Who Is This Jesus?
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace
Isaiah 9:6
December 18/19, 2004
Don Jaques
THESIS:
Jesus the Messiah lives up to his title of everlasting father by caring for us and training us in the ways of righteousness, and the title of prince of peace by making us whole again through his sacrifice.
What’s in a name?
If your name was Superman would you expect to get picked on? Swedish tax authorities thought so and declined a request by Sara Leisten to name her newborn son after the superhero. The officials were following legislation giving them veto power over names. They nixed Staalman (Superman) citing its potential to attract ridicule later in life.
The decision prompted complaints of inconsistency in applying the law. Previously, names such as Batman, Tarzan, and Bebben (after a soccer star) have been permitted. Other names refused were Bajen (a soccer team) and Asterix.
The boy’s parents wanted this name for their son because he was born with one arm pointing skyward, posed in the way Superman flies. Leisten plans to re-apply, this time with the name Staalmannen (The Superman). If it is approved, one thing is clear, little Superman would have a name he can never live up to.
What about Jesus? Can he live up to his name? As we learned last week, his name “Y’shua” in the Hebrew – means “The LORD saves”. And as Isaiah wrote about him 700 years before his birth, “He shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.” Can any human being live up to such titles? Only one in the history of the world. The man Jesus Christ.
Let’s look at the 3rd and 4th titles today: everlasting father, prince of peace.
Remember last week we discovered that we can lean upon the guidance of Jesus as our wonderful counselor, and we can trust in his power as our mighty God to bring us through even when circumstances look bleak. What does it mean that he is our EVERLASTING FATHER?
EVERLASTING FATHER
Many of us don’t have a very good image of father. The one we had might have been anything but “everlasting” – possibly temporary is more like it.
But here we’re told that whoever we are, the Messiah will be called “Everlasting Father” to us. He will be there. Forever. And he will not follow the pattern of brokenness that so many of our fathers passed onto us. As our everlasting father he will do what fathers are called to do: provide for us, watch over us, and yes even discipline us.
What is the one thing I want from my father. I want approval. I want him to be proud of me. Even as a 35 year old, I still hunger for words of affirmation from my earthly father. And I’m one of the lucky ones who regularly heard growing up that my father was proud of me. (But I still long for it. How much more must people who never heard the words “well done” from their fathers??)
As my EVERLASTING FATHER, Jesus gives me acceptance and approval.
In Jesus I find acceptance and approval.
With the woman at the well (John 4) he knew all about her sin but befriended her anyway.
The woman caught in adultery (John 7) – he said “neither do I condemn you”
About himself he said John 3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
He is not waiting for me to “perform”. He does not withhold his love from me for some sort of “trial period” to see if I’m worthy of his love. No – he loves me. And he lavishes His love upon me. But I’m not special. He loves every one of you, too. He lavishes his love upon all of you!
And he whispers in my ear – “Keep going! I’m proud of you. You’re going to go far! I see great things in you.”
Your father may or may not have ever given you such affirmation – but you can find it in Jesus Christ!
ILLUS: Bumper sticker “God loves you but I’m his favorite.” At one level this sounds prideful – but on another level I think each of us needs to understand that it’s true for each of us.
God, the creator of the universe, was so crazy about you that he sent his very best – his only Son, in the form of a little baby – to pay the penalty of your sins and make it possible for you to have a relationship with Him. He loves you. In fact he’s crazy about you. And some of you need to hear that today.
But there is another side to him being our everlasting father – he also gives discipline to those whom he loves.
As my EVERLASTING FATHER, Jesus disciplines me.
He doesn’t just simply accept me and approve me and say he’s proud of me – he wants me to grow up. He wants me to mature into a man who fulfills the great dreams and hopes he has for me. And because of this, sometimes I’m in need of discipline.
Prov. 3:11-12 My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.
ILLUS: The simple truth is I discipline my children because I love them. I want them to grow up into adults and be productive members of society and to be warriors in God’s army. We often tell them, “If I didn’t discipline you for this, and you kept doing it – one day you’ll have a worse discipline – jailtime!” Even though they are young they understand that a good parent puts limits on their children’s behavior.
So it is with our Lord Jesus Christ. As our “everlasting father” he is watching over us and putting limits on us for our good. Not so we’ll be limited forever – but so that we’ll grow up and mature into His likeness.
TRANS: So Jesus is our wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, and finally…
PRINCE OF PEACE
When he was born, you remember what happened…
Luke 2:13-14 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”
"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid" (Jn. 14:27)
Matt. 10:34 ¶ “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
Matt. 10:35 For I have come to turn “‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law —
Matt. 10:36 a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
Matt. 10:37 ¶ “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
Matt. 10:38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.
So what kind of peace is Jesus the prince of?
To understand we have to go back to the root meaning of the Hebrew word shalom which is translated peace in Isaiah 9:6 – the Messiah will be called Prince of Shalom.
Although the word is most often translated simply as peace, shalom carries the idea of wholeness and completeness. It is linked strongly with the concept of justice. The slogan “No justice, no peace” is not something that originated in the civil rights movement of the 1960s – it goes way back to this Hebrew term shalom.
Interestingly, the opposite of shalom is not war but CHAOS.
So when Isaiah writes that the coming Messiah would be called Prince of Shalom, Prince of Peace, he’s not saying that Messiah would bring a time of warm fuzzies where everybody just loves everyone else. That would be nice, but the promise is so much greater.
As PRINCE OF PEACE, Jesus brings order and wholeness into the chaos of our world.
Jesus, the Messiah, is a Prince that brings Shalom. He brings order to the chaos of our world and the chaos of our lives. As Prince of Shalom he brings our broken, fragmented lives into a place of wholeness and completeness.
But the only way he can do this is when we give him complete authority in our lives. As he explained to his disciples back in Matthew 10 – his call upon their lives was for complete allegiance. He told them in no uncertain terms that there would be people in their lives who would NOT want them to live a life of such total surrender to Him. He told them that they would live with difficulty in their lives because of it.
But even though he said allegiance to him would bring some strife in human relationships – he still is the Prince of Peace. He is the one who takes the chaos and brokenness of our lives and makes it whole and brings order to it.
And not just to our lives, but to our community. To our nation. Ultimately to the world.
ILLUS: Jesus makes the world right
One Sunday morning, a man woke up around 5 a.m., his wife and children still asleep. Glad to have time to himself, he went downstairs, brewed some coffee, and began to read the morning paper. Three sentences into an article, he saw his five-year-old daughter descending the stairs.
He said, "Honey, go back to bed."
"But I’m not sleepy," she insisted.
Determined to read his paper, he again urged her to go back to bed. Again, she told him she was not tired.
Looking down at the newspaper, he conceived a plan. In the paper was a picture of the world, which he cut into several pieces. Handing his daughter some Scotch tape, he instructed her, "Go sit in the dining room, and see if you can put the world back together."
His daughter accepted the challenge, and he went back to the kitchen to finish his coffee and read the paper. After only a few sips of his coffee, though, his daughter came bounding into the kitchen. "Here, Daddy, I’m finished!" she said, showing him the picture of the world put back together.
Amazed, he asked, "Sweetie, how did you do that so fast?"
She replied, "It was easy, Daddy. On the back side of the page was a picture of a man. When you make the man right, you make the world right."
Jesus, the promised Messiah foretold by the Prophet Isaiah, came to make the man right and to make the world right. That’s what is means that He is the Prince of Peace.
CONCLUSION:
Is. 9:6 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.
It’s quite a list. Quite a name to live up to. But he can do it. In fact, there are many here today who can share their life stories about how he has done it.
He provides wonderful counsel for us.
As Mighty God he provides everything we need for salvation in this life and the next.
As Everlasting Father he watches over us and shapes us into His Image.
And as Prince of Peace he takes our broken lives and makes us complete.
The only question is will you make room for him in your heart. There was no room for his earthly parents in Bethlehem and they were relegated to spending the night with the animals. Will you make room for the Messiah – and receive Him as your everlasting father, and prince of peace?
