I'd like to read the devotional text one more time. Isaiah 9, 6, and 7. 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. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end. on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Let's pray. Lord, we are so thankful that you have given us your word, your perfect word. Pray, Lord, that you will use this brief time to remind us of the truth of Scripture, that you would be glorified, that we would be encouraged and driven to Jesus Christ, our only Savior. In his name we pray, amen. Well, if you look at the title of this devotional message, The Son as Everlasting Father, you might be a bit confused. I know I would be if I weren't preaching the message, especially in a church like this, a church that adores the Trinity, a church that worships all members of the Trinity, a church that is very careful not to mix up the members of the Trinity. There is only one God, and this one God is in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In October, this church held a two-day conference just on the Trinity. So what's going on? Did I not pay attention to that conference? Was I slumbering? Did I not learn what I should have learned? Well, I chose this text and focusing on the term everlasting father in verse six of our text, Quite frankly, because it bothered me. How can it be that the Son is everlasting Father? That's the meaning, that's what it says, but why would the Bible call the Messiah an everlasting Father? Doesn't God the Father know that He is the Father and that the Son is the Son? Is God confused? Or maybe this is the Bible's way of saying that the Father will come down to earth, that the Father really is the Messiah, that there really is only one God and one person who just shows himself in three ways. Well, that's not it. The truth is the Bible speaks of the Messiah, the Christ child, as the everlasting Father. And we can't blush at this description We can't try to ignore it. We shouldn't want to remove it. It's there. It's there for a reason. It's there to tell us something remarkable about our Messiah, something significant about the Christ. So significant that what was once for me a case of theological confusion and inquiry figuring out what's going on here, has now become a source of great comfort and encouragement to my heart. And I hope it will be to yours as well. After all, we're all in need of comfort and encouragement these days, aren't we? Especially here in our holiday season, this Christmas season, some of us will be mourning the loss of our earthly fathers. These fathers who loved us so dearly with all of their hearts. Fathers who were great husbands to our moms. Fathers who gave up their own lives, who were self-sacrificial in their lifestyle. Fathers who taught us how to work hard, who demonstrated a desire for excellence, who showed us how to treat women and how to be godly leaders. They weren't perfect, but perhaps some of them were close to it. They were faithful, and now they're gone. Some of us may be mourning the kind of father that we wanted, that we longed for, but never got. Perhaps we had or even have an angry, abusive, unloving, overbearing, demanding, no grace father. And we mourn what we could have had here on earth. Well, the good news from this text then is that with the coming of Christ, we will have the everlasting father who cares for us, who protects us, who provides for us, and who gives us eternal safety. Now, when Isaiah calls the coming Christ everlasting Father, what's he saying? Well, to be sure, he's not confusing Christ with the first person of the Trinity, God the Father. He's not doing that. To do that would be to make the Bible contradict itself. It would be to make God speaking out of both sides of his mouth, saying one thing here and another contradictory thing at a later date. To do so would be to impose a much later revelation New Testament revelation on earlier revelation. And it would be to think in categories in which the Scripture doesn't speak at that time. Now don't get me wrong, the Trinity is definitely in the Old Testament, but not in the way that it is revealed in the New. There isn't a full-orbed doctrine of the Trinity in the Old Testament. There are glimpses. So what is Isaiah saying? This term, father, is used throughout the Old Testament to refer to God as the protector, as a shepherd, as the king, as the author of life, or as the head of a people. It's used also to speak of someone with fatherly care, fatherly concern for his people. It's used this way in Psalm 103, verse 13. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him. We have earthly fathers who show compassion to us, but how much more does the Lord? The Lord is like a father by showing compassion and concern for his children. He doesn't neglect them. He's not an absentee father. He cares for them. In Isaiah 11, just two chapters after our text this evening, we have another messianic passage. Verses three and four, we see this. Speaking of the Messiah, and his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord. He shall not judge by what his eyes see or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor. and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. This passage, speaking of the coming Messiah, shows Christ will care for those that people don't care for. He will be one of justice, one of equity. He will destroy the wicked. drive out the enemies of his people. So Isaiah, back in 9, has in mind that the Messiah, the coming Christ, will be fatherly to his people. Isaiah is speaking about the character of Christ. He's not speaking of his status of being or his essence. He's speaking about the kind of person the Messiah will be. He will be like a father to his people. He will care for us. He will guide us. He will shepherd us. He will redeem us. He will discipline us. He will protect us from our enemies. He will rule over us, and he will give us life. Now, of course, we shouldn't be surprised that the Son of God will be fatherly to his people. After all, Jesus said as much in John chapter 14 with his interaction with Philip, verses eight and nine, verses eight through 10 rather. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. There's Philip's request. Jesus, we want to see the Father. That's all that we want. That's all that we need. It's enough if you just show us the Father. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? Jesus making a distinction between himself and the Father, but he is saying, I've come to reveal the Father to you. I've come to show you who the Father is. I've come to be fatherly to you. How can Jesus do that? How can he say that unless he is fatherly as well? Like father, like son. And the good news, says Isaiah, is that the Messiah will forever be fatherly. He calls him Everlasting Father, or Father of Eternity, Father of Endless Ages. Your Messiah will never fail to be a father to you. He will be perfectly father-like in the ways that he shepherds you, leads you, rules you, drives away your enemies, drives away your sin, shows you compassion, supplies all your needs, keeps you safe in his mighty arms. All earthly fathers will fail, but the Messiah will never fail. He will be a perfect father to us. Charles Spurgeon says, there is no unfathering Christ. And there is no unchilding us. How about those for verbs? Doesn't matter how long you will be, you will always be a child of God if you are in Christ. Christ will never stop functioning like a father to you. You cannot de-father or un-father him. He will forever be that. It's lamentable that sometimes this word father carries so much negative baggage for people, evoking images of fathers who were aloof, indifferent, unloving, uncompassionate, abusive, domineering, absent, selfish, even cruel. But that's not what we get from Christ. we receive His unending love, His almighty protection, the wisest guidance, the most gracious discipline, and the utmost care from Jesus Christ. And we receive these fatherly blessings because 2,000 years ago, the Son, the Son of God, came into the world. was born of a woman, born of a virgin, grew up in wisdom and stature and favor with God the Father, lived righteously to the end, gave up his life to be crucified on that dreaded cross, died our death. Death was due our name because of our sin. was raised to life and is now seated as king, as a head of a new people saved by grace, so that he would father his former enemies, former children of wrath, make out of them sons and daughters of the king, and place them in an everlasting kingdom of light, of truth, of grace. What an everlasting Father we have in Jesus Christ. Amen.