My mother-in-law recently told me of the awful moment when she couldn’t find the Christmas decorations and had begun to think that her husband had accidentally taken them to the dump after a big clear out. She even got upset about it which is unheard of! All those years of collecting things, bits and pieces, items made by children and grandchildren, the stuff that can’t be bought or replaced just gone like that! Thankfully they were found re-boxed but unlabelled in a corner of the cellar, much to everyone’s relief.
Maybe you have or own something that the thought of not having it would be hard to accept! Perhaps like the decorations it has sentimental value, a picture, a piece of jewellery, a letter! Maybe it’s more trivial like those slippers that are moulded round your feet and are still comfortable despite the hole sand worn-out soles.
It’s a sobering but true reality that nothing lasts forever. Some things can last an extremely long time, outliving generations upon generations but ultimately its time will end. As life happens, things can get lost, destroyed, broken, misplaced, deteriorate and what is, becomes what was.
There is one thing that is FOREVER, that will never fade, disappear, or fail to be in existence.
JESUS – who said of himself:
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”Revelation 22:13
Now that is quite a statement, and packed with meaning. It helps us understand a little bit of one of the names Isaiah mentions.
“And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”Isaiah 9:6
The phrase ‘Everlasting Father’ could be translated as Father of Eternity which brings in aspects of time and being throughout the ages, the Messiah also being the creator of all things. Although we know this is true from the New Testament, this is not the emphasis that Isaiah was giving.
The Hebrew word Everlasting – carries with it more the meaning of ‘without end’, it’s ongoing and in fact the next verse indicates this also as it says, “Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end”.
Jesus is forever, ongoing, everlasting, will always be… But what about the ‘Father’ bit?
This is not in reference to the first member of the Trinity (God the Father). In fact Isaiah would not have been thinking this at all. This is not a trinitarian passage.
The term Father is sometimes used to describe people who have led the way in a particular field of expertise. Einstein for example called Gallileo the father of modern science, Hippocrates is described as the father of modern medicine.
In ancient times you would have rulers who were the father of the nation –they were viewed much the same way as a father of a family, someone who would provide and protect their people, they would lead the way.
Jesus as the Everlasting Father – he has the character of a loving father. He loves and leads like a father should, he protects and provides. This is what Jesus does for us today, therefore we can trust him, and he will never fail us.
Be encouraged this week, we can know Jesus the EVERLASTING FATHER.
– Mark.
