Our best picture of who we think God is, is revealed and demonstrated to us by our earthly father. How we view our earthly father is usually how we view God the Father. If our earthly father is abusive, it is difficult not to view God as angry, as if He desires to punish you for your sins. If you have a father who has abandoned you, it’s easy to initially view God as just another father who has abandoned you.
Yet, the beauty of God the Father is that He is perfect and He is perfectly faithful. He doesn’t know how to fail, and His desire is to call you son or daughter. It actually pleases God for you to respond to His love for you by being persuaded that He is able to be believed!
One of the most powerful things that we can understand is who the Father is. God has said, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.” (Hosea 4:6) And while many people have “book” knowledge of God, they don’t know Him, a relationship that comes from intimacy. Many people read the Bible and know facts about God, or they may even know the promises of God, but they do not understand the heart of God. How can you love someone if you don’t understand their heart?
I pray that you may walk in the revelation of God’s heart toward you, as demonstrated through the life, words and actions of Jesus!
I have come across many people who have struggled with reconciling the God of the Old Testament with Jesus. Many people see God the Father as an angry God, out to destroy those who practice wickedness. Many times, people are scared of God the Father, but they actually like the Son, Jesus, because He is the savior, the healer, and the One who sets captives free.
But I want to encourage you, and pray that you understand that when we see the Father and the Son, we don’t see two separate “beings” at work. Often times, people see the Father as the angry one out to destroy, and then they see Jesus as the gentle one, interceding for us, almost as if He says, “No Father, don’t hurt them.” But there is something more profound to understand in the revelation of how Jesus reveals the true nature of the Father.
Hebrews 1:3 tells us that “He (Jesus) is the radiance of His (God’s) glory and the exact representation of His nature…”
This is a powerful truth! Jesus is the EXACT representation of the nature of God! This is why Jesus tells His disciples, “If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.” (John 14)
Jesus came to show us the exact nature of the Father, and He told His disciples that if they had seen Him, then they had seen the Father! Jesus went on to say in John 14 that
“He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10“Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11“Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves.”
This was such a difficult word for the people for many reasons. For one, they could not get over the fact that Jesus did not appear to be the savior that they had been waiting for. “Isn’t He the son of Mary and Joseph?” The Jews were expecting a savior to come and establish an earthly kingdom, the political sort, with a ruling army and all. They were expecting a king to come and rule over them in the earthly sense, yet Jesus came proclaiming, establishing, and demonstrating God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven.
The people didn’t truly understand the heart of God. They thought that God demanded their sacrifice and effort, and the Pharisees (trained, religious leaders) were the ones who oversaw the sacrificial efforts of the people. The Pharisees demanded that people follow the rules that God had set, and when someone failed, they were punished, even unto death for their sins. But then Jesus came preaching a different message of God’s love for humanity, telling us that “In whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You have taken no pleasure,” (Hebrews 10:6) in regards to God. The people and the Pharisees thought that God was pleased with them because of their religious rituals and piety, and yet Jesus came to reveal the true heart of the Father.
Jesus came declaring the sinner forgiven! In Luke 7, Jesus is at the house of the Pharisee Simon. There was a woman who had come in to the house, and as she saw Jesus, she began to cry. Bowed down before Him, and with tears falling onto His feet, she wiped the tears with her hair and anointed His feet with perfume. Simon the Pharisee said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.”
I love this part of the story because it says that Simon said this to himself, I assume he mumbled it under his breath. And yet, Jesus responded to him by saying, “A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42“When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?” 43Simon answered and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You have judged correctly.” 44Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45“You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. 46“You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. 47“For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.” 48Then He said to her, “Your sins have been forgiven.” 49Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this man who even forgives sins?” 50And He said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
In another story, a paralytic was lowered through the roof of a house so that Jesus could heal him. There are no words recorded in the Scriptures that were said by the paralytic, and yet Jesus told him, “Take courage son, your sins are forgiven.” (Matthew 9)
You see, people thought that God wanted to destroy the world because of sin, and that if a sinner got around God, then God would not let them come near Him. Yet Jesus came showing what God had been demonstrating all along, that He was more powerful than sin, and if people would just come to Him, He would free them from the brokenness of the world and the devastation of their sin.
So Jesus came declaring the sinner forgiven, and He came healing the sick. He cast demons out of the possessed, preached hope to the poor, and in all of this we must realize one incredibly important thing: That when Jesus was doing all these things, it was actually the Father who was doing them through Him. Jesus did nothing on His own initiative, nor accomplished anything according to his own will. Whatever He saw the Father doing, He did, and whatever He heard the Father saying, He said. So Jesus revealed to us the true nature of God! When we see Jesus doing something, He’s doing it because that is the Father’s will and heart!
When we see Jesus healing, it’s because it’s the Father’s desire. When we see Jesus declaring the sinner forgiven, it’s God’s word spoken that cleans them. When we see the broken become whole, it’s because that’s God’s heart and desire for the broken!
You see, God sent Jesus to die for us “while we were yet sinners.” (Romans 5:8) God didn’t wait for us to be better people, or to be in a better condition, He sent Jesus to die for us while we were in our most deplorable state! What amazing love that a man would lay down His life for us! So often, people see the destruction found in the Old Testament, and think that God’s desire is to destroy people for their sin. But look at what Jesus does in His earthly ministry!
In the Scriptures, there is a powerful understanding of the reconciliation between the Father and the Son, but is rarely talked about. Jesus sent His disciples ahead of Him to make arrangements for them to stay somewhere. When the people of the city wouldn’t receive Jesus, the disciples James and John came back to Jesus and said,
“Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?” But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; 56for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And they went on to another village.” (Luke 9:54-55)
I pray you see this picture of God. In the Old Testament, the prophet Elijah had called down fire from heaven to destroy the enemies of God (2 Kings 1). The fire came down and it killed many. The disciples who were with Jesus knew this story, and since the city would not receive Jesus, they thought they would call down the same fire. But Jesus would not allow it. Why? Because, as He said, “the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” (Luke 9:56) Jesus didn’t come to judge the world, but He came to save the world! (John 3:17)
And Jesus did ALL these things because it was and IS the Father’s will that all should be saved, for He does not desire to destroy men! Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing.
Jesus said, ”Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” (John 5:19)
I pray that you are awakened to the revelation that God the Father and Jesus the Son are in fact one! For many years, even with the Scriptures, men did not understand who God was. God did not suddenly change His mind about mankind and then decide to send Jesus, rather He sent Jesus to reveal His true nature in order to change man’s mind about Himself.
Today, many churches still present an angry Father and a loving Son, but I pray that you see the true picture of a Father who loves you desperately. When we see Jesus, we see the Father, therefore, if we know Jesus, we also know the Father! Therefore, we can walk in assurance that God the Father loves us, for He is our Healer, our Deliverer and our Salvation!
