Names of God - Abba
Knowing God • Sermon • Submitted
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Introduction:
Introduction:
I. The Meaning of Abba
I. The Meaning of Abba
This is probably one of the most personal names of God that we have studied thus far.
You cannot get anymore personal then referring to someone as Abba.
We see this idea in the Scriptures in the Hebrew noun “אָב” (ab).
We see this Hebrew word used for the first time:
Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?
This Hebrew word can carry many different means and under this point I want to discuss the meaning of this Hebrew word.
The Hebrew form “אָב” is used 1191 times and nine other times is Aramaic.
Most of the instances in the Hebrew, this word refers to a literal Father.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
But the Hebrew word אָב may designate any man who occupies a position or receives recognition similar to that of a father.
For example, the father of servant to his master.
And Elisha saw it, and he cried, My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen thereof. And he saw him no more: and he took hold of his own clothes, and rent them in two pieces.
It may refer to the father of the poor; as in someones protector.
I was a father to the poor: and the cause which I knew not I searched out.
The word father is thus used as one that is in authority.
Job, even referred to the grave as his “father,” using it, of course, as a personification.
I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.
The word “corruption” is the word “שַׁ֫חַת” (sa-hat) and carries the meaning “the pit, trap, or grave.”
So, the Hebrew word “Abba” can mean a literal paternal father or it may refer to someone who is in charge of someones affairs.
But probably one of the most precious times that we see this word is in its usage in the NT.
This word appears three times in the NT.
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
The Aramaic word in these verses, that is borrowed from the NT writers is “ἀββά” and is in the vocative case.
The vocative case is by far the rarest case in the NT, showing only 609 nouns in the vocative case.
Now, the vocative case is the case of direct address.
What that tells us is that we are told three times in the NT that we directly address God the Father as “Abba.”
The beauty of this Aramaic word reveals for us the relationship between the Father and the Son.
When Jesus used that word “ἀββά,” He was literally saying the Aramaic “Daddy or Papa.”
And the beauty comes into our relationship with the Father because, as the verses above tells us, we also refer to God has our “ἀββά.”
We refer to Him as our Daddy, our Papa.
That is why I said at the beginning of the sermon that this is probably the most personal names of God that we will probably ever see and that is God as our Daddy.
Now, that is not a term that causes us to be too familiar with Him and thus disrespect, but it is a term that shows the endearment that the Father has for us.
So, as we see the name for God, Abba, can mean “father;” however, the Aramaic can and does mean “Daddy or Papa.”
The name of God, Abba, means, “Daddy.”
II. The Manifestation of Abba
II. The Manifestation of Abba
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
Whenever I read Scripture and see the grander of the love of God as a Father, my mine always goes back to the book of Hosea.
In the book of Hosea, it begins with a shocker for most believers.
The beginning of the word of the LORD by Hosea. And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms and children of whoredoms: for the land hath committed great whoredom, departing from the LORD.
God, the Father, wanted Hosea to married a woman who played the harlot, so that he would mirror the relationship that Israel had the God.
The text tells us that they immediately began to have children; however, with Gomer being the kind of woman that she was and the Lord trying to get this prophet to see what He wanted him to see, it is probably that these children were not Hosea’s children.
With each of the Children that were born, God had Hosea name the Children to give some kind of information of God’s judgment of Israel.
The first child was names “Jezreel” which means, “God will scatter, “and is given as a prediction of judgment.
The second child’s name was Lo-ruhamah which literally means “not pitied.”
This daughter is named to symbolize that God will bring judgment on Israel, no longer extending His favor towards them.
The third child’s name was Lo-Ammi and name that means, “not my people.”
This symbolizes God’s breaking of the covenant with Israel.
Yet God, because of His grace, makes the following promise.
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
Even in the midst of the sins of Israel, God shows Himself to be a Father to the nation.
Read verses in Hosea.
With all the sinfulness that was true of Israel, God stilled loved and persuaded them.
God illustrated by the marriage of Hosea to Gomer that as Gomer was unfaithful to Hosea, Israel was unfaithful to her God.
But even in the midst of the unfaithfulness, God loved Israel and wanted to be their Father.
Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.
God manifest to the nation of Israel that He was their Abba by always loving them even in the midst of their spiritual adultery.
Read Hosea 14:4-8.
God was the Abba of Israel and event hough they were involved in gross sin, they have this promise.
And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:
III. The Material of Abba
III. The Material of Abba
For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
As we draw on all these truths and what all these truths mean to us as NT believers, we encounter what the Apostle Paul said to the Church at Rome concerning the relationship that we have to God because of our adoption.
I just want to remind you what adoption means.
Adoption is when a husband and wife decide to take a boy or girl who is not their physical offspring into their family as their own child.
When that action is taken by the proper legal means, the adopted child attains all the rights and privileges of a member of the family.
The first adoption in the Scriptures was when the daughter of Pharaoh adopted Moses out of pity and sympathy.
Even though he loved her, Modecai adopted Esther when her parents died out of family duty.
Romans: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary We Are Given Access to God by the Spirit
Perhaps the most touching adoption mentioned in the Old Testament was that of Mephibosheth, the crippled son of Jonathan and the sole remaining descendent of Saul. When King David learned about Mephibosheth, he gave him all the land that had belonged to his grandfather Saul and honored this son of his dearest friend, Jonathan, by having him dine regularly at the king’s table in the palace at Jerusalem (see 2 Sam. 9:1–13)
David’s adoption of Mephibosheth was motivated purely by gracious love and in many ways pictures God’s adoption of believers.
Romans: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary We Are Given Access to God by the Spirit
David took the initiative in seeking out Mephibosheth and bringing him to the palace. And although Mephibosheth was the son of David’s closest friend, he was also the grandson and sole heir of Saul, who had sought repeatedly to kill David. Being crippled in both feet, Mephibosheth was helpless to render David any significant service; he could only accept his sovereign’s bounty. The very name Mephibosheth means “a shameful thing,” and he had lived for a number of years in Lo-debar, which means “the barren land” (lit., “no pasture”). David brought this outcast to dine at his table as his own son and graciously granted him a magnificent inheritance to which he was no longer legally entitled.
This is a beautiful picture of the spiritual adoption that God graciously and lovingly seeks out unworthy men and women on His own initiative and makes them His children, soly on the basis of their trust in His son, Jesus Christ.
And because of their adoption, believers will share the full inheritance of the Son.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Romans: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary We Are Given Access to God by the Spirit
For some people today, the concept of adoption carries the idea of second-class status in the family. In the Roman culture of Paul’s day, however, an adopted child, especially an adopted son, sometimes had greater prestige and privilege than the natural children. According to Roman law, a father’s rule over his children was absolute. If he was disappointed in his natural sons’ skill, character, or any other attribute, he would search diligently for a boy available for adoption who demonstrated the qualities he desired. If the boy proved himself worthy the father would take the necessary legal steps for adoption. At the death of the father, a favored adopted son would sometimes inherit the father’s title, the major part of the estate, and would be the primary progenitor of the family name.
And because we are adopted will all the rights of the Son, we can refer to God the Father as our “Abba.”
The word depicts intimacy, tenderness, dependence, and complete lack of fear or anxiety.
Again, modern English equivalents would be Daddy or Papa.
When we are born again, all of our old sinful ways, and enmity with God is gone and we can refer to Him as our Daddy.
Just think; the creator, the Jehovah, the all powerful, self existent, self-sufficient, eternal, providing, healing, resting, all seeing, ever present God adopted me and invites me to call Him Daddy.
That is how intimate that the God of the universe wants to be with us, His children.
He is our Daddy, our Father, our God.
What a marvelous thought.