The disciples once asked Jesus to teach them to pray. Jesus replied, ‘When you pray, say, Our Father in heaven,’ Luke 11:2. The beginning of the model prayer stresses the emphasis in the New Testament on the fatherhood of God. While God is known to the patriarchs as ‘God Almighty’ and to the Jews as ‘Yahweh’, we know him primarily as ‘Our Father’.
Of course, He is still as much ‘God Almighty’ and ‘Yahweh’ as He ever was, but the expression ‘Father’ tells us that he is a moral God. We know that God is unlimited, in time, in space, in power, and in knowledge.
These attributes do not by themselves make God good, but the moral characteristics which enable us to address him as ‘Our Father’ show us that he is good. In this study, we shall study three of these: his holiness, his love, and his mercy.
The prophet Isaiah saw a vision in which a heavenly creature cried out the following.
A similar picture is described in Revelation, in which the heavenly beings exclaim the following.
It is that characteristic of His being which takes pleasure in everything pure and holy and hates everything which is morally evil. Just as God is unlimited in other ways, so He is unlimited in His goodness. Since there is nothing in His being which is evil, or which sanctions evil, it is impossible for Him to be impure because this would be contrary to his divine nature, James 1:13.
It is His perfect holiness which makes it impossible for sin to tempt Him. The holiness of God is also the basis of his abhorrence of evil. Habakkuk declares the following.
The Psalmist sings to God the following.
What is a small sin to man is a great sin to God. A beautiful woman dressed in her finest clothing detests dirt far more than a digger of ditches. And why? Because the former is clean while the latter is contaminated by the soil.
Even so, God hates sin with a hatred that man, who is polluted with it, can hardly appreciate. The more one frees oneself from the shackles of sin, the more one abhors its presence. And since God is completely holy, His loathing of evil is the greatest of all.
The destruction of the world by the flood, the burning of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the final destruction of the earth by fire are all expressions of God’s hatred of sin because of his perfect holiness. The holiness of God should cause us to praise him. David sings the following.
A part of prayer to God which is too often neglected is such praise as that expressed by Jesus in the model prayer when he said the following.
The Christian derives his holiness from God. Peter admonishes the disciples of Christ to remember the following.
In Christ, God has given us the perfect pattern of holiness, and as we conform our lives to His, we become holy and, in truth, partake of the divine nature, 2 Peter 1:3-4. We may then be called ‘saints’, which simply means ‘Holy ones’. Every child of God who is living a holy life is a saint.
Probably no scriptural topic has been the basis of more sermons and essays than the love of God. A subject of such infinite depth can only be touched on here. It is extremely difficult to define love, but we shall describe it as the ardent affection which one holds for another, which, in the case of divine love, reaches its highest form.
Love cannot be separated from the personality of God. Although we read that God is merciful and just, we are never told that He is mercy or justice. But John informs us of the following.
Therefore, we know that the extent of His love is so great that His actions are motivated by this characteristic. When we read in John 3:16 that ‘God so loved the world’, we conclude that the giving of His Son to save men was the result, not just of love, but of overwhelming love.
Other attributes of God, such as His mercy, have their basis in this phase of His personality. God’s love is contrasted with that of human beings in that it is always intelligent. Sometimes we are moved by blind passion or silly infatuation. Not so with God.
His infinite wisdom always governs his love, and that love therefore always works for our best interests. The objects of God’s love are many. He, of course, loves Christ. Jesus told his disciples the following.
Christ and the heavenly creatures may be considered worthy of the love of God because they have not sinned. But the measure of God’s love also extends to those who are wholly unworthy of His benevolence.
It includes the whole world, as the golden text of the Bible informs us, ‘God so loved the world,’ John 3:16. This, therefore, means that God loves sinners who by their actions might be thought to have alienated his affections.
The contrast between human and divine love is expressed by Paul, Romans 5:6-8. Truly, such a love cannot be measured in human terms. Furthermore, if God loves sinners, He also loves His children. Jesus taught.
God’s love is manifested to us in many ways. We think first of the giving of Christ, 1 John 4:9-10. Further, those who accept Christ are adopted into the family of God, 1 John 3:1. Still another expression of divine love is that of repeated forgiveness. It was this which caused Hezekiah to sing the following.
Each time the Christian sins, and with a penitent heart asks forgiveness, he may be assured that God will grant it. The providence of God in caring for the saints is a blessing resulting from divine love, Romans 8:28. Even the chastening of God to make us do right is an expression of his love, Hebrews 12:6.
Finally, the promise of an eternal home as a reward for faithful service is a blessing stemming from God’s love. Jesus promises the following.
God’s love for us should cause us to love Him, 1 John 4:19. This, in turn, will make us love our brother, 1 John 4:11. And if we have the love for Him that we ought to have, we will obey Him. Jesus taught the disciples the following.
His mercy, as already suggested, God’s love is the basis of his mercy as is shown in John 3:16. It was His love for men that caused Him to extend His mercy. The mercy of God is the disposition of His nature, which leads Him to help us when we are in misery and to pardon us when we have offended Him.
Mercy and grace are closely akin in meaning, grace implying unmerited favour. God extends grace because He is merciful. Many passages teach the mercy of God, Exodus 34:6-7 / Ephesians 2:4-7. God’s mercy is rich and abundant as David declares the following.
The grandest expression of the mercy of God is found in the offering of His Son to atone for our sins. Even as He answers our prayers when we offend Him and forgives us freely, we are receiving His mercy.
Since he ‘is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance,’ 2 Peter 3:9. He expresses His mercy as he patiently bears with us in our weaknesses. Of course, God’s mercy does not contradict his justice.
Because God is holy, loving, and merciful, He is truly a father to us. He cares for our material and spiritual needs. He answers our prayers, always in accordance with what is best for us. When we are in trouble, we may go to Him for comfort and strength. In return, He expects obedience from us and sometimes chastises us for our own good.
We must honour Him in godly living and worship, as a faithful child honours his parents. And in the end, if as children we have been faithful, we shall receive our Father’s inheritance and shall hear the King say the following.