen me hath seen the Father." Christ taught us many things while on the earth. He taught us who God the Father is. He said the Father is a spirit (John 4:24 ) who is all powerful, (Matthew 19:26 ) all knowing, (Matthew 10:29 ) holy (John 17:11 ) righteous, (John 17:25 ) loving, (John 3:16 ) and good. (Matthew 6:26 ) But most of all Christ taught us that God is a Father. He mentions God as being a Father 189 times in the New Testament. In the Scriptures we find that God is a Father in four areas. He is (1) Father of creation, (2) of the nation of Israel, (3) of the Lord Jesus Christ and of (4) all believers.

III- Father of Creation: Psalms 104:14-24

    Psalms 104:14-21 He causeth the grass to grow for the cattle, and herb for the service of man: that he may bring forth food out of the earth; ¹⁵ And wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and oil to make his face to shine, and bread which strengtheneth man’s heart. ¹⁶ The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted; ¹⁷ Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house. ¹⁸ The high hills are a refuge for the wild goats; and the rocks for the conies. ¹⁹ He appointed the moon for seasons: the sun knoweth his going down. ²⁰ Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. ²¹ The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God.

God is the Father of all creation. The life of everything started with God. David declares in Psalms 36:9 "...with thee is the fountain of life." Someone said that it is better to believe David than Darwin. We can see God as a Gardner. He takes care of the vegetation he created it on the third. Psalms 104:14, Psalms 104:16 says he causes the grass to grow and the trees to have sap. Psalms 104:18, Psalms 104:21 we see that He also is a zookeeper. He gives the goats and rock badgers a place to hide. He also feeds the young lions. We see He is also a Meteorologist because He cares for the weather. Psalms 135:7 "He makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth; he sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouse." NIV During the exodus He sent a wind that blew and parted the Red Sea. 700 years later he sent the storm into Jonah’s life. God is also the one who tends to the seasons. How many times have we heard the old wives tale that in the end times all the seasons will be the same. In Genesis 8:22 God promised Noah that "While the earth remaineth, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease."

IV- Father of the Nation of Israel: Exodus 4:22

    Exodus 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:

    God told Moses to tell Pharaoh that "...Israel is my son, even my firstborn." Israel did not come into existence because of their might but because God was their Father. Deuteronomy 7:7-8 The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: ⁸ But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

V- Father of the Lord Jesus Christ- Matthew 3:17

When Jesus came up out of the water at His baptism God the Father said "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." During His earthly ministry Christ spoke more about the Father than any other subject. We see that the Father sent His Son. Galatians 4:4 says, "...when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son..." The Father also anointed Christ. Luke 4:18-19 "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me..." Christ was anointed as Prophet, Priest and King. God was also the one who offered Christ as our sacrifice. Romans 8:32 tells us that God "... spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all..." We might ask who really killed Jesus. Pilate, the soldiers, the Jews You and I. All of these had their part to play but according to Genesis 53:10 "...it pleased the Lord to bruise him, he hath put him to grief." We also know that it was by God the Fathers power that Christ arose according to Ephesians 1:20 which says, "...he raised him from the dead..."

VI- Father of All Believers: Galatians 3:26 Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

Today there is a teaching that is prevalent in our time that all men are brothers and sisters in God regardless of their relationship to God in Christ. This is a false teaching that is reputed by Galatians 3:26 stating "...ye are children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." Also 1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. There is no universal brotherhood of all mankind. God the Father is the creator of all men but the Father of only believers. Harold Willmington in his study on this subject list 26 things that God the Father does for believers. Lets look at only a few things. Notice with me if you will the following: a- He fore knew, predestined and conforms us to Christ. Romans 8:29 "...whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren." Someone has well said that "God is so in love with His Son Jesus that He wants to make us all a bunch of little Jesus’ running around down here." God had determined that all believers will become like Christ. b- He indwells us. In John 14:23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

Christ says that if we love God and do what He wants of us that "we (meaning the Trinity) will come unto him, and make our abode with him." While it is true that we are in dwelled by the Holy Spirit we are indwelled as well by the Father and Son.

c- He disciplines believers. Hebrews 12:7-10 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? ⁸ But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. ⁹ Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? ¹⁰ For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Notice what this teaches us about how God deals with us as sons. 12:8 states that "if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons." The purpose of God’s chastening us is, "For our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness." d- He also keeps believers secure. John 10:28-29 makes it clear that we as believers are secure in God the Fathers hands. Christ said, "I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand."