Father, Abba, Father

"They are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." (Romans 8:14-15)

Charles Wesley's great hymn "Arise, My Soul, Arise" concludes in the fifth verse with a stirring testimony of the joy of salvation.

My God is reconciled; His pardoning voice I hear.
He owns me for His child; I can no longer fear.
With confidence I now draw nigh, (repeat)
And, "Father, Abba, Father," cry.

"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:17-18). As our text explains, once we have received the spirit of adoption, we are the sons of God--He owns us as His child. This is a "new" thing. We who formerly were estranged from our Creator have been reconciled to Him. "Old things," such as the bondage to fear, are "passed away." The close-knit ties are strong, "for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. . . . I will not fear what men shall do unto me" (Hebrews 13:5-6).

Now that He is our Father, we have direct access to Him. "Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you" (James 4:8). As an earthly father desires the best for his children, "how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" (Matthew 7:11). "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And . . . we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him" (1 John 5:14-15).

This father/child relationship goes deep. The term "Abba, Father" reflects a most sensitive and loving bond, perhaps best rendered "O Sweet Daddy." "We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20). JDM

Arise, My Soul, Arise

"Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Hebrews 4:16)

The beautiful old hymn entitled "Arise, My Soul, Arise" was written by the great hymn writer Charles Wesley. Let us use its five verses to focus our thoughts these next five days.

Arise, my soul, arise; Shake off thy guilty fears;
The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears:
Before the throne my surety stands, (repeat)
My name is written on His hands.

At first reading, the theme of the song seems unclear, until we recognize that the sinner is being enjoined to come to salvation and by the power of the sacrificial blood shed on his behalf receive forgiveness and eternal life.

Because "Christ . . . hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God" (Ephesians 5:2), "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access" (Romans 5:1-2) to the Father, who alone has the power to forgive our sins. We have no need to fear rejection, for "we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John 2:1).

As we see in our text, we can arise and "come boldly unto the throne of grace," where God the Father reigns. We have assurance of access because our "surety of a better testament" (Hebrews 7:22) is "a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God" (Hebrews 4:14), and "who is on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens" (Hebrews 8:1). Here He requests the Father's "mercy, and . . . grace" on our behalf, for He knows us by our names which are already "written in the Lamb's book of life" (Revelation 21:27) "from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 17:8). JDM