Our Father in Heaven is Always Near to Us

Advent Devotion on the Lord’s Prayer 

by Pastor Paul Wolff 

Jesus said, “Pray then like this, ‘Our father, who art in heaven …’” (Matthew 6:9)

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The angel Gabriel was in heaven and on earth at the same time showing us that heaven is not far away.

We know from the Holy Bible that God resides in heaven, and that is a place which seems far away from us because it is a place which we have absolutely no way to get to on our own. Yet, God is never far away from us. Just before Jesus ascended into heaven, He told His followers, “I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) This is not metaphorical (or “spiritual”), but it is real. Jesus is never far away even though He is in heaven. Jesus is with us always as He has promised. Those who say otherwise are calling Jesus a liar. We cannot get to Him in heaven, but He can easily get to us because He is with us always, even when He is in God’s heavenly kingdom. 

If you read Scripture carefully you can see that heaven really is not far from us here on earth, though we cannot access it ourselves. One of the earliest examples of God being near us is found in Genesis 9:16. This happens after the great flood when God gives the rainbow as a sign of His mercy and He promises not to punish us with another great flood, though our sins deserve it and much more. God says, “Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” It is interesting to note that the sign of the rainbow is for God to see and remember His covenant. The sign is not only for us. Though we should note that rainbows are only visible as bows to people standing on earth. I remember sitting in an airplane flying above the clouds during the middle of the day, and looking out the window and seeing on the clouds below the shadow of the plane surrounded by a complete circular prism of light. It wasn’t a half-circle like a bow, but a full circle. For God to see something shaped like a bow, He has to be here on earth with us, not above the clouds. This is a comfort because of the promise of the rainbow – that God will not destroy us because of our disobedience and sin, but will rescue us through Jesus. 

We also see that heaven is not far from us when the angel, Gabriel visited the priest, Zechariah in Luke 1:19. The angel told Zechariah, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.” Now, Gabriel was standing in the temple in Jerusalem talking with Zechariah, but he was also, at the same time, standing in the presence of God (though Zechariah could not see God as the angel did). This is yet another example that heaven is not somewhere far away, but is very near to us, as God, who is in heaven, is very near to us. Our problem is that, as sinners, we do not have access to God, or His heaven, except through those earthly Means of Grace which God gives us to bring us a taste of heaven here on earth. Those Means of Grace are God’s Word, and the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Through these earthly gifts, God gives us a little bit of heaven so that we may receive the forgiveness of our sins, and be strengthened in our faith, so that we may at last receive the complete fulfillment of God’s promises in Christ – the resurrection and sanctification of our bodies, and everlasting life in God’s paradise as His Holy children who have been redeemed by Christ Jesus, our crucified savior. 

God’s merciful promise of the rainbow also shows that He is near us always as He also promised.

Those who think heaven is somewhere far away do themselves a disservice by also thinking that Jesus is far away. The world very quickly starts to feel quite threatening and dangerous if we find that we are here alone and Jesus is far away. That is why Jesus reassured His followers at His ascension that He is with us always. (see Matthew 28:20 above) We should believe Jesus even (and especially) when it seems like we are all alone and in danger from worldly and spiritual temptations and dangers. 

We all can understand why Jesus seems so far away from us. We are physical creatures, and we cannot sense God’s heavenly kingdom with our physical senses, so we can feel vulnerable and alone when temptations and dangers are near. It is in those times when we rely on faith in Jesus to give comfort and assurance. Everything in the world may tell us that the situation is hopeless, and that the “great” powers of the world are too powerful to be overcome, yet, when we trust God’s Word, we can be assured that God is in control, and “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to (Jesus)”. (Matthew 28:18) We also have the assurance that, on account of Christ, God will protect us and give us good things so that nothing can steal away our salvation. (See Romans 8:31-39) God indeed is Sovereign and powerful, but He doesn’t use His power to force us to serve Him. God gave us His Son, Jesus, to win our salvation through His life and death, and then God gives us His Word to tell us all He has done to save us so that we might believe. Through this faith (i.e. believing God’s Word) and Holy Baptism, God adopts us as His beloved, redeemed, children. 

Since God now considers us as His children, He will not abandon us to sin, nor to our enemies in this world, nor to our enemies in the spiritual world. We cannot fully access the heavenly realm as sinners in a sinful world, but we don’t have to. We have God’s Word and His assurance that He is near and that He is in control – despite all evidence that we are alone and in danger. Christians need to believe God’s Word and trust in Him to protect us when in danger, and to rescue us from all sin and death as necessary. God keeps His promises and is unfailingly trustworthy.

The Sovereignty of God

by Pastor Paul Wolff

The Crown of Life from Zion Lutheran Church, Columbus, Ohio

The Sovereignty of God is the Biblical teaching that God rules as King and there is no one above Him that He must answer to. This is one of the key attributes of God as the Holy Scriptures clearly show in many passages. One example of this is Deuteronomy 10:17 which says, “For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.” However, though God is Sovereign, that is NOT His primary attribute. God’s primary attribute is His mercy, for which all Christians are eternally grateful.

The teachings of Calvinism hold that God is sovereign above all else, and His sovereignty never gives way to any of His other attributes. This leads Calvinists into false teachings such as double predestination, which wrongly says that God predestines some people to salvation and others to damnation. They rationalize that if God is sovereign above all else, then He determines all things that happen, both good and bad. As a result of this false teaching, Calvinists end up with a god who is essentially evil, because he is responsible for evil. This is one reason why many Calvinists end up as atheists. This teaching of Calvinism overlooks one glaringly obvious teaching of Scripture, and is refuted on nearly every page of the Bible, which I will do below.

Opposite to many of the teachings of Calvinism are the teachings of Arminianism, which holds that man has free will. In practice this means that they essentially believe man is sovereign. This is so obviously false that it would be laughable if it didn’t lead so many people to their destruction. If sinful man has free will then he can do as he wills, and therefore has this power over God. This is so easy to prove wrong that I have already refuted this in the first paragraph above in the Deuteronomy passage where God rules over all other gods and lords (including the willful Christian). Arminianism leads people to atheism (or the worship of one’s self as god) even more quickly than Calvinism. (If you wonder how both Calvinism and its opposite can both be wrong see my article, “Heresies and Half-Truths”).

Although God’s sovereignty is one of the main attributes ascribed to Him in Holy Scripture, it isn’t His primary attribute. This is to say that although God is sovereign, He doesn’t exert His sovereignty to the exclusion of all His other attributes. It is easy to show this, and I can do it with just one word: Jesus.

God humbled Himself to be born of the Virgin Mary

The life of Jesus shows us that God’s sovereignty is not His primary attribute. From the moment of His incarnation at His conception, Jesus humbled Himself to live as one of the people He created. This is so beautifully described by Saint Paul in Philippians 2:5-8, “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” Though Jesus was (and is) the sovereign God, He did not exert His sovereignty during His earthly ministry. If He had, He wouldn’t have been born in Bethlehem, and He certainly wouldn’t have been caught dead (so to speak) lying in a manger. And speaking of being caught dead, if Jesus had been sovereign above all else, He certainly wouldn’t have been caught dead (literally) nailed to a cross. But then He would have had to exert His sovereignty to condemn us all for our rebellion against Him, and there would be no forgiveness or salvation for anyone.

Jesus humbled Himself and did not succumb to the temptation to rule on earth as king. (See Luke 4:1-13)

Both in His life, and in His death, Jesus shows that His primary attribute is His mercy. Though Jesus is, and was, the almighty sovereign God, He set aside His mighty power and authority in order to win forgiveness and salvation for us poor helpless sinners. Jesus said, “my kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36) and He lived that out from His conception to His death. Jesus did this on account of His mercy, so that He could save us from our sin. Christ’s death on the cross is not a sign of His weakness, but of His humbleness and love for the people He created. (See my article: “The Humble God”)

Saint Paul describes Christ’s humility when he writes that “(Christ) is the image of the invisible God.” (Colossians 1:15) This means that because Jesus is God incarnate as a man, He does exactly what God the Father or the Holy Spirit would do because He is One God with the Father and the Spirit. So God is not ashamed to humble Himself because Jesus is not ashamed to humble Himself and show mercy. Jesus Himself taught, “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28) Not only is Jesus merciful, but He delights in being a servant for the sake of His beloved people in order to save us from the consequences of our sin.

What this means for Christians is that since the Son of God humbled Himself, we, too, ought to live humble lives. There is much admonition in the Scriptures for Christians to be humble. This is, in part, because we are God’s creation, and all people should humbly recognize God’s rule as our King and creator. But Christians especially ought to be humble in recognition of the humbleness of the almighty, sovereign God as we see how He acts through Jesus. God does not force anyone to believe in Him, so He does not exercise His sovereignty in that way also, but to all who believe in Him He rescues from sin and gives eternal life.

Jesus humbled Himself to save you from your sins (Window from Holy Cross Lutheran Church Detroit, Michigan)

If God always acted in a sovereign way then He would never let adulterers and other sexual sinners harass Christians as they now boldly do here in New Sodom (formerly, the United States of America). Don’t get me wrong, I do not mind so much being called a bigot and hateful, especially since I know it isn’t even close to being true, and I certainly do not equate that with persecution. Though I know that such rhetoric is only a small step away from full-blown hate and the kind of persecution that ends in murder. I am aware that although we are likely to head in that direction (and sooner rather than later), we aren’t quite there yet.

Likewise, if Christ always acted according to His sovereignty, he would not let His children be tortured by Muslim Jihadhists (for example) nor crucified, nor beheaded. Muslims take this as weakness on Christ’s part, but even there it is mercy. Jesus died for the sins of the most murderous Jihadhist, and will forgive any and all who repent of their sins and look to Him for Salvation.

Not only is Christ a God who does not ask His followers to become murderers to gain a spot in Paradise, but He Himself paid the price to redeem the worst murderer and idolater. Jesus offers salvation as a free gift to all who trust in Him as their savior from sin. Jesus uses His sovereign power to rescue us from death and to give us eternal life. He doesn’t use His power to prevent the temporal death which must come to all sinners. This is why Christian martyrs are willing to forgive their murderers. Christians know that not only did Jesus pay the price to redeem us from sin and death, but He also has the power to restore us to life everlasting without sin, and He has promised to give eternal life to all who believe in Him.