Lamb of God

So, we come to what might be one of the more confusing, perhaps one of the more difficult,

of the names of Jesus that we find in the Bible. Theologically, it causes some people a little

! bit of confusion. Why is this promised child being spoken of at the same time as being a

father? And some people have gone wrong by thinking, well, here is this proof that God the Son is

God the Father, so that when Jesus comes to the earth, it's just God taking a different form.

And that's not at all what it's saying. That's a wrong way of thinking about it,

but it can seem confusing. But it can also be hard for us personally, because I imagine that

some of us, when we hear the word Father, it comes with particular connotations and emotions.

It's interesting to see the number of, this time of year, Christmas movies where father issues of

one kind or another become a dominant theme. We think of It's a Wonderful Life, and we think of

George Bailey and his wrestling and his redemption. Is he content to live in the small town with his

small family, to be part of the community? We think about the Santa Claus with Scott Calvin and his son

Charlie. Think about Elf with Buddy the Elf and his dad. There's definitely a theme that emerges

within the way people tell Christmas stories. If you've seen the John Lewis ad this year,

it's been praised for the way it has tried to handle the complexities of how fathers and sons bond across

the generations, the challenges that particularly as men we have in sharing emotions. And so John Lewis

recognized, well, there are issues in communicating and relating to fathers, so let's try and make a story

to help us towards that. And all that to say that when we come to a title like Everlasting Father,

it's important for us to recognize that we'll all come with a certain amount of expectations,

a certain amount of emotions. So why did Isaiah use it is a really important question for us to ask.

How can we find hope in Jesus, our Everlasting Father, regardless of how the word Father can often

at surface level make us feel? And that's what I want us to think about this evening, to think about

the wonderful gospel hope that is in thinking about how is Jesus like an everlasting father to us?

To think about the fact that Jesus is now being presented to us as the everlasting one who can

perfectly meet our needs. Those basic needs that we have to be seen and known, to be loved,

to have safety and security. We're being told that in this coming son, this everlasting one,

he has a father's heart and he's a perfect father and so he can meet those needs.

We're also being told that Jesus as everlasting father is one we can trust in when we understand

his nature and his character being divine. He is good, he is faithful, he will always act for the good

of the children of God. And so through this Christmas season, and indeed through the changing seasons of

our lives, it's important that we are able to see what Isaiah is pointing us towards, to understand why

this title offers great hope and comfort. And all we're going to do is think about two words together.

We're going to think about the word covenant and we're going to think about the word compassion,

because I think everlasting father contains both. Firstly, to recognize that when we talk about Jesus

as everlasting father, what we're invited to see is that Jesus is our covenant king, and he's the covenant

king of his people forever. Because in Isaiah's day, father was a family word, but it was also a kingship word.

And more than that, it was a covenant word. Because when you look at covenant treaties from the day

when great kings and lesser kings entered into covenant, the language will be used of the great king

being the father and the lesser being like the son. In 68 nations of the world today, the leader of that

country or the founder of that country is known as the father of the nation. Interesting fact.

But what we're being told about here is that this son of Isaiah chapter 9, he is the king of kings,

Isaiah 9 · chapter mention

and he is the father. He is the founder of an eternal kingdom. And he has this covenant commitment

to act in such a way to secure an everlasting relationship with his people. When we think about

Jesus as everlasting father, we recognize he is committed in covenant to be for us and for our good.

Now, when we think about that announcement as it came at the time of Ahaz, we recognize this coming

as light in the midst of darkness. So we were thinking about Ahaz a little bit this morning. We

were remembering he was a terrible king. We remember in Isaiah 7 that there was this twin threat that

Ahaz was facing. There was Israel and there was Syria. And Ahaz is called to trust in his God

and to ask for a sign to strengthen his faith. And he refuses to ask. And God gave the sign,

the child who would be called Emmanuel, God, with us. But what happens after that?

Well, if we go to 2 Kings 16, we hear how the story turns out. What Ahaz does next is he doesn't turn

in repentance and faith to the one true God to say, God, you're my king. I'm going to trust you in this

moment of threat. Instead, he goes to Assyria and to their king, Tiglath-Pileser. And he said to that

foreign king, in effect, you are now my master. I regard you as my overlord and as my father.

If you will help me, O king of Assyria, I will give you authority over Judah. I will give you

authority over my cell. You can see that in 2 Kings 16. Now, do we see the problem with that?

God had already established covenant relationship with his people. And he invited them to trust him

as their God and their king. And so in this moment, because of fear and because of threat,

we find Ahaz trusting the wrong king, turning to the wrong covenant father. He's giving the wrong

father control over his life. Now, it's very easy, I imagine, for us to point the finger

and to say, well, Ahaz, you should have known better. You had the stories of how God cared for

the people in the Exodus account or in the stories of previous kingships. How could you lack faith?

But maybe when we take the time to look in the mirror and to think about our own lives,

you know, when things go wrong in our story, perhaps when our position is threatened,

when our sense of security is shaken, or when those who we expected to be friends disappoint or turn on us,

do we ever find ourselves doing an Ahaz, looking around for someone, maybe even looking to ourselves

to provide the answer, rather than turning to and trusting in God and Jesus, our covenant king,

our everlasting father? Well, into Ahaz's story, and I trust into ours as well,

the titles that we find, the descriptions of Jesus and Isaiah 9, they represent good news.

Because here is our Emmanuel, here is God with us, who is also our everlasting king,

our everlasting father with covenant commitment, and he comes to bring transformation by his grace.

That's the theme of Isaiah 9. Humiliation becomes honor, darkness becomes light, fighting and fear

becomes peace. Because this child king will be born, and will grow up to be the crucified king.

And that in the shedding of his blood, he establishes the new covenant, and that covenant is unbreakable,

it is eternal, it is unshakable. And he comes to establish that covenant, that relationship,

with all those for whom he came to save. And now that Jesus has gone to the cross,

and he has risen from the dead, and he has ascended to heaven, and he's taken the seat of the father's

right hand as the glorified king, he continues to rule over us in his love and in his faithfulness.

He hasn't broken his covenant commitment to us, he continues to pray for us, he continues to send

the spirit, he continues to speak through his word. He is the one who said, I am with you always,

to the very end of the age. He is covenantally committed to that promise. He is the one we can

trust and give control of our lives to. That Jesus is our everlasting father means Jesus is our covenant

king. And this calls for our faith in Jesus Christ. This is the way of salvation. It's the way of

trusting him as our covenant king. The covenant in the Bible, it always required faith. The people of

Israel heard that if they would trust their king, and if they would obey their king, they would enjoy

blessing and they would enjoy life. But on the other hand, if they turned away to false gods and into

disobedience, the curse would come, judgment would come upon disobedience. When we get to the New Testament,

the writers of the New Testament say to us that Christ can be in our lives either the cornerstone that we

build our life upon or the stone that we stumble over because we are offended. The difference is either

we place faith in Jesus for our life and for our salvation, or we have the faith in ourselves that we can gain

salvation by our own good work. And into this desperate situation in Isaiah 9, God invites Ahaz and Judah to lift

their eyes to see that they are weak, but Jesus, the promised king, he will be eternally strong.

And God would do the same for us as well, to lift our eyes from ourselves and our circumstances to see

our great king. And for this title, Jesus as everlasting father to be good news, it absolutely requires us to

have personal faith, that looks and see Jesus as our king, that we trust him to save us and defend us, that we are able to

rest and trust, knowing that he is eternally committed in all his goodness towards us.

So Jesus is our covenant king. But when we think about this title everlasting father, secondly, it means that

Jesus is our compassionate king. And this is where this title becomes really personal to us also.

Before we look back at our text, just to ask this question, when we think about how God views us today, if we're a

Christian as his child, how would we draw the face of God towards us?

We're invited in the Bible throughout the pages of Scripture to recognize how deep the Father's love for us is,

to recognize that he has pity and compassion and mercy on us as his children.

But often despite reading God's word and hearing the gospel, it might be the case that the face that you picture

is a stern face, perhaps a frowning face. Perhaps we imagine God is the Father who's ready to pounce on our every mistake.

And maybe that's because of our own upbringing, our own experiences, and our great need

is to let God through his word and through his gospel show us the true picture that he is the perfect Father

Father, and that Jesus shows us the Father's heart.

That God is the original and perfect blueprint of

Fatherhood. He is the Father from whom all Fatherhood

is named, and then Jesus comes into this world

to show us, here is what the Father's love is like

in flesh and blood as he walked

among us.

So just very briefly,

to just trace something of the theme of God's compassion

and how it connects

to Jesus, our compassionate

King.

Just to,

I was just thinking about it this afternoon,

Dane Ortlund has a wonderful book,

Gentle and Lowly,

talking about

the heart of God, the heart of Christ.

It's a wonderful, rich

book to read.

And so often it talks about and captures that sense of the mercy and compassion of God

and goes against some of our natural instincts.

So, you know, we sin,

and just like Adam and Eve in the garden,

our instinct is to hide away in our shame.

And what we need to understand,

and what the Bible shows us,

is that it's our sin,

actually, that moves the heart of God,

that moves the heart of Jesus to come

in order to save us.

Compassion is rooted in the gospel.

So it's a wonderful book to read.

But just to think about

compassion as we find it in God's word.

Exodus chapter 34,

Exodus 34 · chapter mention

as God describes himself

to Moses.

Moses wants to see

God's glory,

and God gives him

a picture

of himself.

He says,

he passed in front of Moses,

proclaiming,

the Lord, the Lord.

And what's the first quality

of God's character?

The compassionate

and gracious God.

Exodus 34, verse 6.

Exodus 34:6

What God wants us to know

about him

is he is compassionate

and he is gracious.

Then we sang

in Psalm 103.

As a father

has compassion

on his children,

so the Lord

has compassion

on those

who fear him.

And that compassion

is fueled

by his knowledge

of us

because he created us.

He knows

how we are formed

and he remembers

we are dust.

And he explains

the extent

of his compassion

from everlasting

to everlasting.

The Lord's love

is with those

who fear him.

We can never

exhaust the compassion

of God

and God's compassion

will never

be exhausted.

God wants us

to know that.

And then to very briefly

jump to

Jesus speaking

about himself

in relation to God.

John chapter 10

John 10 · chapter mention

or John chapter 14.

John 14 · chapter mention

we hear

Jesus say

on multiple occasions,

I and my

Father

are one.

He encourages

people to

believe

in the works

that they have seen

that you may know

and understand

that the Father

is in me

and I

in the Father.

And then

as he speaks

to his disciples

in John 14,

as he speaks

to Philip,

he says it

this way,

anyone who

has seen me

has seen

the Father.

The amazing truth,

author of Hebrews

takes us here also,

Jesus is

the perfect image,

the perfect

representation

of God.

Jesus in his time

on earth

and now that he

rules in heaven

displays for us

the fatherly

compassion

of God.

Perhaps

sometimes we

find God

a distant idea,

but if we

want to know

the Father's

compassionate

character,

we look at

the person

of Christ.

We can look

at his life,

we can look

in his ministry

and we see it

in so many ways.

We see it

in his humble

birth in Bethlehem.

Jesus didn't

come to

lord it over us,

but to fully

identify with us,

to sympathize,

to empathize

as he walked

in our shoes.

We think about

his compassion

for the marginalized

and for the weak.

His heart

that was moved

for the widow

that day

in Nain.

His heart

of love

for the sinful

women despised

in society.

It's there

in the touch

of the leper.

It's there

in the feasting

and the hospitality

extended to

tax collectors.

God's compassion

comes through Christ

in the stories

he told.

Maybe most famously

the compassion

of the father

in the prodigal son

story.

Embracing his

wayward rebel son

in all his filth,

in all his disgrace.

Welcoming him

back into the home,

honoring him

and throwing

a feast

for him.

We hear the

compassion of Jesus

in his preaching,

announcing to the world

the son of man

came to seek

and to save

the lost,

urgently,

lovingly calling

people to enter

his kingdom,

persuading them

that it wasn't

by their merits,

but by God's grace

and through Christ's

merits.

presence.

We see the compassion

of God

at the cross.

He is the king

who comes

as the humble

suffering servant.

He has wept

over Jerusalem

and even as he dies,

he dies praying

forgiveness

for his enemies

and he dies

welcoming

a thief

into his

paradise kingdom.

And the compassion

of Jesus

doesn't end

at the cross.

We see it too

when he comes

to his troubled

disciples

after he's risen

from the dead.

He takes the time

to show them

that these things

had to happen.

He had to suffer

and be rejected

and die

and then rise again.

He showed them

his hands

and his feet.

He ate with them

to persuade them

that he was

the long promised

Savior.

And he welcomed

them in all their

doubts and confusion

and fear.

And we see

the compassion

of God

displayed through

Jesus in the story

and the message

of the gospel.

If we use

the idea

of fatherhood

spiritually,

outside of Christ

we are

orphans.

cut off

from God,

cut off

from life

with him

because of

our sin

and our rebellion.

But into

that comes

Christ,

the eternal

son of God,

the everlasting

father,

our compassionate

savior.

And what happens

to him?

He willingly

is cut off.

He faces

that sense

of being

forsaken

by God

his father

so that

by God's

grace

you and I

can be

forgiven,

we can be

adopted,

we can know

the loving

heart of God.

Here's how

J.H.

Bavinck

puts it,

Jesus takes

away our

guilt

and again

opens the

way

to God's

fatherly

heart.

Sometimes

even as

Christians

we can get

stuck with

that idea

that God

is our

judge

and only

our

judge.

And what

Bavinck

is reminding

us and what

the gospel

teaches us

is that

by trusting

in Jesus

and his

completed

work our

relationship

to God

fundamentally

changes

so that

now he

is our

father in

heaven.

Because of

that great

transfer that

takes place

where the

son is

willing to

suffer and

die in

our place

and bear

the penalty

and the

wrath of

God for

our sin

and he's

willing to

give us

his perfect

record of

righteousness

in exchange.

Now when

God the

father looks

at us in

Christ the

son he

loves us

as much

as he

loves

Jesus.

Jesus

came to

show us

the

fatherly

heart of

our God.

And remember

Jesus is

described as

our everlasting

father and

as Spurgeon

once said

there is no

unfathering

Christ and

there is no

unchilding

us.

This quality

of Jesus

will never

change so

we will

always know

God's love

in him.

There will

never be a

point where

that well

of Jesus

love and

compassion for

his people

runs dry.

That the

one who

died to

make us

his brothers

and sisters

now lives

to keep

pouring God's

love and

grace out

on us.

he is

our covenant

king and

he is our

compassionate

king.

There is

good news

in this

title that

Jesus is

our everlasting

father.

But to hear

that good

news we

must first

discover for

ourselves the

goodness of

our creator

and our

savior.

we must

trust that

his commitment

and his

care towards

us will

never end.

Because if we

carry a wrong

view of God

or carry a

wrong view of

Jesus that

God is a

source of

terror, that

he is a

harsh tyrant

and the idea

that he is

everlasting

father, well

that might not

seem like good

news, that

might come

across as bad

news.

And so we

always need

to be

reminded and

to uncover

more of

his goodness

and his

word as we

worship in

the gospel.

So that we

have this true

picture of

God our

father and

Jesus who

shows us the

father's heart.

Because we

have this

wonderful promise

in Christmas

and the

birth of

Jesus.

We are

invited to

see God

is everlastingly

committed to

saving his

people and

to loving and

caring for his

people.

And the

wonderful thing

is that while

we go back to

Ahaz in

Isaiah 9, he

trusted to

Tiglath-Pileser

and to the

strength of the

Assyrians.

And that

empire has

long since

crumbled as

Isaiah has

is.

But the

kingdom of

Christ never

will.

We can

trust him.

And we can

trust in his

love and

goodness.

Here is the

king we can

trust to

control our

lives.

And so that's

our invitation

this Christmas.

Will we turn

to him?

To give our

hearts to him?

To grow in

appreciating his

love for us.

Thank you.