Everlasting Father (2)

Welcome to our Advent Series: The Royal name of the Infant King.

Each week we are looking at one of the 4 names given to the anticipated Messiah.

These names are meant to give us insight, clarity, and anticipation to who this coming child would be.

Our journey begins 700 years before Mary would travel to Bethlehem.

700 years before there would be no room at the inn.

700 years before a baby would be born in a manger.

It begins with the Prophet Isaiah who was called to warn the Israelites of the coming judgement if they do not turn from their wicked ways.

The leaders during this time lost their purpose and their way.

They were leading Israel away from God into idolatry.

They had forsaken the covenant that God made with them.

Their continued rebellion was leading to God’s hand of protection to be lifted and just judgement to reign down upon them in the form of the Assyrian army.

Isaiah pleaded with them to turn from their defiance but they continued to harden their hearts.

Thus God would send this army to punish their disobedience.

The coming destruction would be awful.

But, there would be purpose behind it.

It would be like a purifying fire meant to take the impurities and remove them so that what is left is pure and good.

This is not an angry God who was fed up with His people, oh no, this is a patient and Holy God who was going to bring forth life from the ashes.

It is in this context that these incredible verses of hope, joy, fulfillment, and peace would arise.

It in this context that we are given the prophecy of the infant King that would be born.

Open your Bibles or turn them on if that is your preference to the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament.

We will be in the 9th chapter....the chapter numbers are the large numbers in your Bible

The 9th chapter and the 6th verse, the verses are the smaller numbers.

If you are able to, I would like to invite you to stand for the reading of God’s Word.

Hear the Infallible and Inerrant Words of God.

Isaiah 9:6 ESV

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

You may be seated.

How unexpected would this prophecy be?

The Israelites left their first love, God.

They abandoned their purpose and their direction.

Judgement would come, but hope would follow.

But how would this hope be displayed and accomplished?

That is the most radical and mind blowing part!

The savior would be a baby.

The king would be an infant.

This one would rule, reign, and sustain.

He would bring light out of darkness and life out of death.

He would be the one who would crush the head of the snake that was prophesied back in Genesis.

He would be everything that our fallen and broken world would need.

He would be everything that the Israelites longed for.

He would be everything that our hearts yearned for.

But, He wouldn’t at all be what the Israelites would expect.

2700, years since the writing of Isaiah and 2000 years since the birth,

I don’t think Jesus is what we would expect either.

This Infant King, He is our Wonderful Counselor.

Wonderful in the fullness of its definition and Wise as One who has infinite knowledge and understanding.

This Child, He is our Mighty God.

Fully God and full in power and ability.

Today, we will discover that this Son, He is also our Everlasting Father.

Each of these titles bring forth attributes of who Jesus would be for those looking forward to His arrival.

For us looking back we see the fulfillment of these attributes and How Jesus is, as the famous cliche’ reminds us, “The reason for the Season.”

But knowing this reality is only half the purpose.

We must certainly understand and know the truth about Jesus but this Christmas season is more than just knowing the truth.

The Christmas season is about us embracing the truth.

The Christmas season is about being transformed by the truth.

The Christmas season is about us being fulfilled and satisfied in the truth.

The Reformers in 1500s and 1600s when they were told to sum up the ultimate purpose of our lives.

When they were asked to seek all of Scripture for this very important answer,

Do you know what they came up with?

The ultimate purpose, the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

We actively participate in God’s purpose and plan for His glory and we enjoy his providence and blessings, today, tomorrow, and forever!

Is this your current experience? Is this your reality? Is this your focus and your direction?

If not, then today’s message is going to answer a very important question.

How do we embrace Jesus, the infant King, as our greatest longing & joy this Christmas Season?

Specifically, how does Jesus as our Everlasting Father answer this very question?

This is what we will seek to discover.

Now, I must deal with the “Elephant in the Room” so to speak.

How can Jesus, the Son of God, be the everlasting Father?

First, what we need to understand is that Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace are titles. They describe the activities and blessings of this coming child.

So, it is not that the Messiah is the Eternal Father as in the Trinity, Father,

But that the Messiah would be “a” Father to His people and this will go on forever.

A Father, a protector, a teacher, one who cares intimately for His children would be his actions.

Everlasting, forever more, without end, would be the duration of this action.

To say that this speaks of the Father, and not the Son, would be to misunderstand the context of the titles and what it is displaying to us.

Some, in what is known as the Oneness Pentecostal Movement, think TD Jakes, wrongly deny the trinity because of misunderstanding verses like this one.

Now, the first thing we must do is seek to see this in the eyes of those it was originally being written to.

If we take a verse, a paragraph, a section, or a book and not look at it through the lens of those it was written to, we are in great danger of missing the point.

We can create concepts, ideas, and applications that the author, nor the Holy Spirit intended.

The hope of Chapter 9 despite the gloom of Chapter 8 is found in God bringing about His plan and purpose.

The hope was not that Israel would get their act together.

The hope is not that the people would begin to seek after God instead of Idols

The hope is not that the leaders of Israel would recognize their sin.

The hope of Chapter 9 has nothing to do with the Israelites at all except that to them, this Messiah, this anointed one, this promised King, would be born.

Where Israel would fail, the promised Messiah would succeed.

The hope wasn’t for Israel to finally be perfect, but that the Messiah would be perfect.

While what happened in Israel truly happened and the purposes were on a grand scale, we can see this same concept on an individual scale as well.

Let’s see the issues of Israel and see if we can relate in any way, shape, or form.

We rebelled against God, we committed idolatry, we have suppressed God’s will for our own will.

We have sought to be the creator and destiny of our lives and purposes.

We have been warned by God’s Word and by others, like Isaiah warned the Israelites, and we have hardened our heart to the truth.

We can expect God’s hand of protection lifted and just judgement fall rightly upon ourselves.

But, we saw in chapter 8 last week, ending in gloom for Israel in their history.....

As we analyze our own history and see the same failures and shortcomings.

We look to how chapter 9, rescues not only Israel, but also rescues us today.

We can begin to answer our question:

How do we embrace Jesus, the infant King, as our greatest longing & joy this Christmas Season?

1.) We recognize that Jesus, as Everlasting Father, satisfies our greatest need to bring us our greatest joy.

Let me use this current season as an illustration for my point.

Christmas time is a time where we ask for everything we want and need.

But, often times we have a wrong idea of the purpose and effects of our desires.

I remind my children that everything we have, that we ask for, that we receive, is the future of junk yards and yard sales.

I was having this very discussion with a good friend of mine and was telling him that even my house that I am working so diligently for will be lived in by someone else one day.

We are going to bombarded our friends and family with all sorts of self-inflicted wants and needs this Christmas Season.

I need to have the house decorated, I need to buy the presents, or in my case, I need to watch every Christmas movie ever produced before December 25th.

But, our greatest need is not one that can be bought at a store, hung on a tree, or visited on a certain day.

Our greatest need is to be forgiven, to be purified, to be transformed from an enemy of God to a child of God.

The greatest gift we can receive is salvation and eternal life.

The reason why this is the greatest gift is that we were not born for stuff.

We cannot take stuff with us when we die.

Everything on this earth is fleeting and temporary and limited.

Our hearts and mind long for something of true value, meaning, and everlasting.

Our greatest desire is to have that which can never fail or be taken away.

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

The greatest gift we can be given is Salvation.

Salvation from a fallen and broken world.

Salvation from that which ultimately fails, breaks, and dies.

Salvation from our just judgement as an enemy of God to the blessings and providences as a child of God.

You want to embrace Jesus this season and find your joy, then meditate on the gift of grace that you have received.

Meditate on the gift of faith that has been extended to you to place upon Jesus.

Let us not forget the specific point of today’s phrase, Everlasting Father:

Embracing Jesus as our Savior means embracing Jesus as Everlasting Father.

Listen to this next part because it brought me so much joy this week.

As a father protects His children from dangers, Jesus protects us from sin and death.

Jesus puts himself in harms way, so that we can be safe.

As a Father, Jesus accomplishes what we cannot in order to care for us and provide for us.

As a father takes care of the physical needs of his children, providing food, clothing, and shelter.

Jesus takes our spiritual need of forgiveness of sin, reconciliation to the Father, new life and new purpose, and imputes this into us.

How can you embrace Jesus as your greatest joy this Christmas season?

Jesus will become our greatest joy when we recognize the greatest gift we could receive we have received in the Messiah.

Do you not grasp the gravity of this gift? Do you not see the grandness of this gift?

Then you need to see ourselves in light of our text.

You need to see, like the Israelites what dire situation we are in.

We must see like the Israelites our destruction and desolation is all that we have to look forward to.

We must meditate on the Holiness of God and the deplorability of our sin.

We must see like the Israelites that our enemy is bigger than we are, stronger than we are, and more determined than we are.

Then, when we must see that all hope is lost in and of ourselves to bring about salvation.

It is then that Jesus will become out greatest longing and joy.

It is then that the reason for Christmas becomes crystal clear.

The first way that we can embrace Jesus, the infant King, as our greatest longing and joy this Christmas Seasons is to see His greatest gift in himself that he gave us.

The more we see Jesus as Savior, and His action as an everlasting Father in protecting us against sin and death, the more we will embrace Him.

Let’s move to the second way that we can embrace Jesus, the infant King, as our greatest longing & joy this Christmas Season.

2.) We will embrace Jesus as our great joy when we see that Jesus satisfies our great longing for a pure and perfect relationship.

Let me explain what I mean.

God created us to be relational.

God is Trinity and a perfect relationship exists between the Father, Son, and Spirit.

We long for these same connections and same bonds.

But, living in our fallen and broken world means that we experience fallen and broken relationships.

Even the best relationships experience pain and heartache.

Disappointment and betrayal.

The relationship I have with my wife and beautiful and wonderful, but far from perfect.

The relationship I have with my parents brings forth love and happiness, but far from perfect. (Mom this is where you say Amen)

The relationship I have with my kids is fun and exciting, but far from perfect.

Thus we have a longing and a desire for a relationship that will be everything a relationship is supposed to be to the absolutely fullest and all the time.

But, if we are real with ourselves we know that nobody can provide us with that kind of relationship here on earth.

And if we are having a really lucid moment, we will recognize that we can never be that perfection for someone else.

So then, what does this have to do with Jesus and His role and action as a Father?

I took time this week to list all of the things that I desire from a Father figure.

Let me know if you resonate with these:

I want a Father who teaches me, corrects me, loves me, embraces me, who is there for me, encourages me, guides me, directs me, cheers for me, cries with me, listens to me, provides for me, inspires me, and believes in me.

I’m sure if given a few minutes you could come up with many more that you would add to this list.

As I thought about myself as a father, I imagined how well I do in each of these areas for my children.

While my kids are way kinder to me than I deserve, I find myself falling woefully short to the standards that I hold for myself.

And not to use this as an excuse, but as a fallen and broken father, living in a fallen and broken world, working with fallen and broken kids, it is no wonder we long for something that we do not have.

But, when we look to Jesus.

When we look to who Jesus is, what Jesus accomplishes, how Jesus fulfills the purposes and plans of the Father, we can see how He is a father figure to us.

Everything that I said about what I desire in a father figure, Jesus is to its fullness and its perfection.

Let me read off my list again and instead of imaging me as I read this, or your father, use this moment to compare Jesus to these actions.

Someone who teaches me: Jesus taught the disciples and preserved his actions through the Holy Spirit so that Jesus continues to teach us through His Word.

Jesus corrects me, by declaring what is good to be good and what is bad to be bad. Jesus tells me the fullness of the commandments in His sermon on the mount.

Jesus loves me. Let me reminder you of John chapter 15 verse 13

John 15:13 ESV

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.

Jesus embraces me, he’s there for me, encourages me, guides me, directs me, cheers for me.

Jesus cries with me.

Remember Jesus knows the pain and heartache of this world.

The shortest verse in the Bible is Jesus wept. Jesus knows the sadness and sorrow we experience because He experienced it, too.

Jesus listens to me as He hears my prayers and intercedes on my behalf.

Romans 8:34 ESV

Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

The reason we can embrace Jesus as our greatest joy this Christmas Season is because Jesus is our everlasting Father and the relationship we have always longed for.

While there are many reasons we could give, let me give one more reason we can embrace jesus as our greatest joy this Christmas Season.

3.) Jesus is out greatest hope for the Christmas season and beyond.

I am sure you can come up with many reasons why Jesus is our greatest hope.

I spent a good amount of time thinking of which direction I would take this final point when my daughter, Eleni, brought me to tears.

I asked my kids what was my greatest downfall as a father.

The area that I fail the most, that Jesus doesn’t.

I was expecting a whole list, well Dad, you don’t do this, this, this.

But, Eleni, my oldest daughter shared, that I will one day die and not be here.

This struck me deep because I was looking at all of the ways I fail every day, and Eleni brought up the one area that there is nothing I can do about.

But, this is exactly why I am limited as a Father, but Jesus in the aspect of Father is everlasting, without end, continual, forever more.

We all here can resonate, whether it is with a parent that has passed away, a spouse or a close family member, maybe even a best friend who has passed away.

People come in and out of our lives constantly and yet there is still a longing inside of us for eternity.

A comfort and a peace that we will never be alone and never have to say goodbye.

When we think of Jesus in this context as everlasting Father, we see that everlasting is forever.

Jesus will always be our protector, our teacher, our savior, our friend.

Jesus will always be our guide, our encourager, and our interceder.

Jesus overcame the grave and overcame death and along with the power of the Father and Spirit resurrected Himself to defeat sin and death.

When we think of death we think of complete and total separation.

But, death did not separate Jesus from us.

Matter of fact, death did the opposite. The Death of Jesus united us in His death and unites us in His life.

Jesus lives so that we too can live.

Jesus is alive and will never leave us, forsake us, or abandon us.

One day, I will leave this earth and I will be present with my Savior, but during that time I will be separated from my kids and my kids from me.

But, they have an everlasting Father in Jesus that will never separate Himself from them.

And an everlasting Father in Jesus that through Jesus we too will be everlasting. (Pause)

Everything we long for and everything we ultimately desire finds its fullness in Jesus.

Jesus is our everlasting Father

We are His children.

Jesus is our bridegroom

We are His bride

Do you see the type of imagery that is used to describe the closeness, the intimacy, the togetherness of Jesus and us?

This Christmas season there are all sorts of things that can distract us from what it means and why we are celebrating.

We can debate the date of Jesus’s birth, we can question the pagan roots of Christmas

We can argue whether we should force everyone to say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays

But that misses the entire point of what our focus should be as Christians.

Our greatest longing is fulfilled when a child was born.

Our greatest desires were achieved when a son was given.

The Royal names display with crystal clarity the grandness of this infant King.

These names point to one person and one person alone.

If we want to embrace Jesus deeper, stronger, fuller, and in a more amazing way this Christmas season, then we can begin by embracing all that Jesus says He is.

Let me close with a verse that is sure to bring us joy in conclusion of all that we saw today.

John 1:45 ESV

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Jesus arrives, the much anticipated savior is before them, the wait is over.

Can you imagine the excitement Philip must have experienced when he discovered that Jesus was the Infant King of Isaiah 9:6?

Can you imagine what Philip would have felt when he connected Jesus with Immanuel?

Can you picture this scene in your mind.

Philip racing to find Nathanael and with great joy and zeal declaring that he found the Messiah, the one that Isaiah speaks of, the Infant King.

Can you imagine the longings that were fulfilled in that moment of realization?

The One that would come that would be Wonderful Counselor & Mighty God.

The One that would come that would be Everlasting Father was before them.

Philip and Nathanael got to see first hand the unfolding of these titles and actions in real time.

They saw, felt, experienced, and embraced these moments with Jesus.

2000 years later we set aside this time to do the very same thing.

We set this time aside to see Jesus.

We set this time aside to experience Jesus.

We set this time aside to embrace Jesus.

This is exactly what our call this morning is to do.

Yes, the presents will be nice.

The food will be great

The family will be wonderful.

But, this entire season points us to one thing, one moment, and one person.

The reason for the season is Jesus: our Wonderful Counselor, our Mighty God.

And our Everlasting Father.

Then a week from today. On Christmas morning, like the Who’s of whoville

We will emerge from our homes, not to sing around a Christmas tree

Or to talk about the spirit of Christmas,

But we will be right here declaring to all who will hear, that our Jesus is also the Prince of Peace.

I can’t wait to celebrate with you on Christmas morning, but that, will have to wait till next week. Amen. Let us pray.