Our Everlasting Father
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Introduction/Welcome:
The news was shocking. Unexpected and tragic. Destruction, despair, and desolation had once again visited the nation. Fear, anxiety, depression, rage, and a complete loss of hope was gripping those who were still alive. Entire generations of family members were simply gone. Neighbors, friends, co-workers, and loved ones were dead. Man-made governmental systems had failed the people and those who remained were living in darkness and questioning what the future held for them.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Now, I’m not talking about recent events. I’m talking about the year 734 B.C. (The real good ole days!)
In 734 B.C. An Assyrian king invaded and slaughtered the northern kingdom of Israel. His army conquered vast portions of land, killing thousands, plundering property, and then carrying off those who were still alive back to a city called Babylon so that they could be their slaves.
Now, there is a lot of history here and I’d love to dig into it, but that’s not what a young prophet of God does when he writes about a future perfect King that would one day come and save them from their oppressors. In that moment of deep darkness and despair, Isaiah reminds his audience that God’s not done yet. He reminds them that their story is not over. He sounds a rallying call to those who would listen to him that God is still working miracles and that he is still fighting for them.
I don’t know what you are going through today, but I do know this: the same King that Isaiah wrote about over 2,000 years ago is still the same King of Kings that is running after you!
I want to remind you that your story is not over! I don’t care how old you are or how young you are. God is not done with you. God is still fighting for you. He is still pursuing you. He is still changing you. He is still saving you. He is still in control, even when everything seems SO out of control.
ATTENTION:
This should be good news to you and I today. We’ve looked at how this future perfect king is our wonderful counselor and mighty God. Today, we are going to look at how this future perfect king is our everlasting father.
You may not realize it, but Fathers or Father figures are really important.
IMPORTANCE OF FATHER FIGURES STATS
According to a recent USA Today article citing several studies focusing on the importance of fathers or father-figures in the development of a child’s life, we find that when a father or father-figure is actively involved in a child’s like, then:
1. They are less likely to be involved with the criminal justice system
2. They are more likely to delay sex
3. They do better in school
4. They stay at their job longer
5. They’re less likely to gender stereotype
NEED: It’s unfortunate, but as family structures break down and as father’s become absent or distant, so does our understanding of our Creator.
SERMON STATEMENT: The prophet Isaiah, writing over 700 years before the birth of Jesus, foretells of a future perfect king that would be unlike any king that Israel had ever had and they needed a king to come and take care of them and fix them; provide for them and protect them; love them and guide them; much like a good father does for his family.
TRANSITION: You and I need the same thing today. A father who can protect us and provide for us. A father who loves us and guides us. A father who fights for us and takes the weight off of our backs and leads us down paths that lead to peace.
Unlike Isaiah, we no longer have to wait for this future perfect king to come because he already has and his name is Jesus!
Jesus is the everlasting father that Isaiah is talking about in Isaiah 9:6. Jesus is out Everlasting Father.
READ Isaiah 9:6
6 For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
POINT #1: JESUS IS YOUR EVERLASTING FATHER
Explanation:
Isaiah is not writing about the trinity here in Isaiah 9. He most likely had no concept of God being triune, or 3-in-1. After all, he was writing about a future perfect king that would one day come and save Israel. That king did come, 700 years after Isaiah wrote these words, when Jesus, the Son of God, was born of a virgin.
READ Luke 1:26-35
26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And the angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be. 30 Then the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 Now listen: You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end.”
34 Mary asked the angel, “How can this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?”
35 The angel replied to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
The Angel is telling Mary and us today that the future perfect king that Isaiah was talking about is going to be born of a virgin, he will be great, the Son of the Most High, and he will reign on the throne of David and his kingdom will never end.
Isaiah tells us that King Jesus will be:
Wonderful Counselor
Mighty God
Everlasting Father
Prince of Peace
Isaiah giving this future perfect king “Four descriptive names [or titles] …. The first two, Wonderful Counselor (RSV) and Mighty God, deal with the character of the king. The second two, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace, refer to the character of his reign. Wisdom, power, concerned care, and peace will mark this promised deliverer.”
(James E. Carter and Peter McLeod, “Isaiah,” in The Teacher’s Bible Commentary, ed. H. Franklin Paschall and Herschel H. Hobbs (Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1972), 396.)
King Jesus is your:
Wonderful Counselor = who is perfectly wise and capable enough to make the best decision every time and can guide you through what may seem to be the darkest of valleys or deepest depression.
King Jesus is your:
Mighty God = who alone is God who gives help to those who seek him.
But, Isaiah don’t just paint King Jesus as a distant ruler who can counsel you, but also shows us that King Jesus comes alongside you to be present in your life.
Everlasting Father = This future perfect king doesn’t need protection and provision; love and comfort, training and guidance from a fatherly figure because he is the perfect father who will never walk away or become uninterested. This future perfect king is the originator of externality and gives eternality to those who follow him, submit to him, and willingly receive his love, guidance, protection, provision, and comfort.
Prince of Peace = This future perfect king doesn’t need help in bringing peace to those he is leading because he is the author of peace who not only brings us peace by removing obstacles and oppressors from outside of our lives, but also brings us peace internally by removing the barriers and hostility that separated us from our Heavenly Father.
Jesus is the only one who could do this because he is the only person in all of human history to both divine and human. This is the amazing reality we celebrate at Christmas! Not the lights, trees, decorations, or gifts; but that the God of the universe entered into his creation and became one of its so that he could purchase our freedom and bring us back into relationship with God our Heavenly Father.
Jesus Christ is the only one who could do this because:
READ Colossians 2:9
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
And even though he came over 2,000 years ago, Isaiah reminds us that he is Everlasting, or quite literally according to the Hebrew words used here, Jesus is the Father or Originator of eternity.
READ Hebrews 13:8
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Application: GOOD NEWS
This should be such good news for you and me today. Jesus is not just some great moral teacher or past prophet that offers us a guide for living a God life like some self help guru does or magazine in the grocery store checkout line would.
Jesus is there Son of God, who is the king that Isaiah predicted would come and save us from ourselves and bring us back into relational unity with God our Heaven Father.
Transition: But not only is Jesus your king, he’s also your everlasting father and Isaiah tells us what kind of father he is to us.
POINT #2: YOUR FATHER IS PRESENT
Explanation:
Quoting the prophet Isaiah, Matthew tells us that Jesus is God in the flesh who is present in our lives.
READ Matthew 1:22-23
22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 23 “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”).
Application: JESUS IS YOUR IMMANUEL
What makes Christianity so different than all other religions is that we have a God who came to us.
Some have argued that the supreme miracle of Christianity is not the resurrection of Christ from the dead but the incarnation. The beginning-less, omnipotent Creator of the universe took on a human nature without the loss of his deity, so that Jesus, the son of Joseph of Nazareth, was both fully divine and fully human. Of all the things that Christianity proclaims, this is the most staggering. J. I. Packer puts it starkly:
“God became man; the divine Son became a Jew; the Almighty appeared on earth as a helpless human baby, unable to do more than lie and stare and wriggle and make noises, needing to be fed and changed and taught to talk like any other child.… The babyhood of the Son of God was a reality. The more you think about it, the more staggering it gets. Nothing in fiction is so fantastic as is this truth of the Incarnation.”
Do you need a God who is present today?
One who is with you in the fire?
A God who sees your failures, your flaws, your fierce self-reliance and still chooses to draw near to you?
Friend, that is the God we celebrate in the Manger. The King of the universe fully submitting himself to helplessness, so that he could help you live the life you were always meant to live.
Transition: Jesus is your everlasting father, who is always present in your life even if he feels a million miles away. But not only is he a father who is present in your life; he is also a father who protects you.
POINT #3: YOUR FATHER IS A PROTECTOR
Explanation:
READ Isaiah 9:1
1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the nations, by the Way of the Sea, beyond the Jordan—
READ Isaiah 9:7
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
READ Matthew 1:21
21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
READ Isaiah 8:10
10 Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted;
propose your plan, but it will not stand,
for God is with us.
Initially this passage reminds me of a promise. It seems that God is promising to end gloom and darkness for his people and that poetic language is being used.
I love that even in the midst of deep darkness and pain, God is still working to bring about justice, redemption, light, and love to our lives and our world.
This passage reminds us that God is stubborn.
He simply refused to give up on us.
He simply refused to allow the darkness to conquer what belongs to him.
Illustration: Good fathers fight for their children.
God promises to protect you:
READ Isaiah 41:10
10 So do not fear, for I am with you;
do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you;
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
READ Psalm 34:17
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them;
he delivers them from all their troubles.
READ Isaiah 43:2
2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
God prepares you for victory:
READ Psalm 18:39
39 You armed me with strength for battle;
you humbled my adversaries before me.
READ Psalm 34:19
19 The righteous person may have many troubles,
but the Lord delivers him from them all;
God provides ways forward for you:
READ Hebrews 4:14-16
14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
READ John 10:10
10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Application: How do you need your father to protect you now?
Transition: Jesus is your everlasting father, who is always present in your life. But not only is he a father who is present in your life; he is also a father who protects you, and finally, he is a father who provides for you.
POINT #4: YOUR FATHER IS A PROVIDER
Explanation: Good fathers provide for their children:
Jesus was talking to a bunch of people one day and he telling them to not worry about their life and he was like look at the birds, they don’t store things up, they don’t have bank accounts or 401K’s, yet God provides for their needs. How much more important are you than a bird?
Jesus is reminding us of a kingdom principle that Christ followers should be the most relaxed, unworried individuals in the planet because we trust that we have a good father who actively provides for us.
READ Matthew 6:31-33
31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
I’ve seen this to be true in my life as well even. God, not only provides me with salvation and relational unity with him and others; but also takes care of my tangible needs and even the desires of my heart.
The reason I know this is because Facebook reminded of this.
SCREEN SHOTS
Three years ago, I was struggling to believe in God’s goodness and his plans for me. My wife and I had lost loved ones, I was finishing up seminary and really questioning what the future looked like. During that time, I finally figured out that I was not trusting in God, not in his ability to provide for us, instead I was trying to figure it all out on my own. That ended December 6, 2018 though, when I shared a simple prayer on Facebook that reads, “God, I believe you know what is best. I trust you with what is best. I surrender. Now, let’s get it.”
After that prayer, God started opening up doors. This position came along, we moved to NYC, and for the past two years we’ve seen God moving in you, the lives of those in our small group, in the relationships I’ve built here in East Harlem, and he’s been able to use us here. And I know that the same God who saw us through those tough times three years ago, is the same God who saw us through tough times when we first got married literally living off wedding money until he opened a door for me to get a job with a street income. I know and have faith that that same God is going to see us through these tough times that Heather and I are in.
And the same God who saw us through difficult times, is the same God who is providing for you and will continue to provide for you. The same God who opened up doors for me to get a job as a new husband is the same God who provided a way of safety for the new husband and wife, Joseph and Mary, as they protected and provided for Jesus, the Son of God.
Transition: Jesus is your everlasting father, who is always present in your life. But not only is he a father who is present in your life; he is also a father who protects and provides for you.
Conclusion/Call-to-Action
In the coming of Jesus Christ we have been given the one who fully meets the characteristics of God’s deliverer. His wisdom, power, concern, and peace have been demonstrated to all.
His kingdom is not a kingdom of the world but a kingdom of the heart entered by faith in him. It is a kingdom without end.
However originally used, these words bring joy and light to the lives of Christians. God has fulfilled his promise in the birth of a child.”
(James E. Carter and Peter McLeod, “Isaiah,” in The Teacher’s Bible Commentary, ed. H. Franklin Paschall and Herschel H. Hobbs (Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 1972), 396–397.)
Reiteration:
Jesus is your everlasting father who is present in your life, who protects you, and who provides for you.
[BAND/PRAYER]