This morning, we continue our Advent sermon series. We’ve been studying the names of Christ found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah:
"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." -- Isaiah 9:6
Isaiah was a prophet in Judea, some seven centuries before the birth of Christ. And if you read the book of Isaiah, you will find that God revealed to him, not only these names, but also many other things about the promised Messiah. For instance, in chapter 53, we have the well-known passage foretelling the death of Christ on the cross, the death by which he paid the penalty for our sins:
"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth." --Isaiah 53:5-7
Did you catch that? "He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. By his wounds we are healed." This is what the Christian faith calls "substitutionary atonement". He was our substitute. He died in our place. His death paid the price for our sin; all of our evil thoughts, and words, and actions. Simply put, God punished him instead of us. And therefore, we can have forgiveness of sins and eternal life, through faith in Christ. That’s the promise and hope of the gospel; both for us, who look back to Christ, and also for those of ancient times, who looked forward to Christ, their Messiah.
As we mentioned last week, by the names listed in Isaiah 9:6, the prophet makes it clear that the Messiah would be no ordinary man. Not a mere political or military leader; not the king of an earthly dominion, or a general to lead his people in conquest over the nations of this world. And far more than a common teacher or prophet; there had been dozens of those in Israel’s history. No, the Messiah would be absolutely unique; something never before seen in the history of the world. He would be God in the flesh, God become man. God, with all his power, and might, and wisdom, and glory; yet somehow fully revealed in the person of a male human being. The gospel of Matthew in the New Testament makes this same point in its version of the Christmas story:
"The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel
--which means, ’God with us.’" -- Matthew 1:23
That’s what Jesus was. "God with us". Not God out there somewhere, beyond the boundaries of the universe, but God here, in our midst. God walking among us as a flesh-and-blood person. And that’s what the title "Everlasting Father" signifies. Let’s look at that verse again:
"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." -- Isaiah 9:6
By referring to the Messiah as "Everlasting Father," Isaiah alludes to the fact that he would be God. Remember that the people who first received this prophecy, the Jews, had no concept of a Trinity. They didn’t conceive of God as both One and Three at the same time: one divine essence in three
co-equal persons; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They only knew God as Father. So when Isaiah identified the coming Messiah as the "Everlasting Father," He was communicating in the only way they could possibly have understood that the Messiah would be God in the flesh. God would be their savior. God would be their deliverer. God would be their king.
And when Jesus came; when he grew to manhood and began to teach, he acknowledged that this was in fact who he was. For instance, when he was speaking with the Pharisees, he said:
"I and the Father are one." -- John 10:30
You may remember that this particular statement almost got him stoned to death for blasphemy. And then another time when Jesus was speaking with his disciples, we have this exchange:
"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him." Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us." Jesus answered: "Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ’Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?" -- John 14:6-10
Anyone who has seen Jesus has seen the Father, because Jesus fully reveals God. And the only one who can fully reveal God is God. As the book of Hebrews puts it:
"The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word…But about the Son [God] says, ’Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever, and righteousness will be the scepter of your kingdom...’" -- Hebrews 1:3, 8
The New Living Translation puts it this way: "Everything about him represents God exactly". In other words, there is nothing that is true about God that is not also true about Jesus. Isaiah calls the Messiah, "Mighty God" and "Everlasting Father". Matthew tells us that the baby born in the manger was "Immanuel, God with us". Jesus identifies himself with God the Father. And God himself, here in Hebrews, calls his Son, "God". We could go on citing references, but the bottom line is this. Jesus Christ, the Messiah is indisputably God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. He is God. Period.
Well, so what? What does it matter to us, the people in this room, who are either trying to follow Christ, or perhaps considering whether to begin following him -- what difference does it make? We aren’t professors or academics; we don’t spend our free time arguing over the fine points of theology. We want information we can use; wisdom and knowledge that will help us get through the day, help us live worthwhile, productive, God-honoring lives. How does the deity of Christ help us do that?
Well, first of all it affirms that Jesus truly is the one and only way to God. The gulf between the Creator and his creatures is so vast; the distance separating the infinite from the finite is so immense, that only someone who in his own person unites deity and humanity can truly unite God and man. Only one who is both fully God and fully man can bring the two together, both now and forever. Buddha can’t do that. Confucius can’t do that. Nor can philosophy, or mysticism, or New Age spirituality, or all the gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon. Nor can Mohammed bring God and man together; because he was only a man, and never claimed to be anything else. A prophet, yes, according to the Muslim religion. But still just a man. Only Jesus Christ, who in himself combines divinity and humanity, can bridge that gap.
"Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." -- John 14:6
"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." -- Acts 4:12
No other person, no other religion, no other philosophy, no other way of living can bring us to God and save us from suffering the penalty of our sins. Only Jesus can do that. And so, as we’re searching for answers to life’s problems, as we’re seeking wisdom for living, as we’re looking for ways to be reconciled with the one who made us, there’s only one place to go. And that’s to Christ.
Second, Jesus’ deity matters because it means that all of his promises will be fulfilled. Whatever he said would happen, will happen. He has the power to do what he said he would do. He won’t change his mind, he won’t go back on his word. He won’t discover new information and suddenly alter his plans. He is God, and so his purposes are unchanging. "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever." (Hebrews 13:8) He can be trusted. We can rely on him, and entrust our lives to him, in a way that we can’t with any other person. Because we know that nothing is going to happen that will make him either unable or unwilling to care for us, now or in the future. And this leads to the other part of the name, "Eternal Father". Christ is eternal, everlasting, without beginning or end of days. Listen to these passages which speak of the eternal existence of Christ:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning." -- John 1:1-2
"I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" -- John 8:58
". . . But about the Son [God] says, "Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever. . .He also says, "In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end." -- Hebrews 1:8, 10-11
As we’ve been reminded in the last few months, nothing in this world lasts forever. Take LTV steel. It’s been a fixture of the Cleveland economy for decades. Thousands of men and women have spent their lives there as laborers, and craftsmen, and office workers, and executives. The steel from that plant has gone into automobiles, and appliances, and bridges. But now, it looks as if that will all soon be over. The jobs gone, the huge furnaces cold, and then nothing left but scraps for the lawyers to fight over. And the LTV workers aren’t alone. If you haven’t experienced it yourself, then you probably know someone else in the same situation; someone who thought they had a secure job, but who found themselves collecting unemployment and reading the want ads.
Businesses and corporations don’t last. Governments and kingdoms don’t last. Even people don’t last. No matter how much your parents love you, no matter how much your husband or wife cares for you, if you live long enough there will come a day when they will leave. They will abandon you. If not by choice, then by their death. Their lives will someday come to an end, and there’s nothing they can do about it. My grandfather passed away in 1998, a few months after he was forced to place my grandmother in a nursing home, due to Alzheimer’s. They’d been married for over seventy-five years, and yet when the Alzheimer’s came, she began to leave him, bit by bit, until the day came when she didn’t recognize him at all. Had no memory of their years together, the children they’d raised, the life they’d lived. And although his love for her never diminished, eventually he left her, too. I preached at his funeral. And so now, people who are strangers to my grandmother take care of her, and feed her and clothe her. But she no longer has her husband’s companionship; she can’t hear his voice or feel the touch of his hand. Because he’s gone.
But Jesus is different. As God promises in Hebrews 13:5, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." That’s why Jesus’ eternality matters. That’s why we care that Jesus will never change, and never cease to exist. Because it means that all of the good things he is to us now, he will always be to us. He will always be our provider, and protector, and our savior. He will always be our refuge, and our strength. His love for us will never cease, either in this world or the next. In him, we will have eternal joy, and hope, and glory, and pleasure. In Christ, we will be eternally blessed and secure. Jesus will always keep his promises to us, even when other people can’t or won’t. Let me say that again. Jesus Christ will always keep his promises to us, even when other people can’t or won’t. As Paul writes in Second Corinthians, "[N]o matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ." (2 Corinthians 1:20) And they always will be "yes" in Christ. Because he is God and he will live forever. He will always be our God, and we will always be his people.
Listen to just a few verses that emphasize the different aspects of what this means, that our relationship with Christ is eternal. First, our joy in Him will be eternal:
"The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away." -- Isaiah 54:11
"You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand." -- Psalm 16:11
Second, our glory will be eternal. When Christ returns, we will be transformed into something more wonderful than we can imagine, and our new, glorious life will never end.
"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." -- 2 Corinthians 4:17
Third, God’s love and goodness toward us are eternal. They will never fail.
"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness…
I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them…."
-- Jeremiah 31:3; 32:40
"The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms."
-- Deuteronomy 33:27
And finally, our salvation will be eternal. God’s punishment, and anger, and wrath were completely exhausted in the death and suffering of Christ on the cross; so that for those who are in Christ, there will never be any judgment or condemnation. God’s attitude toward us will never be anything but complete love and goodness. Listen to these promises:
"and, once made perfect, [Jesus] became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him." -- Hebrews 5:9
"Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them." -- Hebrews 7:25
"I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand." -- John 10:28
Again, what difference does all this make? It gives us perspective. As Paul writes, "we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18). No matter what we may be going through, whether suffering or disappointment; whether pain, or sorrow, or confusion; no matter how other people may treat us; whether we’ve seen our highest dreams realized, or our greatest hopes in this world dashed to pieces -- no matter what this life brings us, we can have peace and contentment. Because we know that everything in this world is temporary. It will soon pass away. But our life in Christ is forever. He is eternal; he will never die, and neither will we. And his love for us -- his goodness, and compassion, and kindness -- will never end. We are his people and he is our savior, now and forever.
During this Christmas season, we tend to focus on the miracle of Christ’s birth. The shepherds, the angels, the wise men. The first-time mother, giving birth in a stable. The beauty and innocence of that babe in the manger. And it’s entirely appropriate for us to do so. But we also need to remember why it was that Christ came, why he had to come. Because mankind needed a savior. Not just a good moral example. Not just a wise teacher. Not even a religious leader. We needed a Savior, because our sins had separated us from God, our Creator. And the question I want to leave you with this morning is, "Have you received Christ as your Savior?" Have you turned your life over to him? Are you trusting him even now, every day, for guidance, and strength, and wisdom? If not, won’t you do that today? What better time than Christmas to meet the one whom the season is all about!
(For an .rtf file of this and other sermons, see www.journeychurchonline.org/messages.htm)
