God The Father Series

GOD THE FATHER

By Abimbola O. Salu.

As A Christian, have you ever wondered about the person of GOD the Father? I have done this several times and to be honest, He is the least known of the blessed Holy Trinity. I mean, almost every Christian knows who Jesus Christ is. We have pictures and images of him and films like “The Passion of the Christ” helps to make him real. GOD the Holy Spirit, even though he is invincible (he is a spirit) dwells in the inside of us .As a child of GOD who has been blessed with the gift of the Holy Spirit, I feel him, I talk to him and he directs and orders my steps so well. He is my best friend, Teacher, Advocate, Counselor and partner. However, when I think of GOD the Father, I am in awe and in fear because the image I have is that of a father figure. somewhere up there in heaven, ready to admonish and correct. I have spoken with some Christian friends who feel the same way as I do. However, this is a wrong impression because when you study the Bible, you will discover that He is a kind, loving and faithful God. He is a compassionate Father who loves us more than we love him. He does not always deal with us according to our sins or as much as we deserve. He suffered as much as Jesus Christ did on the cross because He turned his back on His only begotten Son and had to watch as Jesus went through all the agony, pain and suffering.

GOD the Father is love itself. When Man fell in the Garden of Eden, GOD had to drive him out of paradise because of his disobedience. Since then, He has wanted to reconcile Man to himself. The only way He could do that was for him to release his only Son to die to atone for the sins of man. For as the Bible says in Hebrew 9 v.22 “”And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without the shedding of blood there is no remission.” Sometimes, we just don’t appreciate the magnitude of this sacrifice. Imagine if you have just one child .He is the joy and the light of your life. Now imagine that you have a terrible enemy. He hates you so much that if he has the chance to destroy you, he will gladly do so. Now imagine that the only way you can make your peace with this enemy is to send your only child to live with him. How many will be willing to make that sacrifice knowing that this enemy will torture and eventually kill this only child? I am sure that no one will be willing to sacrifice his son to please his enemy. Remember that there is no guarantee that even when the enemy has destroyed that child, he will still be a friend to you. What a great sacrifice that GOD the Father made just to reconcile Man to himself.

We are introduced to GOD the Father in the Old Testament as a hardworking Creator. Everyday, for 6 days, He worked tirelessly. We do know that He was pleased with the works of His hands. The Bible says “and GOD saw that it was good” (see Genesis 1 verses 4,10,12,18,25 and 31) On the seventh day, GOD rested from His labors. Next, we see Him create Man in His own image. (See Genesis 2 v.7)and put him in charge of the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2 v.15-17) .We see His understanding of His own creation when He said” it is not good for man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him” (See Genesis 2 v. 18). He did not want Adam to live a lonely life so He gave him a companion and helpmate. We see GOD the Father as a God of justice when he meted out punishment to Adam, Eve and the serpent. However, because of that singular act of estrangement, which grieved GOD, we see him make efforts to reconcile man to himself through Jesus Christ his Son.

We continue to see GOD through the Old Testament in the story of Cain and Abel, especially when Cain murdered Abel and GOD pronounced judgment on him. (See Genesis 4 v.11-12) We see how He shows mercy and compassion even to the condemned when He put a mark on Cain so that no one will kill him. GOD the Father is also capable of deep emotions. In Genesis 6 v.6 it is recorded that “the Lord was grieved that he made man on the earth and his heart was filled with pain “(NIV). This shows that we do not serve a Father who is cold, aloof and uncaring. We can grieve Him as much as we grieve the Holy Spirit. However, through all the pain we manage to inflict, in executing judgment, He still does it with a heart of compassion. He had the choice of destroying the whole world with the flood. However, He spared one man He considered righteous and blameless. Noah and his family, together with all the animals He instructed him to keep were the only ones saved from destruction. Afterwards, He made a covenant never again to destroy all living creatures . In Genesis 8 v. 22 He promised: