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As we move through the week of Christmas, we are focusing on Jesus; the One Isaiah described as the “Everlasting Father.” 

Isaiah 9:6
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.

History tells the stories of the rise and fall of human empires. Nations clash in war. One is named the victor (not always the noblest nation). The leaders of the winners get their names in the history books. Theologian George Ladd says it like this: 

But behind the chaotic events of history the believer recognizes that Jesus Christ, who chose the way of obedience and humiliation, has in fact been exalted to God’s right hand where he sits as Lord, ruling over the rulers of the earth. His second coming, from one point of view, is to be understood as making manifest to the world the sovereignty which is already his. 

-George Ladd, Revelation, p. 25

Jesus rules over all rulers. He is sovereign over all things. While many human leaders will come and go, Jesus is the “Everlasting Father.” 

The Old Testament prophet, Micah, let us know that the One who was to be born in Bethlehem was the eternal God (Micah 5:2). John made this clear in his introduction of Jesus when he explains that the Word “was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God (John 1:1-2). Paul wrote that Jesus “is before all things” (Col. 1:17). 

The One who entered the world on that silent night was the Creator of all things. He is the One who holds everything together. He is the King of Kings! In that stable in Bethlehem, Mary held in her arms the eternal God, the Everlasting Father! 

Thank you, heavenly Father, for sending Jesus—the eternal God clothed in flesh—to pay the penalty I couldn’t pay, to die so I could live. Thank you for Jesus. Amen.