How do you imagine God the Father’s attitude toward you?
Many in the church throughout our history and to this present day think of the Father as austere. If he “feels” anything (and don’t get Reformed folks talking about whether or not God has emotions!), it is antipathy toward us. He is the Father you can never please, who is always fussing at you for not being perfect. There is no warmth, joviality, or affection. He is stern and Stoic. Wherever the Scriptures speak of his love for us, it is read more as “God tolerates us.” After all, the truly loving Son had to placate this Tyrant with his death on the cross so that he would reluctantly allow us a place in the family.
Some people have theological reasons for believing this. They believe that this is the image the Bible reveals of God the Father. Others have experiential reasons for this. Because earthly fathers are images of God the Father, they project the harshness of their earthly fathers upon our heavenly Father.
If we think of God the Father in any of these ways, our minds must be renewed with a faithful image of our heavenly Father.
As Jesus discusses the new birth with Nicodemus, how God will re-create man and the entire created order, he tells Nicodemus how these things will be (cf. Jn 3:9). The rebirth of the world will begin with the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Son of Man, who is Jesus. As Moses lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness so that those who received the cursed serpent bites would not perish, so the Son of Man must be lifted up on the cross as the beginning of his ascension to receive the promised kingdom. We learn from the story of Scripture, and particularly the prophecy of the Son of Man in Daniel 7, that suffering and death are necessary for the Son of Man to enter his glory (cf. also Lk 24:25-27).
Why would God do these things? Because he so intensely loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. “Sending your Son instead of doing it yourself doesn’t seem to be a very loving thing to do.” Those words can only be spoken by people who have never been fathers.
In John 1:18, John tells us that the Son is “in the bosom of the Father.” That could be understood as being in the heart of the Father. Jesus is the Word that the Father speaks from the abundance of his heart.
Any loving father will tell you that he would rather suffer and die than see his son suffer. It is easier to give yourself in the place of your son than it is to give your son. Giving his Son demonstrates the depth and intensity of the Father’s love that no other action could match, not even taking his Son’s place. God loved the created order with such intensity that he was willing to have his heart ripped from him, his Son, to see the world saved.
The Son, of course, was not a reluctant participant. He shared the Father’s love for the world and gladly submitted to the mission. But Jesus focuses in John 3:16 on the Father’s love, even knowing that he himself would be the one to bear the agonies of the cross. God the Father didn’t suffer in the same way the Son suffered, but neither was he gleefully looking on while his eternal Son, whom he loved with unfathomable love, suffered. He suffered immeasurably more than an earthly loving father would suffer seeing his Son die.
We are often tempted to question God’s love for us. We experience heartache, tragedy, and inexplicable suffering. We have questions. How could a loving God allow evil in the world? How could he allow me to suffer like this? There are many questions about human suffering for which we don’t have immediate answers. I don’t know precisely why God allows you to go through this or that particular hardship. I know that he has a loving purpose for suffering, but I don’t know what his specific purpose is for this suffering.
However, God provided the undisputable answer to the question, “Does God love us?” He demonstrated his love for us in a way that his love can never be questioned again. He gave his unique, uncreated, eternally loved Son to be enthroned on a cross for the sake of our sins. He demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8).
So, let the images of the austere Tyrant be vanquished from your mind. He is a God who, because of his love for us, suffered unimaginable anguish in the gift of his Son so that he might make us fit to be a part of his family.
