In the previous chapters, we have been looking at Isaiah 9:6, one of the most Christmas-centric prophecies in the Old Testament. It is not too much for us to think of Jesus as a “Wonderful Counselor” or “Mighty God. But what does the reader make of calling the “child to be born to us” our “Everlasting Father”? The title feels a bit like the riddle: "Brothers and sisters have I none. That man's father is my father's son.” What does it mean that Jesus, the Son of God, is our “Father of all eternity”? The answer is found in His heavenly identity and His earthly ministry.
First notice that the title “Everlasting Father” connects Jesus in the Trinity. This crucial, historic doctrine of the Christian faith is one of the most difficult theological concepts to comprehend. It declares that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are co-equal in nature, but distinct in their persons. What is true of one is true of all three. So, while Jesus is not the Father or the Spirit, He shares all the same attributes. In John 14:9-10, Jesus said, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” and “I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” Jesus wasn’t saying that He is the Father, but that what is in God the Father is also in Him and vice versa. Again, in John 10:30 He affirmed, “I and the Father are one.”
This isn’t mere theological reflection. It means that the eternal God came to us. Seeing our desperate need to be rescued from sin, God didn’t dispatch an archangel or some earthly hero-warrior. God came personally to deal decisively with our problem and provide a way back to Him. In 1738, Charles Wesley penned the wonder of this great truth in his hymn “And Can It Be,”
And can it be that I should gain
An int'rest in the Savior's blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! how can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?
A GOOD, GOOD FATHER
Calling Jesus our “Everlasting Father” doesn’t end there, however. The title also anticipates His loving ministry. The Jews would not have usually referred to God as “Father.” The fatherhood of God appears in the Old Testament, but not frequently. So, when Jesus began His model prayer with “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9), it would have caught the attention of His hearers. This fatherliness helps us to appreciate how Jesus relates to us.
For example, just as a father has compassion on the difficulties facing their children (Psalm 103:13), so Jesus was moved with compassion when He saw the needs of crowds and individuals (Mark 6:34, Matthew 20:34). After healing a woman of her bleeding, Jesus even referred to her as “daughter” (Mark 5:34) and, raising a little girl from the dead, He called her “my child” (Luke 8:54). Jesus feels the depth of hurt we feel. Like a father, he longs for us to be whole.
Similarly, just as a father teaches His children, so Jesus came to show us the truth (John 14:6). Everywhere He travelled, Jesus taught the crowds and amazed many with His teaching. Because Christ is the “treasure of all wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3), He offers us practical insight on how to live with God and one another.
Also, like a father is patient with his children, so Jesus deals patiently with people. We see His patience with the woman at the well who had multiple marriages, with the fearful disciples struggling at the oars in a violent storm on the sea, with Peter lopping off the ear of a servant in the Garden of Gethsemane, and with the failure of many to believe that He had been raised from the dead. Rather than grow exasperated, Jesus bore with great patience the ignorance, faithlessness, impulsiveness and fears of people. He still does.
Like a father, Jesus sacrificed Himself for His children. All earthly fathers would gladly trade their life to ease the suffering of their children. In the same way, Jesus took on our failure and sin and bore the brunt of justice so that we could live. He did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).
Finally, like every good father, Jesus defends His children. He knows that we are bullied by the enemy throughout life and He is ready to come to our rescue. Because Jesus is eternal—without beginning or end—He guarantees His people life beyond death, not a vacant annihilation as some suggest. And, because He lives forever, Jesus sits at the Father’s right hand advocating for His people as their Great High Priest (Hebrews 7:25). John writes, “My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1 John 2:1).
The chorus of a contemporary worship song declares, “You’re a good, good Father. Yes, You are, yes You are.” We know that God the Father is good to us because of what God the Son did in His ministry. Jesus proves that He is our Everlasting Father in loving us like a good father does.