Our Beloved Heavenly Father

By Dr. Brian J. Bailey

Our Beloved Heavenly Father is a book written by a spiritual father with a burden to know more deeply the ways of the Father and to make them known to the Church. Who is our Heavenly Father? What is He like? In this book, Dr. Brian Bailey shows us from Scripture that God loves being a Father and that He desires to reveal Himself to His sons and daughters. Knowing and understanding the Heavenly Father will transform us individually and corporately, resulting in a greater love for the One who first loved us.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zion Christian Publishers
• Release date: Aug 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781596656734

Book preview

God.

PREFACE

This book was birthed through the graciousness of our Heavenly Father in response to a request that I had made of His Blessed Son. Being now well into my eighties, I realize that I must soon be thinking of going to my eternal heavenly home. In the past, I have had a vision of the blessed Holy Spirit and several of the Lord Jesus, our Saviour, but not of our Heavenly Father.

My desire was that the Heavenly Father would show me those areas in my life that needed correction, so that on that resurrection morning when I would be presented before Him, He would not be disappointed in me. I therefore humbly and prayerfully made that request to the Lord Jesus.

I had been reading my book on preparation for revival, and the first chapter had so apprehended me. It concerned Habakkuk, who sat before the Lord to see of that which the Lord would reprove him: I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the LORD answered me, and said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry. Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith (Hab. 2:1-4).

Thus I set myself to wait upon the Lord that He would be gracious to me by correcting my many deficiencies, some of which I knew, and even those that I was unaware of. My prayer request was answered in an awesome manner through a vision.  As I was seated in my armchair, I saw a cylinder of light through which I could perceive the throne of God.  The One seated upon that throne stepped off and looked at me.  He did not rebuke me as I had expected, but made me to know a list of His qualities that He wanted to develop in my life.

The visitation was not just a one-time experience, but lasted over a period of time. Each visitation consisted in a fresh revelation of the Father. To begin with, the Heavenly Father made it clear to me that He was essentially a Father, and that therefore, all that we understand of fatherhood originates with Him.  He also expressed His desire for us to know Him as our Father.

This was followed with the revelation that He loves all His children.  He went on to say that He had to have harmony in His kingdom, and harmony is obtained in His kingdom through each of His loved ones being satisfied.

These qualities that were revealed to me I have presented in the form of this book.  I pray this will indeed be a blessing to you gentle reader, and above all, glorify our beloved Heavenly Father.

INTRODUCTION

This book, together with The Comforter (the Holy Spirit) and The Life of Christ, form a trilogy devoted to the Holy Trinity, the blessed Three in One—God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They are distinct individuals: the Father having the pre-eminence, followed by the Son, and then the blessed Holy Spirit. Their functions, if we may so say from 1 Corinthians 12, are that the Father decides the operation, the Son administers the project, and the Holy Spirit equips for service those who will accomplish the plan. Thus is the will of the Father fulfilled.

The Apostle Paul sometimes uses this little phrase, It pleased the Father. This summates the creation of the heavens and the earth, which were formed by Him, for Him and for His good pleasure (Rev. 4:10-11). It also defines all things great and small, such as the fact that in Christ resided all wisdom, understanding and knowledge (Col. 2:3). Paul’s apostleship was likewise accorded by the will of the Father. We might say that all details of life in heaven and on earth are known and directed by the Father, even from the numbering of the hairs of our head to a sparrow falling to the ground (Lk. 12:6-7).

To know the Lord Jesus Christ is to know the Father. As He said to Philip in John 14:9, …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, Shew us the Father? The Apostle Paul writes of Jesus in Hebrews 1:3 as being the very image of the Father.

However, the difference lies in the words of Jesus who said, My Father is greater than I (Jn. 14:28). Also, in John 5:19, Jesus said, …The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

Thus, although Jesus is the very embodiment of the Father, it is because it pleased the Father that in Him should all the Godhead dwell bodily. All (including the Son and the Holy Spirit) serve at the pleasure of the Father. It is to Him that all worship, praise and adoration belong because He is the Source of all things. But again, since the Son reveals the Father, unto the Son also shall all knees bend.

The Heavenly Father is from everlasting to everlasting, having no beginning or end of life and is the source of all life. The beauty of the universe is but a small expression of His loveliness. All things in heaven and earth reflect His infinite wisdom. Yet through His creation, He has chosen to reveal Himself and His ways to those who seek to know Him. We truly have a great and mighty God and there is no fathoming of His understanding.

The desire of every father for his children is have an intimate relationship with them, and this, too, is our Heavenly Father’s desire for us. That they might know Me was His repeated cry through the lips of His prophets (Isa. 45:6, Jer. 24:7, Ezek. 20:12). That we come to know our Father should thus be the heart cry of every one of His blood-bought children.

It is also our Heavenly Father’s desire to bring many sons to glory, and in His own image, that they may, in turn, be spiritual fathers, begetting likewise spiritual sons and daughters. In order for this to be so, we need to become those who have a deep intimacy with the Heavenly Father and pattern our lives after Him.

I hope that this book will reveal something of the great heart of our Heavenly Father and so help us to have a more intimate relationship with Him, knowing and loving Him more and more.

CHAPTER ONE

The Father’s Likeness

Although no man has seen God the Father at any time (save those to whom the Lord Jesus will reveal Him), nonetheless, much is written concerning His form and characteristics in the Scriptures. In the first place we are told that in Creation, He Himself said to His beloved Son, Let us make man in Our likeness and Our image (Gen. 1:26). Therefore, the characteristics of man are the characteristics of God, for man is made in His image. These we will now examine from Scripture.

In the Book of Daniel, God the Father is called the Ancient of Days. Daniel 7:9 gives a description: His garment was white as snow, and the hair of His head like the pure wool... Therefore, God has a head.

In Revelation 5:1, the Apostle John distinctly states of the Lord, And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. Here, we see that the Lord held a book in His right hand, thus signifying that He has a left hand as well.

Another scripture that exemplifies this attribute of God is found in 2 Kings 17:36, which says, But the LORD, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and a stretched out arm, him shall ye fear, and him shall ye worship, and to him shall ye do sacrifice.

In Psalm 99:5, the psalmist speaks of His footstool, signifying that the Father has feet: Exalt ye the LORD our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.

That God has a mind is proven by the words of King David when he says, How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them! (Ps. 139:17). Also God Himself speaks of His thoughts when He says through the lips of the prophet, For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD (Isa 55:8).

God has eyes, as we are told that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect toward Him (2 Chr. 16:9). As the Lord said through the psalmist in Psalm 32:8, I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.

The Scripture also gives us absolute certainty that God has ears because He hears. For example, the psalmist says in Psalm 3:4, I cried unto the LORD with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah, and also, in Psalm 31:22, For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto thee.

That God longs to hear our voice is seen in Song 2:14: "O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely."

God has a mouth and He speaks. Man’s first recorded hearing of the voice of God was in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:8, And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.

The purpose of this chapter is that we may appreciate that our Heavenly Father is not ethereal. Rather, we are created like Him in His perfect physical image.

CHAPTER TWO

He Is a Father

One of the foremost characteristics of a true father is a warm heart. You sense it as you approach him. The feeling is that he is glad to see you, and that you are fulfilling a need in his heart by being there. There are many characteristics of a father that quite naturally come from the Heavenly Father, as the nature of fatherhood is birthed by Him in those who become fathers.

An earthly father’s joy over the little one who has just been born is but a reflection of our Heavenly Father’s joy over each of His children. We are told by those who have had heavenly visions that the bells of heaven send out the joyous news when one is born again into the Kingdom, through receiving Christ as one’s personal Saviour. We see this from the statement of our blessed Lord, who said, …Likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance (Lk. 15:7).

He Nurtures

The Apostle Paul epitomises the Heavenly Father as a nurse when he writes in 1 Thessalonians 2:7, 11, saying, But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children…As ye know how we exhorted and comforted and charged every one of you, as a father doth his children.

Moses likewise spoke of his role to the children of Israel being as a nurse caring for an infant, typifying this aspect of the gentleness of our beloved Heavenly Father.  He said in Numbers 11:12, Have I conceived all this people? Have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?

The Lord Himself said to Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai, Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself (Ex. 19:4) Thus an eagle caring for her young, and carrying them upon her wings epitomizes our Father’s care for us.

Our Heavenly Father watches over us even in the womb. The Lord Jesus Christ, speaking prophetically of Himself, said this about His Heavenly Father, But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly (Ps. 22:9-10). This is further illustrated by Jeremiah 1:5, when He said to Jeremiah, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

It is comforting to know that we are never, but never alone. Even in our childhood, ministering angels are sent by the Father to care for us, as Jesus said, Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven (Mt. 18:10). Thus we may see