HE CALLED GOD HIS FATHER

John 5:18
18 For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God. (WEB)

Today's Bible reading gives us a little insight into why the Pharisees wanted to kill Jesus. They were not only enraged because of all the miraculous things He did, some of them on the Sabbath. They were even more enraged that Jesus called God His own Father.

It was His Father/Son relationship with Almighty God that was the last straw and motivated the religious leaders of the day to seek His death. They were so offended by the very thought that Jesus was the Son of God that they felt the need to silence Him once and for all.

Of course they were motivated by the enemy of our souls, and had he known what the consequences would be of his murderous actions, he would have never got the people to kill the Lord of Glory. The good news is that he didn't know the chain reaction that Jesus' death and resurrection would cause.

When Jesus rose from the dead, He made the way for every person in the world to become reconciled with God. By simply receiving the free gift of Jesus' life for our life, every believer is now in the same position as Jesus was when He walked the earth. We all can now call God our Father too!  My prayer today is that we would all know in the deepest place in our hearts that this is true... Almighty God is our Dad!

Romans 8:28-29
28 We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to his purpose.29 For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. (WEB)