To Know the Father

 In His High Priestly prayer, Yeshua requested: "… as You [Father] have given Him [Yeshua] authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.  And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true Elohim, and Messiah Yeshua whom You have sent” (John 17:2,3). Paul was also adamant about this all-important topic. In Ephesians 1:17, the following is recorded:  “That the Elohim of our Master Yeshua the Messiah, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of Him”. Being that we have to be born from above in order to be able to attain this knowledge, it takes going through a course of stages of spiritual growth and maturation. During the baby or toddler phase everything is about ‘me, myself and I’, as described by Paul: “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to babes in Messiah. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?” (1^st Corinthians 3:1-3). We need not go any further… a toddler’s behavior is unmistakable.

In his first epistle, John elaborates on the stages of growth: “I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake… I have written to you, children, because you know the Father” (1^st John 2:12-14).  Spiritual childhood entails first getting to know our new creation family. We cry out “Abba” and drink the "milk of the Word". Being nurtured, we learn that our sins were forgiven and that Elohim our Father loves, disciplines, teaches us Torah, and will take care of us. 

We mature into manhood when we learn the truth of our victory over the power of sin, the flesh, and the evil one.  “I am writing to you, young men, because you have overcome the evil one… I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the Word of Elohim abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one” (1^st John 2:13-14). At this stage we know Him as our Messiah, “and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my [our] own derived from Torah, but that which is through faith in Messiah’s [indwelling presence], the righteousness which comes from Elohim on the basis of faith, that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:9-10).

The above leads us to the “father” phase: “I am writing to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning…  I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who has been from the beginning” (1^st John 2:13-14). We have now entered the reality of “it is no longer I who lives, but Messiah lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).  Fathers give life, therefore “… we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Yeshua’s sake, that the life of Yeshua also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.  So death works in us, but life in you” (2^nd Corinthians 4:11-12).

Paul alludes to the fact that the believers do not have many fathers, “yet you would not have many fathers; for in Messiah Yeshua I became your father through the gospel” (1^st Corinthians 4:15).  In another reference he gives an example of his father’s heart: “But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all” (Philippians 2:17).  Fatherhood is a present experiential knowledge of Him who has been from the beginning, in order to become fully cognizant of our future involvement in setting the captive creation free from its bondage (ref. Romans 8:21). After all, He is the alef and the tav, the beginning and the end, the same yesterday, today and forever (ref. Rev. 1:8; Heb. 13:8)!