Our Everlasting Father

This morning I am reading in Isaiah about the coming of Jesus. I am here for verse six and as always, God presents to me that which He wants for me.

“⁶For 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)

Jesus, born and named. The name I am looking at is “Everlasting Father”. He is to be, born as, and will ever be my Father.

I know that it may be difficult for some to imagine the magnitude of Jesus. I know that every day I am amazed at all that He does, did, and will do for me. And as such, I am brought back, reminded of it all thanks to the Word of God and my study of it. I get so caught up in the world and what is going on in it that I “forget” that whatever happens, it was and has been scripted by God and He is now allowing me to witness and experience it. All that goes on in my life is made possible by God and will continue to be so for eternity.

Jesus is our Father forever. He is the one born into the role from God so that He would be able to experience all that I will experience. He knows the difficulty of this world and the Word of God guides me through it with the help of the Holy Spirit.

I am grateful for my Father and all that He does, did, and will do.

How are you seeing Jesus? Are you seeing Him as a figure for today? What if you see Him for the eternity that He is, everlasting and remember that He does, did, and will do all for you, His child?

God Never Left

This morning as I continue my reading into the word “everlasting”, I am reminded that God never left me nor anyone else for that matter.

“⁶My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have led them astray, turning them away on the mountains. From mountain to hill they have gone. They have forgotten their fold. ⁷All who found them have devoured them, and their enemies have said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the LORD, their habitation of righteousness, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’” — Jeremiah 50:6-7 (ESV)

Notice in verse 6 above that the people were led astray, God did not turn away from them, they turned away from Him. Isn’t that true with me and those in the world today. God is there, His church is there, yet the people continue to be led away from Him by others. God recognizes that the people need to enter into the everlasting covenant with Him and says so in the passage just above those verses.

“⁴In those days and in that time, declares the LORD, the people of Israel and the people of Judah shall come together, weeping as they come, and they shall seek the LORD their God. ⁵They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’” — Jeremiah 50:4-5 (ESV)

This is the critical part that I believe is missed, or at least I missed before. I have to join in the everlasting covenant with LORD. I have to know that He was and is and always will be there for me and my brothers and sisters in Christ. Since He was/is/will be there, it is my responsibility to come to Him and join Him in the everlasting covenant. This will provide for me the continuous feeling and knowing of the love of the father that He has for me. I have to join Him and enter into the covenant by accepting that which He offers freely to all. I have to turn back to Him as He never moved from His position in my life.

God is there and always has been. I may have turned away from Him, yet He has remained. The LORD is constant. He does not change. He is with my always, regardless of my position and no matter if I am with Him. And all I have to do is turn back to Him and He will be right there and accept me with open arms.

What is your relationship with God? Do you feel as though the LORD has left you? What if you just turned back around to the LORD and realized that He never left and has always honored the covenant made with you?

Everlasting Fear of God

As I read this morning in study of the word “everlasting” I was brought to the book of Jeremiah where God identifies His people and that He will be their God. As I get to the verse I was led to, I see that God makes an everlasting covenant with the people and makes it so they will not turn away from Him.

“⁴⁰I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.” — Jeremiah 32:40 (ESV)

I asked myself, What is the “Fear of God”? Well depending on where you look for the answer, you may get many different definitions, but one thing is clear, it is a full reverence of God.

In the Psalms we see that fearing the Lord means to stand in awe of the living God (Ps. 33:8), to glorify him (Ps. 22:3), and to trust him wholeheartedly (Ps. 40:3). Those who fear the Lord receive his steadfast love (Ps. 103:17) and experience friendship with God (Ps 25:14)! In the book of Proverbs the fear of the Lord is a continual submission to God in humility and faith (Prov. 23:17) and consists of a hatred of evil and the desire to turn away from it (Prov. 8:13; 16:6). — from: “What is ‘Fear of the Lord’?”, https://eccelmira.org/articles/what-is-the-fear-of-the-lord/

As I apply this to the passage from Jeremiah, I see that God was placing Himself in a position of reverence and trust in the hearts of the people. But it also has to be looked at as noted in the Proverbs 8 and 16 “a hatred of evil and the desire to turn away from it”. This everlasting covenant is in place that I might turn to God and away from the evil one. I am so in awe of the LORD that I am only able to look to Him. I am drawn to Him and the love and care and comfort and guidance He has for me. I am looking away from the evil one and all that he brings into this world and focusing my attention on the LORD.

I am thinking of the fear of the Lord and how that applies to my everyday life and into eternity. I am to be with God always. I am to love Him as He loves me, always and forever and without any conditions. He has already done all for me in sacrificial death on my behalf. I am only to give myself to Him fully. As I have full and complete reverence for Him and all that He is, I will turn away from the evil one. I will have complete focus on God and all that He is and gives and accept Him forever.

What does it mean to you to fully give yourself to God? Are you only glancing at Him from time to time? What if you fully accepted the fear of Him in your heart and turned away from the evil one and fully to Him?

Come to Him and Experience His Everlasting

The everlasting covenant of God with us is not just for everyone. That may seem a bit of a strong statement and one may be asking, then what is it about God that He is not here for everyone, isn’t He all about love for everyone. Well, yes He loves everyone and He is here for everyone, but, there is a catch, He has to be accepted by you. He loves you. Although for you to experience that love, you have to accept Him and the love He has for you.

“³Incline your ear, and come to me;

hear, that your soul may live;

and I will make with you an everlasting covenant,

my steadfast, sure love for David.”

— Isaiah 55:3 (ESV)

I see here that the God gives of himself to me constantly. He is always there providing for my needs. I only need to accept Him in order to receive. I have to reach out and take possession of what He is giving in order to benefit from it. I am not simply given everything I could want. I have to take some action to actually receive. That action is minimal (accepting), but it is action I need to take none the less.

I think of all the times I was in need and think back to my actions to receive assistance with those needs, did I come to receive help? I may have come to speak of the need and to exclaim that there was a need, but I am not sure that I came with a mindset of actually receiving assistance. I may have wanted others to know of my need and blame them for not providing for the need, but may not have been of the heart to actually receive the help with the need.

Too often I believe that we are of the same mindset when it comes to our relationship with God. We want everyone to hear of our “relationship” and yet we are reluctant to actually putting anything into the relationship. We exclaim that we are in need, yet are not really of the mindset to accept the help that is offered, mainly because it does not fit into what we expect to be the offer of help and it does not fully reverse the situation.

Come to God and He will always provide. It may not be exactly what I envisioned or thought I should be receiving, but He will provide. And when He does, I have to accept the help from Him and know that it comes from the love He has for me and His desire to see me in glory with Him. When I come to God and accept what He has for me, I will receive the everlasting commitment from Him to care for me, to love me, to provide for me at every instance in my life. I may not receive that which I believe to be the answer to the need, but I will receive the answer to my need from His hand and with love, forever.

What is your expectation as to that which comes from God? Are you accepting that which He provides? What if you come to God with open arms to receive the everlasting (eternal) commitment from Him to you?

He is Everlasting to Everlasting and Named Everlasting

This morning I was reminded and really thought about that Jesus came from eternity and will be here through eternity and is named for eternity as well.

“⁶For 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.

⁷Of the increase of his government and of peace

there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.”

— Isaiah 9:6-7 (ESV)

Above is the announcement of the names of Jesus even before He was born. The one name that stuck out to me this morning was that of “Everlasting Father” since I am currently studying the word “everlasting”. I was reminded that not only was the Trinity here before all and will be here after all, but His name is demonstrating that to all.

I have the confidence in the Lord based on His love for me and the guidance and comfort He supplies for me. But I also can have confidence in knowing that He is here for me and was here for me and will be here for me, not only in the sense of providing, but also in the sense of name and recognition.

With God being here prior to me, you may have known Him before me. I came to Him as soon as I could and will be with Him always, even if I happen to fall away from time to time. He will always be with me, and was with me even before I knew Him and He will be with all even after I have joined Him in glory. I will say that all of this was known even before I or you were. Notice again the names of Jesus even before he was born: “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”. Pay particular attention to the third name in the string, “Everlasting Father”. That name means eternity and that is before and after and during our existence here in this world.

What name do you know God by? Are you in concert with all of the names of God? What if you dug into the name “Everlasting Father” to know that He was, is, and always will be?