‘Our Father in Heaven’

“After this manner, therefore, pray ye:  Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.” –Matthew 6:9 (KJV).

This verse is very familiar to persons everywhere.  When Jesus’ disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, He warned them to pray not with vain repetitions as the heathen do.  He reminded them, too, that the Father knows what they need, even before they ask.  But Jesus did not preclude asking.  We are to approach God as a loving, providing Father.  Moreover, we are to approach Him in reverence and holiness, taking special care to hold Him in awe and adoration.

“Father” is “Abba” in Aramaic.  We often read the word interpreted as “Daddy.”  But our Father in Heaven is so much more elevated and powerful than an earthly father.  “Abba”—Father—gives a sense of intimacy, warmth and authority of a loving father’s care.  But it means much more.  God is Jesus’ Father through the miracle of immaculate conception.  The Jews were angry when Jesus called God His Father.  They thought that when Jesus called God Father, He was putting Himself on an equal level with God.  And that He is; Jesus Christ is the “monogenes,” the only begotten Son of the Father.  We become sons of God through adoption—that is through faith in the Lord Christ.  Our adoption into the Kingdom of God enables us to approach God as our heavenly Father.  When Jesus told us to address God as “our Father,” it indicates our intensely personal relationship with God through adoption.

In observing Father’s Day the third Sunday in June each year, we draw attention to the importance of earthly fathers in the framework of family life and child rearing.  Children thank fathers on that day for their loving attention and care. It is unfortunate that in America, the father is too frequently absent from the home.  Children in such homes must grow up without the influence and love of a steadfast father.  This practice of the absent father wreaks havoc on child rearing, children’s security, and stability of home life.  But our Heavenly Father is never an absentee Father, never far away when we call upon Him.  He always listens and responds to our prayers.  The Almighty God to whom we pray is Father of the Lord Jesus Christ; He is our Father by adoption through our redemption; and He is Father of all persons by creation.  When we pray, therefore, let us approach the throne of grace boldly, praying “Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name.”