I studied each of these out to get a clearer picture of who Jesus really came to be. One of the names is the Everlasting Father. The original text might say the Forever Father. The Almighty came to be a Forever Father to His children. A great picture of this is seen in the story of the prodigal son that Jesus told in Luke 15:11-32. I had to ask as I read this story how many times do you think in all the days, weeks or months that the son was gone did the Father pull back the curtain and look down the road in hope? We know He was watching because He saw the son a long way off (verse 20). How many times did the Father pull that curtain back and look in hope? No doubt hundreds. Why? Another way to describe the word Everlasting Father is to say He is the world-without-end Father. He was the forever Father so He kept looking forever.
Ok we say, He is a continual Father. Yes, Forever Father.
It’s a name only He gets.
As the Father in Luke 11 pulls the curtain back for the one hundredth and seventh time, looking down the road in hope, he knows what that means.
No one else in the house gets it but He does.
No matter what happens, no matter who says what, no matter that life goes on, the Father understands what it is to be a forever Father. So he pulls the curtain back for the one hundredth and eighth time that day looking and hoping. Because He is the Forever Father He will do the same tomorrow. Looking and hoping the child will come home.
At the house the older brother didn’t understand the Father’s actions. He can’t, try as he might the other children don’t get the actions of a Forever Father. The reason is they are not the Father.
Another thing that stood out to me in this story was the Father’s expectations. Not only did He continually look down the road hoping but somewhere along the line just after the boy left He put a calf up to be butchered. The way I understand this, a fatting calf needs to be stalled at least one hundred and twenty days. Somewhere when the boy left the Father stalled a calf in preparation for the son’s return. So much so that when the boy came home the Father did not have to explain to the servants. They knew which calf. The Forever Father expected the son to return. So again He pulls back the curtain and looks down the road in hope.
Yes, we often as Christians find it hard to understand the actions of God as He continually takes those who have rejected Him back. We tend to be quick to form an opinion and judge the actions of a life. Why? We don’t get the Forever Father. In Matthew 7 during the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells us not to judge and then gives the story of the speck in our brother’s eye and the stick in our own. Again in Luke 6 Jesus says, “Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:36-38 NIV
The reason we cannot judge is the fact we don’t think like the Almighty. We don’t understand grace. Only Jesus who gave His life understands grace. That is why Isaiah said He would be the Forever Father.
Some time back while in prayer, I ask God as I have been doing for some time to give me a revelation of this name, a Forever Father. Later on in my prayer I begin to pray for my children and ask God to watch over them as they left for a trip. I remember stopping and really calling out to God, asking Him to bring them home safely and watch over them. I was met with a feeling from God that asks me, “What if they don’t come home safely? What if they are taken out of this world?”
I must tell you, I became very fervent in my prayer asking God to protect them and put a prayer shield around them I pleaded the blood of Jesus over them. Yet, God seemed to continually ask me what if they don’t come home safely? God continually pounded on my heart the question, what will you do if they are not here? I continually tried to pray past the question in my spirit.
I hope I never forget finally saying, “Well, God I will go on, I go on doing what I am called to do.” I told the Lord, “I will go on with life but I don’t want to live it without them.”
The moment I said it, if I have ever heard the voice of God I did that day. God said, “That’ how I feel about you, if I have too I go on with my plans without you, but I don’t want to.”
It was then I started to catch a glimpse of what the Father must have been feeling as He looked down the road and out the window for the one hundredth and tenth time. He was watching for a boy to come home. Life had gone on and the world kept on turning, the plans and purpose of the Father had to keep going on. The Father was living without the son at home, but He didn’t want to go on living without the boy being there. He was always a Father, a forever Father.
Yes, the wonderful, counselor, The mighty God and the prince of peace have great meaning and powerful implications. The name Everlasting Father may seem a little misplaced until you realize He is really the only one who really gets it. HE is the only one who understands mercy, grace a Father without end.
He is a Forever Father. Isaiah prophesied that Jesus came to be the Everlasting Father in your life.
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