SERIES: ALL I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS…
“SOMEONE TO PROVIDE FOR ME”
(adapted from a sermon by Dave Stone)
ISAIAH 9:6-7
OPEN
A mother and daughter are Christmas shopping in the mall when the mother finds an expensive fur coat. She tells her daughter: “This year, I think I will go ahead and buy my present instead making you and Dad shop for me.” The daughter says that she agrees.
The mom says, “I think this fur coat would be the perfect gift.” The daughter protests, “But Mom, some helpless, poor creature had to suffer so you could have this fur coat.”
The mom replies, “Don’t worry, Honey. Your father won’t get the bill for a couple of weeks.”
Over the last several weeks, we’ve been in the series, “All I Want for Christmas…” It’s based on the prophecy found in Is. 9:6-7 – “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this.” The prophet Isaiah wrote those words some seven hundred years before the shepherds found the baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
We’ve looked at Jesus as the Wonderful Counselor – someone to advise me. Last week we saw Him as the Mighty God – someone to save me. Today we want to take a closer look at Jesus as the Everlasting Father.
What a confusing title for the Son of God. It seems strange and unique that Isaiah says that this baby will grow and be called, “The Eternal Father”. Charles Spurgeon put it well when he said, “How complex is the person of our Lord Jesus Christ! Almost in the same breath the prophet calls Him a ‘Child,’ a ‘Counselor,’ a ‘Son,’ and ‘The Everlasting Father.’ This is no contradiction, and to us scarcely a paradox, but it is a mighty marvel that He who was an infant should at the same time be infinite. He who was the Man of Sorrows should
also be God over all, blessed forever. And He who is in the Divine Trinity always called the Son, should
nevertheless be correctly called ‘The Everlasting Father.’”
The term “Father” is not to be confused with God the Father necessarily, but instead refers to the enduring, compassionate, fatherly care of the Messiah to his people. A good father is a good provider.
Recently I wasn’t feeling real well and so Anna took me to the doctor. After the examination the doctor pulled Anna off to the side and whispered to her, “I don’t like the way your husband looks.”
And she said, “Neither do I but he’s always been a good provider!”
Jesus said in Mt. 7:9-11 – “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks
for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”
Let’s look together this morning at some important things that Jesus provides for us. My prayer is that this message will bring you closer to Christ and will give you tools to live your life for His glory.
HE PROVIDES NOURISHMENT
One of the things that bugs is trying to determine where to go eat. Do I want Mexican or Chinese? Do I want fast-food or home-style cooking? Do I want pizza or just something light? One of the things we’ll do as a family following our worship service this morning is to decide where we’re going to eat. There’s so much to from which to choose. One thing I know is that if I don’t eat, I can get sick and die. My body needs nourishment.
Another thing my body needs is hydration. I can last a lot longer without food than I can without water. Water is a necessary component for life.
The human body is ⅔ water. By the time you’re 70 years old, your body will have required the use of 1 ½ million gallons of water. If you loose 2% of your body’s water supply, your energy will decrease by 20%. A 10% decrease in water, you will be unable to walk, and a 20% decrease – you’re dead.
Food and water are vital for you to continue living. Our physical being can’t live without them. The same is true of our spiritual being. We need spiritual nourishment to continue to be spiritually alive. Jesus is our food and water for spiritual nourishment.
In Jn. 6:35, Jesus said, ““I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
In John 4, Jesus is talking to a Samaritan woman by a well. They are discussing water. In Jn. 4:13-14, Jesus tells the woman, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
HE PROVIDES REST
When I was in my first semester as a freshman at Milligan College, I got a little overextended. I was taking 20 hours of class work. I was in five different performing groups. And I was in the Fall musical – Fiddler on the Roof. It was physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually taxing.
After musical rehearsal in Seeger Chapel, I would walk to the other side of campus to Webb Hall – my dormitory. I was so tired that I had to stop half-way and take a nap before I could continue the journey back to my dorm room. I was exhausted. I needed rest!
I think that we get ourselves in over our heads many times. Sometimes it’s by our own choice but sometimes not. The obligations of work, family, community service, duties at church all begin to pile up. We are tired and we need rest. Not just physical rest but spiritual rest.
In Mt. 11:28-29, Jesus gives this invitation – “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
HE PROVIDES SECURITY
A good earthly father will always provide security. He works so there is enough to eat, there are clothes and there is shelter. He provides security through love and living a life of integrity. Home is a safe place. There is total security there because the Father is there. That’s why you have a sense of security.
Several years back, our armed forces were hunting for Saddam Hussein. For years he was a man that found his security in material possessions. He had dozens of palaces. And yet, he was basically found living in an underground cave, a spider hole, for fear of capture and death.
What a contrast. For many of us, it’s just the opposite. We may have started out with very little but in the end when we get to Heaven we will wind up with the riches of a king because of what our Everlasting Father provides for us. Sometimes I think we forget that.
This time of year in November and December the suicide rate can dramatically increase. People forget the truth that there is a Father in Heaven who wants to provide for them. Instead they listen to Satan’s whispers.
Your Everlasting Father promises to provide for you in all areas of your life, but you must take Him at His word and trust Him. He says that He will never leave you nor forsake you.
Think of it as a little child would. If the father takes their responsibility seriously they pour into the life of
their son or daughter. As a result the child doesn’t worry about what they will be having for dinner tomorrow or
they don’t worry about the two day drive to grandma’s house for the Holidays or where they will spend the night on that trip. They don’t worry about that. They feel secure because of their father. They just trust that dad has it under control and under-girding it all is this incredible sense of security.
HE PROVIDES SALVATION
Dec. 7, 1941 was declared to be the “day which will live in infamy” by Franklin Delano Roosevelt. It was the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and drew the United States into WWII.
That Sunday morning, two waves of planes descended on Pearl Harbor and destroyed 8 ships, 200+ planes, and took 2,403 lives. Numerous sailors were trapped in their ships at Pearl Harbor and there was no way to rescue most of them. Rescuers were able to save 32 of the men from the capsized battleship Oklahoma but the others were not reachable.
On the night after the attack, a sailor by the name of Louis Grabinski from Erie, PA was sent to the battleship West Virginia as a sentry. He heard the sound of men beating on the hull from below and reported it to his superiors. The trapped men were abandoned because of the overwhelming difficulties in trying to rescue them. These men were not the only ones trapped alive in the hulls of the severely damaged ships. Many of these men lived for two weeks or longer. Some even survived until Christmas. Eventually they suffocated, died of thirst, or starved to death.
Isn’t it horrible to know that someone needs to be saved but you know there isn’t a thing you can do to help? You just have to stand by helplessly and take in their helpless situation.
God knew our need for salvation but He certainly was not helpless or hopeless about what to do. He sent part of Himself to a young virgin woman from Nazareth who conceived through the Holy Spirit and gave birth to the only begotten Son of God. Her betrothed husband Joseph was informed by God of what was happening and was obedient to God’s call on his own life and called the Son of God by the name of Jesus – “God saves”.
M. Eugene Boring and Fred B. Craddock, The People’s New Testament Commentary: “The biblical
language of “being saved” presupposes that life as we know it is incomplete, that it lacks something to be what
life should be, and that God has acted in Jesus Christ to supply that lack.” They also comment: “Being saved is having one’s life put in right relationship with God and other human beings, being given one’s life as it was
intended to be by God in this world, and being given the sure and certain hope of eternal life beyond this world.”
CLOSE
Abraham was a man of faith. God had promised him that he would be father to many. Yet, Abraham had to wait until he was 100 years old before he became a father to one boy.
In the 22nd chapter of Genesis, we see an odd event. It was a testing of Abraham’s faith. It was one he would never forget.
Gen. 22:1-14 – “Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, ‘Abraham!’ ‘Here I am,’ he replied.
Then God said, ‘Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.’ Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. On the third day Abraham looked up and
saw the place in the distance. He said to his servants, ‘Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over
there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.’ Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, ‘Father?’ ‘Yes, my son?’ Abraham replied. ‘The fire and wood
are here,’ Isaac said, ‘but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?’ Abraham answered, ‘God himself will
provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.’ And the two of them went on together. When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his
son. But the angel of the LORD called out to him from heaven, ‘Abraham! Abraham!’ ‘Here I am,’ he replied.
‘Do not lay a hand on the boy,’ he said. ‘Do not do anything to him. Now I know that you fear God, because
you have not withheld from me your son, your only son.’ Abraham looked up and there in a thicket he saw a
ram caught by its horns. He went over and took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.
So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, ‘On the mountain of the
LORD it will be provided.’”
Abraham was ready to sacrifice his one and only son to be obedient to God. He knew that God would provide what was needed – be it a substitutionary sacrifice or another son. Yet, God spared Abraham’s son and provided the substitute.
Several thousand years later, God provided a substitutionary sacrifice for us. We were sinners. We were condemned to die. But God sent His own Son in our place and provided all that we needed through Him.
Jn. 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that he gave [provided] his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
