The gift of a perfect Father

The privilege of a wonderful Father is very special:

• Father God has it all.  He is fabulously rich.  That means He has no reason to exploit anybody.  We can trust Him completely.
• He is so rich that no money in the world can sway His mind or opinion.  That means He is fair and objective – no favouritism.  
• Because He has it all, He is real when He says His only desire is to have children.     
• He is a God with no blemishes and no skeletons in His cupboard.  He is not a God with a hidden agenda.  He is what He reveals about Himself in the Bible.  What a special benefit to have an honest Father.  
• God is a ‘people’s God.’  Every one of His called ones can communicate with Him at any time, through His Holy Spirit.  There is no need for an appointment with a busy King.  No!  He has time, any time, always, willing to listen to prayer and petition.
• Even the word ‘obedience’ is not the idea of master/servant.  God wants us to rule with Him in His eternal Kingdom.  He wants us to learn the ropes so that we can one day eternally care for His wonderful creation,  

‘To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on My Father’s throne, just as I overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.’  Revelation 3:21

Summary 

We have a very special, generous Father who redeemed us through His Son to be His very own, 

‘I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters,” says the Lord Almighty.’  2 Corinthians 6:18

The Lord will Provide

The Holy Spirit made sure, through various Scriptures, that the Gospel of God’s provision for man was known to people even before the time of Jesus.  The Good News is not only in the four Gospels, from Matthew to John.  The Old Testament expounds it in types.  For example:

#  The sacrifice of Isaac

God commanded Abraham to sacrifice his only beloved son, Isaac. ¹  It was a type, a picture of the Gospel of how God would sacrifice His beloved Son.  “The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham; ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’” ²  That blessing referred to Jesus, quite some time before His birth.

# Similarities between the sacrifices of Isaac and Jesus

• God commanded Abraham, ‘Take your son, your only son, Isaac whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah.  Sacrifice him there on one of the mountains I will tell you about.’ ³ 
  • It is the same place that King David bought from Araunah and where he sacrificed to stop the plague on the Israelites. ⁴  He said, ‘The house of the Lord God is to be here, and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel.’ ⁵
  • So Solomon built the temple on Mount Moriah. ⁶
  • Jesus was crucified near the temple, on Golgotha or Calvary.
• Abraham put the wood on Isaac. ⁷  Compare it to, ‘Carrying His own cross, He went out to the place of the skull….’ ⁸
• Isaac asked his father,  “…but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?  Abraham answered, ’God Himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’” ⁹
  • Jesus was the Lamb of God, ’Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the centre of the throne…’ ¹⁰
  • “So Abraham called that place The Lord will Provide.  And to this day it is said, On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.’” ¹¹  Abraham used the future tense ‘will provide,’ after God had prevented the slaying of Isaac and provided a ram.   Thus Abraham prophesied that God will provide the sacrifice (His Son).
• “By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice.  He who had received the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, even though God had said to him, ‘It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.’  Abraham reasoned that God could raise the dead, and figuratively speaking, he did receive Isaac back from death.” ¹²   Take note of the similar language in the New Testament:
  • ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son….’ ¹³
  • ‘…God the Father…raised Him [Jesus] from the dead.’ ¹⁴ 
  • “He said to them, ‘The Son of Man….  They will kill Him, and after three days He will rise.’” ¹⁵

Conclusion

The sacrifice of Isaac was a prophetic act that God used to teach us in advance what it would cost Him, the Father, to give His one and only Son as the sacrificial Lamb for the sins of the world.

References

1. Genesis 22:1-19
2. Galatians 3:8
3. Genesis 22:2
4. 2 Samuel 24:18-25
5. 1 Chronicles 22:1
6. 2 Chronicles 3:1
7. Genesis 22:6
8. John 19:17
9. Genesis 22:8
10. Revelation 5:6
11. Genesis 22:14
12. Hebrews 11:17
13. John 3:16
14. Galatians 1:1
15. Mark 9:31

Our wonderful God

We have such a wonderful God who gave us such a wonderful book. For example, there is 1 Kefa, written by Kefa, an emissary of Yeshua the Messiah. Translated it means the first letter written by Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ. This is just an aside to remind us that our holy Bible is a Jewish book.

First Peter was written before the Roman emperor Nero’s persecution of Christians began in 64 AD. Peter addressed the letter to God’s elect, scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia. These were all real countries (consult a Bible atlas). Today the letter also applies to the faithful followers of Jesus, scattered around the United States, Canada, Africa, Europe, Asia, et cetera.

The letter is addressed to God’s elect. God chose certain people to have a relationship with Him. Does that mean God chose some and left others out? Not at all. When people asked Peter what they should do after his sermon on the resurrection of Jesus, he said, ‘Repent and be baptised, all of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.’ ¹  God calls, we respond.

What is remarkable is the different functions of the Trinity:

1. The Father calls into His kingdom. He is in charge, the CEO. We can either reject or accept. This explains why the devil and many atheists hate the elect: they chose to reject the call, and so they became the ‘outcasts’ of God’s Kingdom. They decided by their own volition to reject, but still hate us because we accepted the call.
2. The glorious Lord Jesus Christ gave Himself willingly for us. He ‘sprinkled’ His blood for us. This remains an enigma, a King died willingly on a cross for the people of God: to gather a Bride from among the nations.  This is the ‘foolishness of God:’ Christ the Crucified became the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²  Justin said, ‘They say that our madness consists in the fact that we put a crucified man in second place after the unchangeable and eternal God, the Creator of the world.’ ³ 
3. The Holy Spirit sanctifies, separates for God. Sanctification has two aspects. The one is to be declared holy (your sins are forgiven). The other is to be trained to act out holiness (to live the kingdom life).

Because of the combined actions of the Trinity, our eternal inheritance will never spoil, fade of perish. Isn’t it wonderful? We will be rich, exceedingly rich, eternally. What a future, what a hope. No wonder we are told, ‘My purpose is that they [us] will be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they [we] may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that we may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.’ ⁴

What a wonderful Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

References

1. Acts 2:38-39
2. 1 Corinthians 1:23-24
3. Just, Apology I, 13.4, cited by M Hengel, Crucifixion, Fortress Press, Philadelphia, 1977, p 1
4. Colossians 2:2-3