Sinclair Ferguson, to address the theme Hallowed By Your Name: The Holiness of the Father, had us turn to the high priestly prayer of John 17. In verse 11 of that prayer, we have the only instance in which Jesus refers to His Father as "Holy Father." It is the only time we see this phrase (what scholars call a "hapex legamanon"). What should we make of it? "O Holy Father" is indeed a most rare expression used for addressing God.
Chapter 12 of John's gospel is sometimes considered the beginning of the "second half" of John's gospel. Jesus performs signs of wonder in the first half of the book, but the latter half appears devoted to Jesus enfolding His disciples into the ineffable mysteries of God the Holy Trinity. [Here is evidence that the Trinity is in no way a "speculative" and "unpractical" doctrine.] Jesus brings His disciples into a deeper understanding of God the Father (who sent Him) and God the Holy Spirit (who will be with them after their departure). If you want to know Jesus Christ, then you must have at least a working knowledge of what Jesus unpacks in this discourse.
After His resurrection, he tells one, "Go and tell my brothers, that I am ascending to my Father and their Father." We see Jesus gathering His brothers and sisters into the Family.
What does it mean for the Lord of glory to come to the Father and say "Holy Father"?
There are two dimensions running through John's gospel. On the one hand, we see the Eternal Son of God addressing the Father as Holy Father. What does it mean that from all eternity there has been this response of the Eternal Son to the Eternal Father such that He addresses Him as "Holy Father." For something to be an attribute of God it must have been, in action, expressed among the three persons of the Trinity. [God expresses wrath, but strictly speaking it is not an attribute of God, because in the blessed Trinity there is no manifestation of it. Rather, wrath is a temporary manifestation of God's holiness in response to sin.]
The meaning of holiness becomes separation to the creation and to the sinner, but within the Trinity holiness means purity, but not separation. Holiness is the intensity of expression of God the Father with reference to God the Son, such that the Son cries to the Father "Holy Father." We see in Isaiah 6 that the prophet feels "undone." We are not fit to say "Holy Father." Look at the seraphim -- they have never sinned, but they have to cover their faces because they dare not look directly upon the Holiness of the heavenly Father. They rightly fear disintegration.
And we are told in John 1 that "in the beginning, the Word was 'face-to-face' with God the Father, and able to bear it." The Son gazes into the eyes (as it were) of His heavenly Father and is able to experience the intensity of the Father's love for Him (as a wife and husband share an exclusive intensity of love for one another).
Have you ever been in the presence of someone whose love for you was so intense that you felt you had to get away? The intensity we're talking about here might be not unlike what a young man and woman feel for one another when they prefer nothing more than to talk and to gaze at one another, connecting and relating. John 5:19-20: Jesus speaks of His relationship with God the Father, and he says, "The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees his father doing." And then in John 10:17: "for this reason the Father loves me, that I lay down my life in order to take it up again."
Jesus grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with His heavenly father. As the challenges mounted and his obedience became increasingly great, His heavenly father was increasingly pleased. Even when he was dying on the cross, His father was quietly singing, "My Jesus I love thee, I know thou art mine....if ever I loved thee, my Jesus tis now."
And we have been brought into this Father. We will be there when he presents us to the Father and says, "Here I am, and the children you have given me."
1. The church which Jesus purchased with His own blood is the holy Family. The New Testament shows a church family that people were afraid to join (so different they were), yet they poured in. The Spirit was mightily with the holy Family.
2. Jesus wants us to know how much he loves us. He died that we might be with Him forever -- so intense was His love for us.
3. God the Father will stop at nothing to save His ransomed church from sin.
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