In episode 22 of In Light of the Cross, we transition from how the cross interprets the Old Testament to talking about God, ourselves, and our relationships in light of the cross, and we preview five post-Easter episodes focused on our new life, resurrection, and future.

We explore a key shift from the Old to the New Testament: in the New Testament we can call God “Father.” While God is referred to as Father of Israel a handful of times in the Old Testament, no one personally addresses God that way in prayer, but Jesus consistently does—except on the cross when quoting Psalm 22—and teaches us to pray “Our Father.”

We read Romans 8:12–17 on adoption, crying “Abba, Father,” and being heirs and co-heirs with Christ, and we note Hebrews 2:10–11 that Jesus calls us brothers and sisters. We close by inviting honest prayer, lamenting imperfect earthly parents, receiving God’s perfect fatherhood, and praying the Lord’s Prayer.

00:00 Podcast Focus Recap

00:27 Series Roadmap Ahead

01:30 Pause and Prayer

02:00 God as Father Shift

02:58 Old Testament Contrast

04:42 Jesus Teaches Our Father

05:47 Abba and Adoption

07:22 Heirs and Siblings

09:00 Personal Application Prayer

11:06 The Lords Prayer Close

Welcome back to day 22 or episode 22 of

In Light of the Cross, our podcast, where

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we're just focusing our thoughts and

our attentions on the cross and what it

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means in the different areas of our life.

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Understanding the Bible in light

of the cross, understanding our

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situation, our relationships,

especially to God in light of the cross.

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And that's where we're gonna begin today.

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We traced how the cross interprets the Old

Testament, and we finished that last time.

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We're making a transition now.

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We're gonna be talking about God

in light of the cross and then

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ourselves in light of the cross.

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And that's gonna include our

relationships in light of the cross.

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And then after Easter, we're gonna have

five episodes on understanding that

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our new life in Christ in light of the

cross, and then includes our future.

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So we're gonna be talking about the

resurrection, the different kind

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of life we'll have has resurrected

being, as well as how to live our life

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presently with that and our future.

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So that's where we're going.

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I think continuing this past Easter is

one of the best decisions we've ever made.

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Well, maybe I think that was your idea.

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Oh, um, oh, that makes sense then.

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Yeah, exactly.

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But I mean, you have Resurrection Sunday,

and then what do you do with that?

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Well, here's five podcasts or five

devotionals where you can reflect upon

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what we do with our resurrected life.

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Yeah.

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So I like that we're transitioning

to seeing kind of the focal point

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of all scripture, which is in

the person of Jesus Christ here.

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Some of the things that he has

taught us for approaching life.

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As we get into this, let's just begin

as we have, I have a pause here for

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us to gather our scattered senses

and just ask the spirit to help us

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during this time help us focus and

help us receive what he has for us.

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So we wanted to begin here talking about

a subtle but substantial shift between

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the Old Testament and the New Testament.

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And that is the way that

God is depicted as Father.

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Right?

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One of my favorite authors is

John Stat and in his book a

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great book, the Cross of Christ.

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He says The main difference between the

Old Testament and the new is that in the

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New Testament we can call God father.

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Yeah.

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And this, this probably

is familiar God as father.

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In fact, Jesus teaches

us to pray our Father.

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Right?

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But.

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I hope that during this time we

can all receive this in a fresh and

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joyful way that God is our father.

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Yeah, yeah.

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It's an amazing thought.

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He's not just the creator, he is not

just the distant God outside the sky.

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He is actually calling himself our Father.

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We are able to be understood as his

children and have that relationship.

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Yeah.

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So in the Old Testament, is

God referred to as father?

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Well, yes, but in a different way.

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Obviously the Old Testament's very long.

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It's uh, three times longer than

the New Testament, more or less.

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And in all that time, all those pages,

all those hundreds and hundreds of

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verses, I believe God is referred to as

the Father of Israel about eight times.

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But no one addresses God

individually or personally as father.

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No one prays to God's saying, father,

on all the pages of the Old Testament,

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you will not find one example.

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Of someone praying to God like

Jesus taught our father in heaven.

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And then when Jesus comes on the scene, he

teaches us to say, our Father in heaven.

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He says, this is how you should pray.

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And then he models that every single

time that Jesus refers to God personally.

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When he is addressing

God, he calls him Father.

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And there's only one exception, the

exception that proves or tests the rule.

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Remember what it is.

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I do.

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Yes.

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We talked about this a couple days ago.

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Yeah.

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Uh, when Jesus is on the

cross and he says, my God, my

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God, why have you forsake me?

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Yeah.

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And of course there he is quoting Psalm.

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Yeah.

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Psalm 22, right?

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Yeah.

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Is it 22?

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Yes.

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Okay.

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I to remember it.

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Uh, and so it makes sense that

because of the, he's using the word

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of the psalm instead of his preferred

way of talking to, to the father.

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That is the only exception.

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Every other time and every time that he's

not quoting the Old Testament, when he

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addressed this guy, he calls him Father.

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Now that's amazing.

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But what's more amazing is,

as we've already mentioned,

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he tells us to do the same.

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Yeah.

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So that prayer that we

have prayed every day.

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The disciples are coming to him and

they're saying, Hey, how do we pray?

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And my understanding of this is

that different rabbis would've had

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different ways of praying that would've

distinguished them between other rabbis.

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And so Jesus is on the scene

and his disciples come and

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they say, how do we pray?

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And he starts with this,

our Father in heaven.

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Crazy.

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Yeah, it is.

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Like that would've shaken them up, right?

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I would think so.

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I mean, there's a, there's our father.

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There's such closeness and

intimacy baked into that.

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That idea of God as father, that was

totally outside of their cultural

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framework for who God is and the

way that God interacts with them.

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Yeah, and it's cool too that

he says, our father in heaven.

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He's not denying the majesty

and the transcendence of God.

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He's saying in spite of that,

along with that, we still have this

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intimate relationship with him now.

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Mm, that's neat.

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So you have both that amazing qualitative

difference between us and God, the

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creation and the creator, right.

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But also that closeness.

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Yeah, exactly.

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And Paul goes even a little bit

further when he says in Romans that

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we are able to call him Abba father.

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And a lot of people probably remember.

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Abba is actually an Aramaic word, and

you can actually translate that as

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daddy or papa, something like that.

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Father sometimes can be formal to us.

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That word Abba takes that formality away.

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Would you like me to read this?

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Yeah, go ahead.

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Yeah.

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Now, if this is a familiar concept

that we are God's children, again,

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try to recognize the beauty of this.

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This is Paul speaking to the

church in Rome in chapter eight.

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I'm gonna start in verse 12

and read through, um, 17.

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He's making this argument that

we are born of the spirit.

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He says, therefore, brothers and sisters,

we have an obligation, but it is not

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the flesh to live according to it.

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For if you live according

to the flesh, you'll die.

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But if by the spirit you put to death

the misdeeds of the body, you will

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live for those who are led by the

spirit of God are the children of God.

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The spirit you receive does not make you

slaves so that you live in fear again.

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Rather the spirit you received

brought about your adoption

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to sonship, and by him we cry.

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Abba Father, the Spirit himself

testifies with our spirit

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that we are God's children.

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Now.

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If we are children, then we are heirs,

heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.

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If indeed we share in his

suffering in order, that we

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may also share in his glory.

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Yeah, and that's one of the

things that's very beautiful

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about the fatherhood of God.

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Not just that intimacy, but

that idea that we are now heirs.

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So we have to remember in their culture,

a father was not just a family figure.

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There was also this legal

dynamic that was at play.

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And so the father

provided for his children.

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The father gave them a context for their

lives, but then they also became heirs

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of their father, as he talks about here.

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So what the father has,

we are able to have also.

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Yeah.

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And it's amazing here that we are

heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.

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So we, we have this position not

just as sons and daughters of

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God, but also siblings of Jesus.

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Yeah.

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That's amazing too.

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And sometimes we don't think about

that part, at least, I don't think

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of it very often, but there's a

great verse in Hebrews that talks

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about this in Hebrews two 10.

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It says, in bringing many

sons and daughters to glory,

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it was fitting that God.

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For whom and through whom everything

exists should make the pioneer of

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their salvation perfect through

what he suffered referring to Jesus,

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obviously, both the one who makes

people holy and those who are made holy.

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So both Jesus and us are of the

same family, so Jesus is not ashamed

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to call them brothers and sisters.

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Wow.

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Yeah.

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Jesus is not ashamed to call

you a brother or a sister.

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Jesus calls you, his brother or

his sister, a co-heir and a fellow

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sibling before God the father.

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That's an amazing thought.

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So where do we go for application here?

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If it is true that God is our father,

then that gives us permission to relate

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to him in a very personal, intimate way.

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Now, for some of us that can

be really difficult because our

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models for parents wasn't great.

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And so we see the way

that God contrasts that.

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Or for some of us, that model's

really good and the way that our

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parents interact with us was really

good and helps us relate to God.

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Well, now as we reflect and apply, I

just wanna invite you to bring your

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perception of God as father to the cross.

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And if it's difficult for you to relate

with God in this sort of intimate way.

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To lament that our parents

do fail us in various ways.

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No parent is perfect.

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So make some space to, to pray and lament

the ways that our earthly parents have

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failed us, and then pray a prayer of

gratitude that God is the perfect Father.

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And maybe what this can look

like is picking an intimate

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word for God as father.

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Maybe that's father.

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Maybe it's dad or papa.

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And just saying, you are

my dad and you love me.

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You are my dad and you love me.

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So go ahead and spend a few moments now

in prayer trying to receive the love

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and the intimacy of God our father.

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Let's conclude our time praying the

prayer that Jesus taught us to pray.

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Our Father in heaven, hallow be your name.

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Your kingdom come, your will be

done on earth as it is in heaven.

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Give us today our daily bread

and forgive us our debts as we

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also have forgiven our debters.

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Lead us not into temptation, but

deliver us from the evil one.

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Amen.