Sermons

I just felt after the kids did that performance; I could have just done it all with a shout anyway. That particular song was written not for Christmas, but about the second coming. Did you know that? It's all about His coming to reign, to establish His throne on earth forever. And so, it's right. Like the way they did that, that was perfect. It's meant to be a victorious kind of war cry that the battle is finished, the war is won, the Lord is established on His throne forever. So, that was good. That was just a prelude to tonight.

So, thank you to all of the... ones who took part but also thank you to so many who I know have been arranging and putting the whole thing in practice and we're looking forward to what will take place later on.

Now if you have your Bibles could you open them up please to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 9. It's funny, isn't it? Looking at all the children up there singing, you naturally feel endeared, don't you? It's very hard to see them up there, you know, having woken up early, you know, kind of got themselves all dressed and looking so cute and Christmassy and everything else. You almost, your heart goes out to every single one of them. You feel endeared to each, and yet you recognize if you're a particular mum or a particular dad of one of those children, though you are full of admiration for all of them, there is a different relationship you have with that one. They're yours. There's a different level of feeling.

Do you know all of the children that were on stage as people living here in the United States of America, they all have a relationship with Donald Trump at the moment. He's their president. He has a duty of care towards each of them, and they have a relationship back. But Barron Trump, there in the White House. He also, he is in relationship with Donald Trump. Donald Trump is his president at the moment as well, and that there is an element of overlap in relationship. But you know that the relationship that Barron has with Donald Trump is altogether different than the relationship that any of the children on the stage have with Donald Trump. Because not only is he president to Barron, he is dad. He is father, and that changes everything.

But what's interesting in the passage that we come to this morning is the one who will reign on the throne over His subjects, over those who are trusting in Jesus Christ. He reveals Himself as having a disposition towards them of not just a King, not just a President, not just a Ruler, but of a Father.

Let me read Isaiah chapter 9. Let me read just verses 6 and 7. Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6.

[Scripture Reading] "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.

[Prayer] Heavenly Father, we thank You for the songs that have been sung and heard in this room already and how they testify about the greatness of this One who was to come and indeed has come. And we thank You for the assurance it gives us if we are found in Him, that there is a reign, there is a King who is over us. Who is altogether worthy of our admiration, our obedience, our submission to His rule. And we thank You, Lord, at the same time His rule is revealed to us as one that is kind and caring and indeed father-like. And we pray and ask that you would allow us in these moments of study to understand his person and His rule all the more that we would recognize just how worthy He is of all praise. For it's in Jesus' name we ask it. Amen. [End]

Well, I want you to remember again the context of Isaiah chapter 9. The world is in a political turmoil at the time. Everything is up in the air. Everything is frantic. There's a lot of strong men trying to manipulate the situation. And there is a king in Jerusalem called Ahaz. And Ahaz there in Jerusalem is no better than anybody else. In fact, you could argue he is worse. He is the worst of a bad bunch of rulers in the world at the time. The way he rules is all about backroom deals, dangerous allegiances with men, the betrayal of others, and an attempt to save his own skin all the time. And where it sits at the moment that Isaiah speaks is one thing, but it is only going to get worse for the people under King Ahaz's rule.

Isaiah, God's prophet, however, comes and he speaks a word of hope into that dark situation described in verse 2 of Isaiah chapter 9. He offers in the darkness a word of light. A word of hope, and that particular hope is about not just another judge, another deliverer as we find so often in the Old Testament, but one who would come and bring a different level of deliverance. One who would come and establish a permanent change. He will come not to be king, but this child will arrive into the world already established as King. He will come and the government will already be upon His shoulders. And subjects, those who live under His rule, they will live like a people unlike any other in the world because His rule itself is altogether different.

He will rule with qualities that are unmatched by any other ruler or principality that the world has to offer. He will rule with Wonderful Counsel. That he will understand the situation in front of Him and make the best of decisions. He will know how to engage with His enemies. He will know how to move in order to ensure the protection of His people. He will always get the decision right. He will also be one who is called Mighty God or Warrior God. He is strong and able, but He directs that strength in a way that insists on fighting for His people. This is a King who is good at war. In fact, has a hundred percent track record in war. He always wins the battle. And He insists on coming and protecting His people. He doesn't raise an army to go into war. Rather, He Himself is enough of an army for the whole war. And He comes like a warrior and fights for the protection of His people.

And then we come this morning to the third of the four-part name, Everlasting Father. And in this revelation, we can learn more about the nature of King Jesus' rule.

And the first thing I want us to notice this morning is that King Jesus is God Everlasting. King Jesus is God Everlasting. Now, there is an element of our study over the last number of weeks that you'll see repetition. But it's an important repetition. It's one that indicates why His role is not like any other type of role. For this particular child is no ordinary man. He is divine. That's so important. We struggle to comprehend it, especially at this time of the year when we have a tendency to dull our view of Jesus into one wrapped in swaddling cloths and vulnerable. The one that we speak of at Christmas is the Word that became flesh and dwelt amongst us. It's God Himself. The whole Old Testament, and indeed it's reaffirmed in the New Testament, insists that the Messiah that would come is no other than the God-Man, Christ Jesus.

We saw a few weeks ago that word wonderful reminds us not that He is just good, but that He is full of wonder, that everything He does, everything He conceives of, everything He touches is not like any other man. What is impossible for man is possible with God, and there is wonder in all this particular God man does. He's not like anybody else. That word wonderful, we've desensitized the way it's presented, especially in Scripture. It is a word that reminds us that everything He does is altogether unique, a whole other level. It fosters wonder because it is not explained by normal human activity.

And here is a child who is full of wonder, full of God-like wonder. And then we were told He is mighty God. And we said last week, do you know what the word God means? Well, God. There's no other way to understand it. And that's the principle, that there's nothing subtle about what is being declared. Isaiah is speaking in a world that has largely, even in Jerusalem, forgotten about Yahweh. Forgotten about who God is, and yet He comes into that world, and He proclaims that this child, this human that would live on earth would be no other than Mighty God. God Himself.

We mentioned last week that's created so many dilemmas for modern Jewish interpretation of the book of Isaiah. The word is not subtle. The word itself is clear. And they've had to, in an attempt to humanize the Messiah that was promised. To create a whole other grammatical category to explain why such an explicit reference to the Messiah being God Himself is in Scripture.

And now that same quality, that divine nature is emphasized once more for the third time in this name in the word everlasting. He is everlasting. Equality, again, all the way through the counsel of Scripture that is used to describe God Himself. If you look at Isaiah chapter 40, verse 28, Isaiah chapter 40, verse 28, it proclaims, “have you not heard the Lord is the everlasting God?” He's everlasting, an attribute that's used in Scripture to describe God Himself.

Psalm 90 verse 2, “before the mountains were brought forth, wherever you form the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting, you are God.” This is a quality to describe the divine, and it continues that idea in the New Testament, too. And in particular, it's pressed upon the person of Jesus Christ. John 1, verse 1, “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Hebrews chapter 13, verse 8. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” Or we go to the last book in the Bible, Revelation 22, verse 13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

You see, what we have here in Isaiah chapter 9 verse 6 is not a unique revelation. It's something that's banged, a drum that's banged all the way through Scripture. All the pages of Scripture proclaim the same truth, that the Messiah that was to come, the Christ that walked this earth, the Lord Jesus Christ was no other than eternal God. The Everlasting God.

It's so important when it comes to Jesus, do not think of Him beginning in Bethlehem. He always was. Before anything else was, there was triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Without Him, nothing else would be made. He always has been everlasting, and He always will be everlasting. This statement of an everlasting rule, it's amazing, isn't it, in a world where we are so used to things coming and going. You see that here in Dallas it all happens a little bit later in the year than other places, but you see the leaves changing color. It's a reminder, isn't it, that things don't stay. That there is change, there is passing, but not with this one. He always is.

You remember in Isaiah chapter 6 verse 1, there was one who sat on the throne. In the year that King Uzziah, what does it say? Died. He passed, and yet here in chapter 9, verse 6, we are told about another king, a child King, and He will have an everlasting rule, a steadfast rule with no end. Jesus Himself said to John on the island of Patmos, again, Revelation chapter 1, verse 8, He said about himself, “I am. the Alpha and the Omega, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.” And yet over 800 years before those words were proclaimed to the apostle John, here in Isaiah chapter 9, that quality of his rule is already declared. It's permanence. It's divine longevity. “Unto us a child is born who will be called everlasting.” King Jesus is God everlasting.

The second thing I want you to see in the text is King Jesus cares for His subjects like a Father. King Jesus cares for his subjects like a Father. The second word reveals here that Jesus has a fatherly disposition towards His subjects. He is an Everlasting Father. Now, at first, again, who are we speaking about? We're speaking about Jesus, the Son of God, the second person in the Trinity. And it creates a little dilemma for us that we have to think a little bit more carefully about, because here we have the Son of God, and what's he called? Father. But we're used to talking about the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So why is the Son of God called Father here? Why is He called Father?

Well, if we just think about what's being proclaimed, the resolution is quite simple. So often that's the reality in Scripture. We ask questions, we should ask questions of the text, but so often the context helps us to understand what is being proclaimed and what is not being proclaimed. So, what is being pictured here in Isaiah chapter nine? Well, what is not being proclaimed is we're not being told how the Trinity works. We're not being told how the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit relate to each other. For eternally, they are Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That is who the persons of the Trinity are and how they relate to one another. But instead, what we are talking about in Isaiah chapter 9 is the dynamic of His rule. The way King Jesus will rule over the world unlike any other. How King Jesus' rule relates to us. And so that helps us to understand this description. As He relates to us, as He rules over us, he is one who rules like an Everlasting or as an Everlasting Father.

And we're reminded, even as we think about that, that there is glorious unity in the Trinity. You don't have a different relationship with Father, with Son, and with Holy Spirit. Their disposition is united towards us. You remember in John chapter 14, John chapter 14 verse 9, it says, John chapter 14 verse 9, Jesus said to him, to Philip, “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?” Now, we could go off on a whole sermon about John 14 here, but here's the simple principle of what Jesus is saying. There is unity amongst the Trinity. The Father and Christ, and we could add the Holy Spirit, are one in their affection towards the people of God. They're not different in how they relate to us. Their affection, their feeling towards us is marked by an incredible unity. The love of one towards us is true of the other, for God is one.

So, we don't think, and we've got to be careful not to think of the Father relating to us one way, and the Son relating to us another way, and the Spirit caring for us in a different way. Rather, God is one, and His disposition towards us as God is consistently marked with a, we're being told here, Fatherly disposition. So, here's the easy bit. The Father has a Fatherly disposition towards you. Believer, the Son has a Fatherly disposition towards you. And the Holy Spirit has a Fatherly disposition towards you. And so, all three in glorious unity relate to the subjects of God in the same way.

So let's come back to Isaiah chapter nine. When Jesus, the child that is to be born, is revealed to us as the Everlasting Father, what is it telling us about the way He will rule? What's it telling us about his kingship? Well, He'll rule over his subjects like a Father. A quality that goes far beyond the way any other king would relate to His subjects. He's not going to be greedy. He's not self-serving. Rather, His disposition towards His subjects is that of a Father. Not a ruler, a Father.

Now, that's so different from any other system that we see in the world. You think even of the Bible itself. Exodus chapter 1, verse 8, it speaks of a new king arose in Egypt. And then immediately we're told in verses 10 and 11 that that new king worked to pollute the mindset of the Egyptians and to move them against the people of Israel. And in verse 13 it says that he worked, and they made the people of Israel slaves. He made them work for them as slaves. In verse 16, he brings in the midwives, and he instructs them to lead this kind of covert baby-murdering system to try and squash, to kill the boys that would be born to the Israelites. And whenever that fails, in verse 22, he issues a rule, a law about genocide, a law for genocide. Any baby boy born to the Israelites was to be thrown into the Nile. That was a despotic rule, a cruel rule, but a human rule.

And then you think of Isaiah chapter 9, we've talked before about this great war machine in Assyria. And the king of Assyria was known at the time for his aggressive, cruel rule. We talked before about many times to make an example of how you should not step out of line. People were impaled on sticks outside the city. How they were flayed and their skins were presented as a canvas to be a testimony, do not mess with the rule of Assyria. It was part of their system to go in, and when they conquered a territory, they tried to squash and rob the people of all their identity. They were taken, and mass deportations were made all across the empire. So, when they come and conquer northern Israel, what will take place is that the king of Assyria will order that the people are taken and moved and scattered in all different parts of the Assyrian kingdom, the Assyrian Empire, so that their—the idea is their identity, their Jewishness would be removed. They would be assimilated into a bland, generic culture, so they would lose their personal identity and way of life. And then, we've mentioned here in Jerusalem, King Ahaz. King Ahaz, he didn't have a fatherly disposition towards his subjects. In fact, he didn't have a fatherly disposition.

Turn in your Bibles to 2 Kings. 2 Kings 16 and look at verse 2 and 3. 2 Kings 16 verse 2. Here's a summary of Ahaz's rule. This is what it says, 2 Kings 16, verse 2. “Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign. And he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem, and he did not do what was right in the eyes of his Lord, as his father David had done. But,” verse three, “he walked in the way of the kings of Israel.” That's not a good thing. “And then it says, he even burned his son as an offering according to the despicable practices of the nations.” So, when it came to his own child, He sacrificed his child to a false god.

In fact, if you go to the other account of his rule, 2 Chronicles chapter 28, 2 Chronicles chapter 28, here's what it says in verse one. 2 Chronicles 28 verse one, “Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. And he did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord as his father David had done. But he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made metal images to the Baals. And he made offerings in the valley of the son of Hinnom and burned his,” what does it say? “Son's,” plural.

Here's a man who's meant to know the law of God, to lead the nation, to care for his subjects, and yet his own immediate family he slaughters on the altar to false gods. One thing you know about King Ahaz is he didn't have a fatherly disposition towards the nation. He didn't even have a fatherly disposition towards his sons. And yet, again, put yourself in the shoes of the hearers, the original hearers. This is the type of king that they think of, one who kills his son.

And Isaiah speaks under the inspiration of God and says, look, there is a child who will be born to rule. He will be a wonderful counselor, he'll be a warrior God, but he's going to be an everlasting father towards his subjects. He's going to have a genuine fatherly disposition for those under their care. And they're thinking, well, Ahaz can't even look after his own family.

Sometimes in our world, and I'm sure even in this room, there are some people who have had a very hard experience with their earthly father. They know or at least have some idea of what a father should be, and whatever they have experienced has fallen far short. Well, that is true in this day, isn't it? And yet the reality is within all of us there is a hunger for that. Those who have grown up in a difficult home environment know that even though they have experienced a negative thing, there is a longing that exists in the heart for a good father. That there is a craving that in this world was never satisfied.

But it is to be satisfied in Jesus Christ. Even if you come this morning and the word father causes you to have prickles in the back of your neck because you've had a rough experience, yet Jesus is able to care and to rule over you in a way that satisfies that craving that your earthly father never even came close to, that longing of the heart. Whatever your past broken experience may be, that experience doesn't rob you of the potential joy to be found in living under this Fatherly care, for Christ cares for His subjects with a perfect Fatherly love.

The third and last thing I want you to see in the text then is King Jesus' Fatherly care towards His subjects will last forever. I've said every time there's nothing complicated in these points that will be proclaimed, but think of the implication here, King Jesus' Fatherly care towards His subjects will last forever.

When you put the two words that form this third part of the name, we have one who is our Everlasting Father. Now, again, remember, what is being described here is a description of the way He will rule over His subjects. Over those who are committed to Him, over those who have repented of their sins and come under His rule. And it shows how Christ will relate to those subjects. And we see so clearly, He will love them. A father cares. He will care for them. A father trains his children in the way they should go. He will train those subjects in the way they should go. Sometimes a father has to discipline his children. He will discipline his children for their good. He wants their best. And if this morning you have trusted him, one level, I'm preaching to the choir. You've tasted something of that already. You know there's something in you that knows that what I'm saying is obvious.

But here's the bit that maybe isn't as obvious. Whatever that sweetness of knowing the love and care of Christ towards you that you have experienced in your heart already in this life. That relationship will last forever. It'll never be snuffed out. Sometimes in this world, I mentioned sometimes people grow up in a home where they have a bad earthly father. Well, sometimes people grow up in a home where they have a wonderful father on earth. Not wonderful in the sense he's divine. But anytime they think of that earthly father, they're thankful. They were good. Not perfect, but they had such a positive impact.

And sometimes, and sometimes we're more conscious of it in the run-up to Christmas, the hardest experience we have on earth is whenever we lose to death, a good earthly father. One who did it right. One who tried. One who cared. We had a lady in our previous church, and her father died just before Christmas. And this is what she said of her dad.

"Yesterday afternoon, my wee daddy was called home to be with his Savior. I am endlessly grateful that I was able to hold his hand as he closed his eyes in this world and opened them in the next. Words are completely and utterly inadequate to explain how heartbroken, devastated and empty I feel at the loss of my daddy, my absolute hero. He fought the good fight, he kept the faith, and now he has finished the race. I am bursting with pride at the gentleman he was, his shimmer, his positivity in the face of adversity. and the unconditional love he has showered me with my entire life. Daddy, I love you."

How amazing it is, if you are a earthly father, to know that your daughter would possibly speak with such positive affirmation of your engagement in her life. And yet the reality is those who had a good earthly father, there is a point of bereavement here in this world. And there is an extreme pain that comes with losing that individual that played such a positive role in your life. I think it is very hard to have a bad or a non-engaged earthly father, but sometimes it can be even harder to have a good father when death comes. Why? Because the best of that relationship is gone. There's memories, but it stops. We have to let go at death.

And yet here in Jesus Christ, we have an Everlasting Father. Do you see that? One who will always be. One who is always to be enjoyed. One we will never be bereaved of. In Christ there is no unchilding of us. We are always His child. It is a forever relationship with no goodbyes, with nothing being severed. If you are a Christian this morning, what an amazing thing it is to be assured that the best of relationship that is to be known, the most fatherly relationship that is ever to be experienced is to be found in Jesus Christ. And the most glorious part about that relationship is it is everlasting. It cannot be taken. It will not be snuffed out. It will not part with a hold of the hand and a disappearing of breath. It is everlasting.

Our Wonderful Counselor who knows the best way forward, will be with us forever. The Warrior God who insists on fighting for His people will protect us forever, but also our Everlasting Father, the One who loves with clear affection, who cares, who is engaged, who is intimate in the quality of that care. He will never disappear. He is an Everlasting Father.

Are you one of His subjects? This morning, have you submitted to His rule? We've seen the same sentiment in Luke, but it's repeated in Matthew chapter 23, Matthew 23 verse 37. Listen to how Jesus speaks of that city where King Ahaz has once ruled and where He would one day be crucified, that city that ultimately would reject Him. This is what he declares, "'O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it, how often I would have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.' And you were not willing."

At one level, the affection of Christ for the lost is clear there, isn't it? He longs, not simply with a fatherly disposition here. Here it's a motherly disposition, like a mother hen. He wants to gather them under His wings. But we're told about the rebellious heart. “But you were not willing.”

One thing that's been clear in our study of the glorious name here in Isaiah chapter 9 and verse 6 is Christ is wonderful, and I mean that in the divine sense, in a category altogether beyond our understanding. His role is perfect in a way we have never experienced. The consistency of His care for His subjects is incomparable to any reference point we have here on earth. His love and fatherly affection for those under His care has no match. At one level, His affection, the quality of His role, the quality of His feeling towards His people is so clear. But what is not clear this morning is how do you feel about Him? How do you feel about Him? Christ longs to gather the lost as a mother hen would gather the brood under His wings. Do you have any affection for him? Or as we see in Matthew 23, it can be said of you, “but you were not willing.” Why would you reject this type of rule? Why would you reject this type of care and engagement? It says more about us, doesn't it, than it does about Him. “You are not willing.”

Friends today is a day of salvation. If you hear His voice, do not run bow the knee. Acknowledge your wrongdoing. Submit yourself to the King of kings and Lord of lords. Become a slave of Christ, knowing that under His rule, there is a wonderful Counselor, a Mighty God, and an Everlasting Father to be enjoyed.

Let's pray.

[Prayer] Heavenly Father, we ask that You would allow us the grace to humble ourselves and to call upon you while You may be found. Lord, we thank You for the glorious reality that there are many in this room who do know Jesus as their King, and we thank You for the important reminder in the text that not only is He good, not only is He right, not only is He strong, not only is He able, but Lord, that He is one who has a fatherly disposition towards His subjects. And we thank You, Lord, that that great fatherly disposition is one that is everlasting, never to be snuffed out. We pray and ask that You would comfort Your people. We pray and ask even for those, Lord, as we approach Christmas, who may have hearts that are grieving over family members that have passed to glory who played an important role in this life. And we pray, Lord, even in the grief, You would direct our eyes to Jesus Christ, that Father who is everlasting, that cannot be taken away. For it's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. [End]

‍