05-10-2020
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. John 1: 18 (NKJV)
We are made in the image and likeness of God our Father. Therefore, even with the brokenness of our humanity, caused by the varying degrees of our unbelief that God loves us and is for us, we get glimpses of his character through other people. Have you ever experienced compassion for someone who is hurting or grieving? That compassion did not have its origin in you or another person. Its origin is in God himself who is “the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort”. (2 Corinthians 1:3). The same is true about masculinity, femininity, fatherhood and motherhood….its source in the nature and character of God himself.
One of my treasured childhood memories is of laying with my head in my mother’s lap and her gently stroking my head and my hair. All things were well with me whenever I was laying in her lap. However, little boys grow up and do not lay their head in the mother’s lap any longer. Therefore, she had to find new ways to show her affection, acceptance, affirmation and love for me. She was a source of comfort and encouragement to me all my life and deep down I knew that she loved me and was for me even when at the time I might have felt otherwise.
I suspect that Jesus had a similar experience with his mother, except that she knew without any doubt that God himself was his father. I can easily picture her telling him from the youngest age about his being conceived by the Holy Spirit and then continuing to remind him all his life of who he was. The scripture above declares that Jesus “is in the bosom of the Father”. I do not know about you but the word bosom used to have only one meaning to me, that being a reference to the breasts of a woman. However, I discovered that is not the primary meaning of the word bosom.
The primary meaning of the word bosom has to do with clothing worn by people back when both men and women wore loose fitting clothing such as a tunic. Because the clothing was loose fitting, a belt of some sort was often used to secure the garment at the waist. This created a hollow formed by the upper forepart of the rather loose fitting garment. This hollow was used for keeping and carrying things inside the garment, especially things valued by the wearer of the garment. Some Bible translations try to overcome our cultural understanding of the word bosom referring to a woman’s breasts by saying that Jesus “is in closest relationship with the Father”. This is an accurate translation but it does not convey the sense of intimacy that Jesus has with the Father.
The beauty of Jesus being in the bosom of the Father becomes more apparent to me when Jesus stated several times he and the Father were and are one….. if you see Jesus then you have seen the Father. Jesus came to seek and save the lost and to bring us into intimate fellowship with his Father, in the closest possible relationship with the Father, i.e., in the bosom of the Father. When we consciously abide in that place of intimacy of the bosom of the Father it is like it was for me as a little boy laying with my head in my mother’s lap, all is well with our souls. This is expressed in Isaiah 40:11 which states, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young”.
I write this on what we call Mother’s Day, a day set aside to honor our mother’s. My mother was very precious to me and I miss her greatly even though she passed from this life in 1996. This article would be way longer than you would read if I wrote all that is in my heart about her to honor her. Therefore, I will limit it to words quoted from Proverbs 31, “Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.”
In honor and memory of Dalpha Dean Dehart Verett, December 21,1916 – October 23, 1996.
Blessings,
Kevin