Richard Belcher focuses on the profound Christian affirmation of God as the Almighty Father. He discusses the implications of this belief, emphasizing its foundational role in Christian theology and daily faith. The sermon explores how this concept shapes the understanding of God’s character and the believer’s relationship with Him.
The following unedited transcript is provided by Beluga AI.
Thank you, Don. If you have your bibles, turn to Hosea 2. Hosea 2. This is a topical sermon, so we are not going to give a full exposition of Hosea 2. We will be coming back to this chapter toward the end of this message. Hosea 2 is God’s indictment against Israel for pursuing false gods, his covenant lawsuit against the people of Israel. It has several sections to it, as God brings a charge against his people.
Therefore, verse six. Therefore, verse nine. Those are negative.
I’ll begin reading in verse 14, where a change occurs, and God now begins to pursue his disobedient people. Hosea 2:14.
14 “Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak tenderly to her. 15 And there I will give her her vineyards and make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. And there she shall answer as in the days of her youth, as at the time when she came out of the land of Egypt. 16 “And in that day, declares the Lord , you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’ 17 For I will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth, and they shall be remembered by name no more. 18 And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety. 19 And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. 20 I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord . (Hosea 2:14-20, ESV)
Thus ends the reading of the word of God. Let’s pause for a moment of prayer. Father, we are thankful for the faith delivered to the saints. May we be faithful in standing for the truth of your word. Bless your word. Now, as it goes forth.
May the Holy Spirit attend to these words so that they not fall on deaf ears. All to the glory of Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray, Amen.
Language concerning God has become a firestorm of controversy in many places. Just to be asked to pray in public seems difficult. How do you address God? In a cartoon I saw recently, a man is praying before the city council. He starts his prayer in this way: Our father, a mother, a higher power, a dear man or woman upstairs, to whom it may concern. Is anybody really listening?
It can be difficult in today’s climate to pray in public. The Apostles’ Creed starts off by defining who God is: I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. By using this creed, we are affirming certain things to be true about God. But is it important that we use this terminology to talk about God? Why not use different terminology? Why not, “I believe in God the Mother, nourisher, who gives birth to heavens and earth”?
Why not I believe in God, the parent caregiver who provides heaven and earth, or one that’s become fairly popular in some academic circles today? I believe in God, Sophia wisdom, who constructs a world. According to my experience, this issue is so important because the names we use for God define who God is in our understanding. And the issue boils down to who has the authority to determine how we talk about God, who has the authority to determine how we address God? Does that authority rest with us, or does that authority rest with God?
I want to show from scripture that God himself is the one who has the authority to determine how he should be addressed. And if we begin to take this authority to ourselves, if we begin to use names and concepts that God has not revealed, our conception of God begins to change, our theology begins to change, and our practices begin to change. So, first of all, God has the authority to determine his own names by virtue of the fact that he created the world. He is maker of heaven and earth.
As the creed says in Genesis chapter one, the full sovereignty of God, the creator, is on display. He speaks, and this universe comes into existence.
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. (Genesis 1:3, ESV)
Let there be an expanse, and God made the expanse. Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens. And so it was.
14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.” And it was so. (Genesis 1:14-15, ESV)
But not only does God create, God names things. God called the light day and the darkness.
5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. (Genesis 1:5, NKJV)
He called night. God called the dry land earth, and the waters he called seas.
10 God called the dry ground “land” and the waters “seas.” And God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:10, NLT)
God has the authority as the creator to name things.
In Genesis 2, Adam also names things. He names the animals. And later in the account, he names his wife Eve, the mother of all living. But our authority to name things is always a derivative authority. We are made in God’s image. We rule creation in an authority given to us by God. We name things in God’s creation according to their nature, created by God. We have no authority to create or power to create. We have no authority to independently name things. So if God has already named something, we must submit to that name.
God defines mankind as male and female, two separate genders. We should not look for some unisex, androgynous ideal that many are pursuing. God defines marriage as between a man and a woman. We have no authority to redefine marriage without causing untold problems in our lives and in society. How we address God boils down to an issue of his authority and whether we are willing to submit to his authority. Many today want to redefine God, want to rename God to make him more acceptable to our experience.
Many want a God who will conform to their perception of life, who will affirm whatever brings fulfillment into their lives. This God becomes a figment of their own imagination, an imminent God who is ultimately found within us, within our experience. One woman described meeting Sophia as feeling free, alive, ready to be me in a whole new way. Sophia, she says, the breath of the power of God, the creator, the wisdom of God who cannot be confined.
And then, in an interview, she goes on to talk about being stunned by a church that is wrapped up in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. If I want to be accused of anything, I don’t mind being accused of being wrapped up in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. But she was stunned by a church wrapped up in the Lordship of Jesus Christ. That we forget how many different ways God comes to us. This God is no longer the Lord of creation, the maker of heaven and earth. Only God has the authority to define who He is.
Will we submit to that authority, or will we redefine God according to our own image? But God’s authority to determine his own names is also a matter of his self-revelation. God reveals to us through his word who he is. And there are many names for God revealed in scripture.
Elohim is the name used in Genesis 1, the majestic, sovereign creator of this universe. Yahweh is the name added to Elohim in Genesis 2, because God comes into the garden to care for and prepare the Garden of Eden. Many other names for God.
El Shaddai, El Elyon, El Olam, El Gabor, Lord Sabaoth. You got to take Hebrew to really understand those names. The Apostles Creed says, I believe in God the Father. God reveals Himself as Father to His people. In the Old Testament, the father had the authority to act on behalf of the family. Many times, apart from the civil government, the father was associated with teaching and discipline. Obviously, the mother had a role in that, but the father represented the heavy hand of authority.
Wait till your father gets home is not just a 21st-century saying; the father was also responsible for providing for the family, to care for the family. And so, you have both of these things: the authority of the father and the provision and the care of the father. Both of these things come together. Deuteronomy 8:3, “As the man disciplines his son, so God disciplines you.” But this discipline is not harsh and overbearing. It’s positive and for our good.
Hebrews 12 says it’s for our good, and that if we are without discipline, we’re not even a part of the family of God. And yet, God also cares and provides for his people. Deuteronomy 13:1, God carried you as a man carries his son. If a son asks for bread, you don’t give him a stone.
31 and in the wilderness where you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, in all the way that you went until you came to this place.’ (Deuteronomy 1:31, NKJV)
9 “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? (Matthew 7:9, NLT)
Matthew 7, and Jesus taught his disciples to address God as Abba Father. Abba Father, a term of endearment, fatherhood, and masculinity has in some ways taken a beating in our culture.
Many may have a negative view of father because of their experience. Maybe they had a father who was all authority and no care, or a father who disciplined without love, a father who was unreasonable and constantly berated them. Or maybe people know their father as the one who abandoned them, the one who was not there when they needed him. The biblical picture of father is someone who has the authority and power to act, and he acts for the benefit of the family. He acts for the benefit of the child.
He acts for the benefit of the Son. The strong hand of the father rescues, protects, provides, and because the father cares and provides. Other images are used in scripture to talk about God. Deuteronomy 32:11 God is presented as the eagle that stirs up its nest, catching the young and bearing them on his wings.
11 Like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that flutters over its young, spreading out its wings, catching them, bearing them on its pinions, (Deuteronomy 32:11, ESV)
Isaiah 60:13 says,
13 As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 66:13, ESV)
Isaiah 49:15 can a nursing mother forget her young? I will not forget you.
15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. (Isaiah 49:15, NKJV)
But it’s interesting, is it not? God is never addressed in scripture as mother.
He may act with tenderness and care. He never gives up his power. He never gives up his authority. Many in our culture may have a distorted view of fatherhood. Our job is to present the correct view. Our job is to present the biblical view. Our job is to help those who struggle with fatherhood to come to see the correct view of who God is as father. Our job is to be faithful to the way God has revealed himself in scripture. There are Bible translations today.
There are liturgies today that are beginning to change the names for God. Some inclusive Bible translations try to avoid the dreaded f word, the Father word. Matthew 28:19 is not baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; it is baptized in the name of the Father, mother, or the mother and of the beloved child and the Holy Spirit.
19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, (Matthew 28:19, ESV)
But you see, this affects our view of God. Father, mother, parent, child does not communicate the same thing that father and Son communicates.
It begins to affect our view of who God is. Son communicates status; son communicates inheritance. Son is something that applies both to men and women. As we are all sons of God, we all have that status. We all are partakers of that inheritance. I don’t want to get rid of son, and I don’t want to get rid of father, because that’s the way God reveals himself. So why are we surprised when we read Thomas Odin’s book is called Requiem? He was a critical scholar. Now, he is a conservative scholar serving in a university.
He attended Chapel one day, and the person who was speaking in chapel was a Sophia adherent and invited those at the end of the service to the table. But on that table was not bread and wine. On that table was milk and honey. When your view of God begins to change your theology, the names for God change, your theology changes, your practice changes. God has not left us without clear instruction. I believe in God the Father. Finally, the authority of God to define His own name is associated with His power to redeem.
And when we begin to tinker with his name, his power to redeem is called into question. The way the Bible presents his power to redeem is called into question. Here we see the significance of the name Yahweh, translated with capital letters, Lord. In your English Bibles, this name becomes significant in the Exodus event, stressing the God who is faithful to his covenant promises, the God who has the power to redeem his people. And so, you remember when Moses and Aaron first go into Pharaoh and they declare, thus says Yahweh, let my people go.
Pharaoh says, who’s Yahweh? I don’t know who Yahweh is. Why should I let these people go? Pharaoh comes to know who Yahweh is. The plagues and the Exodus from Egypt is a demonstration of who Yahweh is. I am Yahweh. I have the power to deliver my people. I am Yahweh. I have the power to sustain and provide for my people in the wilderness. I am Yahweh. I will bring my people into the promised land. I believe in God the Father Almighty. Now I’m looking ahead a little bit to the power here to save.
The Israelites faced a grave temptation. The temptation, as they went into the land of Canaan, was to find their needs met through some other way, through some idol or false god. In the land of Canaan, Baal was the god of fertility. If you really want your crops to grow, if you really want to be blessed, worship Baal. Baal will fulfill your needs. Baal will bring you self-fulfillment. Baal will give you all that you want.
And so, in the covenant lawsuit in Hosea 2, part of the indictment against Israel, it begins with Hosea and Gomer, but it quickly fades into Yahweh and Israel. Part of the indictment against Israel is that they’ve played the whore. Verse five:
5 For their mother has played the whore; she who conceived them has acted shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, my oil and my drink.’ (Hosea 2:5, ESV)
Israel believes she found these things in other lovers.
Instead of her true covenant partner, Yahweh, Israel made her experience in the fulfillment of her needs. The key thing in finding that in someone other than Yahweh, the God of Israel, and how that’s a problem today, isn’t it? Finding the fulfillment of our needs, the actualization of our true selves. We pursue that, and in the process, we find these things in places other than the God who saves. God is not male. He’s not male or female.
But in a world of power, in a world of kings, in a world of warfare, he reveals himself in ways that demonstrate his power to save. If you are held by an enemy, you want someone coming to save you who has the power to deliver you. God has that power. He can destroy anything in creation so that nothing will ultimately separate us from him. He also demonstrates his power through weakness.
He defeats the powers of sin and hell through suffering, weakness, and death, and it is to our own peril if we begin to redefine God according to our experience. You may be surprised. You may not rub shoulders with these people regularly. you’ll find them in some of the academic circles and conferences. But some even struggle with the fact that Jesus is male. And can a male savior really save females? Some even talk about Jesus as the resurrected one, being some kind of androgynous ideal that they want to put the name Sophia on.
We keep running into that name, don’t we? Some have made gender to be an idol. Jesus’ essential humanity ensures that both male and female are united to him in his death, his burial, his resurrection. In the matter of our salvation, there is neither male nor female, as Paul says in Galatians 3.
28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28, NKJV)
But, brothers and sisters, we don’t worship some Zina princess warrior. We worship the king of kings, the Lord of lords, the God who reveals himself as Yahweh, the God who has the power to deliver his people from any foe.
And so in Hosea 2, God, the estranged husband, pursues his whoring wife, and he goes and gets her, and he allures her, and he brings her back to himself. And he says, in this great day of reconciliation, Hosea 2:16, he says, in that great day of reconciliation, it will matter what you call me. You will no longer call me Baali. You will no longer call me my Baal. You will call me Ishi. You will call me my husband
16 “And in that day, declares the Lord, you will call me ‘My Husband,’ and no longer will you call me ‘My Baal.’. (Hosea 2:16, ESV)
The names we use for God make a difference.
It affects our perception of who God is. It affects our liturgy. It affects our practice. And so, brothers and sisters, put aside all your false conceptions of God. Quit defining God according to your needs and let God define what your need is. You are a sinner in need of his salvation. Don’t remake God into your own image. Don’t remake God into a good example for us to follow or a wealth and prosperity God who will fulfill your desires or a God who will actualize your experience.
None of these is the God who reveals himself in scripture. None of these are the God we confess in the apostles Creed. This is going to be more challenging in the days ahead. Our culture, some parts of our culture, is becoming more and more like the canaanite culture, more and more like the city of Corinth, perhaps. Will we go worshiping, whoring after false gods? Or will we be faithful to the God revealed in scripture, faithful to the God that the church has confessed since the days of the apostles? Can you affirm?
I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. Let’s pray. Father, we thank you for your revelation. You have not left us in the dark. You have not left us to our own devices and desires. Lord, give us the faith and the courage to submit to that revelation, to submit. Submit to you as our Lord. We thank you for your grace. We thank you for your mercy. We thank you that you pursue sinners, and we give you all the praise in Jesus Name, Amen.
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