The Father’s Heart

And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father…(Isaiah 9:6, NKJV)

This prophecy from Isaiah was during a time when God was typically NOT referred to as “Father”. In fact, the Jewish people felt the name of God was so holy it shouldn’t even be fully written out. So this was an unusual idea that the Savior who would rescue them from oppression would be a Father forever to them. 

When Jesus came to earth, He often referred to God as Father, even calling Him “Abba”, an intimate version of Father. The religious leaders were offended by this familiarity and it became one reason they felt they had a good case to have Jesus killed. In their eyes, He was guilty of blasphemy.

But God, the Everlasting Father, wanted the world to know Him… to connect with Him… to feel we could draw close to Him and rely on Him. He sent His Son to show us our value, to reveal His heart of love towards us, to reconcile our distant hearts to His fully present care.

We see this in the parable of the Prodigal Son. The son did not know his Father. He thought he was a hard man, someone to take from by asking for his inheritance up front. Like Adam, he wanted “to do it himself”. Once he realized he had made a mess of things, he still didn’t know the heart of his Father. He tried offering himself as a servant. But his Father would have none of it. The son was never going to be this Father’s servant. His son was his son and would always be his son. 

It was the son who had to realize it. First, he needed to realize who his Father was. Then he needed to see who he was. By receiving the robe, the sandals, the ring he was seeing and accepting his true sonship. He had full access to his good Father.

Friend, our everlasting Father wants us! He wants us to embrace our inheritance as His beloved child. This Christmas, let us take a moment to embrace our identity as a beloved child of our good, good Father.

Thank you Jesus for coming and revealing our Father’s heart to us!