God's Fatherliness

"Yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand." (Isaiah 64: 8 NIV)

"For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." (Acts 17: 28, 29 KJV)

These verses identify Lord God as the one universal father of the human race. All are God's children by virtue of him "begetting" or "fathering" them, of him giving them existence, and life, and destiny.

"Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew?" (Job 38: 28 KJV)

Lord God is the father of all things, for he has created or produced all things.

"As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust." (Psalm 103: 13, 14 NIV)

All are God's children by creation, and recieve graciously many blessings and acts of fatherly kindness. God shows all men general kindness and compassion, for he is not only a "faithful Creator," but also a "faithful Father." (I Peter 4: 19 KJV)

But, only those who become his children by a "new birth," by being spiritually "begotten again," become his "children," and he their "Father," receive his special blessings and favors, yea, the blessing of salvation.

"But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; you, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name." (Isaiah 63: 16 NIV)

"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the LORD Almighty." (Malachi 1: 6 NIV)

"Is this the way you repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?" (Deuteronomy 32: 6 NIV)

These verses describe the great evil of men in turning their backs on their heavenly Father who created them. They are "rebellious children," as the prophets described them. They have renounced the Father who created and blesses them, and have made others to be "father," yea, even the devil himself, saying to them - "you are of your father the devil." (John 8: 44, 45)

So, we may say that Lord God "is the Father of all men, specially of those who believe." (See I Timothy 4: 10 KJV) He is specially the "father of spirits made perfect." (Hebrews 12: 22 KJV)

"The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place." In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God." (Deuteronomy 1: 30-32 NIV)

"Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you." "I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." (II Corinthians 6: 17, 18 NIV)

"Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!" (Hebrews 12: 9 NIV)

Lord God is to be honored and respected, and obeyed, above every earthly father. Salvation is the result of acknowledging God as "Father," and trusting in his great "fatherliness."