Sermon #34 Series: Isaiah

Title: His Name Is The Everlasting Father

Text: Isaiah 9:6

Subject: Christ’s Fatherly Character To His People

Date: Sunday Evening - January 28, 1990

Tape #

Introduction:

The complex Person of our Lord Jesus Christ is a mystery no man can comprehend, much less explain. In this one verse of Holy Scripture the prophet Isaiah declares that he is a “child” and a “counselor”, a “Prince” and a “King”, a “son” and “the Everlasting Father”. He is not making contradictions. He is not proclaiming a paradox. The prophet of God is declaring the great mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh. He is telling us who the Lord Jesus Christ is. Though he came into this world as an infant, he is the infinite God. Though he was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, he is the Mighty God and the Prince of Peace. And though he is from eternity the Son given to redeem his people, he is the Everlasting Father. “So deep is the mystery of the Person of our Lord that he must reveal himself to us or we shall never know him. He is not discovered by research nor discerned by reason” - (C.H. Spurgeon). Flesh and blood has not revealed him unto us. He is known only by divine revelation. “When it pleased God,” Paul wrote, he revealed his Son in me (Gal. 1:15). Another disciple asked the question, “Lord how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us?” (John 14:22).

You cannot know Christ except by special, supernatural, divine revelation. I speak not of an outward, visionary revelation, but of an inward spiritual revelation. Christ must be revealed in you, through the preaching of the gospel, by the grace and power of God the Holy Spirit (John 14:26; 16:8-14; I Cor. 2:11-14). Christ is the Light; but only he can give you light. Christ is the Door; but only he can open the door. Christ is the Way; but only he can put you in the way. Christ is the Truth; but only he can teach you the truth. Christ is Life; but only he can give you life. Christ is the One we must see; but only he can enable us to see. Yes, we must look to him if we would live. But he alone can cause the blind to see. If we would know the Savior, he must reveal himself to us.

Let us therefore, if we truly desire to understand that most excellent of all things, if we would understand Christ crucified, let us ask the Lord himself to be our Teacher tonight. May he give us grace, like Mary, to sit at his feet and learn of him. Let this be our prayer, that we may know him, for to know him is life eternal. Let it be our desire to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, “for to be taught of him is to be wise unto salvation.”

My subject tonight is His Name, The Everlasting Father. What does God, the Holy Spirit, mean for us to understand by this name, here given to our adorable Redeemer?

Let it be established clearly in your mind that our text is not describing the relation of Christ to the other Persons of the Triune Godhead. The prophet is not here talking about the character of Christ as God. He is describing the character of Christ in his messianic offices. He is describing Christ’s mediatorial relationship to his people. It is essential that we understand this. Isaiah is not here declaring the doctrine of the Trinity, confusing the Three Persons of the eternal Godhead. There are three distinct Persons in the Holy Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And these three Persons, in one glorious Being, are our God (I John 5:7). We do not worship one God revealed by three different names. Neither do we worship three Gods. But we worship One God in three Persons, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. In this text Isaiah is giving a prophecy of the incarnation of Christ the Son of God. He is describing the relation of the incarnate God man to us.

Proposition: In this mediatorial character the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity is to us “The Everlasting Father.”

Divisions: In this name given to and properly worn by our blessed Savior, “The Everlasting Father,” there is an abundance of instruction and consolation for all who have ears to hear. Our text divides itself into three parts.

1. The Lord Jesus is Everlasting.

2. The Son of God is A Father to His Elect.

3. Our Divine Savior is “The Everlasting Father.”

I. First, I want to remind you of the fact that THE LORD JESUS CHRIST IS EVERLASTING.

We sing our Savior’s praise with David, “Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever” (Ps. 45:6). This is a theme of great joy to our hearts. That One who is our Savior is everlasting. He is the same, yesterday, and today, and forever (Heb. 13:8). Christ is “Him which is, and which was, and which is to come.” Let every ransomed sinner rejoice - Our Redeemer is Everlasting! But what does that mean?

A. When Isaiah declares that Christ is everlasting, he means for us to understand four things.

1. Our Lord Jesus is from Everlasting.

He has not origin. He has no beginning. He always was. In his priesthood, he is like Melchisedec, “Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days, nor end of life” (Heb. 7:3). There was never a time when the Son of God began to be. He always was (John 1:1; Pro. 8:23-31; John 8:58).

Ere the blue heavens were stretched abroad,

From everlasting was the Word;

With God He was; the Word was God,

And must divinely be adored.

From everlasting Christ stood with God, one with him in eternal deity. And from everlasting he stood as our Mediator, covenant surety, and blessed Redeemer.

· He loved us with an everlasting love.

· He chose us in everlasting grace.

· He predestined us to an everlasting inheritance.

· He redeemed us with everlasting blood.

Christ, the child born, the Son given, is from everlasting (Col. 1:14-17).

2. As our Lord was from everlasting, He is now.

Jesus Christ died. Thank God, he did! But he is not dead. Thank God, he is not dead. He is alive forever! He is gone to heaven. But he is not gone. We do not now see him. But he lives in heaven above. He sits forever upon the right hand of the Majesty on high. Our Savior lives. This the foundation of our comfort. “Because I live, ye shall live also,” is our Savior’s word to us. “Thy years are throughout all generations” - (Ps. 102:25-27; Heb. 4:14-16).

I serve a risen Savior, He’s in the world today;

I know that He is living, whatever men may say.

I see His hand of mercy, I hear His voice of cheer;

And just the time I need Him, He’s always near.

He lives! He lives! Christ Jesus lives today!

3. As he was from everlasting, and is now, he shall always be.

Though he is the ancient of days, our Savior has the dew of youth. When the burning sun grows dim with age, when the stars of heaven cease to shine, when the earth melts with a fervent heat, our Lord Jesus Christ shall yet be everlasting.

4. And, because he is everlasting, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, is immutable (Heb. 13:8).

We draw living waters from this deep well. Christ, the everlasting One, never changes. What he was, he always is, and forever shall be. Christ is everlasting and unchangeable in all his…

· Attributes.

· Offices.

· Grace.

· Power.

· Willingness to save, comfort, forgive, protect, and crown his chosen people.

B. This name, “The Everlasting Father,” might be translated, “The Father of Eternity.”

We sometimes call a man the father of that which he possesses in great abundance. A very wise man might be called “the father of wisdom.” A foolish man might be called “the father of folly.” Because Christ pre-eminently possessed eternity, he is here called “The Father of Eternity.” No language could more forcibly declare the eternality of Christ than this. He is not the child of eternity, but the Father of it. Eternity did not bring him forth. He brought forth eternity.

In the highest possible sense, Isaiah declares that our Lord Jesus Christ is everlasting. He is the Everlasting Father, the Father of Eternity! He lives forever. He is alive now.

· To save His elect.

· To care for His people.

· To comfort His disciples.

· And He invites us to come to Him.

II. Secondly, our text declares that THE SON OF GOD IS A FATHER TO HIS ELECT.

We rejoice to know that he is everlasting. But the sweetness of the text is that Christ is everlasting as a Father to his people. Christ is a Father to us in a fivefold sense.

A. The Father is the legal representative of His family.

Our society has so perverted things that today a mother may be looked upon as the legal representative of the family. But man’s perversions do not change God’s decrees. We were not represented in the garden by our mother Eve, but by our father Adam. And as Adam was our father, our legal representative in the covenant of works, Christ is our Father, our legal representative in the covenant of grace (I Cor. 15:22; Rom. 5:12-19). Christ represented us before God…

1. In His Life of Righteousness.

2. In His Death of Atonement.

3. In His Resurrection and Exaltation.

4. In His Glorious Intercession.

B. The founder of a thing is called the father of it.

Illus: George Washington - The Father of our

Country.

Jubal - The Father of Musicians.

Jabal - The Father of Nomads.

Freud - The Father of Modern Psychology.

1. Christ is the Father of Christianity.

2. Christ is the Father of the Gospel Age.

3. Christ is the Father of Revealed Truth.

C. The Father is the one who gives life to his offspring.

Christ is the Father of all believers in the sense that he is the one who gives life to his people (John 5:25).

1. By His Word.

2. By His Spirit.

D. This term, “The Everlasting Father,” applies to Christ as the Father of the Everlasting Age.

In fact, some translations render the text in just that way, “The Father of the Everlasting Age.”

E. And our Lord Jesus is here called a Father, because He exercises the office of a Father toward His people.

Illus: According to ancient Jewish custom, in the absence of the father, the oldest son in the family became responsible to exercise the father’s office over the household - In this sense too Christ is our

Father (John 14:18).

III. Thirdly, I want us to rejoice in the fact that OUR DIVINE SAVIOR IS THE EVERLASTING FATHER.

He is the everlasting Father. I mean to say, he will never cease to be a Father to us. He will never relinquish or vacate his office as the Father of an elect race.

A. Christ, The Everlasting Father, will never die or become childless - He will never lose one of His children (John 10:28).

B. Christ, The Everlasting Father, is the founder of a kingdom which shall never end.

C. Christ, The Everlasting Father, is the giver of everlasting life.

D. Christ, The Everlasting Father, shall bestow upon us an everlasting inheritance.

Application: Who is your father?

· Abraham? The Jews trusted their pedigree.

· Adam? Do you trust your works?

· The Devil? “Ye are of your father, the devil.”

· Christ - The Everlasting Father.