“Which Art in Heaven”

mu 9tt in ‘’Thy glad chad Sheltered and saved, wrapped all about from harm,

Happy to be helpless, — and thy child, — Can only ttMm arid sleep toithin the blessed rest. Can only drop the gifts which thou hast given

B<ick in thy lavish hand. O wealth Of fulness / that for life, for love, for heaven.

For thyself, thou shouldst thank thyself In me; and leave me mute and motionless, — at rest,’*’*

HEKE is wondrous uplift in the thought of the glory of the fatherhood to which we are introduced in Christ. Fatherhood itself means love, tender, strong, and faithful; but when we put divinity back of all the love and goodness — Father in heaven — we make the vision enduring and eternal. Himian fatherhood, beautiful as it is and rich in affection, is frail and uncertain. To-morrow it may be gone. God is our Father in heaven’s eternal glory. Yet though he is in heaven he never forgets us. Our names are always before him.

“Our Father which art* This is one of the great present tenses of the Bible. God is. He is not a being who merely was in the remote past, and is now only a memory. Nor is he a [31] tlLht (S^oIDen (Safe of Ptapet

God who is to manifest himself sometime in the future as our Judge. He is. He is the living Grod. He is our Father and he is evermore our Father. There is never a moment when he is not near us, when his ear will not hear our faintest cry, when his hand is not ready to help.

This truth of the living God who is our Father is wondrously rich in its meaning. In these learned days some men like to talk of the God of the universe as a great mysterious Force, at the centre of things, which in some way keeps all worlds and all things in being. But they deny to this great Power the elements of personality. They scoff the Christian teaching that this God loves us as his children, that he gives personal thought to any individuals of the race, that he knows our needs or concerns him- self with any of the perplexities of our life. But this naming of our God as “Our Father which art reveals to us a God who is the same yesterday and to-day, — yea, and forever. All [82] these nineteen centuries his children have been calling him in the same precious way. Moreover, the name Father sweeps away all vague thoughts of God as mere force or power. Father means love, not love merely for a race, but love for his children, a distinct love for each one of them. It means thought and care and providence. Our Father knows us by name and carries each one of us in his heart. This is our Father’s world, and wherever we go we are beneath his eye, near to his hand, and within the circle of his love.

It is the part of faith to realize this truth of the living God, “Our Father which art,^ — a Father not far off, but close about us always. We never can get away from his presence. He is a very present help in time of trouble. The Scriptures seem to labor to make this truth plain to us. Underneath us are the everlasting arms — again the present tense gives added preciousness to the teaching. The words are spoken directly to every one who reads or hears them. [ 33 ]

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We are told that the Lord holds us by the right hand, and we hear his voice sajring, “Fear not; for I am with thee.*” With all the glory of his fatherhood he is personally with every one of his children all the days. Our hope and confidence are in Gkxls ever-neamess. No human friend is so close.

“JFbr God is never so far off
As even to be near.
He is within. Our spirit is
The home he holds most dear.

“To think of him as by our side
Is almost as untrue
As to remove his shrine hejfond
Those skies of starry blue.

“So all the while I thought myself
Homeless y forlorn, and weary.
Missing my joy, I walked the earthy
Myself Gods sanctuary**

It is our Father in heaven to whom we pray.

Thus our thoughts are lifted up above this

“MlWci) art in leatien”

earth. The Heidelberg Catechism, in answer to the question why the words “in heaven are added, says, “In order that there may not be anything earthly in our conception of the heavenly majesty of God.*” While the blessed name assures us of all tenderness, affection, and accessibleness, the place of Gods abode suggests to us his glory, greatness, and hoUness. He is not like one of us. We bear his image, but he is infinitely above us. All the visions and representations of God in the Scriptures show him to us as dwelling in light to which no man can approach. Thus we are assured, also, of the power of God. He is our Father — infinite in love, but infinite also in strength, omnipotent. We are safe in his hands. No power can harm us if we are sheltered in his strong keeping.

This revelation of the fatherhood of God

suggests to us what an exalted privilege prayer

is. It is free and open access into the presence

of the God of heaven. In our continual ap-Clje (3oinm (15ate of ptapet

proax;hes to God we axe in danger of forgetting the stupendous meaning of the act. Moses was bidden to take off his shoes before the burning bush because the ground whereon he stood was holy. Isaiah was awed into deepest reverence as he beheld the vision of God in the temple. Yet these are only glimpses of divine manifestations. Every time we speak God’s name in prayer we are in the very presence of a glory greater and more real than that of any theophany which human eye ever saw. It becomes us, therefore, to be reverent, to be sincere, to be true-hearted, when we pray. We may come boldly and with confidence, for it is to our Father we are drawing nigh; but we should come remembering that he is our Father in heaven, the glorious One before whom highest angels veil their faces while they sing. We need to think deeply of this. We are so assured of our welcome to God’s throne and of his love, mercy, and grace, that we are much in danger of forgetting the glory of the pres- [36] ‘W)i SLtt in ^ttcumence into which we come. If for a moment, while we are praying, the veil were withdrawn and we had a glimpse of the stupendous scene, could we ever again pray heedlessly, irreverently?

On the other hand, this revelation of the fatherhood of God assiu*es us of the infinite love that continually surrounds us. There is nothing in the divine majesty and glory that should ever make us afraid if we are truly trusting in Christ and faithfully following him. To some persons the thought of God’s presence brings terror. Children are sometimes told that God sees them, as if this should make them afraid. God always sees us — we cannot hide from him for a moment. This should lead us to live ever to please him. Yet it is in love that he watches us. “Thou God seest me’’ meant mercy and deliverance to Hagar and her child. No truth should bring greater comfort and joy to the Christian than this thought of God’s ever-neamess. It means all of a child’s privilege in a [87]

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father’s house — safety, care, help, satisfying communion, ail of love’s blessedness. A story of some little children alone during a thunderstorm relates that each gave a favorite Scripture verse. One of them chose “The Lord of glory thundereth,’’ and when she was asked why she gave these words she said:” Once I heard a great noise when I thought I was all alone in the house, and I was so sorely frightened that I screamed with terror. My father was near and he called, * Don’t be afraid, Margie; it ’s only father.’ Now when it thunders and I begin to be afraid, God seems to say to me, * Don’t be frightened, Margie; it’s only Father,’ and all my fear vanishes.” Fatherhood assures us of wise and loving discipline. “What son is he whom the Father chasteneth not?” This is true of earthly fathers. Children who are not brought up under restraints, who are not taught nor disciplined, are brought up for sorrow and failure in life. Our heavenly Father does not permit his chil- [38] “923 Wd) 3tt in ^eatien’*

dren to grow up without correction and chastening. He does not give them their own way when their own way would work only their hurt, perhaps their ruin. Sometimes children of God complain at what seem hard things in their experience. They ask, “Can it be that God loves me and yet lets me endure these losses, disappointments, and trials P Really it is just because he loves them that he deals thus with them — he would save them, train them for spiritual life, teach them higher lessons.

‘’The ills me see, The masteries of sorrow, deep and long. The dark enigmas of permitted wrong,

Have all one ketf: This strange sad world is but our Fathers school, All chance and change his love shall grandly overrule.

‘’How sweet to know
The trials which we cannot comprehend
Have each their own divinely purposed end:
He traineth so
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For higher leamingy ever onward reaching

F&r fuller knowledge yet, and his own deeper teaching,

“What though to-day Thou canst not trace at all the hidden reason For his strange dealings through the trial season,

Trust and obey. In after life and light all shall be plain and clear.”

This revealing suggests also the true glory of the Christian life. We make too little of this — we fail to recognize the dignity of our calling as God’s children. “Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God: and such we are.*” There is a picture which shows a man dying in a wretched garret on a bed of straw, amid lowliest surroundings. That is the earth side, what human eyes saw. But a closer inspection reveals a vision of angels waiting to receive the dying man’s spirit into heavenly glory. That is the heaven side of the same picture. That is truly what takes place whenever a Christian [40] “mWcb art in leatien**

dies. “Absent from the body,” in a moment more he is “at home with the Lord.*” We should think more of our privileges as Grod’^s children in this world, and should walk worthy of our high and holy calling.

The fatherhood of Grod also implies the brotherhood of all who are Grods children. All are members of one family, who therefore should dwell together in love. It was said of a good man, “He treated every man as if he were a blood relation.*” That is true brotherhood. The strong should help the weak. Those who have plenty should share with those who lack. The joyous should sing their songs of gladness in the ears of the sad. The victorious should help those who are still struggling in life’s battles. The world to-day needs nothing more than the realization of the true spirit of brotherhood among men. All social problems would find easy solution if the love which Christ taught were to become indeed the law of life in all human relations. Society would be regenerated. [41]