Advent Week 3 Everlasting Father

Jesus the Everlasting Father Isaiah 9:2-7 (ESV) The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. 3You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil. 4For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. 5For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire. 6For 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. 7Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. 1. Jesus Christ is EVERLASTING Jesus always was, he always is, he always shall be. He is eternal in all his attributes, and in all his offices, and in all his might, and power, and willingness to bless, comfort, guard, and crown his chosen people.1 All the kings of Judah perished; each and every descendant of David died. But Isaiah is now speaking of an heir to David's throne who will break that cycle. "Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore." Jesus here is called in the Hebrew "the Father of eternity," by which is meant that he is pre-eminently the possessor of eternity as an attribute. John 1:1,14 (ESV) 1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 14And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. This child of whom Isaiah speaks brings hope, this King defeats death. He's an everlasting King. He reigns everlastingly. We were chosen in him from before the foundation of the world. 2. Jesus Christ is the Everlasting Father a. The first man Adam is the father of all the living; he federally stood for us in the garden, and federally fell and ruined us all. He was the representative head for us; and what a fall was there when he fell! Every one of us fell in him. "In Adam all die (Rom 5:12)." Since his day there has been but one other father to the human race federally.2 1 Corinthians 15:44 (ESV) It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. b. It is the custom of those in the East to call a man the father of a quality for which he is remarkable. To this day, among the Arabs, a wise man is called "the father of wisdom;" a very foolish man "the father of folly." The predominant quality in the man is ascribed to him as though it were his child, and he the father of it. c. The name Father is appropriate because Christ preserves the existence of his Church through all ages and gives immortality to the body and on the individual members. d. Everything in us calls Christ "Father." He is the author and finisher of our faith. If we love, him, it is because he first loved us. He waters and sustains all our graces.3 e. Jesus is not the Father, but He makes the Father known. The Christmas message is that God the Father has revealed Himself to the world uniquely and climatically in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is that you can come and know the Father for yourself, but only through faith in the baby of Bethlehem and the Man of Calvary. f. The word "Father" designates a quality of the Messiah with respect to His people. He acts toward them like a father. "Thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting" (Isa. 63:16). "As a father shows compassion to his children, so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him" (Ps. 103:13). Jesus lives, and lives to care for us. He lives in all the attributes which adorned him upon earth, as gentle and kind and gracious now as he was then. g. There is no unfathering Christ, and there is no unchilding us. He is everlastingly a Father to those who trust in him, and he never does at any one moment cease to be a Father to any one of these. Be Encouraged Sometimes we need to be reminded just who isn't our Father, and who is, that we have this Christmas time what we're reminded about, from this prophesy of Isaiah is that we have an everlasting Father. Everybody everywhere has a hole in their heart that's designed for a heavenly Father. In the midst of the relational carnage that is our living generation, we've got a great Word spoken to us by Isaiah, that we have an Everlasting Father. Presidents come and go, kings come and go, empires rise and fall, but because Jesus is the Everlasting Father, and the one who is over an indestructible kingdom, because He has an indestructible life, we can always know that no matter what befalls us in the world that we're living in, we do not have to look to empires, or Presidents, or governments to sustain us, although we want them to rule with justice, and righteousness, we don't look to them to sustain us as our Source, because we have an Everlasting Father. 1 Spurgeon, C. H. (1866). His Name-The Everlasting Father. In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 12, p. 676). London: Passmore & Alabaster. 2 Spurgeon, C. H. (1866). His Name-The Everlasting Father. In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 12, pp. 677-678). London: Passmore & Alabaster. 3 Spurgeon, C. H. (1866). His Name-The Everlasting Father. In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (Vol. 12, p. 680). London: Passmore & Alabaster. --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------ --------------- ------------------------------------------------------------