ADVENT FOUR PART SERIES - 3. Everlasting Father

'AND HE SHALL BE CALLED...'

3. Everlasting Father

Whereas a human can be a father, only God is or can be everlasting. So again, in this name that Isaiah gives to Christ, there is an element that is human and another that is divine. The name Everlasting Father is another indication of the coming Saviour being both God and man.

Everlasting

God always has been. He existed before anything, (including time), were created. Virtually all the gods of Canaan and indeed Mesopotamia were images created by man from wood or clay, silver or gold. Very early on, as God began to reveal himself to Abraham, Abraham realised that his God was superior to those worshipped around him: his God had not been created but had always existed. 'Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba, and there he called upon the Lord, the eternal God.' Genesis 21:33. As God revealed more about himself to succeeding generations, they would eventually realise that the gods of other nations were not in fact gods at all, and that there was but one God.

'Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Amen and Amen,' says Psalm 41:13, indicating God's existence before time began, beyond the end of time, and indeed beyond time itself. 'Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God,' Psalm 90:2.

Jesus acknowledged his pre-existence, in his response to the questions that the religious Jews threw at him, when he exclaimed, 'I tell you the truth, before Abraham was born, I am!' John 8:58. And again in John 17:5 he stated, 'And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began.' In Isaiah 44:6 we read, 'This is what the Lord says – Israel's King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and the last, apart from me there is no God.' Whilst in Revelation 22:13, it is Jesus who says, 'I am the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.'

Of his three persons, it was through the person of Christ Jesus that God created the world, (John 1:1-3, Colossians 1:16-17). Indeed, all the three persons of the Trinity were involved, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness........' Genesis 1:26. (Another reference to the one God being more than one person can also seen in Genesis 11:7).

Father

This can seem a little difficult as it is the first person of the Trinity who has the designation Father, a designation clearly recognised by Jesus. Jesus spoke of his Father as a distinctly different person to himself, 'I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father,' John 16:28. So what is meant when Isaiah refers to Christ as Everlasting Father, when all the references to him that we have in the New Testament are of him being the Son of God, as distinct from God the Father?

The term father is a human one and refers to a male parent of a child. In referring to the first person in the Trinity as his Father, Jesus depicted someone who is both all powerful yet loving, someone that he had an intimate and very close relationship with, so close that he could say, 'If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well'....'Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father,' John 14:7,9. And in John 10:30 he also stated, 'I and the Father are one.' In Jesus we see the Father, his attributes, his nature and character. The qualities of God's Fatherhood are seen in Jesus. He is father-like in his love and care of the children that he adopted into his family through his death on the cross.

The term father can also be used as a title for an instigator, a founder or an originator. Mahatma Ghandi is widely considered to be the father of the nation of India; George Washington - the USA, and Nelson Mandela - South Africa. Galileo Galilei is considered by many to be the father of modern astronomy, Gregor Mendel - modern genetics and Sir George Cayley – flight. Isaac Watts is often referred to as the father of English Hymnology.

Jesus was the founder of our faith. It is through Jesus we are reconciled to God. It is he who was lifted up to draw all men to himself and be the father, instigator, originator of the New Testament Church. He is the instigator of the new and everlasting covenant between man and God. He is an everlasting father, providing everlasting blessings, of glory, honour and peace, (Romans 2:10) on his children. Clothing us in the everlasting raiment of his righteousness, (2 Corinthians 5:21, Revelation 3:5), giving us everlasting salvation, (John 5:24), and encompassing us in his everlasting love, (Jeremiah 31:3, Psalm 136, John 15:9, Romans 8:35).

'Thanks be to God for his indescribable NIV, (unspeakable KJV, inexpressible RSV, too wonderful for words NLT) gift!' 2 Corinthians 9:15. May there be those who are blown away this Christmas on discovering and receiving this most fantastic of all gifts - Jesus!

Major Howard Webber (retired)
Bournemouth, UK