14
THE KING’S BUSINESS
and, indeed, cannot be logically es caped, but there is no definition. That fact is worth pondering. Jesus knew that men could believe and love God without a scientific definition of His nature and person. Furthermore, be cause Jesus knew God, He also knew that the finite mind could hever grasp a, definition of the Infinite. This, however, does not mean that Jesus did not reveal much that we can measurably understand concerning God and His relations with thè world. Op the contrary,He lived God in such a way that a little child can understand much o f what He revealed concerning Him. Let us note-a few o f these things. * 1. He showed that He is the su preme one—Lord of Heaven and earth, who alone is to be worshiped ( Luke 4 :8 ; 10:21). As the supreme One He is active- in Creation and Providence 12:7, 24, 28). As He looked Upon 1 nature with all her beau ties and activities He said, “ God; my Father, paints the lily and watches over the sparrow. He is not indiffer ent to the most insignificant of her interests.” This is a wonderful pic ture of a Creator actively engaged in directing and sustaining the activities of His own Creation. 2. He also showed that this One who is in and above natur'e directing all her processes is Our Father. The supreme revelatibn which Jesus made was His revelation of God as our Father, with a Father’s love and ten derness which are manifested in a pro gram of redemption which He is carry ing out through Jesus Christ ( 'l l ; 12; 35-36 ; 11: 2-4 ; 12: 30 ; 15), •The pic ture of father love which Luke gives us in chapter 15 is the most beautiful picture of love ever painted in human words. However, in our emphasis of the Father’s love and tenderness we must not lose sight of the essential fact of Fatherhood. The fundamental fact in Fatherhood is the paternal pas
sion—the desire to reproduce his own life and image. It is interesting to note that this is the vital fact around which nature and history center. It is the key to their activities and devel opments. In this fact we have the key to God’s relations with the universe. The essential fact in the Divine nature is 'the fact of Fatherhood. Therefore the paternal passion seeks a means by which to reproduce the Divine life. This, then, is the chief end of creation. If God /is supreme this must be the goal towards which all things are moving. Therefore we may naturally expect to find Creation culminating in an instrument capable of giving ex pression to the Divine life. This is what we find. This, then, is the heart fact of Fatherhood. It is not that God loves us. That is true. Indeed it is essen tial to the fullest and deepest expres sion of Fatherhood/ But the deepest fact of the Fatherhood of God is the paternal passion—the desire to repro duce His own life of righteousness and holiness in His creation. This revelation received supreme ‘emphasis in the life of Christ, and was accepted by His disciples in the first century. They accepted this twofold revelation without any attempt at definition or explanation. They worshiped’ God as revealed in Jesus Christ, and present in life in the person of the Holy Spirit who sought constantly to form Christ in them the hope o f glory; In later days men began to specu late about the nature and person of God and attempted to define these in scientific statements or Creeds. These attempts were given permanent form by the Councils of Nicsea and Con stantinople 325 and 381 A. D. “ They affirmed the co-equal and co-eternal existence of three centers of personal life and activity in the unity of the Divine Being; ‘The Father Almighty,
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