NAMES AND TITLES OF CHRIST
EVERLASTING FATHER
FATHER’S DAY
DR. JIM DIXON
ISAIAH 9:6
JUNE 15, 1997
In Isaiah, chapter 9, verse 6, four titles are given to the Son of God, Jesus Christ, and as we continue our series on the names and titles of Christ, we take one of these titles from Isaiah 9:6 this morning.
In the Hebrew, in this verse, Jesus Christ is called “Pele Yoez,” which means “The Wonderful Counselor.” He is called “El Gibbor,” which means “The Mighty God.” He is called “Sar Shalom,” which means “The Prince of Peace.” Then finally He is called “Aviad,” which is the title of Christ we examine today. This title, “Aviad,” has two meanings, and the first meaning is this: Everlasting Father. Jesus Christ is “Aviad,” “The Everlasting Father.”
Now, on November 27, 1995, my mom and dad were at their home in La Canada, California. They had just gone to bed that night. My dad had a cough, and he was keeping my mom awake and so my dad said, “I’ll go sleep in the other bedroom so you can sleep.” My dad went into the bedroom where my brothers and I often slept as we were growing up. He slept there that night. The next morning, on November 28, 1995, my father came back into his bedroom. He woke my mom up. He tried to say something to Mom, but he wasn’t making any sense. Mom knew something was wrong. Then he tried to sit in a chair, and he missed it and fell on the floor. My mom knew something was desperately wrong. She called 911 and the ambulance came, and they took Dad to Verdugo Hills Hospital where they discovered he had had a massive stroke.
Barb and I and my brother, Greg, and his Barb all flew out to California to be with our brother, Gary, and my mom and to see my dad. The doctors told us they didn’t know whether Dad was going to live or die. If he did live, they said they didn’t know whether he would be able to walk or speak. After a couple of days, Barb and I and Greg and his Barb came back to Colorado. We prayed for Dad. Really only ten days after he had had the stroke, on December 7, 1995, my father passed away.
That is not an unusual story. We live in a world, of course, where most people live to see their fathers die because earthly fathers are not everlasting. Earthly dads are mortal. Their lives are transitory, and the time that is given to us as earthly fathers is finite, but there’s a sense, you see, in which Jesus Christ is an everlasting father, not mortal, His time not finite. He is and forevermore shall be our Father. I think for us, as Christians, this is a difficult title given to Jesus Christ because it seems on the surface of it to confuse the trinity. I mean we think of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, so how can God the Son be called The Everlasting Father?
Bible scholars and theologians, some of them, have suggested that this simply means that the Son reveals the Father. I mean when we look at our Lord Jesus Christ, we see the Everlasting Father. And certainly, that is true. The Bible tells us in the Prologue to John’s gospel that no one has ever seen the Father. The only Son who’s in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. And there’s that wonderful, incredible passage in John’s gospel, the 14th chapter, where our Lord Jesus Christ said “In My Father’s house are many mansions, many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also, and you know the way where I am going.”
Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we don’t know where You are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but by Me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also. Henceforth, you do know Him, and you have seen Him.” Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.” Jesus said, “Have I been with you so long, Philip, and you do not know Me? He who 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 in Me? I and the Father are one.” Incredible.
And certainly, it is true that the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. Only through Jesus Christ do we know God the Father. But most Bible scholars agree that this title given to Christ, “Aviad,” the Everlasting Father, has even deeper meaning than this because there’s a sense in which Jesus Christ functions as a Father in our lives. If you believe in Jesus Christ and you’ve accepted Christ as your Lord and your Savior, there’s a sense in which He functions as a Father in your life and will function as a Father in your life forever and ever.
Many years ago, I went to a father/son banquet with my dad in Glendale, California at Glendale Presbyterian Church. It was an amazing banquet really. They had two speakers that night, Mike Garrett and Paul Anderson. We were very fortunate to have them. I really couldn’t believe that we were getting to hear Mike Garrett and Paul Anderson. Mike Garrett stood up first and spoke to us. Mike Garrett was an All-American running back. He had been an All-American running back at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Reisman Trophy winner.
Mike Garrett spoke first to the dads. He said “Dads, it’s tough for your sons, tough for your daughters too to grow up in this world. A lot of temptations, a lot of social pressures, a lot of dangers, a lot of failures. What your child needs is a friend.” He exhorted all the fathers at that father/son banquet to be a buddy to their son, a buddy to their child. That’s how he concluded his little talk. He said “Dads, be a buddy.”
Well, the next person that spoke was Paul Anderson. I shared this story some years ago at church. Some of you may have heard it but it really illustrates the complexity of fatherhood. Paul Anderson then stood up. Paul Anderson had been the gold medalist at the Olympic Games. He just died a few years ago but he was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Strongest Man in the World, and he was incredibly strong. I’ll never forget how big he was. He literally had to turn sideways to come into the banquet hall. He could not walk through… His shoulders were so broad, he could not walk straight ahead through the door. He had to turn sideways just to get through the door.
This man came up as soon as Mike Garrett was done, and he stood at the microphone. He grabbed the microphone and he said “Buddy? Your child doesn’t need a buddy. Your child needs a leader!” He slammed his fist on the podium and he said “He needs a leader. He needs a leader. He needs a leader.” I remember we all looked over at Mike Garrett who had his head down. He was just not going to say anything. It was kind of an awkward moment. I mean one guy had stood up and said, “Be a buddy” and the other guy stood up and said, “Be a leader.” I think that’s the complexity of fatherhood because, you see, both of them were speaking truth. I mean a dad needs to be both a leader and a friend and I think that’s kind of hard. I think in past generations most fathers emphasized being a leader. I think in the Boomer generation, most dads have emphasized being a friend, but really there needs to be a balance where dads are both leader and friend to their children.
When we look at our Lord Jesus Christ, does not He have that role in our lives? I mean is He not our leader and our friend and will He not be our leader and our friend forever and ever? Is this not, in part, why we might call Him Everlasting Father? He said to His disciples by the Sea of Galilee, “Follow Me.” There was a time when you heard Him say that to you. Follow Me and you began to walk with Him. You gave your soul to Him, and you began to live for Him, and He became your leader and your friend. He said, “Greater love has no one than this, that they lay down their life for their friend.” He laid down His life for us and He is our friend. He said, “You call Me Master and Lord and you are right for so I am.” You see, He is our leader, our leader and friend and He will forever be our leader and our friend. He is Aviad. He is the Everlasting Father.
I think He would remind us this morning as earthly fathers that our time is short. I think He would remind us this morning as earthly dads that our time is short. We are not Aviad. We are not the Everlasting Father. If we’re going to be a leader and a friend, the time is now.
I had my dad for 49 years and 362 days and I was blessed. A lot of you did not have your father that long on this earth—49 years, 362 days. Some of you lost your dad when you were so young you can hardly remember him. Some of you lost your dad when you were in college. It’s never easy but I think God would remind the dads the time is short and to take fatherhood seriously.
You know, it’s a scary time in our nation. Statistics show that every 30 minutes in America, thirty kids commit suicide. Every 30 minutes, thirty children commit suicide in this nation. Every 30 minutes, 315 children drop out of school, on the average, every 30 minutes, 315 children drop out of school in this nation. Every 30 minutes, a thousand children in this nation try a drug for the very first time. Every 30 minutes, sixty unwed teenage girls become pregnant. Every 30 minutes, twenty-five teenage girls have an abortion, 1200 a day.
According to government statistics, 57% of the major crime in the United States of America is now perpetrated, committed, by kids 12 to 20 years of age. Fifty-seven percent of the major crime in this nation—kids 12 to 20 years of age… Things are coming apart at the seams! There’s a breakdown in the American family and you know that. If ever we needed strong fathers and mothers, it’s today and the time is short because our earthly fatherhood is not everlasting.
John Robinson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Maryland and Jeffrey Godby is Professor of Leisure Studies at Penn State University. These two professors have co-authored a book called Time For Life. Some of you have read it. It’s just recently been published and it’s a very controversial book because it claims that moms and dads in America have more free time today than ever they’ve had. It claims that the average American adult now has 40 hours of leisure time every single week, 40 hours of time completely free. This is controversial because a little while ago, a Harvard professor wrote a book called The Overworked American, claiming that American parents and American adults have less time free every week now than ever they’ve had before. Government statistics indicate that Americans are overworked today and have less free time so here comes a book saying suddenly, “No, American parents have more free time than ever they’ve had before. In 1965, they had 35 hours of free time every week. Today, 40 hours a week. More free time.”
What’s the truth? Well, most of us will never know. Certainly, I don’t know but it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter because the issue isn’t how much free time we have. It’s how much free time we make. We are not victims. The Bible makes it very clear we are not victims of time. We are not victims of our jobs, victims of our careers, victims of our bank accounts and bills. We have been charged by God as Christian parents to make the time for things that are important to Him. The Bible makes it clear that family is more important than career. Family is more important than our job. So, we have been charged to make the time.
According to Focus On The Family, the average dad spends 25 minutes a week with the average 5-year-old child. The average 5-year-old child has 25 minutes a week with dad in this nation. I hope that statistic is not true but that’s according to Focus On The Family. Twenty-five minutes a week with dad and 25 hours a week with the television set. Isn’t that scary?
We have an opportunity to turn that around and to be the kind of fathers… because the time is short. You know, I have this little book… Just like on Mother’s Day. Our bookstore, The Inklings Book Store carried a book on moms called “Kids Say the Cutest Things About Moms.” Well, now the Inklings Book Store has a book on dads for Father’s Day, “Kids Say the Cutest Things About Dads.” There are a lot of cute things in here, and I would encourage you to pick it up at The Inklings Book Store. I wanted to read you just a couple of quotes. “How do you know your dad loves you?” These are actual responses from children. “How do you know your dad loves you?” “Would I be known as Daddy’s girl if he didn’t?” That’s kind of cute.
“How do you know your dad loves you?” “Sometimes when I’m asleep, he kisses me anyway and he wouldn’t have to because I’d never know the difference.” That’s love… “What’s the difference between dads and moms?” “The biggest difference is their hair choices. Moms can have short hair or long hair. Dads can have short hair or no hair.” “What’s the difference between dads and moms?” “Dads argue louder and hardly ever have babies.” That’s an astute observation. A lot of cute little responses in here, and yet there are a few responses that are kind of sad. Responses like this.
“If you could give your dad any gift in the world, what would you give him?” “I’d like to give my dad a new watch so he wouldn’t come home so late.” “How would you define the world’s greatest dad?” “The most greatest dad in the world wouldn’t take his portable phone on our fishing trip.” “The world’s greatest dad would watch cartoons on a Saturday morning with me.” “The greatest dad would play girl games too.”
When you think about it, what an incredible opportunity we have as earthly fathers, not everlasting fathers but earthly fathers. The time is short. What an opportunity we have to love our kids and to be a dad and to be a leader and a friend, that we might nurture them and bring them up in the things of the Lord and the things of Jesus Christ. If God would challenge us to do one thing today, it would simply be this. Make this your priority. All of you who have young children in the home. Make this your priority, that you would be a godly dad.
Finally, this word “Aviad” has a second meaning. Really, biblical scholars agree that this second meaning is the primary meaning of the title. “Aviad” not only means Everlasting Father, but it also means “Father of Everlasting.” Now, the word “Od” is the word for father and the word “Ad” is the word for “everlasting” but the word Ad, which refers to eternity never refers to eternity backward. It never refers to eternity past. It always refers to eternity future. The word “Ad” also refers to the ages to come, so when Jesus Christ is called “Abba Ad,” “Father of Everlasting,” “Father of Eternity,” the meaning is “father of the future.” Since, in the Hebrew culture, the word father, the word Abba, carried the concept of authority. Most Bible scholars agree this title means “Lord of the Future,” “Father of Everlasting,” “Lord of the Future.” When we call Jesus Christ “Aviad,” we are saying He holds the future in His hands.
This is a critical concept, and I would ask you this morning whether you really believe this. Do you really believe Jesus Christ is Lord of the Future and holds the future in His hands? Because if you believe it, it will radically affect the way you live, and it will radically affect your attitude in life day-by-day if you really believe He is Lord of the Future.
I think most of you in this room and for that matter I think most people in our world have heard of the Titanic and you know that the Titanic went down in the icy waters of the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg on its maiden voyage from Southampton to New York in April of 1912. What most people do not know is that 14 years earlier, in the year 1898, a man named Morgan Robertson wrote a novel called “Futility.” In 1898, Morgan Robertson wrote this novel called “Futility.”
In this novel, Robertson describes a great ship, the largest ship in the world, just as the Titanic was. This great ship is taking a maiden voyage across the Atlantic. This great ship has the same tonnage as the Titanic would have. This great ship is approximately the same length as the Titanic would be. It’s able to move at the same knots, 24 to 25 knots, moves at the same speed. This great ship was said to be unsinkable just like the Titanic would be described. This great ship was laden with wealthy people, the rich and famous of the world. This great ship in Robertson’s novel, written in 1898, hits an iceberg and this great doesn’t have enough lifeboats just like the Titanic and this great ship went down in the icy waters of the North Atlantic in a watery grave. The great ship in Robertson’s novel, he called the Titan, the first five letters of the word Titanic.
Is that just coincidence? Probably. I mean it probably is coincidence and yet, as Christians, we cannot deny the possibility of somebody getting a glimpse of the future. You can’t deny biblically the possibility of somebody getting a glimpse of the future. There are people, we know biblically, who were able to see things in the future. The Bible speaks of false prophets and true prophets. False prophets are either people who are in the flesh and they’re just making stuff up or they’re inspired by Satan and their prophecies serve the purpose of deception because Satan is the father of lies. True prophets are inspired by the Holy Spirit of God and by the power of the Spirit of God are able to look through the portals of time and see glimpses of the future.
But even true prophets, the Bible tells us in I Corinthians, chapter 13, are limited. Our prophecy is imperfect. Our knowledge is imperfect. “We see through a mirror dimly.” You see, Jesus Christ is Aviad, and He is greater than any prophet. He sees all of the future. He sees all of your future. He sees all of my future. He not only sees your future and my future, but He intervenes. He intervenes in history. He has intervened in your past. I promise you He has, and He will intervene in your future. History itself is in His hands. He will consummate history the Bible tells us. He will come again, and He will bring history to its predetermined end because He’s Aviad. He’s Lord of the Future.
If you really believe this morning that Jesus Christ is not only Everlasting Father but Father of Everlasting, Lord of the Future, then you’re going to live life with a confidence perhaps the world just can’t understand. You see, Jesus Christ doesn’t want us to be anxious about tomorrow.
I think the most famous passage in the Sermon on the Mount is Matthew, chapter 6, where Jesus talks about the birds of the air and the lilies of the field but the whole focus of that little sermon by Christ is the future. Don’t worry about the future. Don’t be anxious about tomorrow. Just seek first My kingdom and I will give you everything you need.
The question this morning is, if you call Him Aviad, do you really believe this? I know some of you are going through tough stuff and you’re worried. I mean just this past week there have been people in our congregation who have been told they have cancer. Just this last week, we’ve had some of you who have had financial disaster. Just this last week, some of you have experienced incomprehensible relational pain and you feel rejection. This week, and I know because I’ve talked to some of you, this week is no different than any other week. I mean these things happen week after week in this crazy world. How can you be steady and stable in this world? Believe in Christ. That He is Lord of the Future and that indeed He has you in His hands. He will never fail you or forsake you, that He is with you always.
In John 21, there is that beautiful passage where Jesus appears to six of the disciples by the Sea of Galilee and He has breakfast with them there. He’s resurrected and alive and He has a conversation with Peter. Three times He says, “Peter, do you love Me? Feed My sheep.” Then Simon Peter and Jesus take a walk by the Sea of Galilee. As they talk, Jesus told Peter how Peter would die because Jesus is Aviad, Lord of the Future. He told Peter how Peter would die. He said that when Peter grew older, he would be crucified. His arms would be stretched out. He would be carried where he did not wish to go, and Peter understood. Then Peter turned around and saw John following them by the seashore, by the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Peter said, “What about John? What’s going to happen to him?” You know what Jesus said. He said, “If it be My will that he remains until I come again, what is that to you? You follow Me.”
That charge that Jesus gave to Peter two thousand years ago is the same charge He gives to us today. Follow Me. Follow Me and trust Me because He has the future in His hands. No earthly dad is Lord of the Future. No earthly father can control their children’s’ future. I mean at times we would love to, right? I mean sometimes you wish you had more power. I know Barb and I; we’re trying to provide as best we can for Drew and Heather. We’re trying to protect them as best we can although they’ve really gone beyond our protection, being as old as they are. There’s a sense in which they’re always beyond the protection of parents. Children are simply because we can’t control all things.
Barb and I are trying to pay for their college education in order to bless their future but, of course, we don’t control the future. Through the years, Drew and Heather have told us many things and they’ve expressed many dreams. They are wonderful dreams. I mean it would be so great if, as an earthly father, I could just make them come true, but I can’t. I don’t have that power. Right? I don’t have that power, but Jesus Christ has that power because He’s Aviad. He’s Lord of the Future. His ways are not our ways, and He does not always give us exactly what we want but He does call upon us to trust Him, to trust all of our tomorrows to Him, and simply follow Him today.
So, this is true of us as individuals, and this is also true of us as a church. Churches and individuals need to trust Christ with regard to the future. I think many of you already know this, that Bob is going to be leaving our church. Bob has accepted a senior pastor position at a church in Santa Cruz, California. I don’t know whether you all know Bob because some of you are new and perhaps some of you have not been to Bob’s classes. It would be hard for me to describe the way God has blessed our church through Bob and through Bob’s faithfulness throughout these 15 years of our existence. It would be hard for me to explain to you the friendship and the yoke that I’ve had with Bob through the years.
I met Bob 20 years ago at a wedding in Kansas City. I went back to Kansas City to do the wedding and Bob was living there. Bob was at the wedding because he, in the past, had dated the bride. So, there he was. He introduced himself to me knowing that I was from Denver, and he was going to be going to Denver Seminary. He said, “Could we get together when I get out there?” He came and we got together, and it was the beginning of a friendship that has now lasted 20 years, and I hope will last forever.
I hired Bob at Faith Presbyterian Church in Aurora, when I worked there, to teach. I didn’t know whether Bob could teach or not. He just said he wanted to. At first, I recruited him as a volunteer. Then I hired him when I could see that he could teach. But when he first taught, there were only three people in his class. Only three people in Bob’s class. It began to grow to where there were hundreds of people because I had never seen the kind of anointing for teaching that God had placed upon Bob. What a unique anointing and that anointing remains on Bob to this day, and he takes that anointing with him to another church because he’s called.
Bob and Allison and Baker and Stephanie have sensed the call of Christ to go to this church in California. Woe unto us if we were to seek to stop him and yet we’re going to miss him. I think it’s scary for Bob and for Ali and it’s scary for Baker and Stephanie because it’s the end of a chapter and the beginning of a new chapter and you don’t know the future. I mean you don’t know for sure what’s going to happen. I know that Bob has a sense of excitement and a sense of call and there’s also a little fear there, but in the midst of the fear, a confidence that Jesus Christ is Aviad. He is Lord of the Future and where He calls, He provides.
I think there’s a little fear here too. I know I feel that in the flesh because it’s hard to see Bob go. You think, “What is that going to mean for the church?” Of course, Donna McClelland, our excellent Director of Women’s Ministries, is leaving to take a position at a church in North Carolina and that’s a little scary too. You look at the future and you say, “Is it going to be okay?” The answer is yes, it’s going to be okay because Jesus is Aviad. He’s not only the Everlasting Father but He’s the Father of Everlasting and He’s Lord of the Future and He will bless the church in North Carolina. He will bless the church in Santa Cruz, and He’ll bless this church because He said, “I will build My church and the powers of hell will not prevail against it.”
He is Aviad, and He is Lord of the Future, Everlasting Father and Father of Everlasting. He reminds us this morning as we close that forever and ever He is our leader and our friend. And He reminds us as earthly fathers that our time is short, and we have been called to be faithful. He also reminds us that He’s not only Everlasting Father but Father of Everlasting, Lord of the Future, and we are to live life every day trusting Him, no matter what we’re going through, as a church and as individual believers, seeking to follow Him with all of our heart. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.