The Invitation/ Sanctified/ Principle Doctrines of Christ

A Father’s Heart

Jn 3:16 March 1, 1993

It seemed at first like merely a fleeting glance; a brief but profound glimpse into the reality of the whole relationship. The vision so powerful in my heart went like this.

Imagine a father who loved his only son in a way that he loved no other person. He and his son had been inseparable since the very beginning. The son worshipped the very ground his father walked upon and made it clear in everything he spoke and did that he idolized his father and was concerned primarily about what his father was into and how he could best support him in all his endeavors and enterprises. The father loved this son not only for who he was but also for what he was. A more respectful, submissive, dutiful and loyal child and heir could never be found. As for the son, his father was everything to him, and from his viewpoint, the father could do anything and everything that needed to be done. What was incredible was that the father and son were exactly alike in every way. It was astonishing.

The son was not only the spitting image of his father in every way imaginable, but he was the embodiment of every word the father ever spoke, every bit of truth or command he had ever dished out. For the son there was no one he preferred to associate with; no one as satisfying to share with, to confide in. It was truly a beautiful thing to behold – this mutual affection and deep, deep caring between this father and son. As I say, I only caught a glimpse of it for what seemed just a fleeting moment. Yet, what I saw in that brief interval moved me to the depths of my being.

As in all relationships not absolutely everything is pure sweetness and light. There were always some difficulties and dangers. It seems in the nature of things that even when something is perfect, especially when things are super satisfactory, there’s always someone out to spoil it. But opposition grew and grew until it became life-threatening. The animosity against the son started out with probing questions, developed into belligerent confrontations. Antagonism against the one who merely represented the father and spoke in his name was interspersed with outbreaks of violence, built up to public revilings and reached a crescendo with a mob scene hurling jeers, taunts and insults at a mortally wounded and broken man.

I have to repeat. All this just seemed to flash through my mind. There wasn’t time to focus on any of the whys and wherefore involved here. I couldn’t dwell on deep considerations or any kind of explanation. There was no reasoning in what I beheld; no puzzling out or weighing pros and cons. It was like an intuitive flash that nearly simultaneously illuminated two, and only two, realities: the ineffable sweet love and tenderness in the father/son relationship; and the horrible human hostility that culminated in a fever-pitch of hatred against the dutiful son who sought nothing more than to promote the personal peace and general goodwill that was his father’s stock-in-trade.

The consequences and conclusions of these insights were just as swift and certain as the initial revelation. I “felt” the father’s everlasting gratitude to his sacrificial son, generous beyond words, in his willingness, even eagerness, to carry out his father’s plans and designs even to the cost of his very self. In this I was aware of a deeper aspect of the father’s character that I had known but never really fully sensed before. Because of what his precious, only son was willing to undertake and carry out- JUST IMAGINE WHAT IT WOULD MEAN TO YOU TO SEE YOUR ONLY CHILD TREATED IN A SIMILAR MANNER BY PEOPLE YOU ONLY WISHED WELL TO AND WHOSE INTERESTS YOU WERE STRIVING TO SERVE, PROTECT AND PROMOTE … It became clear to me as never before that there is nothing that that father would refuse to undertake; no expense or effort spared; no request would be refused if it were made in the name of and to promote and enhance the glorious name of his most cherished child.

For nearly two thousand years now the Father’s own chosen ones have blindly blasphemed the name of His Son. Over the centuries many Gentiles have either ignored the whole scenario or using the name of the Son, have arrogantly preferred a substitute scheme for salvation. Many of these matters I have stated are referred to and confirmed by the Scriptures. It was my intent not to go beyond, let alone contradict or distort anything that is contained in the very Word of God. If I have written the letters small and kept the story simple, it is only with the hope that the realities described will loom, large in the reader’s heart and that the truth of the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ will entwine itself around that heart “more fervently still”. May the great God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ bless this writing to encourage believers to come more boldly before the throne of grace!

MORE FAITH TOWARD GOD

O’ Ye of Little Faith
Nativity Meant There Would Be New Birth

John 3: 16-21

   For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
   For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
   He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
   And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
   For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
   But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.