PRESENTER'S NOTES

“Unto Us, A Child Is Born,” Handel’s Messiah…

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.
7 Of 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.

Father - 1 'ab awb a primitive word; father, in a literal and immediate, or figurative and remote application):--chief, (fore-)father(-less), X patrimony, principal. Compare names in "Abi-".

Job was like a father to the needy…

Job 29: 16 I was a father to the needy,
and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know.

Adam was the father of all mankind…

Isaiah 43:26 Put me in remembrance; let us argue together;
set forth your case, that you may be proved right.
27 Your first father (Hosea 6:7) sinned,
and your mediators transgressed against me.
28 Therefore I will profane the princes of the sanctuary,
and deliver Jacob to utter destruction
and Israel to reviling.

Hosea 6: 7 But like Adam they transgressed the covenant;
there they dealt faithlessly with me.

In a remembrance of God’s covenant with David, Ethan the Ezrahite writes in…

Psalm 89: 26 He shall cry to me, You are my Father,
my God, and the Rock of my salvation.

In a song of David, he likens the Lord to a father…

Psalm 103: 13 As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the LORD shows compassion to those who fear him.

We see this again in the words of Solomon…

Proverbs 3: 12 for the LORD reproves him whom he loves,
as a father the son in whom he delights.

In prayer, Isaiah likens the Lord to a father and redeemer…

Isaiah 63: 15 Look down from heaven and see,
from your holy and beautiful habitation.
Where are your zeal and your might?
The stirring of your inner parts and your compassion
are held back from me.
16 For you are our Father,
though Abraham does not know us,
and Israel does not acknowledge us;
you, O LORD, are our Father,
our Redeemer from of old is your name.

So, if the “everlasting father” of Isaiah 9:6 is a description of our soon coming King who will reign over man as a father in the Millennium, is Jesus Christ a father to Christians?

From the scriptures we have already read, we have learned that the Lord of the Old Testament was fatherly. In the very meaning of the word for “father” is also included, “chief” and “principal”. And the Lord of the Old Testament was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; their Chief and Principal.

So, again, is Jesus Christ a father to Christians?

Well, when Christ Jesus was here the first time, he declared his disciples as brothers and sisters, and even mothers…

Mark 3:35 Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.

John 20: 17 Jesus said to her, Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.

So, Jesus Christ does not declare his disciples sons and daughters, but brethren, and directs us to obey THE FATHER in heaven.

The Word, the Lord made flesh, reveals to us our heavenly Father.

Luke 10: 22 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

FATHER in Heaven

3962 pater pat-ayr' apparently a primary word; a "father" (literally or figuratively, near or more remote):--father, parent.

John 14: 1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
4 And you know the way to where I am going.
5 Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?
6 Jesus said to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.

8 Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.
9 Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father?
10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

The preceding shows us a critically important definition of God in that to know Jesus Christ is to know the Father, which references their oneness of mind or purpose and unity of power, but there remains another critically important definition we must understand so as not to misconstrue what we just read.

1 Corinthians 15: 20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ.
24 Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.
25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

From this we read the clear definition that, just as sure as Jesus and the Father are of one mind in perfect agreement, they are also two distinct persons in the family of God, with differing responsibilities.

Introduce, “IS GOD A TRINITY?” (booklet)

As Isaiah 9:6-7 read, Jesus Christ is returning as the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace to the people of this earth, the remnant of mankind that remains at his return.

Jesus Christ is also the HEAD of His Church, but at His first coming, He revealed THE Father to his disciples while acknowledging those disciples as his brethren.