TSK · Exodus 4:22

And now, if you will diligently listen to me and keep my covenant, then you will be my special possession out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine,

Is this how you repay the LORD, you foolish, unwise people? Is he not your father, your Creator? He has made you and established you.

Yet, LORD, you are our father. We are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the product of your labor.

They will come back shedding tears of contrition. I will bring them back praying prayers of repentance. I will lead them besides streams of water, along smooth paths where they will never stumble. I will do this because I am Israel’s father; Ephraim is my firstborn son.’”

The Sacrilege of Priestly Service“A son naturally honors his father and a slave respects his master. If I am your father, where is my honor? If I am your master, where is my respect? The LORD of Heaven’s Armies asks you this, you priests who make light of my name! But you reply,‘How have we made light of your name?’

and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,” says the All-Powerful Lord.

By his sovereign plan he gave us birth through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.