God as Father - Resurrection 3

"God the Father is the tenderness of men that cradles and infant, the patience of a dad who teaches his children, the love that bonds a man to his wife for fifty-plus years."

JESUS IS AN EXTROVERT. Abba is an introvert. How do I know this? Well, you have to spend time with them. Papa (the Holy Spirit) is a curious mix of the two. He can go all Red Sea on you or be quiet as a church mouse. He is both the restless waves of the sea and the calming of the waters. I’ve met some extroverted extroverts, and being an introverted introvert, I don’t get them. At all. But Jesus, Jesus is the exception because I’ve met Abba, and it all makes sense.

Kinda like different kinds of coffee. I hate coffee. I mean, it smells great but tastes horrible. That said, I live in a household of coffee drinkers, and they do not agree on their coffee beverages. One likes a hot cup that you drain in one minute or less. The other makes these tremendous dessert drinks with sugar and sugar and more sugar. These days, what keeps a coffee shop open is that it offers black coffee, no cream, and a super delectable if-I-were-diabetic-then-no type drink.

Abba planned to have a Son, way back before the world was made, and He’d name Him Jesus, and Jesus would die for people’s sins then rise from the dead. He created Adam first. Adam is called the son of God in Jesus’ genealogy, but Jesus is called the only-begotten Son of God, the difference being He was begotten, or born as an infant. He is human with human parents, who raised Him, and He “increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man (Luke 2:52).” We see an example of this at age twelve. He’d stayed behind when the family headed home from Jerusalem, and Mary and Joseph, seeking Him, found Him in the temple, quizzing the scribes and Pharisees. They told Him how frightened they’d been, and Jesus replied, “Why did you search all over for me? Didn’t you know I would be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49, Remedy)

In His Father’s house. Years later, Jesus threw out the moneychangers and called it “my house.” From twelve to thirty, He had cemented who He was as God’s Son. There are no written accounts of those in-between years, but we see Him at John’s baptism when His proud Abba spoke a blessing over Him. “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased (Matthew 3:17).” Beloved. Abba loved Him, and He loved Abba. It has been mistakenly said in the church that, though Jesus did the Father’s works and spoke only the Father’s words, when it came to His death on the cross, the Father turned His back. Nothing could be further from the truth and love is the reason. For God SO LOVED the world. Love of that quantity, love that abundant, to the point of self-sacrifice cannot look away.

“And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him.” (John 8:29)

There is also the Levitical sacrifice to consider. The Old Covenant sacrifice was laid on the altar in the presence of God and the blood of the animal sprinkled on the mercy seat, where God’s presence dwelt. This is our example for the death of God’s Son. A sacrifice given as commanded, from the integrity of heart of the worshipper, was pleasing to God. It did not make Him angry. How much more then would Jesus’ willing sacrifice please His Abba who sent Him for that purpose?

We can read, too, Jesus’ words in those last final seconds where He gave His spirit into His Father’s hands. He knew His Father was with Him and that He would return to His side. He went to prepare a place in His “Father’s house” for those who they loved (John 14:1). He was confident in His Father’s care for Him and the plan of victory that they had written at the beginning of time. The Father’s commandment was that He would lay His life down and He would take it back up again (John 10:17-18), and we know from the apostle Paul’s words to Ephesus that it was the power of the Spirit that raised Christ from death.

“This is the mighty power that was released when God raised Christ from the dead and exalted him to the place of highest honor and supreme authority in the heavenly realm!” (Ephesians 1:19-20)

On the cross, Jesus quoted the first verse of Psalm 22, and this has thrown many in the church into error, thinking Jesus was desperately seeking His Father, being separated from Him because of sin. But Jesus was the SACRIFICE FOR SIN, as I’ve said, and NOT A SINNER. He had not done any sin, not in word or in thought. Instead, the quotation was a recognizable one that identified Him as Christ, and it was spoken for this reason. He was crucified because they did not believe in Him as their Messiah. By speaking the first verse, He knew they would remember the remainder of the psalm where David also spoke of God’s deliverance. Just as we could sing, “Amazing grace, how sweet the song,” and another finish the line, “that saved a wretch like me.”

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” (John 14:26)

The Spirit of God, the Comforter, was sent to earth to bring to our remembrance all things about Jesus. Though Jesus did the work of the Father and spoke the words of the Father, the Father wants us to see the Son. Jesus is the “divine portrait” of the invisible God we are told in Colossians (TPT). He is the Word of God and the likeness of God, displaying the character and nature of God (Remedy). So when Jesus is described as meek and lowly, as gentle of heart, we can magnify this in the Father. He is not weak nor timid but intensely powerful. He is the fear of God. But in His mercy, in His longsuffering, in His putting His Son out front, there is a strength of quietness.

“Jesus is the physical manifestation of the invisible God—the first being to leave infinity and manifest in physical form, and the conduit from which all creation flowed.” (Colossians 1:15, Remedy)

Jesus is like His Father, but He Himself stated that the Father was greater than Him. They are a picture of unity. In Genesis 1, they are “Elohim” or “gods” plural. In Exodus, they are “Jehovah,” the Self-Existent One. They are “Rapha” the God who heals and “Ra ah” the God who sees and all the specific names of God in the Old Testament. But in the gospels, they are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, Jesus’ will submitted completely to His Father, the Father’s Spirit filling Him entirely. There is no place where one begins and one ends. They cannot be separated, not before Jesus became human, nor during, nor after. He was raised as flesh and bone, His blood placed upon the altars of heaven.

He has invited us into His unity. He is the Way to the Father, the Truth of the Father, and the Life of the Father. There is no other way to become a child of God, for Abba to be Daddy, except by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. And our becoming His child is the Father’s dearest wish. See His love for Israel in the Old Testament, how much He wanted them to walk in His ways. Hear His lamentation through the prophet Jeremiah for their sins, yet in that moment, see Him declared faithful. We are blessed because of the faith of Abraham, because he trusted God to keep His covenant. Jesus’ death and Resurrection is the fulfillment of God’s promise to him, that from Him would come nations.

And now, we are united with God through His Spirit because of His sacrifice. A unity of family, and also in Ephesians that of a husband and wife. Romance is God’s idea. He wrote the poetry that is the love of a man for his wife. He formed the womb in woman to conceive and the man to hold hands with her to create in it. Intimacy was His idea. They twain shall become one flesh. These words were spoken in the beginning. Genesis 2:24. God the Father is the tenderness of men that cradles an infant, the patience of a dad who teaches His children, the love that bonds a man to his wife for fifty-plus years.

Where Jesus is the voice, the trumpet blast of God’s intentions, and the Spirit, the earthquake and trembling that raised those long-dead from the graves, the Father is the constancy that undergirded those moments. Where Jesus is the King, raised glorious, and the Spirit is the glory which surrounds Him, the Father is the throne itself, unmoving, unchanging. Jesus was the stone the builder’s rejected, the Spirit, the water which gushed out from it, and the Father, soil and sky and molecule measured in the palm of His hand.

“Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting.” (Psalms 93:2)

They are forever, and we are now eternity. Our abundance of life, length of days, and joy and peace born of the Father who would not allow man to die at the hand of a worthless enemy but would go to His greatest extent to buy them back. All we have is theirs. All we’ve inherited is His.

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)

ALSO IN THIS SERIES:
God as Man
God as Sacrifice
God as Resurreccted

Image by DONGHWAN KIM from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com