Introduction

Today's sermon is the third sermon in our series entitled "The Name Above All Names." We have looked at the first and second name Isaiah ascribed to our Lord, namely the Wonderful Consellor and the Mighty God.

This morning, we will look at the third name in our text, which is the "Everlasting Father". Of all the titles Isaiah ascribed to our Lord in our text, this is the title that is often ignored or misunderstood.  

The title "Everlasting Father" is the most difficult to explain and we must be careful when we encounter truths like this in the Scripture.  We do not want to create in our minds erroneous ideas of Who Christ is in His relationship to His own Father and to the Holy Spirit. 

Again, let me remind you that that these names are not just meaningless empty names. These names were given to the Son of God because they describe who He is and what He is.

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

What does this name "Everlasting Father" inform us about Christ? What does this title reveal about the Son of God?

This Name reveals that ...

I - Christ is Incomprehensible Being

Our Lord Jesus Christ is a complex Being. There are many things in this life that are complex. How the universe works is complex. Life is complex. Human beings are complex. 

Many times we tend to stereotype and overgeneralize people. We oversimplify and  categorize people into good or bad, ethical or unethical, nice or nasty. We all do this to some extent. We button down people into classes like, introvert or extrovert, optimist or pessimist, etc. But the truth is that people are very complex!  People who can be pessimist can also be optimist. The same people who are introvert at times could also be introvert at other times. There are layers upon layers of complexity to all of us.

If we are complex beings how much more is the Lord of Glory complex. The One who is both God and Man. There is something in His very Being that goes beyond our understanding and comprehension. 

On December 9, 1886, the Prince of Preacher,  Charles Spurgeon preached on this text. And he recognized the difficulty of this title "Everlasting Father". He said this ...

"How complex is the person of our Lord Jesus Christ! Almost in the same breath the prophet calls Him a "child," and a "counselor," a "son," and "the everlasting Father." This is no contradiction, and to us scarcely a paradox, but it is a mighty marvel that He who was an infant should at the same time be infinite, He who was the Man of Sorrows should also be God over all, blessed for ever; and that He who is in the Divine Trinity always called the Son, should nevertheless be correctly called "the everlasting Father." 

Then he goes on to say ...

"The title before us is a somewhat difficult one. Some years ago I preached to you from "His Name - Wonderful." I felt I could expound upon that with ease. We advanced as far as "Counselor," and then we paused a while. After a time we were led to preach upon "The Mighty God;" but we have been somewhat suspicious of our ability to open up this particular title, for there is a depth in it which we are not able to fathom. This morning I cannot pretend to dive into the profound depths of the word, but can only skim the surface as the swallow (birds) skims (glide) the sea. Silver of deep learning and gold of profound thought have I none; but such as I have, give I you. If my basket contains nothing more than a barley loaf and a few small fishes, may the Master of the feast multiply the food in the breaking, that there may be food convenient for His people."

Reading these words of Spurgeon I say, Amen!

In this verse alone we see the complexity of Jesus Christ. In the same text we read that He is the Child yet the Wonderful Counsellor. He is the Child yet the Mighty God. He is Son and yet also the Everlasting Father. He is a Mighty Warrior yet the Prince of Peace! 

How complex is the person of our Lord Jesus Christ! He is not a person we could put in a box. He is incomprehensible. Our little intellects cannot grasp all His Being really is. Do not think that you can understand it all, that you can grasp it all. Do not ever think that you have arrived and have a perfect knowledge of Christ that you do not need to learn of Him.

But His incomprehensibility should not intimidate us but should at least stir up within us a greater desire, that "we may know Him;" and that "we may grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion which stands at the cradle of true art and science." - Albert Einstein

There is complexity. Complexity but no contradiction. There is mystery in His Being, in His Person. This mystery is so deep that we cannot answer it in some quick way or simplistic answer. This mystery is so deep that it cannot be discovered research and experiments in a science lab. 

Job 11:7  Canst thou by searching find out God? canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? 8: It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?

This mystery is so deep that He must reveal Himself to us or we shall never know Him. 

Matthew 16:15 He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? 16: And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17: And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.

There is no real knowledge of Jesus Christ unless the Father reveals Him to us. And praise God, He did and He still does, how? Through His Word and by His Spirit!

How is Christ callled the Everlasting Father?

We do not usually think of Jesus as Father. But in our text, Isaiah called Him the "Everlasting Father". How is He the everlasting Father? How can Jesus the Messiah, the second person of the Godhead, be called Everlasting Father? 

First, we need to understand that Isaiah is not confusing Jesus the Messiah with the first person of the Trinity. He is not saying that God the Son, the second person of the Trinity, is the same person as God the Father. The Scripture is clear that the Son is not the Father and the Father is not the Son. They are not the same person. They are separate Beings. 

John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 15: John bare witness of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, He that cometh after me is preferred before me: for he was before me. 16: And of his fulness have all we received, and grace for grace. 17: For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 18: No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

There are times when Jesus the Son of God is also called the Father. But it is not because He is the Father it is because His actions, His character, and His conduct reveal the Father.

Why is He called the Everlasting Father? 

The answer is that Jesus Christ represents the Father perfectly and so He is called many times throughout His ministry the everlasting Father.

John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

No one has ever seen God, but if you want to know and see what the Father looks like, you have to look and hear the Son because He reveals and declares the Father. 

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 7: If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. 8: Philip saith unto him, Lord, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. 9: Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? 

It is very clear in the Scripture that Jesus is definitely saying that there is a difference between the Father and the Son, that the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father. However in verse 7, He said if you have known Me, you should have known My Father, why? Because He is just like His Father, that is what Jesus is saying. 

If you want to know the Father, Jesus declared Him. Jesus revealed Him. Jesus expressed Him. If you want to know the Father, look at the Son for He look so much like His Father that He is actually going to be called the Everlasting Father. 

Colossians 1:12 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: 13: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: 14: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins: 15: Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:

Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity is the image of  the Father so clearly and so exactly that He is actually called the Father.

Hebrews 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2: Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3: Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 

The Father spoke to us by His Son revealing Himself to us. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the express image of the Father. He is the exact expression and representation of the Father. So, if you want to see God, look at the Son. The Son is so much like the Father you would actually going to call Him the Everlasting Father.

There is separateness but there is sameness. There is complexity but there is no contraction. Jesus the Son of God is incomprehensible Being. There is in His Being separateness but there is sameness with the Father. 

Jesus the Messiah is the only one who can reveal God's fatherly character to us, for He is one in nature and essence with the Father. 

II - Christ is Infinite Being

This title "Everlasting Father" informs us that eternality of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is an infinite Being.

Isaiah loves  to speak of eternity. He speaks of God as "the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy" .

Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. 

And in Isaiah 9:6, Isaiah uses the same type of language to refer to the Messiah. Speaking of a child who will be born some 700 years in the future, he makes it clear that this child is the Father of Eternity, the One who inhabits eternity. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end—the One Who is and Who was and Who is to come—the Almighty.

Revelation 1:8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

How comforting it is to read, "His name shall be called . . . Everlasting Father". Once we become a child of God, we are His and He is ours forever. There will be no goodbyes with Him. Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from His love. Not even death itself—indeed, it will only draw us nearer. 

"He is everlastingly a father to those who trust in him." Praise God for our eternal security in Christ, our Everlasting Father.

III - Christ is Intimate Being

We all have a father. For some the concept of a father is a very tender, comforting, secure, and happy concept. For others, to mention father brings disappoint, pain and anger. But the universal truth is, no matter what our experience is with our fathers, all fathers are sinners. There are no perfect human fathers. But there is One who is perfect. What a comfort to know that the Child that was born unto us and the Son that was given unto us is the Everlasting Father. 

Again we need to remember that Isaiah is not confusing the God the Son with the God the Father. It is the character that Isaiah has in mind. Here in Isaiah 9:6, it was not the Trinity  but the character of Christ that was in the mind of Isaiah. 

Concerning the language of "Everlasting Father," Sam Storms calls it "a descriptive analogy pointing to Christ's character . . . He is fatherly, father-like, in His treatment of us."

What does this mean to all to us?

To those of us who have placed our hope and trust in the Son of God, Jesus Christ, for salvation, forgiveness and entrance to Heaven, we need to understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is and wants to be intimately involved in our lives. That is what a good father is and does. As a perfect fatherly Being, He is intimately involved with our lives. He wants to be part of our lives, not only during Christmas season, not only on Sunday mornings but every day of our lives. 

How beautiful is that! How gracious is that! Is there anything more beautiful than to have Him as our everlasting Father? Jesus is the everlasting Father  who cares for us. We are under His tender care, His protection, and His provision. We are safe and will be satisfied for all eternity.  

Psalm 27:10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.

Your father and mother may forsake you but the Word of God says that there is One that will take you up and care for you.

IV - Closing Thought

Is He your everlasting Father, not only during Christmas, but always and forever in your minds. Have you receive the greatest gift of God to mankind? Have you embraced Him in your life? Have you come to Him, humbling yourself, acknowledging your inability to save yourself. 

O sinners, come to Christ! Receive Him! Believe Him! Trust Him!

John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

O Christians, believe Him more and more! Since last Christmas perhaps you have gone through trying times, why would you turn back, why would you go back to the habits of sin when you could enjoy the Lord and His presence. When He is that Everlasting Father to you. His promise is certain, I will never leave ...

Jesus tends His flock like a gentle Shepherd. Jesus gathers the lambs in His arms. Jesus carries them close to His heart. Jesus gently leads those that have young. Jesus is the everlasting Father  who cares for us. Is there anything more beautiful than to have Him as our everlasting Father?

AMEN!