June 22

“Do not cling to Me,” Jesus said, “for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go and tell My brothers, ‘I am ascending to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God.’” — John 20:17 BSB

Why is He your Father? Because He is my Father. Why is He your God? Because He is my God. As God’s only-begotten Son from all eternity, God was the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. As the Father’s servant, fulfilling His will on earth even in the lowest humiliation, God was His God. And now that Christ has risen from the dead and ascended to His heavenly throne as the great High Priest, God is still His God. This view of Jesus strengthens and encourages our faith.

The great and glorious God, the self-existent I AM, the God in whom we live, move, and have our being, the God before whom we stand with all we are and have, the God against whom we have sinned so deeply—this great and glorious God is “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Therefore, we can draw near to Him with boldness, present our prayers before Him, call upon His holy name, and worship Him with reverence, because He is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ and our God in Him. A believing view of God as revealed in His Son, reconciling us to Himself by the precious blood of Jesus, accepting us in the Beloved, and not counting our sins against us, removes fear, guilt, and the bondage of the law. It brings comfort and peace, soothes the troubled spirit, and casts out the fear that torments.