1. The Father in the Garden
It was the worst of days. It started like any other. Full of love, harmony and relationship. But everything changed when Adam and Eve listened to the serpent. They ate the fruit of the tree from which they were forbidden to eat. Now, for the first time, they felt guilt, shame and nakedness. Life had been wonderful, but now they were struggling to comprehend what had happened. Then things got worse. Amidst this confusion and devastation, they suddenly heard the voice of God calling their names. “Adam, Adam, where are you?” Fear gripped them, and they hid.
They heard the voice of the Father calling their name.
I am sure most of us are familiar with this story. The fall of Adam and Eve into sin is recorded in Genesis 3. All of us can relate to the feelings of shame and guilt that filled their minds. They had crossed a line, and things would never be the same. Until this day, they had lived in perfect peace and harmony with God and each other. But now their sin caused them to realise their nakedness, and they hid when they heard the Father calling their name.
When you read this story, how do you imagine the tone of the Father? Pause for a moment to listen to that voice speaking into their remorse and shame. Our Bibles cannot communicate what this voice sounded like, so we have to interpret it for ourselves.
For some, this voice sounds like that of an angry judge seeking Adam and Eve to dispense wrath and judgment. They had rebelled against the Father and were now bracing for the consequences. For others, this voice is one of disappointment from a perfect parent who, no matter what we do, can never be pleased.
How do you imagine this voice?
When He calls your name, what do you hear?
I want to suggest that how we imagine this voice to sound can be an indicator of how we perceive the Father to be.
I invite you to come on a journey as we discover what the Father is truly like. Not what we might imagine Him to be based on our experiences, hurts or fears, but based on the revelation He has given of Himself in His word.
Let me assure you, this will be a safe journey. One that will thrill and comfort your heart as we uncover who the Father really is and discover His love for us.
Further reading: Gen 2:15-17, 3:1-11
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
2. The Father and the Son
Imagining the Father’s voice in the Garden of Eden can be tricky. The challenge is that we bring our own experiences and understanding into the story.
We understand the guilt and shame that Adam and Eve were experiencing. They had done what they were forbidden to do. The Father had warned that there would be dire consequences if they ate from this tree, but the Serpent had cast doubt on whether this was true. He questioned the character of the Father. He told them the Father had been lying to them and that eating from the forbidden tree would not bring trouble. Instead, their eyes would be opened, and they would become like God.
The tree looked good. Its fruit was inviting, and the more Adam and Eve looked at it, the more it seemed they could not trust the Father. Perhaps He was holding out on them and stopping them from reaching their full potential.
We don’t know how long it took, but the fateful day came when Adam and Eve believed the Serpent and ate from the tree. Now having crossed the line, they realised they had been deceived, and there was no turning back. Instead of becoming like God, they were now estranged from Him and each other. No longer could they look at each other with openness and innocence. Their hearts had changed, and they felt vulnerable, naked and ashamed.
We, too, know that feeling because we also have rebelled and crossed the line. We understand Adam and Eve’s pain and experience that same separation from each other and God. Deep inside, we perceive that there is a price to pay for our guilt, and this price is death. And this makes us fearful of the Father.
Against this devastating background, the wonderful gospel message is that Jesus died in our place to pay the price for our sin. The penalty of sin is death, but the good news is Jesus took that penalty into Himself so we can be forgiven. This is the central truth of the gospel, but sometimes we can misunderstand what Jesus was doing when He died on the cross. We can wrongly imagine the voice of the Father in the garden to be angry and full of wrath. We mistakenly believe He was looking for Adam and Eve to pour out His anger on them for their rebellion. And into this false reality, we can think Jesus came to save us from this harsh and judgmental Father. Almost as if the Father wants to judge us, but Jesus persuaded Him to pour out His anger on Him rather than on us.
It’s very understandable for us to think this way. The Father is righteous and holy and will always judge wrongdoing. We are guilty and full of darkness and therefore believe we need someone to save us from this holy Judge.
This, however, is not the truth. The most quoted verse of the Bible tells us that Jesus did not come to save us from the Father. Nor did He come to appease an angry Judge. Instead, it tells us He came to fulfil the will of a broken-hearted Dad, who loves His children and wants to make right the wrong of our sin and rebellion.
John 3:16 (ESV) For God [the Father] so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Jesus did not die to change the attitude of the Father toward us. The Father has always loved us, even in our rebellion, and because of His love for us, He sent Jesus to make it right.
The Father loves you with all of His heart. So much so that He sent His Son, Jesus, to make it right.
Further reading: Jn 3:16-21
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
3. A Man and His Wayward Son
Although we have rejected and rebelled against Him like the prodigal, the Father has been waiting for us to come home and welcomes us with open arms and a passionate embrace.
Lk 15:11b (ESV) ... There was a man who had two sons.
When Jesus wished to describe the heart of His Father, he told the parable of the Prodigal son. This parable tells us of a man with two sons. In the story, the younger son could not wait for his father’s death before receiving his inheritance. So he asked his father to divide his property and give his part to him now. The father obliged, divided up his possessions and gave the son his heritage. With this newfound wealth, the son turned his back on his family, left his home and travelled to a distant country. There, he squandered his fortune on excess and reckless living. After some time, the money ran out. And the boy found his need was so great that he took a job feeding the village pigs. Even so, there was not enough food, and he longed to eat the swill that he gave to the swine. In his desperation, the boy remembered how good it had been at home and how even the helpers in his father’s house lived better than him. He knew he had insulted and rejected his father. There was no possibility that things would ever be the same. But he was desperate. He hoped that maybe he could return, now no longer as a son, but perhaps as one of his father’s servants.
When the boy arrived back, however, an amazing, beautiful thing happened. To his surprise and relief, the father did not reject him. There was no report required. No questions were asked about where the money had gone. Nor were there any lectures on the need to reform. He didn’t even have time to apologise. Instead, the Father ran to him, embraced him and smothered him with kisses. The father covered his shame and grime by putting the best robe on the boy. He put a ring on his finger, signifying sonship and sandals on his feet, showing that he was not a servant but a family member. With a passionate cry, he declared, “Let’s have a party for this child of mine was dead but now is alive. He was lost but now is found.”. And there was a great celebration.
Jesus told this story to explain the heart of His Father. He wanted us to understand that we are like the prodigal son, and our Father in heaven is like this earthly father. Although we have rejected and rebelled against Him like the prodigal, the Father is waiting for us to come home and welcomes us with open arms and a passionate embrace.
This is the heart of the Father. This is what He is really like. He was not an angry judge stomping through the Garden of Eden looking for Adam and Eve to punish them. He was not an exacting Father wanting to express his disappointment. Instead, He was a broken-hearted Dad who knew His children were in trouble and He was getting involved to make it right.
Imagine for a moment what the prodigal son must have felt as his father embraced him. Imagine what he must have felt knowing that he was home, safe and loved. No longer an outcast, but welcomed back as a much-loved son.
The Father ran to him, embraced him and smothered him with kisses.
Further reading: Lk 15:11-24
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
4. Two Sides to the Story
He was broken and repentant and wanted to return home, but had no idea what reception he would receive. ... He had not understood how much his father really loved him.
Luke 15:16-19 (ESV) And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."'
Let’s pause for a minute on this story of the prodigal son a little longer to consider what was going through the mind of this son before he returned home.
This boy’s decision to return home was based on his desperate need. He was in a bad state. He had spent his whole inheritance. The money had been wasted, and there was nothing left. His friends who had surrounded him while the money lasted had now deserted him, and it seems there was no one willing to help. He was all alone and in desperate need. Out of necessity, he even violated his religious conscience. He hired himself out to the citizens of the land, taking on the worst of jobs. Caring for the village pigs. Animals that were unclean and prohibited under Jewish food laws. And to make things worse, this job didn’t even pay enough to cover the cost of his daily food. He was so hungry he longed to eat the swill he was feeding to the pigs.
We do not know how long this boy was in this condition, but eventually, he thought about going back home. There was plenty of food in his father’s house, and even his father’s servants were living a better life than he was. He thought things could never return to the way they had been. He had rebelled against his father and now thought he was not worthy of being treated as a son, but maybe, if he returned home, his father would hire him as a servant. He was broken and repentant and wanted to return home, but did not understand what reception he would receive.
At this stage, he did not understand the heart of his dad. He didn’t realise there was another side to this story. He had not understood how much his father really loved him. How he had broken his father’s heart when he had left home, and how much his father had longed for him to return. Daily yearning and hoping that this would be the day his son would return. The thrilling truth we see from this story is that the father was, in fact, more relieved and excited about the son returning home than the son was. The son was looking for a solution to his problems. But the father yearned for the son to return because he loved him. “This son of mine was dead, but now is alive. He was lost but now is found.”
I suggest this was just the same when we became Christians. We knew we had a need. We were broken and repentant, and asked God to forgive us of our sin, and our hearts were overjoyed when we realised that He accepted and loved us just as we were. But did it ever occur to us how thrilled and excited our Father was that we had returned home?
When we understand this, we realise that He loves us more than we love Him. The Father is more excited about our salvation than we are and is more committed to our well-being than we can imagine.
Further reading: Lk 15:3-7; 1 Jn 4:10; Rom 8:31-32
He was so hungry that he even considered eating the food that was given to the pigs.
Spend a moment right now to remember the joy and relief you felt when you became a Christian.
Now reflect on the idea that your heavenly Father was more excited than you when you came back to Him.
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
5. The Offended Brother
The gall of my brother! Who does he think he is? He has wasted Dad’s money, and now he’s come back for more. If he thinks I am happy with him coming back, he has another thing coming!
The brother of the prodigal son resented his brother's return.
We all love this story of the prodigal son. The boy who was lost has now been found. It’s a story with a happy ending. Just think of it. The father openly welcomed his lost son home. He’s safe and well, and now there will be a party. This is a story that warms our hearts and reminds us that everything will be okay.
But let’s pause for a minute to realise that there was a second son in this story. He had stayed home. He had faithfully served and honoured his father. He was a good boy. But the story tells us that when the prodigal returned home, this brother was not happy. He stayed away and refused to be part of the celebrations. We can understand his feelings. He had done what was right, and now this undeserving rebel was being celebrated. He felt unappreciated and overlooked. But when we read this story, somehow this boy’s feelings don’t matter all that much to us. We really don’t care that he stayed away and sulked. The good news is that the prodigal has come home and has been accepted by the father, and we find ourselves relieved and warmed by this happy ending.
Just for a moment, let’s imagine a different version of this story. What if we were to change this story so that when the prodigal son came home, it was not the father who ran to welcome him but his brother? And what if, in this imaginary version, the father had stayed inside sulking? Rejecting this son.
Think about this for a moment. How do you feel about this non-biblical version of the story? Somehow, this version doesn't have a happy ending. In this version, just like the authentic version, one family member accepts the boy home, and one stays away and sulks. The numbers are the same, but somehow it's no longer a happy story. Why is this? I believe this second version is not a happy story because something inside us understands that it's not OK until it's OK with dad. It would be wonderful to be accepted by the brother, but what really matters is being accepted by Dad.
Sadly for many, it's not been OK with our earthly fathers. In fact, it's been anything but OK, and this has caused indescribable pain and heartache. I wish I could rewrite your story, but sadly, I can't. My point for raising this fact is not to confront you with the pain of your past. Rather, to say that no matter how good or otherwise your earthly father has been, the truth is, it’s OK with your Father in heaven. It’s OK with the One who really matters. He is the Father who does not reject us. He does not stay away and sulk when we return home. He passionately runs to embrace and kiss us and tells us it’s OK.
Sometimes I think we can be like this as Christians. We understand the love and acceptance of Jesus. The Bible even calls Him our brother. We love our brother Jesus and know how much He loves us, but we can mistakenly think that He saved us from the judgment of an angry Father. This is understandable but totally untrue. Our Father in heaven is just like the father in our story. He is passionately excited that we have returned home. And I would suggest that it is a whole new insight to understand that it's not just OK with Jesus, it is also OK with the Father.
Truly, it’s OK with Dad.
Regardless of your experience with your earthly father, your story, too, has a happy ending. It truly is OK with your Father in heaven. He loves you more than you can imagine, and He is committed to doing you good.
Further reading: Lk 15:25-32
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
6. Why Plant that Tree Here?
Love is only real when there is a choice to love or not.
"I love you Greg."
Before we leave the story of the Garden of Eden, let us pause for a minute to think about why God placed the forbidden tree in the Garden. This tree caused all of our troubles. We have all been separated from God and dominated by sin because Adam and Eve ate from this tree. If God knew Adam and Eve would eat from the forbidden tree, why did He even put this tree in the Garden at all?
The answer to this question is to recognise that genuine love is based on choice.
I remember the day our college bought our first Apple laptop for one of our staff members. We were all excited about this new acquisition and wanted to share the experience of exploring this new laptop together. During this process of investigation, we discovered there was a facility that enabled the laptop to vocalise whatever we typed into the program. This became a source of great amusement as we gathered around the machine, typing in various statements and being amazed that the laptop repeated them back to us.
In the course of the proceedings, I typed the following words into the machine: “I love you, Greg.” This caused great amusement for us all as I pushed the button and the voice dutifully repeated the phrase, “I love you, Greg.” How great was this! A computer that loved me! To enhance the effect, I changed the voice from a male machine-sounding one to a more realistic female voice. This was fabulous. Each time I pushed the button, this woman told me she loved me. She did this for quite a while, but eventually, after hearing her repeatedly share her love for me each time I pushed the button, I began to question her sincerity!
She was only saying this because I typed this phrase into her program. She had no choice. Each time I pushed the button, she was only repeating what I typed. This was not love. It was a programmed response, and the poor “woman” had no real choice. Love is only real when there is a choice to love or not.
When God created man, He desired to make humans who would love Him from their own free choice. But this would not have been possible if God had not given Adam and Eve the opportunity to reject or disobey Him. This tree was a necessity to allow man to express free will.
It is essential, however, to understand that this was no cosmic experiment that God put in place to see if Adam and Eve would obey Him. While giving us free will had dire consequences for us, it also cost Him everything. It cost the life of His Son on the cross. But He considered this worth the cost because of His great love for us, and because of His desire that we freely love Him back.
The tree in the Garden allowed Adam and Eve to express free will.
The Father's motivation in creating you was love. You are alive today because He passionately loves you.
Further reading: Gen 2:15-17
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
7. If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.
Jesus was saying that He was so like the Father in every way that if we have seen Him, we have also seen what the Father is like.
He was doing it again. Sometimes what He said was crystal clear, but sometimes His words seemed to be way beyond them. Jesus had said He was going away to prepare a place for them and that they knew where He was going. This was news to the disciples. Thomas, therefore, asked where this place was, and Jesus replied that He was going to the Father. He also said that if they had known Him, they would have known the Father. Now, trying to understand what Jesus was saying, Philip asked Jesus to show them the Father, but Jesus’ answer didn’t seem to help. Jesus answered by asking how was it possible for them to have been with Him for so long and still not know Him. He then said that if they had seen Him, they had already seen the Father. To make things more confusing, He then said that He was in the Father and the Father was in Him. Now they were totally lost.
They had seen Jesus, but where was the Father?
I can relate to the disciples’ confusion here. Jesus seems to be so mystical and otherworldly that I lose my breath trying to understand what He is saying. This passage had always been an example of this to me. I know Jesus and the Father are different members of the Trinity, so how could it be that if we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Father? What is the profound truth behind His words? Then one day, I realised I had been making this too complicated. Jesus was stating that He was so much like the Father that if we have seen Him, we have also seen what the Father is like. In other words, in Jesus, we see an exact and accurate representation of the Father’s will and character. In this sense, if we have seen Jesus, we have also seen the Father.
My dad passed away many years ago, but I shave him daily in the mirror. This is not some macabre ritual I perform. Rather, as I am getting older, the more I am becoming like him, and every morning I see him looking back at me in my reflection. In fact, I not only look like him, but I have also discovered that I have the same body language, mannerisms, and sense of humour he had. Genuinely, if you have seen me, you have also seen my father too!
This is what Jesus meant when He said, If we have seen Him, we have seen the Father. He is so much like the Father that when we see Him, we understand what the Father is like.
The Bible says one reason Jesus came to earth was to show us what the Father is like.
John 1:18 (NIV) No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.
I know Jesus. Everything I know about Him from the Bible tells me He is loving and kind and that He has my best interests at heart. I trust Him and feel totally at ease in His presence. Therefore, if He is just like the Father, then the fantastic news is that I can also trust the Father and can feel totally at ease in His presence too.
“I shave my dad in the mirror every day!”
Further reading: Jn 14:1-11
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
8. An Exact Likeness
Jesus, at no time, did anything that was out of step with His Father.
When the Bible says that if we have seen Jesus, we have seen the Father, it does not just mean that Jesus is in some vague way similar to the Father, like I am to my earthly father. The similarity between Jesus and His Father runs much deeper than this. I am like my father because I share his DNA and grew up in his household. But I am also very different to him. I learned much from my dad, but I live a life independent of him. In contrast to this, Jesus totally represented the Father in every way and lived every day in total dependence on Him.
Jesus Himself made this clear in the verses below.
John 5:19-20a (ESV) So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing."
According to these verses, Jesus did nothing that was out of step with His Father. Everything He did was in line with the will of the Father because He did what He saw the Father doing. Although He had an independent will, He always aligned His will to that of the Father. Consequently, His day-to-day activities were governed by His ongoing, minute-by-minute relationship with Him. The Father initiated everything Jesus did, and in every situation, Jesus understood the heart and will of the Father and carried it out.
This means we can understand what the Father is like by looking at Jesus.
Australian theologian Geoffrey Bingham summarised the similarity between Jesus and the Father in this way:
If we were to take the gospels and cross out the words ‘Jesus’ and ‘the Lord’ and substitute ‘the Father’ in every case, then we would see who the Father really is. 1
I love this statement. It shows me how I can understand the Father. I am not suggesting that we follow Geoffrey Bingham’s advice literally. Jesus and the Father are two different members of the Trinity. We know that they are not the same person. Jesus, however, so followed the will of the Father and so reflected His character that everything Jesus did and everything Jesus said truly represented Him. This means the more we understand Jesus, whom we have seen, the more we can understand the Father whom we have not seen.
In our next few studies, we will examine samples of what Jesus said and did, and discover what these sayings and actions reveal about the Father.
1 Bingham, G. C. Oh, Father! Our Father! [Blackwood, South Australia: New Creation Publications, 1983]
Further reading: Jn 12:44, 45; Col 1:15; Heb 1:3
Spend a moment reflecting on the truth that everything Jesus did and said represented the heart and will of the Father.
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
9. Let the Children Come to Me
There were giggles and laughs, stories and hugs as the world stopped while Jesus gave them His full attention.
Jesus was busy. Most days started before sunrise as He drew aside to commune with His Father in prayer. People followed Him wherever He went, pressing on Him to perform miracles and meet their needs, and this often continued way into the night. Jesus and His disciples were sometimes in such demand that they didn’t even have a chance to eat.
As if this schedule wasn’t gruelling enough, some parents brought their children to Jesus so He could bless them. This was outrageous. Didn’t they know how busy He was? Didn’t they realise He had more important things to do than to waste time on infants? This was too much for His disciples, so they did the right thing and prevented them from reaching Him.
Then Jesus did something that surprised them all. Somehow amid all this activity, He had noticed what had happened, ceased what He was doing and approached the parents. The disciples again tried to protect Him, but He silenced them and asked that they bring the children to Him. To everyone’s amazement, He got down on the ground to their level, smiled and entered their world. There were giggles and laughs, stories and hugs as the world stopped while Jesus gave them His full attention. For a few moments, the busyness of the day came to a standstill, and nothing else mattered more than these small children.
This is quite an amazing story. Amid a hectic schedule, Jesus focused on these children. Most people in His situation would have seen them as a nuisance and unimportant. Yet Jesus made them the centre of His world. He gave them His greatest gift. His undivided attention. He treated them with the same consideration and respect He had for everyone who came to Him. In fact, He stated they were of particular importance in the kingdom of God.
This is a beautiful incident from the life of Jesus. But what does this tell us about the Father? We have been discovering that Jesus represented the Father in everything He did and said. Therefore, if Jesus prioritised these children, then we know the Father did as well.
We can be tempted to think the Father is distant, impersonal and aloof. He is too important and busy to be concerned about us. But the reality is, He loves us passionately and knows everything that concerns us. Nothing in our lives is too insignificant to Him. You and I matter to Him, and the Bible says that if we were to number the thoughts He has toward us each day, they would be too numerous to count.
Jesus made them the centre of His world.
Further reading: Mk 6:31; Mk 10:13-16; Ps 139:1-6
Take a moment to realise that the Father is thinking about you right now. He knows your day, and you have His undivided attention.
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
10. Healing the Sick
Unclean! Unclean! That’s what he was now. Not a person but an object of fear and disgust. Every day, he had been forced to warn people to keep away because he was a leper. This disease had now defined who he was. Unclean, unloved and alone.
Leprosy was an extremely contagious disease, and strict laws and protocols needed to be followed when it broke out. To prevent further spread and contamination, the victim was shunned and cast out of society, and their house and belongings were thoroughly cleansed or destroyed. Not only would this illness take their life, but they would suffer and struggle in isolation with no one to comfort or bring support. They became the most feared of all people, expelled and forced to live by themselves, far from home and loved ones. The law required them to cry out “unclean” to warn all who came near. And should they try to enter a village, they were driven out as the villagers threw rocks to let them know they were not welcome. This was a miserable existence. Condemned to die, shamed and alone.
Mark chapter one tells us the story of a leper who approached Jesus and asked Him to be healed. Jesus could have spoken His word and made this man well from a distance. He had done this with others. Some, like the centurion’s son, were kilometres away from Jesus when they received His healing power. But in this case, Jesus touched the leper. This was up close and personal.
When the leper approached, Jesus saw more than his physical disease. He understood his isolation and rejection and broke into this loneliness by touching him. How long had it been since he had embraced his wife or hugged his children? How long had it been since anyone had affirmed him as someone of worth by a simple touch? Jesus, knowing the danger of contamination, not only wanted to heal this man but also accept him as a person of value even while he was despised and unclean. He touched him in his diseased state. Before he was cleansed. In that single touch, Jesus communicated love and gave him dignity. Jesus healed the man both physically and emotionally, making Him whole.
If this was Jesus’ attitude to the broken and rejected, we know the Father loves us in this way too. Our sin has separated us from Him, but just as Jesus did to the leper, He is reaching out to us to make it right. He knows our weaknesses and inconsistencies. Like no other, He knows the very worst about us, yet He looks past our failures and, instead, sees us as people of immeasurable value.
When sin devastated us with its contamination, the Father did not stay aloof but sent His Son to become one of us. Through Jesus, He reaches out to touch us and make us whole.
Jesus, knowing the danger of contamination, not only wanted to heal this man, but also accept him as a person of worth, even while he was despised and unclean.
Further reading: Mk 1:40-45; Lev 13:45-46; Num 5:1-3
Spend a moment to tell Him your struggles today. They are no secret to Him, and as you open your heart to Him, allow Him to affirm His love and commitment to you.
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
11. A Friend of Sinners
Jesus loved and accepted people just as they were, and as they experienced His love, their lives were changed.
This is outrageous! Why did He allow her in here? Doesn’t He know who she is? If He were a prophet, He would understand the type of woman she is and would have nothing to do with her!
Simon the Pharisee didn’t know what to do. He was trying to do the right thing. He had invited Jesus to his house for a meal. But during the proceedings, a woman entered and approached Jesus. She was well known in the district. She was a woman of the street. A prostitute! Now she was in his home, sitting at Jesus’ feet, weeping and drying His feet with her hair. Simon felt uncomfortable. He was a respected leader in the village and was embarrassed in front of his friends. How could Jesus allow someone of her reputation to touch Him in this manner? Why didn’t He tell her she did not belong here and was not welcome?
I love this about Jesus. He loved everyone who came to Him and turned no one away. So much so, this was one thing the religious leaders had against Him. Being a friend of sinners. They did not understand that He had come to bring life to those who were bound by sin. Jesus accepted them just as they were, and their lives were changed as they experienced His love.
We need to remind ourselves what we have discovered in this series. Everything Jesus did and said was a complete representation of the Father and His heart. He did nothing contrary to the Father’s will, and He daily lived in total obedience to His Father through ongoing communion with Him. Therefore, we know that if Jesus was comfortable being with this woman, we can conclude that the Father was also comfortable in her presence.
This is an amazing truth that challenges our view of the Father. The Father is holy. He is light, and in Him, there is no darkness at all. Holiness is the essence of His being. This purity, however, makes us uncomfortable because of our sinfulness. We can feel separated from Him and can think that, in His holiness, He is distant and unapproachable. But we must remind ourselves that Jesus, too, was sinless and holy. He was no less holy than the Father. In becoming human, Jesus did not compromise His nature. Yet He lived among us and was a companion of sinners! We know Jesus never compromised His standards and never partook of the sins of those He associated with. Still, He was at ease in their presence, and maybe even more surprisingly, they were at ease around Him. If this is the reality about Jesus, we must conclude that the Father is a friend of sinners, too!
Just as Jesus was relaxed in their presence, so also was the Father.
Yes, the Father wants us to grow in purity. He understands the pain and damage that sin does, and He yearns for the day when we will experience total freedom from sin in eternity. But now, while we are on the journey, He too sits with us and is our friend.
This is a challenging thought. How can God, in all His holiness, still love and accept us with all our sinfulness? We will explore this beautiful truth in further detail in our next chapter.
Take a moment to realise that the Father knows all about you.
With all your weaknesses, sinfulness and limitations.
And yet, He still loves and accepts you.
Further reading: Lk 7:36-50
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
12. "My God, My God. Why have You Forsaken Me?"
It was just after three in the afternoon. Darkness had engulfed the scene since midday, and in the gloom, the day seemed to go on forever. The two thieves crucified next to Jesus groaned as the agony dragged on. The bystanders near the crosses stood in silence, exhausted from the shock and horror of the last six hours. Suddenly, Jesus roused on the cross and cried out with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” and not long after, giving a final breath, He bowed His head and died.
Jesus cried out these words just before He died. Of the seven statements He made while hanging on the cross, this sentence is the most perplexing and hardest to understand. The gospel accounts simply record this statement, and there is no explanation given anywhere else in the Bible.
To explain this account, some commentators point to 2 Corinthians 5:21, which states that Jesus took our sin into Himself while He was dying on the cross. They then suggest that because of His holiness, the Father could no longer look at Jesus in this sinful state and therefore turned away from Him. According to this interpretation, the Father forsook Jesus at His moment of greatest need. Isolated from the Father, He carried the sins of the world alone.
While these commentators have put forward this explanation, they admit that this statement is a mystery and concede that this incident is not explained elsewhere in the Bible.
There may, however, be an alternative answer which I believe harmonises with what we have discovered about the Father in our previous chapter.
The Bible teaches that Jesus was both fully God and fully man. We also know that in becoming a man, Jesus, the eternal Word of God, put aside the use of His divine attributes. In short, this means that in uniting His nature with humanity, Jesus was limited to a normal human experience. His everyday life was like yours and mine. He had to grow, mature, and learn just like us. There was one exception. He was sinless, and therefore, He had never experienced the guilt that we feel because of our sin.
I suggest that Jesus’ cry on the cross was not caused by the Father turning away from Him. Instead, this was his human response to experiencing the shame and the sense of isolation that sin brings between the Father and us. He had always enjoyed an open, intimate relationship with the Father. But now He experienced a sense of isolation, as He took our sin into Himself.
According to this interpretation, the Father never turned away from Jesus. He was there in every moment of anguish on the cross, but because our sin was placed on Him, Jesus felt isolated and alone.
This explanation is more consistent with what we discovered in our previous chapter, that although Jesus was sinless and holy, He was comfortable in the presence of sinners. He never turned away from them, but was their friend. Likewise, the Father, too, is a friend of sinners.
If the Father shunned Jesus when He was on the cross, this means He must turn away from us, too, in our sinful state. The good news is that He did not turn aside. The Father was present with Jesus in every moment. This means He too will never turn his love and attention away from us either.
Think back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The Father never turned away from them when they sinned. Instead, He came looking for them in love so He could make it right.
Jesus said He would never leave nor forsake us, and if this is true for Him, then we know it is also true for the Father. He is not distant and unreachable in His holiness. Instead, He is always present. Loving and reaching out to us in every situation.
Further reading: Matt 27:45-50; 2 Cor 5:21; Ps 139:7-12
In His humanity, Jesus felt isolated from the Father. But the Father never forsook Him for even a second.
There is nothing you can do to make the Father turn His back on you. He is not distant and aloof but is as close to you as your very breath.
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
13. "Neither do I Condemn You."
It was early morning. The sun was rising, and the city was coming to life as people moved into the temple area for prayer and meditation. Suddenly, shouts and the sound of a mob broke the quiet of the dawn. They were angry and entered the court with bluster and intent, throwing a woman at Jesus’ feet. Only clothed in a bedsheet, she hid her face from the prying eyes. The men picked up stones and kept shouting at Jesus. “We caught her committing adultery. In the very act. Moses commanded that we should stone her to death. What do you say?” The tranquillity of the moment was broken, and this woman’s guilt and shame were laid bare for all to see. The religious leaders relished this opportunity to expose her sin and challenge Jesus.
Throughout the Gospels, we see the religious leaders repeatedly looking for opportunities to condemn Jesus for what He did or said. They were not interested in this woman. She was simply an opportunity to catch Him out. The Law of Moses demanded that the people stone adulterers to death. The occupying Roman forces, however, had reserved this right for themselves. They had forbidden the Jews from applying capital punishment. Here was their chance to trap Jesus. If He complied with the Roman law, the Jews would brand Him as a traitor, but if Jesus carried out the Jewish law, they would turn Him over to the Romans as a rebel.
I love the way Jesus was never taken by surprise. Through the ministry of the Holy Spirit, He always spoke words of wisdom and life and used every situation to bring a deeper understanding of God’s heart and principles. The mob thought they had Jesus in a no-win position, but He turned it around by inviting anyone without sin to cast the first stone. This shocked the crowd. With this simple statement, He challenged their self-righteous condemnation of this woman. And brought home the reality that they were all sinners in need of forgiveness. They were not expecting this, and one by one, starting with the oldest, they dropped their stones and moved away, leaving Jesus and the woman alone.
Once they had left, Jesus asked her, “Where are your accusers? Has no one condemned you?” To which she replied, “No one Lord.” Then amazingly, thrillingly, Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
There is much we could say about this incident concerning the relationship between God’s grace and His justice. He never compromises with sin, but always offers forgiveness to all who turn to Him. We will focus on this balance in a later chapter. Our point here, however, is that Jesus represented the Father in all He did and said. Therefore, if Jesus did not condemn this woman, we recognise too; that the Father was not condemning her. Jesus was speaking on His behalf. Pause right now and let this settle into your heart. The Father was not condemning her.
Just as Jesus offered her grace and urged her to change her lifestyle, so too did the Father. He knew all about her sin, her rebellion and compromise, and yet He too was not denouncing her. Jesus did not come to save us from an angry Father. Instead, He came to show the Father’s love and forgiveness.
You may remember that when we talked about the story of the prodigal son, we discovered that somewhere inside of us, we are all looking for the approval of our fathers. We recognise that in life, it is not OK until it is OK with dad. Here, in this incident, we see the beautiful truth that it is not just OK with Jesus, but it is also OK with our Father in heaven. He knows all about us. Our failings. Our weaknesses. Our sin. Nothing is hidden from Him, and yet if we come to Him, He offers grace and forgiveness and does not condemn us.
Then amazingly, thrillingly, Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
Further reading: Jn 8:2-11
Spend a moment to reflect on the truth that the Father does not condemn you. Just as Jesus accepts and forgives you, so too does the Father.
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
14. Unchanging Standards
Both Jesus and the Father are in complete harmony with the standards of the Law. These standards have their origin in their very natures, and they uphold them without exception.
Matthew 5:17 (ESV) "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them.”
We live in a society that challenges the idea of absolute truth. It regards moral values as relative, and individuals can decide what is best for themselves. What we consider right for some may not be valid for others. I remember discussing this idea of relativism with a young man some years ago. He was trying to persuade me that there were no absolutes in life, and so he was free to choose his own standards. I was putting forward the case that some things are always unacceptable, and an example of this would be murder. I could not convince him about this, and to challenge his thinking, I acted out a small scenario. I suggested that if I had a knife in my hand, it would be wrong for me to stab him with it. And in saying this, I pushed my empty, clenched fist toward his stomach. I thought he would have to agree with me that this was unacceptable. But, to my surprise, he stated it would not be wrong for me to stab him, but it would be wrong for him to be stabbed. This took me aback. This one action of stabbing him was acceptable or otherwise, depending on which end of the weapon we were.
We do not have the space to elaborate on this debate in more detail here, other than to say that the Bible states there are real, universal standards of right and wrong. These values come from the heart and nature of God, and they protect us as individuals and as members of society. Murder is always wrong. Rape is always wrong. Child abuse is always wrong. Similarly, adultery too, is also always wrong.
In our previous reading, we saw Jesus forgave the woman caught in adultery. The Law taught that they should stone her to death, yet Jesus seemed to ignore this standard and absolved her.
This apparent contradiction has led some to believe there is a difference between Jesus’ standards and those of the Father. They perceive the Father to be a harsh, judgmental lawgiver. While they see Jesus as gracious and merciful.
In previous chapters, we have seen Jesus represented the Father in all He did and said. So how do we reconcile this seeming contradiction between the Old Testament and the actions and heart of Jesus?
We will discover the answer to this supposed difference when we explore in our next reading the Biblical truth of redemption. We will see that both Jesus and the Father are in complete harmony with the standards of the Law. These requirements have their origin in their natures, and they both uphold them without exception.
Jesus did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfil it.
Further reading: Ps 40:6-8; Heb 10:3-12
Although we have broken the Father's standards, He sent Jesus into the world so that we might be forgiven.
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
15. The Father’s Dilemma
If God were to forgive us when we sin, without demanding the appropriate consequences, He would be saying that it is acceptable to sin. He would be cancelling out all standards of right and wrong.
Romans 6:23 (ESV) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Galatians 3:13 (ESV) Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
In our earlier reading, we saw that God has established universal standards of right and wrong. These requirements are good and have their origin in His heart and nature. They reflect His righteousness and holiness. The Bible is also clear that the consequence of breaking these laws is death. And if God does not uphold these consequences, He would cancel His moral rules.
Imagine a court case where the defendant had committed murder. There were multiple eyewitnesses, and the person on trial admitted their guilt. They carried out their crime just because they disliked the victim. Consider the uproar that would follow if the judge forgave the guilty person and granted them a pardon. I am sure you would agree this judge would be unfit to serve in the judiciary and would not hold their position for very long.
Now, imagine a society that did not enforce the penalties for murder. They might decide that murder is wrong and harmful, and even have laws in place expressing this. But if they did not impose the prescribed penalties, that community would act as if murder were acceptable. You could murder without consequence, and by not enforcing the just penalties upon those who broke the law, they would abolish their rules of proper living.
Similarly, if God does not apply the penalties for our sin, He would be turning a blind eye to sin, and we could not trust him to do what is right. He would be saying it is acceptable to sin, and He would be cancelling out all standards. This would destroy the moral fibre of the universe. Right would no longer be right, and wrong would no longer be wrong.
The Bible says Jesus redeemed us from the curse (consequences) of the Law. This idea of redemption is that of paying a price on behalf of another. We have broken God’s laws and deserve to die. But when Jesus died on the cross, He took the punishment of our sin on our behalf. He paid the price we should pay. Through the death of Jesus, the Father was upholding the consequences of breaking His laws. He has judged our sin through Jesus. And now that He has carried out the judgment of our sin, the Father is free to forgive us without destroying His righteous laws.
When Jesus forgave the adulterous woman, He was not ignoring her sin. Nor was He contradicting the standards of the Law. He endorsed those standards because they had their origin in His own holiness and were right. He could forgive her, however, because He knew that He would die in her place on the cross. In forgiving her, Jesus reflected the heart of the Father who passionately wants to forgive us of all our sins. When Jesus forgave the woman and said that He did not condemn her, He was expressing the heart and will of the Father.
God will always judge sin. He will never compromise with right and wrong because He is holy and just and will always uphold His holy standards. The wonderful news, however, is that although we deserve the consequences of our sin, Jesus has satisfied these consequences. The price has been paid, and if we accept His death on our behalf, we too can receive His forgiveness. When we receive the forgiveness offered to us by God, the Father, along with Jesus, says that He, too, no longer condemns us.
Further reading: Matt 20:28; Rom 3:24; Eph 1:7; Heb 9:12-15, 22; 1 Pet 1:18- 19; 1 Pet 3:18
He paid the price we should pay.
The Father and Jesus will always judge sin. This is the right thing to do. The wonderful news, however, is that Jesus took that judgment on our behalf. Our choice is whether we will accept His death on our behalf or choose to pay the price ourselves.
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
16. The Surprised Workers
Matthew 20:1 (ESV) "For the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard."
There is a parable recorded in Matthew’s Gospel that, until recently, I have always misunderstood. It’s the story of the labourers in the vineyard.
In this account, Jesus spoke of a landowner who went to the marketplace at 6 am to hire workers for his vineyard. In doing this, he promised to pay them a denarius, which was the going rate for a day’s work. Later that day, at 9 am, the master returned and hired another group to work for him and pledged to give them whatever was right. Throughout the day, at midday, 3 pm and 5 pm, he also employed additional groups of workers to work for the remainder of the day until 6 pm. And again he agreed to pay them what it was worth.
When evening came, the owner of the property directed his foreman to pay the labourers, beginning with those hired last. To everyone’s surprise, they, having only worked for one hour, received a full denarius. We can imagine what the others were thinking. Those who only worked one hour got a full day’s wage. The others, who had toiled for long hours, now expected to receive more than what had been promised. But to their disappointment, each worker was only given a denarius. They were outraged. They had persevered in the heat all day and received the same amount as those who only worked for one hour.
For many years, I read this parable and thought this was unfair. Why did the workers who worked 12 hours receive the same as those who worked only one hour? I felt the owner of the vineyard had been deceptive and mean to those who served the longest. This was wrong. And to make this worse, Jesus said that this is what the kingdom of heaven is like! This was not my most favourite passage of Scripture.
Then one day, I realised the focus of the parable is not on those who worked all day. They had received one day’s wage for one day’s work. The intended emphasis, instead, is on those who worked fewer hours, some only one, and yet they too received a full day’s wage. Because of the generosity of the owner, they were getting far more than they deserved. They had not earned the denarius. Still, the landowner chose to give them a full day’s wage. That is what the kingdom of heaven is about. Receiving what we don’t deserve!
We, as sinners, deserve judgment for our sin. We have broken God’s moral code and should receive the consequences of our actions. Death. But the Father, in His mercy, has forgiven us and has made this possible by sending Jesus to bear these consequences on our behalf. Jesus has paid the price. Sin has been judged. The standards of right and wrong have been upheld. And now the Father offers forgiveness and grace to all who will accept this sacrifice on their behalf.
There is something within us that feels we need to earn God’s love. We wrongly think that if we can be good enough, we can deserve His love and acceptance. However, we can never be good enough. But the beautiful truth is that, even though we can never be good enough, the Father unreservedly loves and forgives us.
What amazing grace the Father has poured out on us. We, like the workers who only worked for one hour, are undeserving. Yet the Father, in His mercy, has freely forgiven us of every wrongdoing.
This truly is what the kingdom of heaven is like.
Further reading: Matt 20:1-16
Because of the generosity of the owner of the vineyard, they received far more than they deserved.
Spend a few minutes reflecting on the grace of God. Like the workers in the field who only worked for one hour, you too have received what you have not deserved—the Father's pardon and forgiveness.
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
17. Amazing Grace
When you sin, which way do you run? Do you find yourself, like Adam and Eve, running away from God? Or do you run to Him so that He can make it right?
Genesis 3:8-10 (ESV) And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.”
Earlier in this book, we recounted the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. God had placed them in a perfect environment where they could enjoy all that He had provided. They could eat from every tree except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Sadly, devastatingly, the fateful day came when they disobeyed God and, in defiance, ate the forbidden fruit. At that moment, everything changed. Their paradise turned into a nightmare. They had rebelled against God’s command, and now they were experiencing guilt, shame and fear. For the first time, they realised they were naked and used fig leaves to cover themselves as they felt estranged from each other and from Him. Then they heard the sound of the Father calling them. And in desperation, they hid from Him.
When we studied this story earlier in this book, we reflected on how we imagine the tone of the Father’s voice on that day. And in the following chapters, we discovered that this was not the sound of an angry judge desiring to punish and bring revenge. Instead, it was the expression of a broken-hearted Father, who wanted to make things right and to restore their relationship with Him. In their guilt and shame, however, Adam and Eve did not understand the heart of the Father, and they hid from Him.
We, too, if we have not understood the grace and forgiveness of God, can respond to Him just as they did.
As Christians, we know that God has made us right with Himself through Jesus’ death. Jesus died for our sins, and we are forgiven when we receive His sacrifice on our behalf. However, when we sin, we can feel unworthy and undeserving of His favour or blessing. Wrongly thinking we need to make up for what we have done, we find ourselves keeping a running score on how good we have been. When we have been good, we believe we are more worthy of God’s love, but when we have not lived up to what we think we should, we wallow in unworthiness. And we hope that, given time to work hard enough at being good, we can make ourselves more acceptable to Him.
We need to realise that just as there was nothing Adam and Eve could do to rectify what they had done, so it is with us. No amount of repentance or good works can undo our sin. And no measure of good behaviour will ever be enough to merit God’s love and acceptance. No matter how hard we try, we will never be good enough. We received God’s forgiveness by His grace alone when we first came to Him. And the Father intends that we continue to walk in this grace every day of our lives.
Unless we understand His grace, we will find ourselves driven by a sense of unworthiness that we can never escape. Forever striving to be good enough, but still falling short of the mark. Whenever we believe that our goodness warrants favour with the Father, we are acting as if Jesus’ death was not sufficient to pay for our sins. We are living as if we can only be worthy before God by our own efforts.
The Father wants us to come to Him when we sin. He already knows what we have done. There is nothing we can confess to Him He does not already know. But He wants us to come to Him and admit our fault so we can experience and understand His forgiveness afresh and remain in a close relationship with Him.
1 John 1:9 (ESV) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
This verse promises that God will always forgive us. Not because we are good enough, but because He is faithful.
When you sin, which way do you run? Do you find yourself, like Adam and Eve, running away from God? Or do you run to Him so that He can make it right?
Further reading: 1 Jn 1:5-10; Heb 4:15-16; Rom 8:1
Don't allow your failures to keep you away from Him any longer. He loves and accepts you despite your performance.
Spend a few minutes right now opening your heart to Him and allow Him to affirm His love for you.
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
18. Walking in Grace
Being right with God should lead to growing in holiness and producing good works but growing in holiness and producing good works can never make us right with God.
Romans 6:1 (ESV) What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?
In our previous two readings, we reflected on the amazing grace of the Father’s total and unfailing forgiveness. We are like the workers in the field who only worked one hour but received a full day’s wage. We deserve judgment, but we receive mercy. He will always forgive us no matter what we do, and He wants us to run to Him whenever we sin so He can make it right.
The Apostle Paul explains the wonder of God’s grace in Romans chapters 3 to 5. These are chapters we should read and reread many times to allow the truth of grace to saturate our hearts. In these chapters, he points out that we are made acceptable by God through faith alone, and we have absolute peace with Him.
Having shared the revelation of salvation by grace, Paul then raises a question at the beginning of chapter 6. “Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound?” Paul’s answer in the next verse is an emphatic no!
To appreciate the conviction of his answer, consider how the following translations present the first part of verse 2.
No, we should not! Contemporary English Version
By no means New International Version
God forbid King James Version
Certainly not! Good News Bible. Today's English Version: That’s unthinkable! God's Word
Of course not, New Living Translation
May it never be! New American Standard Bible
With this question, Paul asks, if we are saved by grace alone, does it matter how we live? If God will always forgive us, what is the point of trying to maintain a good life? Paul’s answer is clear. When we experience the totality of the Father’s forgiveness, it transforms us on the inside. It influences our hearts and changes the way we want to live.
To understand the expected response to grace, we must realise the difference between two theological truths: justification and sanctification. These are separate works of God in our lives. Justification is the Father’s work of making us right with Himself through the redemptive death of Jesus on the cross. Sanctification is the process by which we grow in experiential holiness through our ongoing relationship with Him.
Here is the balance. Justification should lead to sanctification, but sanctification can never lead to justification. Let me say that again without using these theological terms. Being right with God should lead to growing in holiness and producing good works. But growing in holiness and producing good works can never make us right with God.
We have seen that because Jesus paid the price for our sin, we have total forgiveness, and there is nothing we can do to add to this. God saves us by His grace and grace alone.
Ephesians 2:8 (ESV) For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
He does not just forgive us, however, and then leave us unchanged. When we open our hearts up to Him, He brings about a change in us on the inside. We become new people, and He commits to working in us as we receive His love and grace.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (ESV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Philippians 1:6 (ESV) And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
This means we can walk in confidence and freedom, knowing that He will never condemn us when we fail. But will also continue to help us grow to be the people He has destined us to be.
Further reading: Rom 5:1; 6:1-14
Spend a moment to thank Him that you are saved by grace and grace alone, and that He is doing a good work in you and will never give up on you, even when you fail.
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
19. The Unseen Sufferer
When we look at the cross, we see the suffering of Jesus, but maybe we have overlooked the pain that the Father experienced as He witnessed the torture and suffering of His only Son.
1 John 4:9 (ESV) In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
Having seen the totality of the forgiveness of the Father, let us spend a moment to reflect upon what it cost Him to provide our salvation. The Romans designed crucifixion to be the most torturous and prolonged way to kill criminals. In fact, our word excruciating comes from the Latin for the cross, “crux”. In a typical crucifixion, they nailed the victim to a cross through their wrists * and their feet. As they tried to support their weight on the nails in their feet, this would cause intense pain. To escape this agony, the sufferer would try to pull themself up by the nails in their wrists, but again, this would be unbearable. No position would lessen the agony. Besides this, as they tired, their muscles cramped, so they could no longer pull themself up and could not inhale. Medical experts say that this partial suffocation would ease the cramp and allow the victim to pull themself up and breathe again. Inevitably, the cramp would return, repeating the process. Crucifixion involved a slow, agonising death from suffocation and loss of blood.
As we have mentioned before, Jesus not only endured this physical torture but also, while He was on the cross, took our sin into Himself. He experienced the shame, isolation and guilt caused by the sin of every human who has ever lived. We can only imagine the horror of what this must have been like.
I remember reading an article in a Christian magazine some years ago about a pastor dying of cancer. The piece recounted how one day, during his struggle with this disease, the pastor, himself a young dad, rang his own father to tell him he loved him and was praying for him. In response, the father thanked his son but replied that he didn’t need to pray for him. He said, “Son, we are all praying for you. You are the one with cancer. There is no need to pray for me.” The pastor thanked his dad for his love and prayers, but then answered, “Dad, I woke up this morning and I realised how I would feel if it was one of my boys who was struggling with this illness, and it made me realise how much you must be hurting too.”
I think most parents can understand this insight. When our children suffer, we suffer too. When they are hurting, everything within us wants to take that pain away. If it were possible, in a heartbeat, we would change places with them to free them from their distress.
When we look at the cross, we see Jesus suffering. But maybe we have overlooked the pain that the Father experienced as He witnessed the torture of His only Son. The Bible does not explain this, but I wonder how much it cost the Father to allow His Son to die for us. He could have intervened and stopped the crucifixion. He could have saved His Son and left us in our sin. Yet, because of His love for us, He allowed His Son to endure unimaginable pain so we might find forgiveness and grace.
Jesus did not save us from an angry Father. Instead, He carried out the will of His Father and died for us, even though it cost them both more than we will ever understand.
Further reading: Rom 5:8-10; 8:32; 1 Jn 4:9, 10, 16, 19
Maybe we have overlooked the pain that the Father experienced as He witnessed the torture of His only Son.
Have you ever considered how much it must have cost the Father to allow Jesus to suffer on the cross? Spend a moment thanking Him for the price He paid as He witnessed the suffering of His only Son.
*Although our English Bibles say the nails went through Jesus’ hands, the Greek word used refers not only to the hand but also to the wrist and forearm. History tells us that the Romans more often drove the nails through the wrists, as the structure of the hand was not sufficient to hold the weight of the victim.
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.
20. The Initiative of the Father
In previous readings, we explored the wonderful truth that the Father has saved us by His grace. We are like the workers in the field who only worked one hour and yet received a full day’s wage. There is nothing within us that merits His mercy or forgiveness. We are saved by grace and grace alone.
Ephesians chapter one highlights the Father’s initiative and action in our salvation.
Verse three summarises the key idea.
Ephesians 1:3 (ESV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places,
Notice from this verse that it is the Father who has blessed us in Christ. Our salvation did not originate in our attempts to be right with Him. It was not our seeking after Him, but rather His seeking after us. And our salvation results from His purpose and will.
To further understand the initiative of the Father, I have included the next few verses from Ephesians chapter one, and I have highlighted the mentions of the Father. Slowly read the passage below several times, noticing how central the Father is and noting what He has done for us in Christ.
Ephesians 1:3–14 (ESV) Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. 11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.
Considering the highlighted words and phrases in this passage, we see that it is the Father doing all of the action. He planned and initiated our salvation.
v3 The Father has blessed us
v4 The Father chose us in him (Christ)
v5 The Father predestined us for adoption to himself
v7, 8 The Father lavished his grace upon us
v9 The Father made known to us the mystery of his will
Of course, the Father did not act alone in bringing about our salvation. This was a work of all three members of the Trinity, with each member playing their unique role.
Notice the references to Jesus in this passage.
v 3 we are blessed in Christ
v 4 the Father chose us in Christ that we should be holy and blameless
v 5 the Father predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ
v 6 the Father has blessed us in the Beloved (Christ)
v 7 in him (Christ) we have redemption through his (Christ’s) blood
v 9 the Father set forth his will in Christ
v 10 the Father is uniting all things in him (Christ)
v 11 in him (Christ) we have obtained an inheritance
v 12 our hope is in Christ
v 13 in him (Christ) we were sealed with the Holy Spirit
From these verses, we see that the Father initiated our salvation. It was His plan and His purpose. Also, we note that Jesus made our redemption possible through His death on the cross.
Finally, notice the repeated expressions, “in Him” or “in Christ”. Our salvation rests on Jesus and on Him alone. We are saved because we have put our trust and faith in Him!
This passage reveals that Jesus did not save us from an angry Father. Jesus became a man and died for us because this was the plan and the will of the Father.
Further reading: Eph 2:4-5; Tit 3:3-5
Spend a moment reflecting on the truth that it was the Father's initiative to extend grace to you.
This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.