Everlasting Father

Isaiah 9:6

John 8:58

So what is Christmas?

I am worried that sometimes we lose the message of Christmas in this season. We lose Christ in Christmas. Isn’t this an irony? Well, it is a “holiday season” anyway.

Christmas is a time to look at Jesus as a baby in a manger. We have lullabies; we have small nativity figures portraying Jesus the baby. Nice, but there is more than that. This romantic picture of Jesus is actually an incredible miracle that changed the world.

Let me quote a passage from the Bible describing the nature of this “baby”. It written by Isaiah almost 700 years before Christ.

“For to us a child is born,
       to us a son is given,
       and the government will be on his shoulders.
       And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (9:6)

Handel used this verse to compose one of my favorite choir masterpieces- the Messiah. In this verse, Jesus is described as a child, a new born baby. He is a Son, (to us a son is given), and also the father (Everlasting Father.)

There are many attributes in this short passage: counselor, mighty God, prince of peace. But I want to concentrate on the concept of EVERLASTING FATHER.

It is very difficult to understand the concept of the everlasting. We live in time. There is a beginning and an end to everything. Our service started at 11:00 am and I know it should end at 12:00 PM (hopefully).

Our lives have birth dates and death dates. The everlasting is humanly unimaginable.

In Isaiah 57:15, the prophet describes this “son” again.

“For this is what the high and lofty One says—
       he who lives forever, whose name is holy:
       "I live in a high and holy place,
       but also with him who is contrite and lowly in spirit,
       to revive the spirit of the lowly
       and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

“He who lives forever.”

You know there are people who try everything to live longer.

Egyptian pharaohs thought that they would live forever in the pyramids.

In Greek mythology, we read about gods and humans who were thought to live forever. Even in the 21^st century, there are people who like to be frozen so they could be brought to life later on.

This “baby in the manger” is an everlasting God. His name is everlasting according to Psalm 72:17

“May his name endure forever;
       may it continue as long as the sun.
       All nations will be blessed through him,
       and they will call him blessed.”

There are more passages in the Bible describing the nature of this “child in the manger.”

According to John 1,

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ²He was with God in the beginning.”

If Jesus was with God in the beginning, it means he does not have any beginning nor end. We read in Revelation 21:6,

He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.”

The most fascinating passage is John 8:12-58. In this passage, Jesus was having a hot discussion about who he is. The Jews were questioning Jesus’ origin. They could not understand how his Father is God Almighty. They said that their father is Abraham.

Jesus challenged them by saying his Father is God and he is doing His will.

Once more they did not understand him. They said Abraham is most important for them. And here Jesus shocked them:

“I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!" (8:58)

“I am who I am” is the name of God. Once more Jesus declared that he and the Father are one. He is EVERLASTING. They did not understand him. They did not want to understand him. Jesus said, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me.” (42)

So what is Christmas?

It is the Kairos, the Godly time, when God revealed Himself in the flesh. What do we understand from Isaiah’s words, “Everlasting Father”? Isaiah is saying “one day, at the right time, the Prince of Peace is going to be born. The little baby is going to be the physical embodiment of the God the Father, the EVERLASTING FATHER.”

My father passed away in 1984. It was very difficult time to lose my dad. All of us one day have lost or will lose our fathers. Yet, we have a Father who is everlasting. This is Christmas: the birth of the embodiment of God the Father - a Father who is everlasting and whose love is everlasting. A Father who came to save me and you from sin and from this finite world to give us eternal life.

In order to call him Father you need to be His child. “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” (John 1:12)

Let me tell you one thing, this is a choice that each person should make. It is not automatic.

C. S. Lewis said, “The son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God.” This is Christmas.

Why don’t you declare Christ as your Everlasting Father?

Why don’t you allow the Son of God to give you the opportunity to become a son/daughter of God?

Maybe one of the reasons Jesus was born in a manger is that we need to bow ourselves in humility to seek him.

Martin Luther said:

“The true Christian religion is incarnational and thus does not begin at the top, as all other religions do; it begins at the bottom. You must run directly to the manger and the mother womb, embrace the infant and virgin’s Child in you arms and look at Him - born, being nursed, growing up, going about in human society, teaching, dying, rising again, ascending above all the heavens, and having authority over all things.”

I will finish this sermon by an unusual ending. I asked 92-year-old Sam Yeramian to come forward to light the Christmas candle. He had a special year in 2007. He accepted Jesus Christ in his heart a few months ago. I believe Sam’s testimony is so strong. He has the Everlasting Father in his heart. Let us celebrate this Christmas by looking at this “child in a manger” as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace, EVERLASTING FATHER.

Amen