Baptism and God the Father

This essay will be short as I have written on this topic and will reference some of those writings.

When Jesus was baptized a voice from heaven proclaimed, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). Psalm 2 is referenced in these words, and Psalm 2 is an enthronement psalm recited when someone was crowned king of Israel. It designates a status, an exalted status, and when applied to Jesus at his baptism, it means he was chosen as God’s Son and thereby a child of the Father. By adoption in baptism, believers are also exalted, named as children of the living God. Again, in the context of Romans 6, it was recognized that by the atoning death and resurrection of Jesus Christ believers would come to know the Father, the one they call “Abba,” a term of child-like love and trust. Many, many things can be said on this topic, but given the state of affairs today, it is important to present the most important.

God the Father Can Be Known

When Jesus was baptized, he heard a voice from heaven, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” God spoke to him, claiming Jesus as his son, and at the same time, revealing himself as the Father. Again, at his transfiguration, a bright cloud overshadowed Christ and a voice said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him" (Matthew 17:5). In both these experiences the transcendent Father was seen and heard.(1) Jesus doubtless had other experiences of God in which he came to know himself as God’s son. For example, in John’s gospel, Jesus will say, "Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise" (5:19). Or, Jesus will say, "For I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak" (12:49). In these two passages, Christ speaks of having seen and heard the Father to such a degree that the Father directs his works and deeds.

How God can be seen and heard was described in the essay, Trinity and Incarnation. In that essay, the example of Isaiah 6 was particularly instructive. Isaiah not only heard and saw God locally, so to speak, manifested in the sights and sounds of the temple, but these same empirical realities enabled him to perceive the transcendent, divine nature. He heard the transcendent one speak, and caught a glimpse of the train of his garment. The essay, Knowing the Christian God, described the same reality. God can be known today, experienced, present in space and time, and at the same time, albeit indirectly yet nonetheless real, known in his transcendent divine nature as God the Father.

When the transcendent, holy God sent his Son, and when the Son gave up his life in love, a profound, dreadful, and overwhelming sense of the divine love was visited upon the disciples and those who followed Jesus. That was true then, and it is true now. The early Christians came to know the Father, the one who sent his Son to die for them. This love combined two important qualities, “almighty” to quote the Nicene Creed, and at the same time, the righteous, holy God of the universe humbled himself to die upon the cross for those he loves. Incomprehensible holiness and authority coupled with the broken humility of the cross gave a glimpse of the Father, the one whose love knew no end. No one can go beyond this.

Human beings vary greatly in their knowledge of divine realities and it is good to be flexible at this point. Some have been given glimpses of the Father’s eternal glory even in this life, others somehow know that it is true and both can rest in peace. However known, and to what degree, it is the great blessing of baptism to begin to enter into this reality. Baptism is only the beginning of knowing God. According to the saints, God himself cleanses the heart so that he can be seen and heard in his heavenly glory.(2) Be that as it may, it must be said that baptism begins the process of knowing the Father.

As one comes to know the Father, there are many blessings and responsibilities associated with knowing him. Here are a few of them. These qualities are found throughout the biblical revelation and I will leave them without references.

1. God the Father is the almighty one whose love has no end. Therefore he is willing and able to care for his children in all circumstances.

2. His authority is absolute and he must be obeyed, loved with one’s whole heart.

3. His holiness is a consuming fire and only by the blood of the Lamb can one enter his presence and know him.

4. His wisdom is infinite and his ways beyond knowing, yet when received, they lead to life.

5. His glory is beautiful beyond compare and can only be acknowledged by worship, falling before him in love.

6. His humility breaks our hearts and can only result in humbling ourselves before him with tears.

7. When his justice is truly known, it causes us to fear him, recognizing that his holiness demands our death because of our sins. Only by the cross can we avoid his wrath, but even so, he is best loved with a holy fear.

Finally, let us end this short essay with a quotation from Revelation 21. In this quotation, God the Father, seated upon his throne, speaks to us, revealing things that will surely be.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new" (Revelation 21:1-5).

Endnotes

1. Orthodox theology holds that the disciples who were with Jesus on the mountain not only saw and heard Jesus, but heard the Father and saw his glory. The point of this is that one can glimpse God the Father in this life, and in the age to some, behold his radiant beauty in the face of the Lord Jesus. See the essay,The Vision of God.
2. See, for example, Eucharist and Charismatic Worship.

The Rev. Robert J. Sanders, Ph.D.
August, 2012