“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
Throughout the Gospels, Jesus spoke often of the Father—not simply as a distant deity or a lawgiver, but as a compassionate, generous, and intimately involved Father. While much of His moral teaching held up the impossible standard of the Law to reveal sin and humanity’s need for a Savior, His revelations of the Father’s character unveiled something deeper: God is not an angry, wrath-hungry deity. He is a loving, present Father who desires relationship, restoration, and provision for His children.
While functioning as a teacher of the Law to thoroughly teach it rightly and then fulfill it (Galatians 4:4, Romans 15:8), Jesus consistently portrayed a new perspective of God—one who would only be fully understood through grace as a Father. His descriptions of the Father offer us a foundation for confident faith and remind us that repentance is not groveling—it’s returning to grace.
The Law Reveals Sin—Jesus Reveals the Father
The law was never given as a path to righteousness. Rather, as Paul writes in Romans 3:20, “by the law is the knowledge of sin.” Jesus magnified this truth through teachings like the Sermon on the Mount, where He raised the moral bar beyond outward obedience to the impossible level of the heart: “You have heard that it was said… but I say to you…” (Matthew 5:21–48). Lust equaled adultery, anger equaled murder. This wasn't to crush the people—it was to awaken their need for a Savior.
But amid this crushing weight of law, Jesus frequently turned the people’s attention to the Father. And what kind of Father did He reveal?
A Father Who Values and Provides
Jesus often spoke of God’s attentiveness to our needs—not as a deity who must be appeased, but as a loving Father who is already inclined to help.
Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? 28 So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”
Jesus is making a startling claim: God, the Creator of all, is not aloof. He knows, sees, and provides. He calls Him “your heavenly Father.” Not “your taskmaster.” Not “your distant judge.” Your Father.
Matthew 6:32 “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.”
A Father Who Delights in Giving
Jesus contrasted the flawed love of human parents with the perfect generosity of the Father.
Matthew 7:9 “Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”
Luke records a parallel version where Jesus explicitly connects this generosity to the Holy Spirit:
Luke 11:13 “If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him!”
Jesus didn’t reveal a reluctant God. He revealed a God who says, “How much more.”
A Father Who Sees and Rewards in Secret
Jesus encouraged private intimacy with the Father, not public religious performance.
Matthew 6:
4 “That your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.”
6 “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
18 “So that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.”
God is not impressed by showy holiness. He’s after the heart. He sees the unseen and delights in intimate communion. Jesus constantly pointed to this kind of Father—a personal, relational, responsive one.
The Story That Changes Everything: The Prodigal Son
No teaching reveals the Father’s heart more than the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11–32). This is Jesus pulling back the veil on what God is really like.
The younger son dishonors the father, demands his inheritance, and squanders it all. Broken, ashamed, and starving, he rehearses a speech of repentance:
Luke 15:18 “I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.’”
But when the father sees him from a distance, he doesn’t wait to hear the speech.
Luke 15:20 “But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.’”
The father interrupts the groveling speech. He doesn’t even acknowledge the son’s suggestion of becoming a servant. Why? Because in the Father’s eyes, the son never stopped being a son.
That’s repentance as Jesus revealed it: not groveling, but returning. Not earning acceptance, but receiving restoration. The robe, the ring, and the feast weren’t rewards for a cleaned-up life—they were declarations of identity.
And when the older son grumbled about grace, the father gently reminded him:
Luke 15:31 “Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.”
That’s our Father.
Repentance Under Grace: Bold Return, Not Fearful Groveling
Repentance is often misunderstood as feeling bad enough to earn forgiveness. But that’s not what Jesus showed us. True repentance is a heart shift—turning away from independence and self-effort and coming home to the Father.
Hebrews 4:16 echoes this New Covenant truth:
16 “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
The prodigal came home. That was repentance. But the full fruit of repentance would have been walking boldly into the celebration, receiving the robe, wearing the ring, and eating at the feast without shame. That’s what grace makes possible.
This Is Our Father
Jesus came to show us the Father (John 14:9):
9 “He who has seen Me has seen the Father…”
He didn’t just teach us what God demands—He revealed who God is. A Father who feeds the birds and calls you more valuable. A Father who gives good gifts, who sees in secret, who celebrates returning children, and who says, “All that I have is yours.”
This is the God we preach. Not a vengeful deity waiting to be appeased—but a Father who runs to us with open arms.
Let us come boldly. Let us trust fully. Let us rest deeply.
This… is our Father.
