While the names God and Jehovah are fully revealed in the Old Testament, the name Father is not fully revealed. It is only slightly mentioned in such places as Isaiah 9:6; 63:16; and 64:8. What is the revelation behind the name Father? Father is the name for the relationship of life. When I say, “my Father,” I mean that I have His life and that I was born of Him. The Old Testament does not unfold the revelation that God is a begetting Father who will regenerate countless persons. It is in the New Testament that the Lord reveals God as the Father who regenerates many sons. He is the source of life; hence, He is the Father. It is His intention to bring forth innumerable sons by regenerating them with His life. God is the Father because He begets many people with His life, making them His children and His sons. In the book of Matthew the Lord taught His disciples to call God Father, saying, “Our Father who is in the heavens” (Matt. 6:9). When we call God our Father, we must realize that He is our genuine Father. He is not our father-in-law, and we are not His adopted children. Our Father is our Father in life, our genuine Father. We call Him Father because we were born of Him and have His life.
How sweet it is to call God our Father! Both Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6 speak of crying, “Abba, Father.” Throughout the world, little children use a double title, such as Papa, or Mama, when addressing their parents. To say Pa or Ma is not very intimate. But Papa or Mama is intimate. Among every race the children call their fathers Papa, Baba, or something similar. If I were not born of my father, yet I had to call him Papa, it would be very awkward. It would even be awkward to address your father-in-law in this way. It would not be so sweet.
One day a newly-saved person came to Brother Nee and asked him why Romans 8:15 and 16 say that crying, “Abba, Father,” is a witness that we are the children of God. Brother Nee immediately asked this young brother if he was married. When he replied that he was, Brother Nee said, “When you first visited your wife’s parents after you were married, what did you call your father-in-law?” The young brother answered, “In a very reluctant way I called him Papa.” Then Brother Nee inquired, “When you are calling your own father, do you address him in such a reluctant way?” The brother said, “Certainly not. When I call upon my father, it is so sweet.” When Brother Nee asked him why he called his wife’s father Papa reluctantly, he said, “Because he is not my father.” Then Brother Nee said, “That’s right. He’s not your father. So it’s really difficult to call him Papa. God is not your father-in-law; He is your Father, your Father in life.” Because God is our Father in life, it is so sweet to call upon Him, saying, “Abba, Father.” When you sense this sweetness, you know that you are His child and that He truly is your Father in life.
Christ came as the Son of God in the Father’s name (5:43) and worked in the Father’s name (10:25). “In the Father’s name” means in the reality of the Father. As the Son is one with the Father (10:30), so He came and worked in the Father’s name, that is, in the Father’s reality.
As the Son is one with the Father, so, when He was with the believers, He manifested the Father to them in what the Father is. When they saw Him, they saw the Father (14:9). The Father is expressed in Him.
In 17:26 the Lord said, “And I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known.” In what way did the Son make the Father’s name known to the believers? It was not by teaching but by imparting life into the disciples. The best way to make a father known to a little boy is to impart that father’s life into the boy. It is much more difficult for an adopted son to know his father than it is for a son who is actually born with a certain man’s life. We have the Father’s life. Because we are the same in life and nature as the Father is, it is easy for us to know Him. As the Son of the Father, the Lord Jesus came to impart life into us. Since the Father’s life has been imparted into us, spontaneously the Father is made known to us by life, not by teaching. In life we know the Father.