Everlasting Father

Christmas is the time of year when we celebrate Jesus, God's great gift to us. To a sinful world. But for us to fully understand the significance of Christ's birth, we have to look beyond the baby in a manger.

Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg continues our series titled A Child Is Born. He unpacks the benefits that are ours of having a Messiah whose name is Everlasting Father. We begin in Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah introduces this passage by announcing, in quite striking fashion, that into the darkness of the world that he and his friends inhabit, light has come.

Into their superstition and into their corruption and into their materialism, a light has dawned. And as we saw, he was able to speak both of the then and of that which was yet in the future. Now, this picture of light which is pervasive and speaks to the clarity of the good news of the gospel is in direct contrast with cultish teaching and cultish behavior. And this light is found finally and fully in the Messiah, whom Isaiah introduces us to as the child with the four names. He is the one whom he has already referenced two chapters earlier as Immanuel, God with us. He is the one who is Jesus, the Savior of our sins. And we have seen him as wonderful counselor, establishing his plan from all of eternity, as mighty God, able, because of his majesty and dominion, to execute his plan because of his power. And now, in the third instance, in our fourth study, we come to he who is Everlasting Father. And as in the previous cases, we have the challenge before us of seeking to work out just exactly what this conveys.

There are two things that we need to know immediately about this—two things that are not the case. First of all, we need to know that this is not a reference to the first person of the Trinity. We would immediately go wrong if we thought somehow or another that Isaiah, having spoken first of the Messiah, was then speaking of God the Father.

He is not doing that. What we have here is a designation of a quality of the Messiah with respect to his people. When we think of the way in which the Messiah deals with those who are his own, he acts towards them as a father towards his children. Secondly, it is important for us to understand that the adjective everlasting is not referring to the eternal nature of the Messiah's being—as eternal with the Father and with the Son—but rather, it is referencing the never-ending nature of his care. I was finally helped, as I wrestled with this, by writing down in my notes, instead of everlasting Father, I wrote down Father forever. Because the adjective is qualifying the nature of his fatherlike care.

It goes on and on forever. Having taken on the charge of the parental, paternal care of his own, he is not going to abandon it. There need be no fear that this father will leave home.

There need be no fear that this individual will abandon his charge somewhere along the line. He is Father forever. Now, last time, in order to try and give flesh, as it were, to the skeleton of mighty God, we went to the New Testament. On this occasion this morning, I want us to stay in the Old Testament and turn just to one passage, and that is to Psalm 103. And indeed, verse 13 of the 103rd Psalm takes us to the very heart of the matter. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

He is a designation of the quality of the Messiah. How does he treat us? Well, he pities. In fact, if you have a King James Version, or if you remember it from growing up, you will remember that this verse reads, As a father pittieth his children, so the Lord pittieth them that fear him.

And I think there's something good about pittieth. I would be in favor of just keeping that strange verb, because it highlights the warmth, the emotion, the significance of the Hebrew verb, which is used here. It is a verb which, if you like, distinguishes or defines or marks the nature of true parenthood. Every father views his children in a way that he doesn't view anyone else's children. You cannot, on your best day, view someone else's child the way you view your own. You may admire them, you may compliment them, you may do all manner of things to them and say about them, but it is a peculiarity of fatherhood that when you look on your own children, there is something in that dimension of relationship that cannot be duplicated outwith the bounds of that relationship.

And that is all contained in this Hebrew verb. As a father, pittieth his children. It's all of that empathy and compassion and everything else. And, says the psalmist, this is the way in which the love of the father is defined. Immeasurable love conveyed not only in the vastness of the distances but also in the intimacy of family life. As far as the east is from the west, all of the vastness of this, to convey the vastness of its goodness. And then, as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

He narrows, as it were, the angle down. He brings the lens in into the intimacy of familial relationships. Now, let us notice just three aspects of what it means for the Messiah to be eternally a father to his people. First of all, it means that he forgives us completely. He forgives us completely. If you look at the language of this psalm, it comes out very clearly. Verse 3, the Lord should be praised, for he is the one who forgives all of your sins. He is the one, in verse 4, who redeems your life from the pit. In verse 10, he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. And then, of course, he goes on to say, As far as the east is from the west, so far, verse 12, has he removed our transgressions from us.

Now, don't make the dreadful mistake of sitting there and saying, Oh, well, that's terrific. That means that somehow or another—I haven't really understood this—but God just overlooks sin, that he is a forgiving God and that it doesn't really matter what I've done, and it's all taken care of. Apparently, that's what Psalm 103 is saying. No, that would be a dreadful mistake to make. That would be as if God was some kind of benevolent Santa Claus, who said, I know you've been naughty all year, but I want to be nice to you just the same.

I know you deserve this, but I'm going to give you that. No, actually, it is far more complex and far more significant. Because when we take what it says in the Bible concerning the forgiveness of God—a full and a final and a complete forgiveness—it has to be set within the context of God's character. And because God is holy and because he is just, he cannot, he does not, and he will not condone our sins and our transgressions, nor will he overlook them.

That is immediately a problem for each of us. Because each of us has broken God's law, each of us has transgressed against him, each of us knows what it is to have that bias within our very beings which veers towards our own selfish agendas and seeks to turn our back on the way that God has marked out for us. And that is why many of us try and fill our lives with every kind of distraction. Because at the core of our being, we recognize this, and when we open up our minds to the truth of the Bible when it's taught, then we recognize that the justice of God must punish sin. And if he grants forgiveness, it cannot be because he has chosen to overlook the fault. The Bible says that we are all stained, that everyone is bearing the marks of the stain of our rebellion against God, our indifference towards God, and that there is only one solution, one solvent that may remove the stain. Not all the perfumes of Arabia could do anything with the stains on the hands of Lady Macbeth, you will recall.

There was no physician that could be called that could deal with our predicament. No, only the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ cleanses from every sin. And the story of forgiveness we cannot get to simply by looking at a baby in a manger. We need to follow the line of Isaiah's dramatic portrayal of he who is father forever, to discover that this child grows to manhood, and in his manhood he is described as the one who bears our sins, who takes our punishment, the chastisement that brings us peace is upon him, and by his stripes, by his bearing the wounds that we deserve, we are healed. And then the writers of the Gospels and the Epistles tease this out for us and help us to understand that he doesn't treat us as our sins deserve because the Messiah has died in the place of sinners, that God does not count our sins against us because he counts our sins against his only begotten Son. But his only begotten Son lived in perfection. His only begotten Son never sinned.

There is no reason in the world why he, if death is the condemnation for sin, should die unless, of course, he died in the place of sinners. God in Christ did the unimaginable. He covered himself in shame so that we might be covered in glory. That all of the accusing load of my rebellion and my self-satisfied, self-focused living is nailed to the cross, and it's nailed to the cross once and for all. And it needs no repetition.

Nor does it have to be supplemented by human endeavor. It is perfect, because the Messiah is perfect. It cleanses perfectly the most darkened, fearful, and troubled conscience. Secondly, not only does he forgive us completely, but he knows us thoroughly. He knows us thoroughly. Look at what we're told here in verse 14a, for he knows how we are formed. He remembers that we are dust.

We arrived with the Maker's instructions, if you like. Each of us has a sell-by date. Each of us has a shelf life. You realize that, don't you? That we're not just drifting around haphazardly. We really don't need to be unduly concerned about all these considerations that are pressed in upon us all the time—not if we know God as our Father, not if we know this wonderful Savior in Jesus.

You see, the undeniable facts are unavoidable facts. I mean, if your view of the world—can I say this to you kindly? If your view of the world, if your attempt to get through life and deal with death, does not have a decent answer to these three questions—"Who am I? Where did I come from? And where am I going?

"—then it would be a good time to think about having a change in your view of the world. Because in the darkness of the night, in the essence of our most perplexing thoughts, we eventually come to these questions in some form or fashion. And what I want to suggest to you is that this phrase, Father Forever, addresses in a wonderful way not only the issue of guilt, which we all understand and need an answer to, but also the issue of identity. Who am I?

Where did I come from? I'm not just a number. I have a Father. He knows my name.

Before even time began, he knew me. I'm not worthless. And neither are you. If you have this Father Forever, you're not worthless. The story of your life is not plankton soup to become a gene carrier to go out like a candle.

But that's the story for many people. Do you understand why they fill themselves up with 86-proof anesthetic crutches propping them to the top, where the smiles are all synthetic and the ulcers never stop? Because when they think about the deep questions and they lie in their bed, Who am I? Don't know. Where did I come from? Having a clue. Where am I going?

I hate to think. Pour me another one. Turn the music up.

Party on, dude! Why? Because I don't have an answer to the question. Yeah, well, you will if you meet this Father forever. Then you'll discover that you're created by God and for God for a relationship with him, that the brokenness in that relationship is an account of your sin, that he has come and done something about it in Jesus the Messiah, that he is the righteous for the unrighteous, bringing us to God, that in this forever Father there is forgiveness, there is freedom, and there is a whole new family. It's fabulous! I'm completely unashamed about this story.

I want to stand up on the top of a building and shout it out. He forgives completely, he knows thoroughly, and he loves us endlessly. He loves us endlessly. Look at what it says in verse 8, that he abounds in love. He abounds in love.

It's a great word, abounding, isn't it? He abounds in love. He overflows with love. God is love. His love brings people to repentance. When they realize that what I deserve I will not receive because of a love which has provided a Savior in this Messiah who is wonderful counselor, mighty God, and everlasting Father.

From everlasting to everlasting, you will notice verse 17, the Lord's love is with those who fear him. This is his covenant love—a love which takes the initiative in binding to himself a people that are his very own. This is appealing, I know, to many in our day—those for whom family life has been, if not a disaster, at least a disappointment.

Those for whom institutional religion has left them high and dry, scandals and self-aggrandizement, self-promotion has left them disenchanted. And they're looking for something, and here they're introduced to a love that seeks us out, the kind of love that pursues us and woos us, like a lady looking for the final piece of her necklace that she dropped somewhere when she was busy around the house. Like a shepherd who has ninety-nine sheep safely in the fold, but there's one outside, and he goes to look for it.

Like a father who looks and longs for the return of a wayward son. This, my friends, is the story of the gospel. This is the most amazing and wonderful story, that the God whom I have chosen to ignore comes looking for me pursuing a relationship with himself. That the God in whom I have expressed to this point in my life zero interest is the God who seeks me out. He forgives us completely. He knows us thoroughly. He loves us endlessly. Well, that's the cue for a song if this was a different kind of church than we could finish with a country song.

But you should be thankful that it isn't. But it made me, as I finished my notes, I wrote down just two words at the bottom of the page. I wrote down, Forever, Amen. And as soon as I went to Forever, Amen, then I was with Randy Travis, then I was with Paul Overstreet, and then I was sitting at my desk with words running through my head like, As long as old men sit and talk about the weather, as long as old women sit and talk about old men, honey, I'm gonna love you forever. Forever and ever, amen.

I understand that. That's why in an earlier era somebody wrote Endless Love, didn't they? In fact, that's why countless popular and country songs have been written about the idea of an endless love.

Because the human heart longs for an endless love, and sin breaks love relationships, and death changes them irrevocably in every instance save one. And that is the endless love of a forever father who, in a way that I cannot understand before I was even made, knew me, and set his love upon me, and came and met me in my childhood home in Glasgow, and kept me through my rebellious teenage years, and against every run of play turned me in to what I endeavor to be for him. And when that day comes and the yogurt carton of my life is turned up and my sell-by date is exposed for everyone in the store to see, then he will love me forever and ever, forever and ever, amen. And I want to say to you, if you want to know that love, trust Christ.

And I want to say to you that if you spurn that love, there is no other love in the entire universe that will be able to fill the gaping hole that is left in your heart. For you were made according to the plan of he who is mighty counselor. You may be changed by the power of he who is mighty God, and you may luxuriate in the personal care and attention of he who is Father forever to each one of his adopted children. Jesus is our everlasting Father.

You're listening to Alistair Begg on Truth for Life. Our mission at Truth for Life is to teach the Bible with clarity and relevance. We know that God uses his word to transform the lives of so many who listen, and we're grateful to have you alongside us in this venture. Your faithful prayers and your financial giving are what make the ministry of Truth for Life possible. And today, Alistair wants to say a few words about the importance of this partnership.

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I'm Bob Lapine. Thanks for starting the week together with us. You've probably noticed that there are quite a few ornaments and decorations that we see this time of year that have the word peace on them. And yet peace seems to be in short supply in our world. Tomorrow, Alistair explains the predicament all of us are in and how peace can become a reality for us. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life, where the Learning is for Living.