"Grace to you and peace from God [the] Father of us and [the] Lord Jesus Christ...the [One] having given Himself on behalf of the sins of us, so that He should take us out of the evil age having been put in, according to the want of God and our Father..."
-Traditional greeting, this, a wish for peace/shalom, which had in Paul’s circles been augmented and eclipsed by a wish for grace, God’s undeserved favor, apart from which we cannot enjoy the tiniest ounce of shalom, much less even take another breath which would allow us to enjoy some of that shalom. Divinely sourced, both of these, flowing freely from the throne of Heaven and the Cross of Calvary. Both the Father and the Son (as well as the Spirit), forever and always existing and working together as One, blessing the nations and the people of God with daily bread and rain and overall well-being and all good things to enjoy, and most of all with Himself, breathtaking goodness, the happiest most joyful and enjoyable Being in the universe!
-To this end, Paul points out, we see the cornerstone of grace and peace laid at the foot of the Cross. God the Son gave Himself for us, for our sins. He sacrificed Himself in our place. What greater manifestation of grace can there be? That one supreme sacrifice procured peace for all eternity, peace with God and deliverance from all that robs us of that overall well-being in this life. This life, this evil age, the age of brokenness and suffering and sin, where everything breaks down - Jesus came and gave His life to take us out, to rescue those He purchased with His blood and deliver them out of the evil now into eternal good. Paradise, really. Consummate breathtaking goodness, far better and more lasting than any beach or lake or mountain or other earthly place of bliss or peace or happiness. In fact, this was God’s desire from the beginning, Paul says, the eternal design of our true God and Father in Heaven.
-Interesting side note here: God as Father is not a thing in the Old Testament - apart from one obscure mention in Deuteronomy 32.6 - until God declares to David that He will be a Father to David’s son who will come after him - Solomon - 2Samuel 7.14. David does call Him a Father to the fatherless in Psalm 68.5, but the context is specific to the plight of orphans. Psalm 89.26 - David will call Him Father - but doesn’t. Psalm 103.13 - a simile, God having compassion on those who fear Him as a father would on his children - but not called Father directly. Isaiah 9.6 says Messiah will be called Eternal Father, and from there we begin to see some of the prophets refer to God as Father (Isaiah 63.16, 64.8; Jeremiah 3.4, 3.19; Malachi 1.6, 2.10). So, no more than a dozen mentions, and only in two of those - the two references at the end of Isaiah - is God directly addressed as Father. Not until Jesus - God the Son - teaches us (and actually models for us) to address God as Father does it actually begin to happen. So when Paul here refers to our God and Father, it is in fact a very non-traditional un-Jewish thing to do. Muslims do not relate to Allah as father either - perhaps that traces back to some of their abrahamic roots. But at this point, the King of the universe, almighty thrice-holy God is not just A father, He is OUR Father. He made us, designed us, redeemed us, adopted us and brought us into His forever family as His very own sons and daughters - PLUS put His very own Spirit in our hearts to verify and testify and reinforce right down to the very core of our being that God is OUR Father. He is our heavenly daddy - IF we are in Christ and He in us. This writer can still remember the change which came over me, when I began to instinctively call Him ‘Father’ after placing my trust in Christ. Prior to that, there had been no connection whatsoever, no conversation to speak of, but suddenly out of nowhere He was now MY Father. THIS is one sign of a rescued heart - they HAVE a personal connection with the God of the universe, they know Him personally. You can hear it when they pray - they are talking with Him, they know Him, and He is Abba Father (Romans 8.15, Galatians 4.6).
-And again, all this is precisely what God wanted. He wanted to be our Father, your Father, for you and I and the entire world to relate to Him as Abba Daddy, He so wanted to send His only begotten Son to rescue you, and He wanted it from the very foundation of the world. He is truly beyond amazing. Next verse...
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