Month: February 2016

Last time we ended with the idea from II Corinthians 4 that we see the glory of God when we look into the face of Jesus.  Beyond all the wonderful descriptions of our heavenly Father that we have uncovered in the New Testament, the greatest revelation still remains in the person and work of Jesus Himself.  The best expression we find for what the Father is like is in the face of Christ.

When we look into the face of Jesus, what do we see?  We see love.  When Jesus wept for Lazarus, “The Jews were saying, ‘Behold how He loved him!’ ” (Jn 11:36).

When we look into the face of Jesus, we see forgiveness.  “And Jesus seeing their faith said to the paralytic, ‘My son , your sins are forgiven’ ” (Mk 2:5).

When we look into the face of Jesus, we see acceptance.  “And both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them’ ” (Lk 15:2).

When we look into the face of Jesus, we see compassion.  “And moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him saying, ‘Be cleansed.’  And immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed” (Mk 1:41-42).

When we look into the face of Jesus, we see healing.  “And Jesus was going about in all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people” (Mt 4:23).

When we look into the face of Jesus, we see humility.  “Jesus rose from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel girded Himself about.  Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded” (Jn 13:4-5).

And ultimately, when we look into the face of Jesus we see a love that sent Christ to the cross on our behalf.  “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends” (Jn 15:13).  “But God demonstrates His own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom 5:8).  But the power of His love did not end at His death.

When we look into the face of Jesus, we see the Son of God bursting forth from the tomb.  “And the angel answered and said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified.  He is not here, for He has risen, just as He said.  Come, see the place where He was lying.  And go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead’ ” (Mt 28:5-7).

And in an incredible stroke of overwhelming blessing, we were raised with Him.  “Therefore we have been buried with Him [Jesus] through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin” (Rom 6:4-6).

Our power over sin in this present life is a direct result of our union with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.  If you have embraced the message of the gospel, you have been united with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.  And you are now infused with the power of His resurrection life.  His righteous and resurrected life flows through you.  This is what you see and what God invites you to experience when you look into the face of Jesus.

The sheer volume of all the wonderful attributes of God seen in the face of Jesus is vast and we could recount them all the way to the end of the Internet.  But we will end with one more.

Finally, when we look into the face of Jesus, we see the return of a triumphant King.  “The stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers that are in the heavens will be shaken.  And then they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory” (Mk 13:25-26).  Even so, come Lord Jesus!

Over the past few weeks, we have learned many wonderful things about our heavenly Father.  We have delved into not only His beautiful character and identity, but into how that translates into His caring relationship with us, His children.  But a greater revelation of God the Father is yet to come.  And it is found in His Son, Jesus Christ.  When you see Jesus, you see the Father.

If you are a believer, you have met Jesus.  If you have met Jesus, you have seen the Father.  In the gospel of John, Jesus said,  ” ‘If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him.’  Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.’  Jesus said to Him, ‘How long have I been with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip?  He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so why do you say, “Show us the Father”? ‘ ” (Jn 14:7-9).

Probably on occasions prior to this passage, but definitely in these verses, Jesus explains that if you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.  But the concept seems to go right over the disciples’ heads as Philip asks to see the Father.  So Jesus explains it one more time, “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.”  It is a theme found throughout the New Testament.

“[God’s final revelation] has been through His Son, who He appointed heir of all things, through who also He made the world.  And He [Jesus] is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of His nature” (Heb 1:2-3).  Jesus is the exact representation of God’s nature, God’s essence.

“And He [Jesus] is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation…For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness of deity to dwell in Him” (Col 1:15,19).  “For in Christ all the fullness of deity dwells in bodily form” (Col 2:9).  All the fullness of God Himself dwells in Jesus.  There is nothing missing.

“For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ” (II Cor 4:5-6).  Do you want to see God the Father in all of His glory?  Look into the face of Jesus Christ.

As we wrap up our series on God, our Father, and our unique relationship with Him, we will explore next time what it is we see about God when we look into the face of Jesus.

The apostle Paul ends his prayer in Colossians chapter 1 with these words of encouragement, “Giving thanks to the Father, who qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light, who rescued us from the domain of darkness, and who transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Col 1:12-13).

Who qualified you?  The Father.  Who rescued you?  The Father.  Who transferred you?  The Father.

Your heavenly Father qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints.  You have your papers!  You are approved!  God Himself has stamped a big red APPROVED on your papers.  You are qualified to be here in the company of saints, because God Himself has made you a saint; a saint who is walking in the light.

Your heavenly Father rescued you from the domain of darkness.  By the death and resurrection of His beloved Son, you have been delivered from the darkness of both the penalty of sin and the power of sin.  As a new covenant saint, you have been set free from sin’s power.  Sin shall no longer have dominion over you.  Sin shall no longer be your master (Rom 6:14).

And finally, your heavenly Father transferred you into His kingdom.  We are now – in the present age – citizens of the kingdom of God.  The words “rescued” and “transferred” are past tense.  This transfer, this move to the kingdom of God, is not in the distant far-off future.  It has already happened when we placed our faith in Christ.  And this transfer is a complete “drag and drop” into the new kingdom.  We didn’t just have something added on to our old home, some new wing added to our old residence.  You were lifted from your old home in “the domain of darkness” and dropped into your new home in the “kingdom of His beloved Son”, the kingdom of God.  This kingdom is your new home in the here and now.

Your new home is an invisible kingdom ruled by an invisible King, our heavenly Father.  But even if He is invisible, we know a lot of great things about Him by His revelation in His Word.  Invisible does not mean unknown.  We have learned over the past few weeks, that our invisible Father is extremely present in our lives as our provider, our gift-giver, our personal trainer in righteousness, our deliverer, the One who lives inside us, the River who flows from within, and the one who loves us very much.

And even with all these wonderful things we have learned about our heavenly Father, His greatest revelation about Himself is yet to come.  We will discover it next time.

 

“And if you address as Father the One who impartially judges according to each man’s work, conduct yourselves in fear during the time of your stay upon earth; knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ” (I Pet 1:17-19).

If you can imagine the best possible father who adores you, who provides for you, who gives you good gifts, and yes, who disciplines you for your own good, you are beginning to see what your heavenly Father is like.  He is not only “like”, but so much more than the best father we can imagine.

But as we said last time, God is not an indulgent father.  He has a discipline program, a training regimen, designed to mold us into the righteous image of His Son.  And just like our earthly fathers instilled in us, there should be a healthy fear of our Father’s discipline.

When Peter talks in this passage about “the time of your stay upon earth”, he is highlighting the fact that we are actually aliens on this planet.  Our citizenship is in heaven.  Our eternal home is in heaven.  Our true King is in heaven.  Our Father is in heaven.  And we honor our Father by holy living.  We demonstrate our loyalty to our true King by our righteous behavior.

The fear referred to in these verses is a healthy fear, a reverent awe.  The ESV Study Bible notes that, “The fear in verse 17 is not a paralyzing terror but a fear of God’s discipline and fatherly displeasure; it is a reverence and awe that should characterize the lives of believers during their exile on this earth.”  We are to have a healthy fear of disappointing our good and loving Father.  We should have a healthy fear of treating lightly the sacrifice that was made for us, the precious blood of Christ.

This is not a fear of “God is waiting to pounce on us and crush us at our first offense”.  Fearing that kind of treatment from our Father requires us to explain away so much of the New Testament message about our good Father.  It requires us to ignore so much of the New Testament teaching about who we are as God’s child and how He treats His children.  We would have to cast aside His promise of His unconditional love, care, and protection.  And yes, we would have to neglect His own description of His discipline as being for our good; never capricious, never random, never mean.

There is a healthy fear of the Lord in the New Testament, but it is a reverence informed by all we have learned about our good good Father.