All Access Pass

I was delighted to watch a short video this morning.
A young mom that I know from my old church is living with her family in Colorado.
Her husband is there on business.
They have two sons.

This young woman is an amazing photographer.
The pictures she posts on her blog are spectacular.
She captures God’s creation in all its Glory.

This family loves the outdoors.
Many of her photographs are pictures taken on their many hikes.
It is wonderful to see the young boys, ages 7 and 2, keep up with their parents.

It is natural playground for her two boys.
Rocks and all sorts of things to climb.
Their smiles say it all!

I watched her video this morning as they walked through Garden of the gods.
I admired the beauty of this national, natural landmark.
The boys were climbing; sticks became anything their imagination could invent.

I saw the young dad, pushing an umbrella stroller for the little one, no doubt.
The little one was not about to be pushed in a stroller.
The little one wanted to push the stroller himself.

The mom captured this video from behind her boys, as they walked along.
Suddenly her older son, who had been behind his dad a bit, rushed to his father’s side.
In one fluid motion, he grabbed his father’s hand…and walked on with him.

In the scheme of things, some would say…so what?
To me, that moment was everything!

The boy had freedom to explore…yet was still certain his father was near.
He had surety that he could grab his father’s hand…and that he would not be rejected.
The confidence that they could walk on…together.
They had a bond that went beyond words.

This boy didn’t even look up into his father’s face.
He knew his father’s hand was there.
He instinctively grabbed it.
A tender, intimate moment.

Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place. (Deuteronomy 1:29-31)

I thought of many things as I watched this snapshot in time.
I thought of my own young children sitting next to me as I stroked their hair.
I thought of all the times when their heads would be placed on my shoulder at church.
I thought of the intimacy of the parent-child bond.

No other person could grab the hand of this young father.
Only his own son has that access.

This little boy didn’t have to ask permission.
His father’s hand had been held before.
His father did not turn away from him.

That is the kind of access we have with our Heavenly Father.
Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, we can approach the Father in confidence.

When Jesus rose from the dead, He appeared to Mary Magdalene.
She saw Jesus but thought He was the gardener.
When Jesus spoke her name, she recognized Him.
Jesus said, “Do not hold onto Me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ” I am returning to My Father and your Father, to My God and your God. (John 20:17)

Intimacy with the Father through the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Jesus’ Father became our Father.

When Jesus died on the cross, the curtain in the temple tore from top to bottom.
Now, there was direct access to the Father, made possible because of Jesus.

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is His body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith…(Hebrews 10:19-22)

The little boy had complete access to his father.
We have access to our Heavenly Father and know that He will not turn away.
Yet, The Father, in one agonizing moment turned away from His one and only Son.

From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out in a loud voice…”My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”
(Matthew 27:45,46)

This is the only time God the Father turned away from His Son.
The intimacy they had before the creation of the world…broken…for a painful moment.
God the Father…perfectly holy…could not look at sin.

As Jesus was on the cross, all our sin was placed upon Him.
He, the perfect Lamb…the perfect sacrifice…took our sin and died in our place.
For that moment, God the Father turned His face away.

Intimacy broken…so intimacy could begin.

I have the picture of that little boy grabbing his father’s hand firmly in my mind.
It is really a picture of us.
We have an ALL ACCESS PASS to the Father.
All because of Jesus!