Sermon
delivered on December 18th, 2016
Morning Service
By: Pastor Greg Hocson
Scripture Text: Isaiah 9:1-7
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 endthe One Who is and Who was and Who is to comethe
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 itselfindeed,
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!