A biblical basis for a revelation of the Father’s Love
Ramesh Naraine
What is the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear the word, “God”?
I can guarantee that 9 out 10 times when you ask this question no one will mention the word, “Father”. That is because even though we know (as Christians) that God is Father, Son and Holy Sprit, the impact, or reality, or revelation of God as Father is not in our consciousness in the same way as "Lord", "Almighty", "Master", etc.
I want to show in this study that God has revealed himself, in scriptures, but most fully in the person of Jesus, as Father. No just that but His desire, and therefore Jesus’ desire, is that we experience, and not just know cerebrally, this love that God has for each of us. When we can receive this love we become more secure in ourselves, we become more loving by nature and then people find us a safe place.
1. There was a Community of Love that Existed in the Godhead even before the world was created
John 17:24 (NASB) 24“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
Before the creation of the world – before the foundations of the world – there was a love relationship between the three persons of the Godhead. Even before the power of God was demonstrated in the creation of the world, love existed. And there was harmony and deep, unbroken, pure fellowship among the three members of the Godhead. The Father loved the Son and the Son loved the Father and the Holy Spirit flowed in love between the two. There was a community of love.
2. Christians are meant to enter that community of love
John 3:16 (NASB) 16“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.
John 14:23 (NASB) 23Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.
We were created by this community of love and we were created for this community of love. The Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit are coming to make their abode in us.
3. The Father Heart of God has to be revealed
Isa 64:8 But now, O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.
John 1:18 (NASB) 18No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.
Matt 6:9: Pray, then, in this way: ‘Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Luke 10:22 (NASB) 22“All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
There are very few references to God as Father in the Old Testament, more in a generic sense of God being Father to the people of Israel. But in the New Testament, Jesus revealed most clearly that God was His Father – and by extension He is our Father as well. His most favourite name for himself was ‘Son of Man’ and his favour name for God was ‘Father’.
Before we were Christians we needed the Father to reveal the SON to us. Now that we are Christians we need the Son to reveal the FATHER to us! He reveals the Father to us so that we can enter into that understanding that we are his sons and daughters.
4. Not only does Jesus reveal the Father to us but he also reveals the kind of love that the Father has for us
Romans 5:8 (NASB)
8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
John 14:8 - 14 (NASB) 8Philip said* to Him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9Jesus said* to him, “Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? 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.
By His life and ministry we see Jesus revealing to us what the Father was like. We look at Jesus’ life and we see him interacting with children, women, the oppressed, the poor, the outcast and we discover how honouring he was to them, how compassionate he was. He made everyone that came close to his presence feel good about themselves and valued. They discovered that they were loved unconditionally and without limits. The only people that didn’t really enjoy his presence were the religious people!
5. Jesus goes further and reveals that God as ABBA! … Papa, Daddy.
Mark 14:36 (NASB)And He was saying, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will.”
Not only does Jesus reveal that God is Father, who loves us without limits and without conditions, but he also reveals him as Abba. Even more than "Father" – he reveals Him as Papa... Daddy, Appa, Pai, Papi. Even at his lowest point humanly speaking, in the garden of Gethsemane, he still recognised God as his Abba.
Scholars say that what has been translated into English as ‘Father’ was in fact ‘Abba’ in Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke. So in every case where Jesus says, ‘Father’ in the New Testament, he was actually saying, ‘Abba’. We see this in the Mel Gibson movie, Passion of the Christ. They used the Aramaic language and when Jesus spoke about his Father he always said, ‘Abba’.
6. Jesus also revealed to us what it was like to be loved as a human being by the Father.
Mark 1:9 - 11 (NASB) In those days Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. 10Immediately coming up out of the water, He saw the heavens opening, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon Him;11and a voice came out of the heavens: “You are My beloved Son, in You I am well-pleased.”
Remember that Jesus had laid aside his divine qualities (Phil 2:15 ff) so everything he said and did on the earth was in his capacity as a human being. So at his baptism when he is about to enter into public ministry and to begin the end of his own life he was in a position of weakness as any human would be. … In this position of weakness, as a human and identifying with our humanness, he hears this voice from heaven.
And this was before he did anything! At this point, he had done no miracle, no teaching, no healing, and yet he is being affirmed by His Father... I love you and I like you! Therefore, we as human beings, in Jesus, can also recognise and receive the revelation that God loves us just as we are, before we do any great thing for him!
7. The Father’s Love in the Life of Jesus
John 5:16 - 20 (NASB) 16For this reason the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because He was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17But He answered them, “My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working.”18For this reason therefore the Jews were seeking all the more to kill Him, because He not only was breaking the Sabbath, but also was calling God His own Father, making Himself equal with God.19Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “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. 20“For the Father loves (phileo) the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself is doing; and the Father will show Him greater works than these, so that you will marvel.
A quick NT Greek lesson! There are two words in the Greek that the NT uses for the word "love". There is some overlap in meaning of the two words but mainly the word agape refers to an act of the will, a love that is based on decision, it is covenantal or contractual. “I love you because I decide to love you.”
Phileo is a little different. It is best described as a demonstrated natural affection. It is the kind of love that exists between family members; it has more to do with affection, a feeling that you can experience.
In this verse, it is saying that the Father loves the Son with a love of affection, there is warmth and feeling to it. The Father doesn’t just love the Son by a decision of the will! He actually feels affection for the Son.
8. Promise of Father’s love to all disciples
John 16:26 - 27 (NASB) 26“In that day you will ask in My name, and I do not say to you that I will request of the Father on your behalf; 27for the Father Himself loves (phileo) you, because you have loved Me and have believed that I came forth from the Father.
In this verse, it is saying that if you believe in Jesus, the Father also phileo’s you! The Father also feels affection for you! You can experience this affectionate love of the Father for you.
9. Jesus prayed for us to experience the Father’s love
John 17:22 - 24 (NASB) 22“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. 24“Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.
Not only is experiencing the Father’s love a promise that Jesus made to all those who love and believe in him, he also prayed for this to happen! In the same way that the Father loved the Son, He also loves us because we are in the Son!
10. We experience the Father’s love through the Holy Spirit
Romans 5:5 (NASB) 5and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 8:12 - 17 (NASB)
12So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— 13for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, 17and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.
If we are Christians, the Holy Spirit lives in us and therefore the love of God has already been poured into our hearts. We just need now to recognise the activity of God in our lives as motivated by the love of our Heavenly Daddy.
What Jesus did in Gethsemane (CRY ABBA FATHER) we can do now because His Spirit is alive in us! His Spirit has literally placed us in that place of adoption before our Father in heaven.
What Jesus received and experience by nature as a son, we can also receive and experience by adoption as sons and daughters!
Are you ready to receive the Father’s love?
Ministry Time
Holy Sprit of God, I ask you now to release the Father’s love to everyone who has just said, ‘Yes’ to receiving the Father’s love. Spirit of God, come and minister deeply to the heart of each and everyone who hungers to experience the affectionate love of our Heavenly Daddy. Lord, bring to their remembrance incidents in their lives where you have helped, protected, provided, for them because of your tender fatherly affection. Lord, even in this moment let them taste and see that your love is good; that you are a good Father.
Lord Jesus, in accordance with your word, I ask that you would come now and reveal the Father to us. Jesus, we love you and believe in you and so we ask that you would come now and show us the Father. Let is feel and experience and know deeply in our hearts that we are loved by our Heavenly Father. That He is the Father of lights and the giver of good gifts.
Lord God, touch them so deeply that their lives will never be the same; that they would be changed from the inside out. Let them know your love in such a way that they will learn to live in it and then to give it away to their family, friends, neighbours, churches, and communities.
We ask for this in Jesus name.
You can have the people get comfortable for a soaking time. You can read /play the Father’s Love Letter over them. Or, you can invite them to the front to receive pray as you lay hands on them and impart the Father’s love by faith into their hearts and lives. You can pray for them in their seats. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and what he wants to do. You may even invite them to come forward for a Father’s Hug… you should be careful about this one. It is better to do this after you’ve taught on the Father Types and you’ve gone through some forgiveness ministry.
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