One of the wonderful things that you and I can do is study the names of God. God is so incredible. It’s almost like the Holy Spirit said there is no one word available to adequately describe God. In fact, in the book of Isaiah, God Himself says, “To whom would you liken Me and make Me equal and compare Me, that we would be alike?” Isaiah 46:5 (NASB) When you and I create an image of who God is, God will blow that image to bits because there is no adequate image to describe who He is and all that He longs to be to us. The Holy Spirit gave us many different names to try to help us lay hold of this awe-inspiring God that we have come to know.
Having said that, there’s a very interesting insight from the New Testament. In John chapter 17, on the night before Jesus was crucified, He had a very intimate prayer with His Father that the Holy Spirit recorded for us. This may be the New Testament Holy of Holies, if you will. It’s the opportunity for you and me to get in on a conversation between God the Father and God the Son, and the incredible intimacies they shared on the night before He would offer His life on the cross. The interesting thing is Jesus said, I have given them Your name. “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.” John 17:6 (NASB) No other name was available until Jesus came to give us that name. It says in Hebrews that Jesus is the express image of the Father. Jesus spelled it out:
If you want to know what the Father is like, look at Me.
Now, He doesn’t tell us what that name is but I believe it’s pretty clear from reading the New Testament that the name is Father. When you read the gospels, Jesus scandalized the religious world by calling Him Father.
You see, many of the other names of God communicated a distance, a separation. He is so big and we are so small. He is so Holy and unless He provides us holiness, we are not holy. He is the Healer and we need healing. All the other names had this kind of separation, but He gave us the name Father and it riled the Jewish leadership, who were thinking, Who does He think He is making God out to be a Father?
My friends, I believe this is the Supreme name for God and it is our great privilege to call Him Father. In Galatians 4, it tells us that the Holy Spirit was given to us and the text should literally be translated, “He screamed into our hearts.” It’s almost like the Holy Spirit is grabbing us and shaking us. Do you understand that the omnipotent, all-powerful, sovereign, eternal God of the universe, through the Person and work of Jesus is now your Abba Father? You can run into His arms, still with great courtesy and respect and honor because He is still God.
He is Father and He longs to be intimate with you.
You know when that veil got torn upon the death of Jesus, there was a great earthquake with ground shaking. You would think that veil would tear from the bottom up, but it tore from the top-down, almost symbolizing in my mind that the Father ripped that veil. And in doing so He was saying, “Finally, you have access to all that I am and want to be to you. And finally, now that sin has been dealt with, I can be all that I am and long to be to you. I want to be your Father.”
Will you receive Him as such and become His child? This is the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Wow. We have a Father. I hope you have a great day walking through this world with your hand in the hand of your Father.
