Unwrapping the Names of the Messiah: Everlasting Father
Isaiah 12:2-6 and Philippians 4:4-7
Third Sunday of Advent (Joy)
Baptism of Leah Marie Collins
December 15, 2024
A year ago, on this Advent Sunday of Joy, we celebrated in the birth of Nelda Harris’ granddaughter.
Today, we will celebrate joy in the baptism of Leah Collins, daughter of Keeley and Justin Collins.
Reflecting on these two new births led me to considering the joy Mary and Joseph must have experienced in the birth of their son, Jesus.
We often talk about Mary, as we should; however, today I want us to think about Joseph as the earthly father of Jesus, and one of our names given to the Messiah in the book of Isaiah, Everlasting Father.
As I considered this baptism today, comparing the parents of Leah to the parents of Jesus with particular emphasis on the father, I considered my observations of Justin over the Sundays they have visited with Leah in the last couple months.
Before Leah’s birth, I only knew Justin as Keeley’s husband, and a very quiet presence on the pew next to Keeley. I sensed a very kind spirit, and I may even be embarrassing him just a little talking about him this morning, which I have not warned him I was going to do.
I promise though, Justin, it will only be for just a couple more minutes!
The first Sunday, Justin and Keeley arrived with Leah, I witnessed the biggest smile on Justin’s face that I have ever seen since knowing him. I’m sure there were other times, but I had not been witness to it.
I saw him taking on his fatherly role with such joy and pride, helping Keeley with the baby during worship, and finding joy in every minute of it.
Now granted, I realize there is not joy in every minute of raising a child; however, it has been heartwarming to see the joy and the smiles, the glow that shines from the faces of these two new parents, much like I suspect were the same glow from Mary and Joseph.
I think sometimes we don’t give Joseph enough credit for being the soon-to-be husband and father that was willing to say “yes” to God and Mary, when others would have turned away from Mary learning of her pregnancy, his betrothed.
Joseph, who immediately began caring for Mary, was an obvious sign of his love for her, and the special baby she carried. It is also still today a witness to the obedience he had to God’s will.
Joseph made sure Mary and the baby were protected, cared for and loved.
For centuries, the head of the household has typically been considered the father, not that this is true in many households today, it is still considered to be so.
In his book, “Names of the Messiah,” Walter Brueggemann points out that the ‘modifier “everlasting” signifies a reliable steadfastness through time and over the generations so that the phrase anticipates a reliable oversight of care, protection, and leadership.’
As ancient Israel’s reference of hierarchy was from the male, it is easy to see how they would have related to the one most powerful as “God the Father,” and assigned the one that was to come as the “Son of God.”
We see it in the Apostle’s Creed when we affirm, “God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.”
In Isaiah 63, the extended lament in exile, Israel addresses God as father:
For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us
and Israel does not acknowledge us;
You, O Lord, are our father;
our Redeemer from of old is your name. (Isa. 63:16)
And God in response, refers to the people of Israel as “children.”
Throughout the Bible, we see this parent/child relationship.
We see the Father God shaping Israel like a potter, and the Father God move beyond anger to mercy and love.
We know the Father God also has maternal images of birth, bosom and suckling as found in the book of Numbers 11:12
“Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a sucking child,’ to the land that you promised on oath to their ancestors?”
And again in Isaiah 49:15
“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassions for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.”
In these verses, we see an Everlasting Father with our Lord providing maternal instincts that shows mercy and love.
God as Father, is our protector, and scripture tells us he is a protector of the widows and orphans, the most vulnerable, and the prisoners.
All of these attributes of the Father God will be passed down to the coming Messiah, and we find confirmation of this in the Psalmist writings of Chapter 72:
“Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to a king’s son.
May he judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.
May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to
the needy, and crush the oppressor. For he delivers the needy when they
call, the poor and those who have no helper.”
This idea of the protector of the family is derived from God’s action of care for his people, his children.
In the same way, the One to come prophesied by Isaiah is noted as being called Everlasting Father as one of his names.
The Everlasting Father will guarantee the well-being of his family, even the world.
There are several accounts in the bible that reflect disaster and horrific results when a king father figure does not nourish and give proper attention to not just his family, but the entire region over which he rules.
When Ezekiel refers to the responsibilities of a king, he lists the following: Feed the sheep, strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured, bring back the strayed, and seek the lost.
When the father-kings cannot uphold these responsibilities, God the Father goes on to declare himself as the one that will be responsible to do these things:
So I will seek out my sheep…they shall feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of the sheep, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them
justice.
God later appoints David as the king-father to watch over his people; however, it is not until Jesus arrives as the “Everlasting Father” that true joy and peace can be realized, regardless of the chaotic world that exists.
It may be hard to grasp Jesus as our Everlasting Father because we are told he is the Son of Man, and he prayed to his father-God; however, we cannot lose track of the fact that Jesus is the one that was sent to be our protector and savior, and even tells us in the gospel of John, “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you.”
Jesus refers to us as his sheep, his children, and to re-affirm that he is indeed our Everlasting Father, he told us and still tells us, “I am with you always to the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:20).
Is not this the most wonderful joy that we can experience, to know we have the assurance of our Everlasting Father?