The "Everlasting Father"

Some content used by permission, with gratitude, from GotQuestions.org 

SCRIPTURE VERSE

“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, ESV).

In context, this verse is proclaiming the redemption of Israel and the activities, titles, and blessings of the Messiah who is to rule the earth and usher in a reign of blessing and peace that will have no end.  One of His titles is “Everlasting Father.”

The Hebrew phrase translated “Everlasting Father” could be translated literally “Father of Eternity.”  For this reason, some have suggested that the title means that this coming Messiah is also the creator of everything: He is the father of time and eternity, the “architect of the ages.”  While we know this to be true from the New Testament (John 1:1–3, Colossians 1:16–17), that is not the emphasis in Isaiah.  In the Hebrew construction of the phrase, father is the primary noun, and everlasting (ESV, NIV, KJV) or eternal (NASB) is the term that describes His fatherhood.  He is Father forever.

The Hebrew word translated “everlasting” has the idea of “in perpetuity” or “without end.”  Indeed, the next verse says of the Messiah, “Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end” (Isaiah 9:7).  The emphasis is forward looking, so “everlasting” is probably a better translation than “eternal,” which not only indicates “without end” but also “without beginning.” (Again, from the New Testament we may argue that the Messiah is without beginning, but that is not the emphasis of this term in Isaiah.)

So, as the Everlasting Father, the Messiah will be a father, and His fatherhood will be without end.  Some have objected that this designation as father seems to confuse the roles within the Trinity, calling “Father” the one who is really “the Son.”  Some in the Oneness movement use this verse as a proof text to show that Jesus really is the Father and that there is only a Unity, not a Trinity.  In both cases, the interpreters are reading New Testament concerns back into the Old Testament.  Neither Trinitarian nor anti-Trinitarian concerns are being discussed in Isaiah 9:6.

Many rulers in ancient times were considered “father of the country.” Americans who read this term might immediately think of George Washington who is called “the father of his country.”  It was Washington’s determination and leadership that led to victory in the Revolutionary War and his support of a strong national government that led (at least in part) to ratification of the U.S. Constitution.  Without Washington, the United States might not exist today, or it might exist with a far different form of government.  However, if some of the interpretations discussed so far are guilty of reading New Testament theological concerns into Isaiah in an anachronistic fashion, using George Washington as an interpretive clue to the meaning of the phrase is also anachronistic.  The most appropriate analogy is far more universal.

In ancient times, the “father of the nation” was viewed in much the same way as the father of a family.  It was the father who was to protect and provide for his children.  In the same way, this Child to be born will become a king who will be a father to the children of Israel — He will protect and provide for them.  And His role as protector and provider will not be limited by aging or death.  His role as father (protector and provider) will continue in perpetuity.  Just how this will come about is not revealed in Isaiah’s prophecy.  The full identity of the Messiah — that He is God in the flesh, the second Person of the Trinity who would protect and provide for His people by His death and resurrection on their behalf; and that Gentiles could also be grafted into the family of Israel — may be hinted at in Isaiah, but God’s people would have to wait almost 700 years to see the Messiah revealed in the “fullness of time” (see Galatians 4:4).  "But when the fullness of time (appropriate time) had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 

The definition of the Messiah as the "Everlasting Father" is confirmed in the New Testament when God inspires the apostle Paul to write, to the Roman believers, about Jehovah God the Father's purpose for Israel: 

 "I am telling the truth in Christ (I am not lying!), for my conscience assures me in the Holy Spirit —  I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.  For I could wish that I myself were accursed — cut off from Christ —for the sake of my people, my fellow countrymen, who are Israelites.  To them belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.  To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, by human descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever!  Amen".  Romans 9:1-5

"But not all have obeyed the good news, for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”  Consequently faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the preached word of Christ.  Romans 10:16-17

And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, “I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me.”  But about Israel he says, “All day long I held out my hands to this disobedient and stubborn people!"  Romans 10:20-21

Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God — harshness toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.  And even they — if they do not continue in their unbelief — will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.  For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?

For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.  And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:

“The Deliverer will come out of Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.  And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”

In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers.  For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.  Just as you were formerly disobedient to God, but have now received mercy due to their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy.  For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!  How unsearchable are his judgments and how unfathomable his ways!

Romans 11:22-33

Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice — alive, holy, and pleasing to God — which is your reasonable service.  Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God — what is good and well-pleasing and perfect. 

Romans 12:1-2

The primary interpretation of "Everlasting Father" in Isaiah 9:6 is that Christ (the Messiah) will rule as "King of kings and Lord of lords" , and be the One who provides and cares for His children, as a father does, beginning at His Millennial Reign and into perpetuity.

This page created by Peter Brenner on Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Some content is borrowed by permission from www.newtestamentpattern.net

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