OUR FATHER | AdventAI

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Jun 23, 1914

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 41, No. 24.

"OUR FATHER"

Revealed to Men Through Christ — To Be Revealed to Other Men by the Believer

Doubtless many have repeated the opening words of the Lord's Prayer, without an adequate comprehension of their real import. If such persons were questioned on the point, they probably would reveal that their conception of the One so addressed is that of an infinitely distant Being, an austere character, seated on a high throne, scanning suspiciously the general character of the world's inhabitants. Regarding in this light the Person, addressed in prayer, it would be next to impossible to think of His being intimately approached, or that His sympathy for individual sorrow could be elicited in a truly fatherly way.

IT CAME FROM THE PAGANS

This vague, indefinite view of the first great Cause is evidently of satanic origin; for when examining pagan superstition, the prominent thought there unfolded is seen to fashion God as a Being whose wrath against mankind must needs be constantly appeased by gift or sacrifice, to prevent Him from venting spleen upon the world at large. Sad to say, this opinion, in the main, is held by many supposing themselves to be proper Christians. Such affirm that since man had so greatly offended God through sin, it became necessary for the sacrifice of His only-begotten Son to come between irritated divine wrath and annoying human rebels.

A humanly ordained education of the Jewish church led that people to look upon God as One far removed from their midst, and hence but indirectly interested in their needs. Consequently a great lack was felt, which was thought to be found in a visible divinity. They had been severely reproved, in the days of Moses, for bringing forth a golden calf to be worshiped; but this did not satisfy their ingrained longing, and latterly they began to worship the sun, as a tangible form worthy of adoration. Eze. 8: 16. But in this, no sense of a loving, fatherly care was made manifest.

HE REVEALS THE FATHER

Thus matters stood until the appearance of the Lord Jesus in the flesh, whose first movements were to break down this great barrier to man's eternal happiness. But in presenting Himself to the world as the "Son of man," He took occasion to emphasize the statement that "no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal Him." Matt. 11: 27. This pronouncement covers that other assertion that no man can come to the Father but by the Lord Christ. John 14: 6.

But how was Christ to reveal the Father through His own person? By preaching? By earnest descriptive words, explaining the character of that Being?—No, indeed; for that, like some other things, could not be adequately told in words.

As an example: When the writer returned from the civil war between the states, he was asked more than once how one feels when under fire of the enemy's guns. He was obliged to say that

he could not tell, for words failed to express the sensation; but if one would know about it, he must experience the feeling for himself.

So it was and must be in revealing the nature and character of "our Father." He could be made known only in the person of another. This was made clear when, on a certain occasion, the Saviour had told His disciples that He was about to go to the Father, but that they, having been with Him, now knew the Father through His own personality. Hearing this, Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Jesus replied, and with probable sorrow of voice: "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." John 14: 7-9.

IN HIM WAS THE LIFE

A single expression by the evangelist tells just how the Saviour's person actually revealed the Father: "In Him was life; and the life was the light of men." John 1: 4. That tells the story. The very life of God was in the Son, and that life was the light from heaven shining through the Son to give the knowledge of the glory of God. Personal life was the light needed then as now, to penetrate moral darkness, and reveal the power of a Father's love. Not only was a personal life necessary to reveal God, but the revelation of a loving Father could not be made but through the life of an only-begotten Son.

Continued association with the Son of God was not only enough to disclose the essential character of the Father, but it also could and did uncover the incarnate love of God's fatherhood. To demonstrate this fact, the Saviour took occasion to ask His disciples, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?" The information was quickly rendered that a partial verdict made Him John the Baptist, some thought Him to be Elijah, and others were satisfied that He was Jeremiah or some other old prophet.

"THOU ART THE CHRIST"

The question was then put a little closer: "But whom say ye that I am?" Here was a supreme test. Would those who had been favored with an intimate knowledge of the Master's ways regard Him as did the world at large? How could they? Peter had a reply ready. Said he, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Matt. 16: 13-16.

The divine benediction pronounced upon this ardent declaration was highly significant. The men of the world, whose highest ideal of morality was the recorded works of former prophets, being themselves removed from the immediate presence of the Master's radiant life, yet seeing from the distance His wondrous achievements, could place no higher estimate upon Him and His mission than the worldly view to which their minds had been confined. But the disciples, having been more closely related to their Lord, were bound to judge of Him by what had been directly revealed to their senses from the outflowing light of God's life possessed by the Master. So the answer rendered by Peter was declared by Christ to have been prompted not by human judgment, as were the conclusions drawn by the mass of the people, but by the Father in heaven, whose life had shown through His dear Son, to the enlightenment of those moving in His presence.

THE SUPREME MOTIVE

Then, too, there had been unveiled, in that matchless life, the supreme motive of the Father in sending His Son to the world: "God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him." 1 John 4: 16. Putting in practise the great principle of love in every movement of His life, the Lord Jesus revealed that the abode of the God of love was within Him. The measure of God's love, however, was not alone in giving a Son to the world, but in giving One whose every act was that of loving sympathy. This was the fulness of the Father's love openly displayed.

This fulness was proclaimed in that wondrous declaration to Nicodemus, "God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." What a depth of meaning is couched in this statement! Christ was God's "only-begotten." He possessed every element of God's nature to the highest possible degree, especially that of love. Coming to earth in the flesh, that essential point could not fail to shine with its wonted luster in the sight of fallen humanity. To believe in Him as the actual masterpiece of God's fatherhood is to receive from Him a knowledge of God, which is the passport to life eternal.

J. O. C.