“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”
One day in a small hamlet named Bethlehem of Judea, in a place used for sheltering livestock at night, a young woman laid down presumably on some clean hay, perhaps covered over with a blanket or some other clean piece of cloth, and gave birth to a little boy child.
None of these circumstances were necessarily out of the norm for the day other than the humiliation of having to give birth and be born in a stable rather than a comfortable bed in a warm house. But there is something that onlookers could not have perceived with their eyes in this scene which has the greatest of significance for all, even now over 2000 years later.
It is that this little baby boy, wrapped tightly in strips of cloth and laying in his bed of straw, entirely dependant on His mother for nourishment and love and protection, had come there of His own initiative, sent, to be sure, by Another, but having come into this world according to a plan and purpose and to fulfill a role He had willingly taken upon Himself before time began.
“CHRIST BEFORE THE MANGER”
I want to pause and tell you here, that for this sermon I have relied heavily upon the work of Ron Rhodes, a regular participant on ‘The Bible Answer Man’ radio program and associate of the Christian Research Institute. He wrote a book titled, Christ Before the Manger, and I have borrowed from his outline and portions of his chapters in the construction of my sermon. I will not copy his words unless otherwise stated within the body of this message – if I were to do that I might as well just read you the book. But it is a scholarly work designed to teach the theology of the eternality of Christ, and as he has done the work for me I draw with appreciation from what he has put together. (CHRIST BEFORE THE MANGER, Ron Rhodes, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, 1992)
WHEN DID TIME BEGIN?
Scripture does not make any distinct statements in reference to time as it relates to the eternality of God. We do get some glimpses in passages that refer to God, through the Son, creating the world. In some translations the word ‘universe’ is used instead of ‘world’. The literal translation of it is ‘the ages’. Scholars differ on the exact meaning of that also, but most accept the term ‘the ages’ to mean all of the created universe and the ages of time itself.
In his book, “Christian Theology”, Millard J. Erickson points out that Christian and philosopher of the 5th century, Augustine taught that the universe was not created in time, but that time itself was created along with the universe. Then the author quotes theologian Louis Berkhof, saying:
“It would not be correct to assume that time was already in existence when God created the world, and that He at some point in that existing time, called ‘the beginning’ brought forth the universe. The world was created with time rather than in time. Back of the beginning mentioned in Genesis 1:1 lied a beginningless eternity.” Louis Berkhof, Manual of Christian Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1983) p. 96
It would make no sense, really, to think that the concept of time would have existed prior to creation. When God was all there was, and He has always been, what would have been the use of counting increments of moments?
No, time was created in the creation, for man and for God’s plan of redemption, and time will end when there are finally only God and His everlasting beings, born of the Holy Spirit and glorified before His throne in that place where the righteous dwell in righteousness.
Having said all that then, I want to draw your attention to a title used of Christ in the passage I’ve chosen for our text today. “His name will be called…Eternal Father…” Have you ever read this passage and wondered to yourself why this term would be used of the Son?
In what way can the Son, distinct in Person from the Father, be referred to as “Eternal Father” – or as it is rendered in some translations, “Everlasting Father”?
Well we begin with seeing that the best translation of the text here is ‘Father of Eternity’. In numerous places in Scripture, referring to someone as ‘Father of’ shows possession.
For example, Albert Barnes in his commentary on Isaiah points out that it is custom in Hebrew and also Arabic that someone who possesses something is called the father of it. “Thus, the father of strength means strong; the father of knowledge, intelligent; the father of glory, glorious.” Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament – Isaiah (Grand Rapids; Baker Book House, 1977) p. 193
Therefore the reference to the Messiah as “Father of Eternity” is fitting, since as Creator, the Word who was with God in the beginning and through whom all things were made (John 1:1-3) is owner and possessor of all things including time itself. Father of time. Father of eternity.
THE PREEXISTENT CHRIST – From Eternity
Two terms used of Christ are ‘self-existent’ and ‘immutable’, which means unchangeable and unchanging. Saying Christ is self-existent does not mean He made Himself; it means He exists uncaused. What can be also said of the Father and the Holy Spirit is true of the second Person of the Trinity, the Son. In the gospel record Jesus referred to Himself on several occasions as “I AM”, the same term used of God to Moses in the Exodus. Jesus’ hearers knew that to be a claim to Deity. He calls Himself ‘I AM’, because in God there is no past or future; He simply ‘is’.
If we can grasp this concept of His eternal self-existence, then we can understand why He is also unchanging – immutable – since any degree of change whatsoever takes time, and if He exists outside the confines of time and eternally ‘is’, then how could He possibly change. God cannot change. Therefore it is a great comfort to us to be told that the government will rest on His shoulder.
We all know what it is like to live in a society governed by shaky, vulnerable, whimsical, self-absorbed and greedy human beings.
Many people sadly know what it is like to live in societies governed by evil, even murderous individuals who set themselves up as the ultimate, dictatorial authority and from day to day kill or let live, according to their mood or how their stomach feels in the morning.
The preexistent and everlasting Christ has been given all authority in Heaven and on earth and under the earth (Matt 28:18) and He must reign until His enemies be made a footstool for His feet (1 Cor 15:25), and the kingdom of this world will become the kingdom of God’s Christ (Rev 11:15) and forever and forever the government of eternity shall rest on Him, and we are safe and secure under His reign and rule.
There are three more terms used of God familiar to most of us; they are Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent. The prefix ‘Omni’ means ‘all’, and we understand that above all of His creation in heaven or in the created universe, God in three Persons is all-present, all-knowing and all-powerful.
I think that most people tend to think that because Jesus in His incarnation could only be in one place at a time, He had to leave omnipresence to the Father and the Holy Spirit until He got back home. But His omnipresence is not contradicted by the fact that He took on flesh and lived in time. While He was here on earth in the body He was also omnipresent in His deity.
There are New Testament examples of this. In John 1:47 and following is the account of Jesus’ first meeting with Nathaniel.
Jesus indicated that He had intimate personal knowledge of Nathaniel’s character, and when Nathaniel asked how He knew him Jesus said, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you”. Physically He was nowhere near Nathaniel, but in His omnipresence He was with Nathaniel.
Something struck me as humorous as I was contemplating this meeting with Nathaniel and what Jesus said to him. If Jesus was with him in His omnipresence and ‘saw’ him under the fig tree before Philip called, then He was also present and hearing when Nathaniel sarcastically asked, “Can any good thing come from Nazareth?” Maybe that’s why Jesus called him, “An Israelite indeed, in whom there is no guile!” I think Jesus likes a straightforward speaker.
There are further Scriptural evidences of Jesus being omnipresent. He promised His disciples He would be with them to the end of the world. He said that wherever two or more gather in His name He will be in their midst. Although Jesus is with the Father, now in His glorified body, He is still everywhere and in every believer.
Someone would argue, ‘isn’t it the Holy Spirit who is in the believer?’ The answer would be that He is also called the Spirit of Christ. Jesus told His disciples on the night of His arrest that when He went to the Father He would ask the Father to send another comforter, One exactly like Himself, who would be with them forever. It would be error to say that the Holy Spirit is with us but Jesus is in Heaven only. The three Persons of the Godhead are everywhere present, always.
Jesus is all-knowing. Even during His incarnation He demonstrated knowledge of things that only One preexisting and divine could know. He said repeatedly that He came into the world to do the Father’s will. He said the Father sent Him. So He had personal knowledge of eternity past.
Jesus knew what was in the secret thoughts and even in the heart of men, as is stated several times by the Gospel writers telling of His confrontations with the Pharisees.
Jesus knew the details leading up to, during and after His arrest, torture, crucifixion and resurrection. He told His disciples very plainly what was going to happen to Him, and though evil men thought they were in control and in charge they only carried out the plan Jesus had full knowledge of before the events occurred; things He, as God decreed and declared.
Christ was omnipotent. The wind and the waves obeyed His voice. He dispatched demons from one place to another and they could not refuse Him. He superceded time and nature and turned plain water into quality wine without so much as a word but just because He willed it, and He did the same with some scraps of fish and small loaves of bread.
When evil men came to the Garden to arrest Him Jesus asked who they were coming for and when they said “Jesus of Nazareth” He responded with “I AM” and a small army of armed men fell at once backward to the ground.
So the Old Testament calls the future Messiah, “Mighty God”, and having now known Jesus we say, “Amen, He is Mighty God, and we are in the palm of His hand and nothing can snatch us from His hand. Praise the Lord!”
The prophet also calls Him ‘Wonderful Counselor’. What confidence that should give the believer to follow Him in absolute trust and obedience, since He is the sovereign and perfect God.
He sits at the right hand of the Father, as Peter writes, ‘with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him’ 1 Pet 3:22
He is King of kings and Lord of lords to whom one day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord, to the glory of the Father.
He is the perfect Judge who reigns over all and His every word is true and comes to pass under His divine wisdom and authority.
THE PREEXISTENT CHRIST – In time
Now in talking about the preexistent Christ in time, there is a point I must make clear that slightly alters something I have often taught in the past. I have on occasion said that in His incarnation, Christ temporarily laid aside the independent exercise of His divine attributes and became entirely dependant on the Father. Hence His statements that He could do nothing except what the Father showed Him and only said the things the Father gave Him to say.
In failing to go deeper to explain that it occurs to me that I may have caused some misunderstanding.
What we must understand is that Jesus was fully man and fully God. He was never less than God because He took on the form of a servant. God cannot stop being God, nor could the incarnation nullify any attribute or characteristic of the divine. This goes back to His immutability which we discussed previously. God cannot change.
Jesus made Himself submissive to the Father for our example and also to demonstrate the eternal unity and purpose of the Godhead; but the temporary non-use of some of His divine attributes does not signify that He for a time did not possess those attributes.
Hence, we see in Him some of the things we’ve already discussed – seeing Nathaniel under the fig tree – knowing men’s thoughts and the intentions of their hearts – commanding the spirit world – knowing in detail what would happen to Him in His death and resurrection – and of course all of the many miracles Jesus performed; some of them done from a distance, some requiring creative powers.
The intentional non-use of some of His divine attributes was for the purpose of walking this earth and identifying Himself with mankind. We would not have a High Priest who could sympathize with our weakness if He had used supernatural attributes to avoid the weaknesses of the flesh. Jesus never used His divine power to make Himself more comfortable or to avoid unpleasant confrontations. When crowds wanted to throw Him off a cliff or take Him by force to make Him king, or when the religious elite in Solomon’s Portico attempted to surround Him and trap Him there, Jesus used His power to walk through their midst and avoid them; but He only did it because in His omniscience He knew it was not yet His time and that it was not according to the divine plan that He either become King or to die until God’s ordained time and circumstances.
But when it was time to die, He did so deliberately because He is the Prince of Peace, come to make peace between men and God and between men and men.
14 For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, Eph 2:14
20 and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. Col 1:20
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, Romans 5:1
5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 1 Tim 2:5
And when I say He died deliberately, I do not only mean that He surrendered Himself deliberately to His executioners, I mean He died on purpose. Remember, through sin came death and Jesus has no sin and no sin nature.
To the Pharisees He said,
17 “For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down My life so that I may take it again. 18 “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father.” Jn 10:17-18
And on the cross, when all was fulfilled – all prophecy, all of His obedience to the Father’s will – He cried triumphantly, “It is finished!” and then, “Father, into your hands I commit My spirit” and He deliberately died to the amazement of the soldiers and officials standing around – not that they were aware He had died deliberately, but they were amazed He was dead so soon.
Then we know that our Great High Priest, having borne our sins away forever, entered into the glory He had with the Father before the world and time began, and…
…He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; 12 and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. Heb 9:11-12
HIS VIRGIN BIRTH
Now I just want to say a few words about His virgin birth before we close today.
First of all, it was foretold and prearranged; in fact, He was one of the planners. Isn’t that amazing? No one in this world can say that they had anything at all to do with their birth. From conception to delivery no one has ever had awareness or control of any part in their own entry into this world.
But the pre-incarnate Christ began from the moment of the Fall of man to put the process of His coming and His birth into motion. He announced to the serpent in the presence of the man and the woman that her seed would crush the serpent’s head.
Then in Genesis 26:4 He said to Abraham
“I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, and will give your descendants all these lands; and by your descendants all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;” once again predicting His own human birth.
Through the prophet Micah He foretold His place of birth. Then again through Isaiah He declared that He would be born of a virgin (7:14).
And Christ before the manger, the preexisting Christ, gave the prophet words to say, and the prophet faithfully wrote them down.
“For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us”. Thus the preexisting Christ foretold and prearranged His own birth.
Then one day He commanded one of His archangels, Gabriel by name, and this is what He said. . “Go to earth, Gabriel, and more specifically, to a town in Galilee. A particular town named Nazareth. There you will find a man named Joseph who is a descendant of King David, and he is engaged to a young virgin named Mary. Go to her...”
Oh, listen folks; God has you zeroed in! You’re not just a number to Him. Not just one of the many. If you’re His, you are being shaped and molded to perfectly fit the work He has for you to do, and the glory He has in store.
And He doesn’t need any homing-device to locate you. He knows right were you are, both physically and spiritually!
So the pre-incarnate Christ said, “Go to her and give her this message”:
‘Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.
And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son,
and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom
will have no end.”
This declaration is repeated again in our text verses with the triumphal finish, “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.”
I want to read the closing paragraph of Rhode’s chapter on the subject of the virgin birth.
“All of this – Jesus’ incarnation and subsequent death on the cross – was part of the outworking of God’s colossal plan of salvation that was conceived in eternity past. Christ’s birth as a babe therefore had cosmic dimensions, far beyond what any human being could have ever conceived. Because he became human and died for us, we who believe in Him shall dwell with Him forever. Praise be to our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ!” IBID
So there He was and there we find Him. Helpless babe, lying in a feeding trough, making His entrance into time and physical space accompanied by a special star and the declaration of angels, visited by kings, already hated by evil men, ‘born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth’.
The preexisting Christ, uncaused and with no beginning, existing co-equal with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, who needed nothing and as God was perfectly self-fulfilled and self-sustained and shared a perfect divine love known only in and among the Persons of the Godhead; but for you and for me and for all who believe, and for the everlasting glory of the Father, in the zeal of divine righteousness, ‘emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’ Phil 2:7-11
“Christ, by highest heav’n adored,
Christ, the everlasting Lord;
Late in time, behold Him come,
Offspring of a virgin’s womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail th’incarnate Deity!
Pleased as Man with men to dwell,
Jesus, our Immanuel.”
-Charles Wesley
Oh, come; let us adore Him!
