Show Us the Father

compiled from the writings of Ellen G. White by Frank Klin

Up to the time of Christ's first advent, men worshiped cruel, despotic gods. Even the Jewish
mind was reached through fear rather than love. Christ's mission was to reveal to men that
God is not a despot, but a Father, full of mercy and love for His children. He spoke of God by
the endearing name of "Father." In answer to the anxious questionings of Joseph and Mary,
after they had found Him in the temple, He said, "Wist ye not that I must be about My
Father's business?" He did not refer to Joseph, His earthly father. It was not Joseph's
business in which He was engaged with the doctors of the law. {1}

When Philip came to Jesus with the request, "Show us the Father, and it sufficeth us," the
Saviour answered him: "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me,
Philip? he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the
Father?" Christ declares Himself to be sent into the world as a representative of the Father.
In His nobility of character, in His mercy and tender pity, in His love and goodness, He
stands before us as the embodiment of divine perfection, the image of the invisible God. {2}

Christ came into the world to represent the Father to man; for Satan had presented Him
before the world in a false light. Because God is a God of justice, of terrible majesty, who has
power to destroy as well as to preserve man, Satan caused men to regard Him with fear, to
look upon Him as a tyrant. Jesus had been with the Father from the everlasting ages, before
the creation of man, and He came to reveal the Father, declaring "God is love." Jesus
represented God as a kind Father, who careth for the subjects of His kingdom. He declared
that not a sparrow falls to the ground without the notice of the Father, and that the children of
men are of more value in his sight than many sparrows, that the very hairs of their head are
all numbered. {3}

Christ came to reveal God to the world as a God of love, full of mercy, tenderness, and
compassion. The thick darkness with which Satan had endeavored to enshroud the throne of
Deity was swept away by the world's Redeemer, and the Father was again manifest to men
as the light of life. {4}

In His wisdom the Saviour teaches us to approach God with the confidence of a child. He
instructs us to call Jehovah by the endearing name of "Father," that we may not separate
from Him in awe and coldness. Constantly He points us to the emblems of fatherly love,
seeking to encourage faith and confidence in God. He pleads with us to have a correct idea
of the Father. He throws back the accusation of the enemy, declaring, "Like as a father
pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him." He would have the memorials of
redeeming grace arrest our attention, that we may know that all the goodness, mercy,
patience, forbearance, seen in Him, belong to God. {5}

The mystery of the cross explains all other mysteries. In the light that streams from Calvary,
the attributes of God which had filled us with fear and awe appear beautiful and attractive.
Mercy, tenderness, and parental love are seen to blend with holiness, justice, and power.
While we behold the majesty of His throne, high and lifted up, we see His character in its
gracious manifestations, and comprehend, as never before, the significance of that
endearing title, our Father. {6}

Those who are called to suffer for Christ's sake, who have to endure misapprehension and
distrust, even in their own home, may find comfort in the thought that Jesus has endured the
same. He is moved with compassion for them. He bids them find companionship in Him, and
relief where He found it, in communion with the Father. {7}

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Those who accept Christ as their personal Saviour are not left as orphans, to bear the trials
of life alone. He receives them as members of the heavenly family; He bids them call His
Father their Father. They are His "little ones," dear to the heart of God, bound to Him by the
most tender and abiding ties. He has toward them an exceeding tenderness, as far
surpassing what our father or mother has felt toward us in our helplessness as the divine is
above the human. {8}

To give a true representation of the tender, loving, pitying care exercised by His Father,
Jesus gave the parable of the prodigal son. Tho His children err and stray from Him, if they
repent and return, He will receive them with a joy greater than the earthly parent feels in the
recovery of a long-lost son. In all the sufferings and afflictions of men, there is an Eye to pity,
a Heart to love. "Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him."
God's tenderest care is exercised over us. He pities us in our weakness and in our sorrow.
We may be despondent, even despairing; the heavy clouds of affliction may be over us; but
there is light ahead. Beyond the gloom is a sympathetic, compassionate Friend, One who
does not willingly grieve or afflict the children of men. {9}

Now let us improve the precious opportunities to become acquainted with our Heavenly
Father, who "so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Wondrous love that God, the
infinite God, has made it our privilege to approach Him by the name of Father! No earthly
parent could plead more earnestly with an erring child, than He who made us pleads with the
transgressor. No human, loving interest has ever followed the impenitent with such tender
invitations. Then with what tender sympathies should we labor for the erring, sin perishing
souls around us! We must work in the spirit in which Christ worked, with the compassionate
tenderness that He manifested. When by living faith we shall claim the promises of God,
when we shall live by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God, we shall place
ourselves on the side of Christ, and have His Spirit and His grace to work with our efforts to
bring souls to a knowledge of the divine will. {10}

In the world to come, Christ will lead the redeemed beside the river of life, and will teach
them wonderful lessons of truth. He will unfold to them the mysteries of nature. They will see
that a Master-Hand holds the worlds in position. They will behold the skill displayed by the
great Artist in coloring the flowers of the field, and will learn of the purposes of the merciful
Father, who dispenses every ray of light, and with the holy angels the redeemed will
acknowledge in songs of grateful praise God's supreme love to an unthankful world. Then it
will be understood that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." {11}

1. Signs of the Times, September 23, 1908 par. 3

2. Testimonies to the Church Vol. 5, 1882, page 739 par. 1
3. Signs of the Times, June 27, 1892 par. 1
4. Testimonies to the Church Vol. 5, 1882, page 738 par. 4
5. Signs of the Times, January 20, 1898 par. 6
6. Great Controversy, 1888, page 652 par. 1
7. Desire of Ages, 1898, page 327 par. 1
8. Ibid par. 2
9. Signs of the Times, September 23, 1908 par. 4
10. Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, April 5, 1887 par. 11
11. Advent Review & Sabbath Herald, January 3, 1907 par. 13