He Will Be Called Everlasting Father Series

HE WILL BE CALLED EVERLASTING FATHER

Isaiah 9:6

God made us for eternity.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men..."

This verse seems to suggest that God has so made us, He’s so wired us, that we would be dissatisfied with life on the surface and have a deep, inner craving for that which is eternal.

We are so designed by God......that we know there is something more than this brief physical life.

We are so designed by God... that we know that we are made for something greater than time. (Read intro of Alcorn’s "Heaven")

And so...we search for this missing dimension in our lives.

Some search for this missing dimension in science.

Some search for this missing dimension in philosophy.

Some search for this missing dimension in exploration.

Some search for this missing dimension even in religion.

All of this seeking is to try to satisfy that deep thirst for the eternal.

How do we solve this tension between time and eternity?

How you solve this problem between time and eternity determines your philosophy of life, your world view.

Some people try to just do away with eternity and live only for time as they see it. I call this person a T.L.O. person. What’s a T.L.O. person you ask? This Life Only person. They live only for this life. They only believe in that which they can see.

The problem with this view is that the person who holds this view really have no depth and meaning to their lives because deep down they know that they are made for more than this life only.

If you take this view, this philosophy, to the limits what you have is "Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!"

I mean, if there is no God, if there is no eternity, then why bother to make the most of today? You might as well get it over with as soon as possible. If we are living for this life only, we are of people, to be most pitied!

Well, is there any solution to this tension between time & eternity?

Yes, there is! The answer is found in a person, the Person of Jesus Christ. And the answer is found in one of the names He is given in Isaiah 9:6... "...He will be called...Everlasting Father..."

Now if you are thinking this morning, I hope you are asking the question:

"How can Jesus Christ be called the Everlasting Father?"

After all, if He is God the Son (which He is), He cannot be God the Father, since each Person of the Godhead is separate from the other Persons, yet equally God.

God is one essence, yet 3 persons. God the Father is God, God the Son is God, God the Holy Spirit is God.

But...The Father is not the Son who is not the Holy Spirit.

God is one essence, yet 3 persons.

So how can we say that Jesus is the Everlasting Father?

Our answer comes in a proper understanding of the Hebrew word for "Father." The Old Testament Jew reading Isaiah 9:6 would understand that the use of the word "Father" would mean "originator of, author of."

So, you can see that when the prophet Isaiah uses the term "Everlasting Father" he is meaning, "the Father of that which is everlasting, that which is eternal."

So we see that Jesus Christ is the Father, the Originator of eternity.

Ah...eternity! ...a concept so vast that the human mind cannot really grasp it. You can go crazy trying to grab hold of what eternity means!

God is eternal. He has no beginning and no end.

Man, on the other hand, has a beginning, but no end.

Man will live forever...either with God, or apart from God.

Man will live forever...either in eternal glory or in eternal darkness and loneliness.

God created us for eternity and Jesus Christ came to earth to reveal how we can live with God forever. Jesus Christ revealed eternity!

1 John 1:1-2 "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us."

But, how is Jesus Christ the Father of Eternity?

We see this, first of all...

I. THROUGH HIS BIRTH

When Jesus Christ was born, eternity invaded time.

This was no temporary visit!

When Jesus Christ was born, He brought together time and eternity into one!

The Eternal Word was made human flesh...forever!

A classic, theologically orthodox description of Jesus Christ is this: