Abba Father!
"For whoever does the will of My
Father in heaven is My brother
and sister and mother."
Matthew 12:
50
The phrase “Father in heaven” occurs eleven times in
the Bible, all but three of them in Matthew’s Gospel, all
quoting words of Jesus. Why was Matthew so focused
on including this phrase from Jesus’ teaching?
Because Matthew’s Gospel is the most Jewish of the four
Gospels and the notion of God as Father to Israel occurred
often in the Old Testament. (See Deuteronomy 14:1; 32:6;
Psalm 103:13; Jeremiah 3:4; 31:9; Hosea 11:1.)
Jesus’ use of “Father” to describe God revealed a deeper
sense
of intimacy than in the Old Testament. Jesus speaking Aramaic,
would have used abba for “Father,”
the same word that Hebrew
children of His day used to refer to their earthly fathers.
Abba suggested a familial relationship between parent
and child. Jesus referred to God as His own Father and
His followers as His familial relations (Matthew 12:50). So
no surprise that Jesus taught His disciples to begin their
prayers with “our Father in
heaven” (Matthew 6:9).
If you're following Jesus,
He's your Brother, and
God is your Heavenly Father. Let's approach
Him as a child does a loving father.
"A Christian is one who
has God as Father."
J. I. Packer