What's Your Identity?

September 3, 2023

Pastor Travis Deatherage presented this morning's message, "What's Your Identity?" A video of the message is here.

Before we get started, let me provide links to more information about two references Travis made in his message. One is a book titled Abba's Child. The other is "Alpha Course."

Av (אָב) is the Biblical Hebrew for father. Abba is more Aramaic, but the two are very much related. The two letters for the 'b' and 'v' sounds are the same, bet, but are pronouced differently based on the presence or absence of a small dot in the middle. Note that the last letter (the leftmost letter) in the Hebrew (shown earlier) does not have the dot inside, so it's pronounced 'v'. Certain Jewish prayers refer to Our Father as Avinu (av = father, inu = our, אָבִינוּ). Note the beginning two letters (on the right). This latter prayer phrase, Our Father, is not in the Old Testament, rather it was recorded in the Talmud sometime before 135 A.D.

Most usage of av in the Old Testament, Torah included, regard the familiar father, the human father, or forefathers, or father's household, etc. These also include phrases such as "God of your father" and "God of my father."

It's interesting to note that the names Abram and Abraham, the latter referring to "exalted father" or "father of multitudes" start with the same av.

But, there are some Torah references that at least make a suggestion of God as Father:

Exodus 4:22-23a: "Then say to Pharaoh, 'This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, "Let my son go, so he may worship me.'"

Deuteronomy 8:5 - "Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you."

"You are the sons of the Lord your God... For you are a people holy to the Lord your God, and the Lord has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth (Deuteronomy 14:1–2).

Deuteronomy (1:31): "There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place."

Deuteronomy 14:1, while Moses is delivering the law to the nation of Israel, he declares, "You are the children of the Lord your God."

Here are a couple of other Old Testament references to God as Father:

"As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him" (Ps. 103:13).

"You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from old is your name" (Isa. 63:16–17).

"O Lord, you are our Father; we are the clay and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Be not so terribly angry, O Lord, and remember not iniquity forever" (Isa. 64:8–9).

"In these [last two] verses, God is addressed as Father, not because he is Israel's Creator, but because he is its Redeemer, which reveals the nature of the special relationship that God has with his chosen people." Gerald Bray.

One last thought... It is often noted that the 5th Commandment to honor your father and mother are precursors to honoring your Heavenly Father.

Bonus

Route 60: The Biblical Highway (movie)

Route 60 runs north-south in Israel from Nazareth to Beersheba. Here's a quote from ChristianPost.com, 'Known as the "Road of the Patriarchs," the path is significant for both Jews and Christians — and will be shown like never before in an upcoming documentary featuring former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.'

It's in theaters two days, September 18 and 19. That's it.

The movie's website is here.

Closest to us here in Colorado Springs, CO near Northgate Blvd, the movie will be playing at Regal Interquest & RPX theater (1120 Interquest Parkway) and at AMC Chapel Hills 13 (in the Mall), both on September 18 and 19 at 4pm and 7pm both days.

Update 9/19/2023: Lynn and I saw the movie last night. Here are some comments we made to each other, in no particular order:

• There were locations and topics about which we could have added to the script.
• There were also some things totally new to us.
• Made me want to move on to a study of the Book of Joshua.
• Jesus' tomb looked way too gawdy.
• This may have actually reduced our interest in traveling to Israel; the country side wasn't that appealing.
• Schechem was intriguing (about which we knew virtually nothing).
• The script was a little too self-aggrandizing.
• The various signage in Hebrew was fun to try to read.
• We were surprised by how small some towns were (e.g. Bethlehem, about 28,500 pop.).
• There were interesting graphics punctuating all the segments, but I would have rather seen more of the actual sites/sights there. Likewise, they could have had less facetime on the hosts and more capturing of what's there.