One Father
"Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created
us? Why do we deal treacherously with one another By profaning the covenant of the fathers?"
(Malachi 2:10).
God the Father
"Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of
Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him."
(John 6:27).
"To Titus, a true son in our common faith: Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ our Savior." (Titus 1:4).
"Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To the pilgrims of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied." (1 Peter 1:1-2).
"For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.'" (2 Peter 1:17).
"Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ: Mercy, peace, and love be multiplied to you." (Jude 1:1-2).
The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
The Mormons have inherited from the Gnostics of old the
conviction that Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament, is not the Father of Jesus Christ. Yet
the God of the Old Testament is triune: He is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He is the Father:
"The God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified
his son Jesus, whom you betrayed and denied before Pilate, when Pilate judged that he should be
released..." (Acts 3:13 Lattimore).
"So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God
with one accord and said: 'Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is
in them..."The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the
LORD and against His Christ." For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both
Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do
whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. (Acts 4:24-28).
Only True God
"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." (John 17:3).
Doubtless
"Doubtless You are our Father, though Abraham was ignorant of us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name." (Isaiah 63:16).
Our Father
"So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in
heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven."
(Luke 11:2).
The Vineyard
Jesus told the parable of the vineyard:
"Then He began to speak to them in parables: 'A man planted a vineyard and set
a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and
went into a far country. Now at vintage-time he sent a servant to the vinedressers, that he might
receive some of the fruit of the vineyard from the vinedressers. And they took him and beat him and
sent him away empty-handed...And again he sent another, and him they killed; and many others,
beating some and killing some. Therefore still having one son, his beloved, he also sent him to
them last, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But those vinedressers said among themselves, 'This is
the heir. Come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.'" (Mark 12:1-7).
The vineyard owner, the Father of the "beloved" Son, is the LORD of hosts:
"Now let me sing to my Well-beloved a song of my Beloved regarding
His vineyard: My Well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He
dug it up and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest
vine. He built a tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; so
He expected it to bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes...For
the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of
Judah are His pleasant plant. He looked for justice, but behold, oppression;
for righteousness, but behold, a cry for help." (Isaiah 5:1-7).
My Father's House
Jesus called the temple at Jerusalem "my Father's house":
"And He said to those who sold doves, 'Take these things away! Do not make
My Father’s house a house of merchandise!'" (John 2:16).
The temple at Jerusalem was sacred to none but the LORD God:
"But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the
heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built! Yet regard the
prayer of Your servant and his supplication, O LORD my God, and listen to the cry and the prayer which
Your servant is praying before You: that Your eyes may be open toward this temple day and night,
toward the place where You said You would put Your name, that You may hear the prayer which Your
servant makes toward this place." (2 Chronicles 6:18-20).
High Priest
Jesus was appointed high priest by Him who said to Him "You
are My Son": "So also Christ did not glorify Himself to become High Priest, but it was He who
said to Him: 'You are My Son, Today I have begotten You.' As He also says in another place: 'You are a
priest forever According to the order of Melchizedek'..." (Hebrews 5:5-6).
He who said "You are My Son" is the LORD God: "I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You
are My Son, Today I have begotten You.'" (Psalm 2:7).
Father of the Messiah
In Old Testament passages like these, the LORD owns the Messiah as His Son:
"I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will
chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men." (2 Samuel 7:14)
"He shall build an house for my name; and he shall be my son,
and I will be his father; and I will establish the
throne of his kingdom over Israel for ever." (1 Chronicles 22:10).
"He shall cry to Me, 'You are my Father, My God, and the rock
of my salvation.' Also I will make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth."
(Psalm 89:26-27).
"I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, 'You
are My Son, Today I have begotten You.'...Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way,
when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in
Him." (Psalm 2:7-12).
Consequently, He whom Jesus called "My Father" is the living God, the God of Israel.
Israel the Firstborn
Israel is God's firstborn:
"Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD: "Israel is My son, My
firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go,
indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn."'" (Exodus 4:22-23).
"You are the children of the LORD your God; you shall not
cut yourselves nor shave the front of your head for the dead." (Deuteronomy 14:1).
"But I said: 'How can I put you among the children and
give you a pleasant land, a beautiful heritage of the hosts of nations?' And I said: 'You shall call
Me, "My Father," and not turn away from Me.'" (Jeremiah 3:19).
"They shall come with weeping, And with supplications I
will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, In a straight way in which
they shall not stumble; For I am a Father to Israel, And Ephraim is My firstborn." (Jeremiah
31:9).
"Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! For the LORD has
spoken: 'I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me; the ox knows its
owner and the donkey its master’s crib; but Israel does not know, My people do not consider.' Alas,
sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who are corrupters!
They have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked to anger The Holy One of Israel, they have turned away
backward." (Isaiah 1:2-4).
"A son honors his father, And a servant his master.
If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? And if I am a Master, Where is My reverence?
Says the LORD of hosts To you priests who despise My name." (Malachi 1:6).
Consequently, even before Christ's first advent, Jews prayed to 'Our Father':
"Lord, Father, and Ruler of my life, do not abandon me to the tongue's control
or allow me to fall on its account." (Ecclesiasticus 23:1);
"So I sent up a prayer from the earth and begged for
rescue from death. I cried, 'Lord, thou art my Father; do not desert me in time of trouble, when I
am helpless in the face of arrogance.'" (Ecclesiasticus 51:10, NEB);
"At that point he [Joseph] cried out, calling upon the
mighty God to save him from their power. He said, 'O Father, my God, leave me not forsaken, in
the power of the nations.'" (Dead Sea Scrolls, Wise, Abegg, and Cook, p. 334, 74. 4Q371-373, 2Q22).
Israel is a type of the Messiah, with Old Testament verses
like these applied, in the New Testament, to Jesus Christ:
"When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son."
(Hosea 11:1, Matthew 2:15).
"But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says: 'Let
all the angels of God worship Him.'" (Hebrews 1:6).
This last is a quote of the Septuagint text for Deuteronomy 32:43:
"Rejoice, ye heavens, with him, and let all the angels of God worship him; rejoice ye Gentiles, with his people, and let all the sons of God strengthen themselves in him; for he will avenge the blood of his sons, and he will render vengeance, and recompense justice to his enemies, and will reward them that hate him; and the Lord shall purge the land of his people." (LXX).
Touch me Not
"Jesus said to her, 'Do not cling to Me, for I have not
yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, "I am ascending to My Father and
your Father, and to My God and your God."'" (John 20:17).
The Rock
"Do you thus deal with the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is He
not your Father, who bought you? Has He not made you and established
you?...Of the Rock who begot you, you are unmindful, and have forgotten
the God who fathered you. And when the LORD saw it, He spurned them
because of the provocation of His sons and His daughters. And He
said: 'I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be,
for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith.'" (Deuteronomy 32:6-20).
Potter and Clay
"But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our
potter; and all we are the work of Your hand." (Isaiah 64:8).
His Offspring
"And He has made from one blood every nation of men to
dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the
boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope
for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and
have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His
offspring.' Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that
the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising." (Acts
17:26-29)
One God and One Lord
"For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as there are many gods and many lords), yet for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and through whom we live." (1 Corinthians 8:5-6).
Father of Lights
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and
comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning." (James
1:17).
Father of Mercies
"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Father of mercies and God of all comfort..." (2 Corinthians 1:3);
"...that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit of wisdom and
revelation in the knowledge of Him..." (Ephesians 1:17).
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