Everlasting Father

For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Everlasting Father. This one probably seems like the strangest at first. Is he saying Jesus is a Father? I thought Jesus was the Son. And Isaiah calls him that in the verse: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” So why call him “father”? 

Because Jesus is a father. I saw things (with a little help from Sinclair Ferguson) that I’d never seen before in a verse I’ve read a hundred times — in just these two words: Everlasting Father. 

Yes, within the Godhead, he is the Son and not the Father. Even there, Jesus says, John 14:9, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.” The man, Jesus, who came at Christmas, died on Good Friday, and now sits on heaven’s throne, he is “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.” If you see him, you see the Father. 

But I don’t think that’s the point of this name: Everlasting Father. 

No, as this Messiah comes, in love, to the church: he is brother, bridegroom, friend, but he is also father. Jesus is our father in the same way the unmarried, childless apostle Paul calls himself a father in 1 Corinthians 4:15. He says, “I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.” “For you know how,” (this is 1 Thessalonians 2), “like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God.” What did Paul mean when he called himself a father to people who weren’t his children? He meant that he was wholly committed to using his strength to teach, protect, correct, and encourage them as if they were his own children. He treated them like any good dad would. I think that’s the point of this name.

The all-wise counselor and all-powerful God who we meet in Jesus is also a spiritual Father. This name fills all of that wisdom (Wonderful Counselor) and all that power (Mighty God) with love. It makes the Wonderful Counselor and Mighty God family. An all-wise, all-powerful Messiah wouldn’t be good news for us if he wasn’t for us — if he didn’t exercise all of that wisdom and power for our good. Jesus is that kind of Savior — he’s a father to those he came to save.

And not just any father, but an everlasting Father. I hope this word — everlasting — meets a need in this room this morning. I was talking to someone this week, and they said December is the hardest month of the year for them because of all they’ve lost and suffered in their family. Almost every day is some painful reminder that it’s not like it was. We shouldn’t be surprised by that. Advent, after all, is still a season of waiting, because things still aren’t what they should be. And we all deal with the pain of that not-yetness in different ways around the holidays. Some withdraw. Some distract themselves. Some fill their schedules. Some overeat. Where do you go for comfort and security?

My exhortation for us this morning is that we take refuge in the Everlasting Father who came at Christmas. The strength and safety of his love will never wax or wane or end. He can get you through December, and January, and February, and every month and season until you’re home.