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will raise from the dead His Son and this will be the Father's seal (visible evidence and
proof of intent) to our hope of resurrection to eternal life.
(3) The will of the Father.
"I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent
Me" (6: 38).
(4) The Father has in His control the choice of the elect. This is a disturbing
statement but one we have to face:
"No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him" (6: 44).
". . . . . therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto Me, except it were given
unto him of My Father" (6: 65).
Consider the following:
"But as many as received Him (Christ), to them gave He (Christ) power to become the
sons (children) of God, even to them that believed on His (Christ's) name" (John 1: 12).
But see how this is qualified by: ". . . . . which were born . . . . . of God". So here
again God has the final control.
(5) God has a hand in our spiritual education and with that instruction we come to
Christ.
"It is written in the prophets, and they shall all be taught of God. Every man therefore
that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh to Me" (6: 45).
The prophets here can be Isa. 54: 13 and Jer. 31: 34, specific future occasions
when God will put His word into the hearts of Israel, but it must surely extend back to
contemporary and present times.
These five features indicate functions of God the Father complementary to the work of
the Son. The seeming separate manifestations of the Deity present problems to some.
God is Spirit and we have no conception of what He is like in essence. Christ Himself
said of His Father:
"Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape" (John 5: 37).
How is God going to achieve His declared purpose of being "all in all" with man
(I Cor. 15: 28) when He Himself is unknowable by man? To do this He has caused
Himself to be represented by terms that the human mind can understand. This is a great
condescension on God's part for any human title carries with it a limitation of meaning
and it limits His glory to have to apply to Himself for example the human title of `father'.
We have here a subject too big for this article so we can only give pointers. To
righteously redeem fallen man God had Himself to assume human flesh and die on the
cross. To do this God provided the conception of Father and Son. Through the example
of Abraham and the record of John 3: 16 God could thus in this complementary figure
demonstrate His love for the world and His plan of salvation. We have seen in this