“For at just the right time Christ will be revealed from heaven by the blessed and only almighty God, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords. He alone can never die, and He lives in light so brilliant that no human can approach Him. No human eye has ever seen, nor ever will. All honor and power to Him forever! Amen.” (1 Timothy 6:15-16 NLT)
It’s interesting to me that while God is clearly referred to as Father only 11 times in the Old Testament, He’s mentioned hundreds of times in the New Testament, mostly from the mouth of Jesus. We want to think of God as our heavenly Father, which He certainly is, but He’s not “warm and fuzzy” like a human father.
Trying to wrap your arms around God is a little bit like trying to wrap your arms around the sun. His brilliance is beyond the ability of a human to approach or even look upon Him. Even in Revelation, which speaks of things to come in heaven, God the Father is only referred to a few times and only in the context of His being the Father of Jesus.
So, are we to assume, like so many unbelievers do, that God is distant, uncaring, uninvolved? Only if we don’t understand who Jesus is and Who He came to us to reveal. Sinclair B. Ferguson wrote: “God the Father is absolutely, completely, and totally to us what he reveals himself to be to us in Christ.” Through the lips of Jesus in John 3:16 we get a glimpse of God our Father when Jesus said: “For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.”
In heaven God’s presence will encompass us and Jesus will continue to be our eternal Light, just as they are on earth. Does this mean we can no longer think of God as personal, caring, invested in our well being as His children? Of course we can, He’s all of those things and a thousand more, all illustrated and confirmed in the Person and work of Jesus His eternal Son.
How does that translate for us? In His Sermon on the Mount Jesus let us know that WE ARE the light of the world! We are the bearers of His eternal light as surely as the Sun shines with the brightness of our Heavenly Father. God’s presence is as real as the air we breathe, and His love is as strong as the nails that held His Only Son to the Cross on our behalf.
In reality we don’t yet have the capacity to even begin to comprehend who God is or what He has planned for those who love and serve Him. We gain insight in the teachings of Jesus and through His words in the Revelation, but our crowded, clouded minds must strain to even grasp a brief glimpse. All I know with certainty is that God is real, He’s alive, evidenced by His creation, certainly, but through His eternal Son who lives in each of His redeemed persons in and through the ministry of His Holy Spirit.
So, the question remains, is God your heavenly Father? Has Jesus become your eternal Savior? Are you longing for a joy-filled union with the Lord Jesus upon His Second Coming to claim His Bride, His Church? Or are you dreading that day, uncertain of where you stand with God, or worse, very certain you’re not ready to meet Him.
Please click this link The Bridge to God and let Ron Hutchcraft walk with you through how to know for sure that you’re ready to meet the Lord and to go to heaven when you die.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 