Our Father

“But now, O Lord, You are our Father. We are the clay, and You are the Potter; and all of us are the work of Your hands.” Isaiah 64:8 “Go to My brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to My Father and Your Father, to My God and your God.’” John 20:17b What mankind lost in the fall was incalculable – we became estranged from our Creator and from the purpose for which He created us. God our Father became to us a distant, unknowable and ethereal concept as we sunk further and further into the abyss of self-worship and sin. But God didn’t leave us to this terrible fate. He sent His One and Only Son into the world to save us, to reverse the curse of sin and death, to remove the veil, “the covering that enshrouds all peoples” (Isaiah 25:7). The first words that Jesus uttered to Mary Magdalene after His resurrection made this abundantly clear – “I am ascending to My Father and Your Father, to My God and your God.” Because of Jesus, we can know our Father the way He always intended for us to know Him…and this, in itself, is life from the dead! The impact of our decision to trust Jesus as our Lord and Savior is so profound that Jesus likened it to being born a second time (John 3:5-8)…and this is so appropriate because when we truly make this decision in our deepest souls, He awakens our dormant spirits so that we can be responsive to Him as was always intended. He then sends His Holy Spirit to live within us, to be our Comforter, and to “guide us into all truth.” (John 16:13). When Jesus prayed to His Father, He often used the most endearing term, “Abba” which, in Hebrew, means “Daddy”. Jesus has made a new and living way for us at a cost that we will never fully comprehend; but, because He chose to go to the cross for us, we can now return to God, our everlasting, all powerful, Holy, righteous and loving Father…who will shelter us always in the shadow of His wings.