Fathers. A word that has many meanings. A word that creates many emotions. Some good. Some bad. Some horrible. Since the beginning of time, fathers have had their roles in society. And while our society has re-invented itself, there is still an active role for fathers in our world. But how does one become a great father? How does one learn the realities of being a great father? Through example.
While it is true that many people have not had the greatest fathers in their lives, there is a Father who has given us an example whereby when we follow it . . . we will find out how to be a great father. That exemplary father is none other than God, The Father. As we discussed last time, the Seventh-day Adventist Church believes in one God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. A unity of three co-eternal Persons. Each is an individual. Each is God in the highest sense.
Now, does anyone fully understand this? No. And that's okay. Why? Because what has been revealed by God is for us and for our development in our spiritual lives. God, The Father, has been misunderstood for centuries. He has been seen as a vindictive God or as in the words of the famous Atheist evangelist Richard Dawkins, "The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."
What does the Bible actually reveal about God, The Father? And why am I putting a comma after "God?" because God is three in one. And we are going to be looking at what the Bible reveals about God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There is no better story of the true nature of God, The Father than by looking at the words of Jesus. In fact, a story that Jesus tells. One which marks the true nature, the true essence, the true vision of God, The Father.
So, buckle up, and get ready to learn something about your God.