Reformation
500 WEEK 46: Heidelberg Catechism QA 120-121
Question 120: Why did
Christ command us to address God THUS: “Our Father”? To awaken in us at the very
beginning of our prayer that childlike reverence for and trust in God, which
are to be the ground of our prayer, namely, that God has become our Father
through Christ, and will much less deny us what we ask of Him in faith than our
parents refuse us earthly things.
Christ commands us who believe in
Him to call God Father, that at the very beginning of our prayer
we may remember the ground or foundation of our prayer: “that the
eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ…is for the sake of Christ, His Son, my
God and my Father [John 20:17]” (Q&A 26); and, therefore, that we may pray
the way God’s adopted children should pray: with childlike reverence for and
trust in God. “A son honors his father…If then I am the Father, where is My
honor?” (Mal. 1:6). “Or what man is there among you, if his son asks for bread,
will give him a stone? …If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things
to those who ask Him” (Matt. 7:9, 11).
Christ directs us to say our Father,
and not my Father, first, “that He may excite in us a confidence
of being heard: for since, we do not pray alone, but seeing that the whole
church unites its voice with ours, God will not reject the prayers of the whole
church, but hears them, according as it is said: ‘Where two or three are
gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them’ [Matt. 18:20] ….
Second, that He might admonish us to mutual love. Christians possessing
mutual love should pray for one another [1 John 5:1-2]” (Ursinus, 628).
God has always been the Father of
His chosen people. “I am a Father to Israel” (Jer. 31:9). OT believers were also called the children of God (Ex. 4:22);
and they called God “Father.” “You, O LORD, are our Father” (Isaiah
63:16). “Blessed are You, LORD God of Israel, our Father, forever and
ever” (1 Chron. 29:10).
Question 121: Why is it
added: “in heaven”?
That we might have no earthly thought of the heavenly majesty of God, and from
His almighty power expect all things necessary for body and soul.
The fact that God is said to be “in
heaven” does not mean He is confined there. God is everywhere. Solomon prayed,
“Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You” (1 Kings 8:27).
God is said to dwell in heaven because heaven is like a royal palace where God
manifests His glory and majesty in a more glorious way than He does on earth.
Therefore, when we pray to our Father in heaven, we must remember
that He is not an earthly father. He is not the man upstairs. We are not
even to think of our Lord Jesus Christ in earthly terms (2 Cor. 5:16). God is
eternal and all-powerful, infinitely higher and greater than the greatest
earthly father. Our earthy parents make lots of mistakes, and they cannot love
us perfectly. But our heavenly Father never makes a mistake. His love is
unfailing and everlasting (Jer. 31:3)! “Being in heaven and being God, our
Father can give us all things necessary for body and soul through Jesus Christ;
and we can confidently expect Him to do so. Nothing is too hard for Him” [Gen.
18:14; Ps. 103:19; 115:3; Luke 2:37]” (Jones, Study Helps, 309).
NOTE: These Posts were written and designed as bulletin inserts by Pastor David Fagrey of the Grace Reformed Church of Rapid City, SD .
Link to this blog entry as a bulletin insert: Reformation 500 Heidelberg Catechism 120-121
For a double-sided PDF for easy printing: Reformation 500 Week 46
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