Saturday, July 2, 2005
Matthew 6:9a "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven."
OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN
No matter how much our earthly fathers may love us, there is a limit to how much they are able to do for us because of their love. Many are the earthly fathers who would like to relieve their children of some sickness or distress, but they are unable to do it. Even if their love could be unlimited, their power and ability surely are limited.
Jesus tells His disciples that they have another Father besides their earthly fathers. This Father is "in heaven." This makes Him far superior to earthly fathers in every way. For what does the Bible say about our Father in heaven? Psalm 115 says: "Our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases." Our heavenly Father is unlimited in what He is able to do. He can do anything He wants. Our relationship with God as His children means that we have access to His unlimited power. He who controls all things in heaven and earth is One who loves us and cares for us as our Father.
Because He is our Father, He loves us and is willing to help us. Because He is our Father in heaven, He is able to help us in every possible way.
The worst trouble we children of God have here on earth is our sinfulness. Because of this sin within us we have all kinds of problems, some directly related to our sins as direct consequences of our sins, such as lack of love in our spouse towards us because of the wrongs we have done to our spouse. We also have problems that are more indirectly related to our sins such as sickness or poor health.
Our Father in heaven is able to help us in all of these situations. In fact the Bible reveals to us how far our Father is willing and able to go in order to help us. Think of our problem of sin. What has our heavenly Father done to relieve us of this problem? He has gone far beyond what our imaginations could have come up with. He sent His perfect and innocent Son, Jesus, to become one of us and take on Himself our load of sin with all of its consequences. God was able to transfer the guilt and punishment of our sin from ourselves to His Son Jesus. There on the cross Jesus endured the punishment of our sin.
At the same time our heavenly Father, because of His loving desire to help us, also endured something very painful. He had to punish His perfect Son. He had to do far more than Abraham was willing to do. Yes, Abraham got out that knife and was ready to kill his own son Isaac at God's command. But our Father God did much more. He actually took that knife and killed His Son. That is, God our Father and Jesus' Father, poured out on Jesus His wrath at all human sin. He did not spare His own Son but forsook His Son as the world's worst and only sinner, pronouncing a curse on Him because He was bearing our sin.
In this way our heavenly Father has taken away the sin of His children. How happy we should be that we have such a Father who is willing -- and able -- to help us!
