Five Points Blog
Honoring Shadows for the Sake of the Light
- Brent Nelson
- Jun 19, 2011
When the Apostle Peter assumes believers call God our Father, he means for us to pray to him, to fear him with holy fear and to obey him even when it is hard. Listen to I Peter 1:17, “And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile…”.
Many see that we are to call God Father and define it as a metaphor. Calling God our Father, they say, employs a metaphor for us that we can understand because each of us had a real father on earth. They hold that God is metaphorically our father, so we can relate to him with love and respect as we do our human fathers.
Actually the exact opposite is true. All earthly fathers are metaphors for the one true and eternal Father, who is Almighty God. How do I know this? I know it because God is the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look at how Peter begins his message:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!” (I Peter 1:3). God is Father to Christ and has been forever.
When Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane praying as with drops of blood he prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). He did not call God his Father just as a word-picture - it is true! He is the eternal Son, and God is His eternal Father.
All human fatherhood is the metaphor, the shadow, pointing to the one true and ultimate Father, the Sovereign God of heaven and earth.
No matter what kind of earthly father you have, honor him. Give thanks for him. Tell him you love him, not because he is perfect. But because he is the shadow and his very existence points you to the light in the face of the true Father. Come to the first Father by faith in His eternal Son, Jesus Christ.