"Eternal Father"
(Third in a series of four)
Isaiah 9:6-7

Introduction

We are on our third sermon of a four-sermon series exploring the four names of Christ found in Isaiah 9.  In week one, we discovered that Christ is a miracle-working counselor to whom we can run, no matter how troubling our questions, embarrassing our sin, or overwhelming our struggle, and we always encounter a God who meets us with open arms of grace, and with the power to do something about our situation.  

Last week we explored how Christ is the Mighty God who will one day judge and then remove from the world all evil and evildoers.  The gospel is that right now, today Christ is the mighty Savior who offers forgiveness and eternal life to all who call on His name.  

Christ is also the gentle, mighty God who is always ready and willing to turn your bruised-reed life into a work of art, and to fan your smoldering-wick faith, hope, and love back into full flame.  

This morning, we are going to explore what it means that Christ is also called “Eternal Father.”

Let us pray…            Read Isaiah passage…         


Exposition

Now at first thought, it is confusing that Christ is called “Father.”  We embrace a Trinitarian understanding of God that emphasizes a unity between the three persons of the Trinity as to divinity, yet maintains a distinction between the separate expressions and roles of each divine person as to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  So whatever is meant by Christ being called “Eternal Father,” it cannot mean that there is somehow going to be a loss of the distinctions between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Instead, many scholars and theologians believe, and I agree, that what this title of “Father” is meant to convey is that it is through Christ that we know and have access to God the Father.  

So what we are going to do is to take a journey through the Bible, and explore three powerful revelations of how Christ makes known and makes accessible the Heavenly Father.  Three amazing truths of what it means that Christians have a Father/child relationship with the triune God through Christ.  


I.    Through Christ, the God of Israel was revealed to be the Heavenly Father

There are only a few places in the Old Testament when Yahweh, the God of Israel, is called “father.”  Now God has always revealed Himself to be a compassionate, caring God.  The history of Israel is one of the people of God moving in and out of seasons when they perceived God as being compassionate and full of grace, and perceiving God as a harsh, cruel, unfair judge.  

Of course, the way they then worshiped and served God in each those seasons was very different.  When they perceived God correctly, as the God of grace who longed for them to be in intimate relationship with Him, their worship and service was driven by delight and love.  Contrarily, when they perceived God as harsh judge, their worship and service was driven by duty and legalism.  Now what was true of Israel is still true of us.  Our perception of God still determines whether we serve God out of duty or delight, out of legalism or love!  

Now even though the God of Israel has always revealed Himself as a God of compassion and grace, it wasn’t until Christ came to planet Earth that we really began to understand that Yahweh God is a Heavenly Father.  Christ came to demonstrate the true character and nature of God as Father.

Let’s read about this together in John 14:5-11:
5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"  6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.  7 If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well.  From now on, you do know him and have seen him."  

8 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."  9 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'?  10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me?  

The words I say to you are not just my own.  Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.  11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.

Christ is saying this, “If you want to know what the Father is like, then look at me!  We are one in the same!”  Christ is not a false advertisement of God.  

There is no Old-Testament God of judgment and wrath hidden behind the loving, gentle Christ.  The same God and Father we see in Christ is the same God who revealed Himself first to the nation of Israel.  This same God has always been a heavenly Father who has always longed to embrace the human race as His children.  But it wasn’t until Christ visited us, as we celebrate on Christmas, that we understood more fully the Father’s heart of God.  It wasn’t until Christ took on sinful flesh, and died on a cross that the Father’s longing to embrace His children could be fulfilled.  Why?  Because our sin had dug an un-crossable chasm between us and the Father.  Our sin had built a an un-scaleable wall between us and the Father’ s outstretched arms.  

So there the Father stood in heaven, His arms reaching out in longing anticipation to embrace the wayward human race as His children.  But the permeating sinfulness of humanity built a wall between us and the Father.  So finally the Father said, “Enough!  For too many centuries I’ve had to settle for the aroma of these animal sacrifices just to remind me of my Son’s cross so I can forgive my children.  But the blood of these animals will never tear down this wall of sin that keeps me from the intimacy I desire with my children. 

It’s time my Son, my only begotten Son.  Go, go down there and tear down the wall of hostility between me and my people!  Go down there and show them who I really am!  Go down there and let me through you cry their tears, feel their sorrow, taste their sweat, let me bleed their blood, so that I can once again hold them in my arms!”

So the Mighty God, the Wonderful Counselor, “the Word of God became flesh and pitched His tent among us….And we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father full of grace and truth….  He came to His own, and those who were his own did not receive Him.  But as many as received Him to them He gave the right to become children of God….”

That of course is the Christmas story from John 1, and that is our second revelation of what it means that Christ makes known and makes accessible God as Heavenly Father.


II.    Through Christ, we can become adopted children of our Heavenly Father

There are three ultimate life questions everyone needs to ask and answer.  The first ultimate life question is just what makes a human being into an adopted child of God?

Let’s read about this answer together in Rom 8:14-17:
14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the children of God.  15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!"  16 it is that very Spirit of God bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ — if, in fact, we suffer with Christ so that we may also be glorified with him.”  

What makes one a Christian, an adopted child of God, has nothing to do with behavior, or church attendance, or believing correct doctrine.  All these are fruits of being a Christian that is growing in the faith.  But what determines one way or the other who is a Christian and who is not, is does that person have the Holy Spirit living inside of them?  The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of adoption, and the only entrance into divine adoption is when the Holy Spirit takes up residence in the human heart.

So the second ultimate question in this life is this: How does one make this move from being God’s enemy to God’s adopted child?  We can turn to the book of Romans again to discover this answer.

Let’s read about this together in Rom 10:9-13:
9 That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.  10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.  11 As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”  12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile-the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13 for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."  
 
Becoming an adopted child of God has nothing to do with responding to an altar call, or reciting the “Sinner’s Prayer” or attending church or mass.  All these activities may be the bridge to salvation.  But one passes from death to life, from slavery to freedom, from being an enemy of God to a child of God when the Holy Spirit empowers him or her to “call upon the name of the Lord!”   

So here is the third another ultimate life question:  How many humans total will ever call upon the Lord for salvation?    

The apostle John was shown the future state of humanity after the final judgment and recorded these visions in the book of Revelations.  All through this book, he gives very specific numbers of different groups of people and different events.  But when he describes the number of people who are included in the Redeemed, who have called upon the Lord and so are saved, he can only say in Rev.7, “I saw a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.  They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.”  

Alleluia!  God’s grace is huge, wide, and deep!  Every other group and timeline in Revelations could be numbered, but the number of people who are ultimately saved is so enormous no one can even count them!  All who call upon the name of the Lord are welcomed into the eternal kingdom of God!  

Such calling on the Lord in one’s heart can happen anywhere or anytime.  Many us wonder about loved ones who have died who never seemed to have made a public profession of faith.  We can take comfort that the grace of the Eternal Father is huge, wide and deep.  It is not the will of the Father that anyone should perish.  

Now I fully embrace the Reformed doctrine of predestination.  I do not embrace universalism in which all are ultimately saved.  But Predestination does not contradict a wide, deep, and huge view of God’s grace!  

The Spirit of adoption is everywhere all the time, moving upon the hearts of everyone calling them to call upon the name of the Lord.  Some call out while lying on their death beds.  Some call out just as that fatal accident is happening.  Some call out even as they are taking their own life.  My understanding of grace is that one has to look Christ right in the eye fully understanding the gospel and still declare, “No thanks.  I don’t want your grace!”

So Christ came to make known and make accessible the Heavenly Father.  When we call upon the name of the Lord, we can become an adopted child of the Heavenly Father.  Now, as if being adopted child of God right now isn’t awesome enough, our third revelation of Christ as Eternal Father is even more wonderful:


III.    Through Christ, we will spend eternity in an intimate Father/Child relationship with our Heavenly Father

The history of the nation of Israel is one of alternating between serving God and living in the Promised Land, and then rebelling against God and being taken from their Homeland into captivity.  The prophesy we have been studying together in this sermon series from Isaiah 9 was a prophecy of hope to the nation of Israel when they were in one of their seasons of rebellion and captivity.  

God promises His people through Isaiah that one day a Messiah would come who would deliver them from slavery forever.  One of the titles in this prophecy for this Messiah is the one we are exploring today, “Eternal Father.”  The people of Israel, then in captivity, would have heard that title as a strong, comforting promise of eternal deliverance.  They would have said in their hearts, “God hasn’t abandoned us!  God is going to be our Father, forever!”

But this prophecy and promise doesn’t just apply to the ethnic nation of Israel.  The gospel of Jesus Christ revealed the Father’s huge, wide, and deep grace that includes people of every tribe, tongue, and nation being included in the eternal kingdom of God.  You see, from the very beginning, when the Father first created the human race, His desire and plan was to dwell in intimate relationship with us.  

Let’s read about this plan together in Ezekiel and Revelations.

Ezek 37:24-28  (to understand this passage, you must substitute the word “David” with Jesus Christ, and “Israel” with all God’s people):

24 "'My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd.  They will follow my laws and be careful to keep my decrees.  25 They will live in the land I gave to my servant Jacob, the land where your fathers lived.  They and their children and their children's children will live there forever, and David my servant will be their prince forever.  26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be an everlasting covenant.  I will establish them and increase their numbers, and I will put my sanctuary among them forever.  27 My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.  28 Then the nations will know that I the LORD make Israel holy, when my sanctuary is among them forever.'"

Let’s read about this together in Rev 21:1-4:
21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.  2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Our destiny is not some spiritual state where we float around disembodied spending every second of existence in a worship service.  Christ came to planet Earth as a human infant, and he left planet Earth as a resurrected human while still being fully God.  Because Christ took our human form back into the inner circle of the Trinity, and because we are in union with Christ through the Holy Spirit right now, as adopted children of God, we can experience a phenomenal degree of intimacy with the Father right now!

But when Christ returns, and we all get our Resurrection bodies, and the New Jerusalem lands down on the New Planet Earth, and we co-rule the universe with Christ, we will experience face-to-face intimacy with the Eternal Father through Christ forever and ever!