Our Father, Who Is In Heaven
The first phrase of the Lord’s Prayer is so significant to us, but it requires just a bit of reflection to get behind the familiar sound of the phrase. To many, “The Our Father” has become synonymous with the recital of the prayer as a religious ritual, a prayer that many pray simply because they don’t know what else to say.
But it’s fascinating to see the impact of these first two little words: Our Father. When Jesus started talking about God as His Father, it was a radical departure from what was acceptable in that culture and religious context. The leaders of the Jews trained themselves and their people never to speak the name of God because it was too holy. To refer to God in a familiar way was unthinkable, and to call Him “Father,” or even more surprisingly “Abba” (which means “Daddy” or “Papa”) was downright blasphemous. In John 5, when Jesus healed the man at the pool of Bethesda, the Jewish leaders were deeply offended because Jesus called God His Father, “making Himself equal with God” (John 5:18). They actually plotted to kill Him over this very issue! They understood the astonishing implications of Jesus’ language, and were outraged at it. And Jesus made no efforts to correct their interpretation. He was saying exactly what they accused Him of, and was backing up the claim with signs and wonders.
Here’s the awesome thing for us: In the first two words of the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus exhorts us to say “Our Father.” Not only is He claiming a family relationship with the Almighty, but He’s inviting us into that same relationship! We are to pray as though we are assuming an intimate relationship with the Creator, the One God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob! Jesus’ instruction draws us into making the same claims of intimacy and equality that He made, to such a degree that we have to ask ourselves if that’s what He really meant.
What we find in the New Testament is astonishing. In John 1:12-13, the Apostle writes these words:
But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
By simply receiving Jesus, we have been given the right, the authority to claim sonship in the divine family. In fact, our entire heritage is made new, for the passage asserts that we are no longer born of human processes or human fleshly will, but born of God! We are not here because two human beings had an encounter some years ago, but because our Father God desired us and called us forth. We are no longer limited by our earthly heritage, because it has been put to death on the cross of Christ. We have been born again of the Spirit of the Father, and as such, have all the rights and privileges of being in His family.
In John 17, Jesus Himself asserts that this issue of oneness with God as Father is certain to be realized in our lives. In verse 21, Jesus prays that “they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me.” Our destiny as children of this Father is that we will be unified with God even as Jesus is, and on top of that, unified with each other! These statements have astonishing implications, and for those who will take the time to sit in the presence of the Holy Spirit and contemplate them, there is a gold mine of explosive material waiting to be discovered.
Fatherhood is re-defined for us in this, because our Father is no longer the earthly man that we grew up with. Our Father is the one in heaven, the Father that Jesus knew, and we have the amazing invitation to come to know Him and trust Him with the issues of our lives.
My prayer is that you will be stimulated to spend some time considering these things in prayer. Do a simple word study on the term “Father” in the Scriptures, and see what comes of it. In the next article, we will consider the implications are for us that His Name is “Holy.”
Blessings on you! |
