The Prophecy of Christ | Everlasting Father

What do you experience when you think about your dad?  

Some of us might remember the affection of a strong and caring father, someone who encouraged you and made you feel secure. Others might feel anger, bitterness, grief, or even nothing at all towards fathers who were absent or abusive. Still others might wrestle with varying emotions toward dads who fall somewhere in between.  

The relationship that we have with our dads uniquely shapes the way we grow into adulthood. The Association of Child Psychotherapists notes that fathers play an important and specific role in their children’s development, ideally acting as a role model for their sons and instilling self-esteem and identity into their daughters.1 

But here’s the thing: people are messy, which means fatherhood is messy. Our dads make mistakes, fail to understand us, forget to love, or blindly live out of unhealed pain. Even the most intentional dad in the world would still be human and flawed — which means that we each carry unfulfilled needs from our fathers, no matter who they are.  

Our dads love us imperfectly because they are imperfect. At their best, they own up to their weaknesses while consistently striving to learn and grow. At their worst, they project their anger and grief onto others (or ignore their issues and responsibilities altogether). Sometimes we lose our dads before we’re ready — or we’re robbed of the chance to know them at all. Whichever the case, we will walk through our lives with varying degrees of loss over the relationships we wish we’d had with our fathers. 

There is a painful beauty to this. Our experiences with imperfect fatherhood imply that perfect fatherhood must exist somewhere…and it does. In fact, the loss we experience over what could have been with our dads creates space in our hearts that only Jesus Christ, our Everlasting Father, can fill. 

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.
— Isaiah 9: 6

While Jesus is one in nature with God the Father, He is also completely unique in His being. This mystery is called the holy Trinity and is completed by the Holy Spirit to comprise one God in three co-equal persons. Within this mystery, we know Jesus as the Son of God [Matthew 3:17, Matthew 14:33, Luke 1:31–33, John 10:36, John 20:31]. If this is true, how can He also be “Everlasting Father,” as Isaiah 9 states?

Pastor and Gospel Coalition writer David Sunday puts it this way: “It’s unlikely Isaiah has the Trinity in mind at all when he says the Messiah will be called Everlasting Father. It’s not the Messiah’s role within the Godhead, but the Messiah’s character toward us that Isaiah has in mind…. If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. Jesus is the perfect image of God, and the exact representation of his being. Jesus alone makes the Father known. Indeed, no one can come to the Father except through him (John 14:6).”2

In other words, Jesus is the love, mercy, and truth of our Father in Heaven in human form. He is not the Father Himself, but instead reflects the Father’s nature to a hurting world that’s desperate for hope. Even though it’s inevitable that we will grieve our earthly fathers in one way or another, we will always find everlasting peace, comfort, rest, and refuge with Jesus. With this in mind, here are two ways that we can walk with our Everlasting Father this Advent season:

1️⃣ Practice Honesty

Christmastime exists to remind us of our joy as we meditate on the miracle of the incarnation [a.k.a. God becoming man]. Yet it’s a gritty joy, just like a makeshift bed in a dusty Bethlehem stable made for a gritty birth. Many of us will step into this season with broken hearts, minds, bodies, and dreams…and Jesus welcomes it all.

If your worship is mingled with tears this Christmas, don’t hold them back. Let your Everlasting Father sit with you in the fullness of grief, anger, disappointment, frustration, sadness, or desperation — He has lived through it all and more.

2️⃣ Practice Trust

If you’re anything like me, you’re probably holding the weight of constant pressure and stress, especially around the Christmas season. Taking our overwhelm to Jesus might seem like nonsense to those of us who want to manage it all, but really, it’s an act of trust. Do we really believe that He will hold the weight of our lives for us?

This Christmas, try going to Jesus in the same way that a child might go to their father with a problem they can’t solve. Surrender even your smallest cares and ask Him, “How do you want me to do this, Lord? What expectations do I need to let go of in order to let you be the God of my life, my family, my schedule, and my heart? Thank you for directing my path in all things. Please help me to follow Your lead.”

Sources:

1 Association of Child Psychotherapists . (n.d.). Fathers — understanding the vital role that fathers, & father figures, play in children’s emotional development. Fathers — Understanding the Vital Role That Fathers, & Father Figures, Play in Children’s Emotional Development | Association of Child Psychotherapists. https://bit.ly/3VFB5V6.

2 Sunday, D. (2020, November 16). How can jesus be our everlasting father?. The Gospel Coalition. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/how-can-jesus-be-our-everlasting-father/