God The Father (An Eternal Self-Existent, Personal Being)

1 John 1:5 (KJV) 5 "This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

 

Introduction

The Eternal Father is the highest ranking Person in the Godhead. He is a loving and personal Being who is omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, immutable, infinite in love and wisdom, created through Christ, is all good, and commands our worship.

 

A Bible Study On The Eternal, Self-Existent, Father

This is the most recent study that appears in the booklets used in the seminars given at Michigan Camp Meeting in 2022. It reflects more recent research.

 

A Bible Study On The Father

This was the first iteration of the Bible study that acquaints you with what the Bible teaches about our Heavenly Father. The second one is much better.

 

A Sermon On The Father

Fatherhood Of God

This is an excellent sermon on the importance of the Father. Nothing that the Father has been relegated to a lessor role in many churches, the author makes a strong case that the Father is terribly misunderstood and needs our correct representation in our day.

 

Learn More About God The Father

God The Father Is The Eternal Self-Existent One

Psalms 93:2 (NKJV) 2 "Your throne is established from of old; You are from everlasting."

"Again and again during my experience in the Lord’s work, I have been called upon to meet these erroneous sentiments. In every case, clear, powerful light has been given that God is the eternal, self-existent One. From my girlhood I have been given plain instruction that God is a person, and that Christ is “the express image of His person.” [Hebrews 1:3.] God always has been. That which concerns us is not the how or the wherefore. {Ms137-1903.3} In the Word God is spoken of as the everlasting God. This name embraces past, present, and future. God is from everlasting to everlasting. He is the Eternal One. “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms;” {Ms137-1903.4}

 

God The Father Is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Immutable

"God is omnipotent, omniscient, immutable. He always pursues a straightforward course. His law is truth—unchanging, eternal truth. His precepts are consistent with His attributes." {Ms1-1902.22}

 

God The Father Is A Personal Being

Hebrews 1:2-3 (KJV) 2 "Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;"

"God is a spirit; yet He is a personal being, for man was made in His image. As a personal being, God has revealed Himself in His Son. Jesus, the outshining of the Father’s glory, “and the express image of His person” (Hebrews 1:3),  ...."  {Ed 131.5}

"The Lord Jesus came to this world to represent the Father. He did not represent God as an essence pervading nature, but as a personal Being. Christians should bear in mind that God has a personality as verily as has Christ." {Lt212-1903.23}

 

God The Father Is All Loving

John 3:16 (KJV) 16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

1 John 4:8 (NKJV) 8 "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love."

"The atonement of Christ was not made in order to induce God to love those whom he otherwise hated; it was not made to produce a love that was not in existence; but it was made as a manifestation of the love that was already in God’s heart, an exponent of the divine favor in the sight of heavenly intelligences, in the sight of worlds unfallen, and in the sight of a fallen race. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” We are not to entertain the idea that God loves us because Christ has died for us, but that he so loved us that he gave his only-begotten Son to die for us. The death of Christ was expedient in order that mercy might reach us with its full pardoning power, and at the same time that justice might be satisfied in the righteous substitute." {ST May 30, 1895, par. 6}

"All the paternal love which has come down from generation to generation through the channel of human hearts, all the springs of tenderness which have opened in the souls of men, are but as a tiny rill to the boundless ocean, when compared with the infinite, exhaustless love of God. Tongue can not utter it; pen can not portray it. You may meditate upon it every day of your life; you may search the Scriptures diligently in order to understand it; you may summon every power and capability that God has given you, in the endeavor to comprehend the love and compassion of the heavenly Father; and yet there is an infinity beyond. You may study that love for ages; yet you can never fully comprehend the length and breadth, the depth and height, of the love of God in giving His Son to die for the world. Eternity itself can never fully reveal it." { ST April 12, 1910, par. 9 }

(Find Scriptures, quotations and poetry on the love of God through this link.)

 

God The Father Cannot Be Fully Understood

"We can never by searching find out God. He does not lay open his plans to prying, inquisitive minds. We must not attempt to lift with presumptuous hand the curtain behind which he veils his majesty. The apostle exclaims, “How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out.” It is a proof of his mercy that there is the hiding of his power, that he is enshrouded in the awful clouds of mystery and obscurity; for to lift the curtain that conceals the Divine Presence is death. No mortal mind can penetrate the secrecy in which the Mighty One dwells and works. We can comprehend no more of his dealings with us and the motives that actuate him than he sees fit to reveal. He orders everything in righteousness, and we are not to be dissatisfied and distrustful, but to bow in reverent submission. He will reveal to us as much of his purposes as it is for our good to know; and beyond that we must trust the hand that is omnipotent, the heart that is full of love." {RH April 7, 1885, par. 12}

 

Godhead Links on discipleheart

The pages on the Father, Christ and the Holy Spirit have pages connected to them that are exceedingly valuable to explore.

 Godhead Home Page

Four-Part Godhead Bible Studies

God the Eternal Father

Christ, The Self-Existent, Eternal Divine Saviour

The Holy Spirit: Third Person Of The Godhead

Three Persons Of The Godhead Working/Mentioned Together

Books and Sermons On The Godhead

Quotes On The Trinity In The Writings of Ellen White