Our Father

O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. —Isaiah 64:8

The fatherhood of God is a precious concept to us, but it wasn’t a common one to the Old Testament Jews. In fact, in the entire Old Testament, there are only fifteen references to God as Father, and three of them are found in Isaiah 63–64.

With the coming of Christ in the New Testament, that changes dramatically. There are at least 165 references to God as Father in the four Gospels alone.

You see it in the Sermon on the Mount. It’s such a stark contrast from the Old Testament. Jesus repeatedly says, “Ask your Father this; tell your Father that.” He’s saying, “I came to bring you back into relationship with your Father.”

He referred to God as His own Father. He taught His disciples to address God as Father. And through Christ, together we can call Him in prayer “our Father.” It’s a precious term because it’s the basis on which we can appeal to Him to have mercy on us.