OUR LOVING HEAVENLY FATHER

Lesson 1

Key Text

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called

children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him”

1 John 3:1

Jesus delighted to speak of God as the Father.According to the Gospels, Jesus applied the name Father to God more than one hundred thirty times. On various occasions, He added adjectives: “ ‘heavenly Father’ ” (Matt. 6:14, NKJV), “ ‘living Father’ ” (John 6:57, NKJV), “ ‘Holy Father’ ” (John 17:11, NKJV), and “ ‘righteous Father’ ” (vs. 25, NKJV). The name describes the intimate bond that should unite us to our Lord. Traditionally, a “father” provides love, protection, security, sustenance, and identity for a family. A father gives a name to the family and keeps its members together. We can enjoy these and many other benefits when we accept God as our heavenly Father.

Though it is so essential for us to know the Father, our aim should not be just intellectual and theoretical knowledge.

In the Bible, to know someone means to have a personal, intimate relationship with him or her.

How much more so with our heavenly Father? This week we will explore what Jesus taught about our Father and about His infinite love for us. We will look, too, at the close relationship of the Father with the Son and with the Holy Spirit.

MY HEAVENLY FATHER“But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand.” (Isaiah 64:8)

There is a rich revelation of God’s character in the Old Testament. Nevertheless, He is seldom called “Father”.Jesus elaborated on God’s character and taught us to call God “heavenly Father” (Matthew 6:14)

FATHERA close God. He loves us, looks after us and cares for us (Matthew 7:9-11)

HEAVENLYHe is in Heaven. He is worshipped by thousands of angels there. We must respect Him, venerate Him and praise Him (Revelation 5:13)

Our Father in Heaven

Father was not a new name for God. The Old Testament some-times presented Him as our Father (Isa. 63:16; 64:8; Jer. 3:4, 19; Ps. 103:13). However, it was not the most used name for Him. For Israel, the personal name of God was YHWH (probably pro-nounced Yahweh), which appears more than six thousand eight hundred times in the Old Testament.

Jesus did not come to reveal a different God from YHWH. Rather, His mission was to complete the revelation that God had made of Himself in the Old Testament. In doing so, He presented God as our heavenly Father.

Jesus made clear that the Father is “in heaven.” It is important to remember this truth in order to have the right attitude toward God.

We have a loving Father who is concerned with the needs of His children. At the same time, we recognize that this ca-ring Father is “in heaven,” where millions of angels worship Him because He is the only Sovereign of the universe, holy and omnipotent.

The fact that He is our Father invites us to approach Him with the confidence of a child. On the other hand, the truth that He is in heaven reminds us of His transcendence and the need to worship Him with reverence. To emphasize one of these aspects at the expense of the other would lead us to a distorted concept of God, with far-reaching consequences for our practical, daily lives.

“He [Christ] taught man to address the Supreme Ruler of the universe by the new name “Our Father.” This name signifies his true relation to us, and when spoken in sincerity by human lips, it is music in the ears of God. Christ leads us to the throne of God by a new and living way, to present him to us in his paternal love.”

E.G.W. (The Review and Herald, September 11, 1894)

Reflection:

What does it mean for you, personally,

to address God as your heavenly Father?

What should it mean to you?

KNOWING MY FATHER

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” (John 17:3)

“Christ made every effort so to sweep away the misrepresentations of Satan, that the confidence of man in the love of God might be restored.”

E.G.W. (The Review and Herald, Septembre 11, 1894)

According to Jeremiah 9:23-24, what must we know about God?

God wants us to know that He exercises “kindness, justice and righteousness”, because He enjoys doing so (Jer. 9:24 NIV)We can know the true character of the Father by studying the life of His Son. “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

MY FATHER LOVES ME“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.” (1 John 3:1)

Which is the greatest proof of our Father’s

love for us?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)

Jesus taught us how our Father loves us by comparing His love to a caring shepherd, a woman who looked for a lost coin and the father who received his lost son back home (Luke 15)

The Father gave his most loved Gift away for love. That is, the life of His begotten Son.

MY FATHER CARES FOR ME“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.” (Matthew 6:31-32)

The Father’s love is constant and invariable, regardless of the circumstances. Our heavenly Father is always ready to take care of our needs by all available means.

He invites us to not to excessively strive after our needs, for He is willing to fully supply.

“Jesus presented the Father as one to whom we could give our confidence and present our wants. When we are in terror of God, and overwhelmed with the thought of His glory and majesty, the Father points us to Christ as His representative. What you see revealed in Jesus, of tenderness, compassion, and love, is the reflection of the attributes of the Father. The cross of Calvary reveals to man the love of God. Christ represents the Sovereign of the universe as a God of love. By the mouth of the prophet He said, ‘I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee.’”

E.G.W. (In Heavenly Places, January 12)

MY HEAVENLY FAMILY

The Spirit glorifies the Son

(John 16:14)

The Son glorifies the

Father(John 17:4)

The Father glorifies the

Son(Acts 3:13)

“how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

(Hebrews 9:14)

Jesus taught that God is three divine Persons in one; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.Each person had a part in the salvation plan. They worked together in crucial moments of Jesus’ birth (Luke 1:26-35), baptism (Luke 3:21-22) and crucifixion (Hebrews 9:14)Jesus explained that there is absolute harmony and cooperation between all three divine Persons. So they all glorify each Other.

“The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, powers infinite and omniscient, receive those who truly enter into covenant relation with God. They are present at every baptism, to receive the candidates who have renounced the world and have received Christ into the soul temple. These candidates have entered into the family of God, and their names are inscribed in the Lamb’s book of life.”

E.G.W. (SDA Bible Commentary, on Romans 6:4)

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