Our Forever Father (Isaiah 53:10-12)

Children's Lesson

As many of you know this month we've been preparing our hearts for Easter by focusing on Scriptures that remind us that Jesus is forever. We learned from Acts 13 how, in light of the resurrection, Jesus is our forever King, and from John 2, we considered how Jesus is our forever temple.

But this morning, we want to look at the OT book of Isaiah. The book of Isaiah was written 700 years before the time of Jesus. The oldest copy that we can actually examine is one of the famous Dead Sea Scrolls and dates to 100-200 before Christ's birth.

Speaking of Jesus, when a person who is familiar with his story reads through Isaiah 53, what's stunning is how much that chapter sounds like it's talking about him. But again, Isaiah prophesied and wrote centuries before the time of Jesus.

And yet, the New Testament (in places like Matthew 8, Acts 8, and I Peter 2) tells us this similarity is more than coincidence. As a prophet, Isaiah was used by God to predict the coming of Jesus. 

Now, most of what Isaiah 53 describes is the suffering of this "man of sorrows" (v. 3); one who was "stricken" (vs. 4, 8), "smitten" (v. 4), "afflicted" (v. 4), "wounded" (v. 5), and "Oppressed" (v. 7). But according to the prophet, there's more to the story. Look with me at verses 10-12...

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. 11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. 12 Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Okay. Please notice from these verses that...

Number one, this servant really is (v. 10) crushed; that (again, v. 10) his soul or life makes an offering for guilt; that is, (v. 12) he "poured out his soul to death". (or as Isaiah tells us in v. 8, he was cut off from the land of the living).

But, number two, when we know these tragic truths about this man's fate, the rest of what this passage tells us is astonishing: "he [God] shall prolong his days". Somehow, God is going to (v. 12) "divide him a portion with the many and... the spoil with the strong". Isaiah even says that God's will... will (future tense) prosper in his hand". And maybe strangest of all (v. 10), "he [this servant] shall see his offspring".

So how can this servant of God, this "man of sorrow", how can he both die and yet prolong his days? How can he be both cut off and yet live to see and be satisfied?

The answer? Through resurrection! This can only make sense if the man dies, then somehow, comes back to life.

What God has given us here in this ancient Hebrew text is not only a prediction concerning the sufferings of Good Friday. He's also given us a prophecy concerning the victory of Easter Sunday! Good Friday was not the last day of Jesus. On the third day, God prolonged his days. Jesus truly has conquered, even death itself.  Therefore, all the spoils of victory are his and divided with his people! And today, right now, the will of God truly does prosper in Christ's hand. Amen?

Can we trust sacred Scripture? Absolutely. The life and death and resurrection of Jesus was no fluke of history. It was the unfolding, the manifestation, the fulfillment of God's perfect plan. And it was predicted centuries before it ever came to pass.

I hope that encourages you in light of the reliability, the trustworthiness, of the biblical record. But I believe this passage should affect us even more deeply. How? Through an understanding of that strange phrase in verse 10: "he shall see his offspring". 

If this passage really is about Jesus (and it is), then isn't this saying that Jesus was (or is) a father? Yes. That's exactly what it's saying. But wait, the NT depicts Jesus as single and childless. So which is it? Indeed, everything we know about the life of Jesus (from inside and outside the Bible) points to the fact that Jesus was never married, and Jesus never had children. But again, as we see here, it was foretold that Jesus would be a father. 

So He wasn't a father in the biological sense. And as the Son of God, we know he's not THE Father. So not biologically, and not theologically. But Isaiah tells us that Jesus truly would be a father. And not just here in chapter 53. Actually, this unusual idea is more explicit in chapter 9. Let's move from Easter to Christmas as we look together at Isaiah 9, verse 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. [Isaiah 9:6 ESV]

Again, when it comes to the triune nature of God, the Son is not the Father. So why is Jesus called a "father"... even an "everlasting father" in Isaiah 9:6? Well, the term "father" could be used in ancient Israel to refer to someone who functioned in a fatherly (protecting, providing) way over a person or persons. Thus, Joseph can say in Genesis 45:8, "[God] has made me a father to Pharaoh". Similarly, Elisha could cry out to Elijah using the words, "My father, my father!" in 2 Kings 2. And here in Isaiah, it's prophesied in chapter 22 that a man named Eliakim will be exalted and become "a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the house of Judah" (vs. 20-21).

So it's in this sense, as the promised King from David's family... it's in this sense that Jesus would have offspring. As our King, Jesus protects and provides. This is similar to the image of the shepherd that Jesus used so often. 

But I think the NT gives us even more in terms of fleshing out this imagery. Listen to what John 1 tells us about the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us...

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. [11] He came to his own, and [even though Isaiah predicted his coming] his own people did not receive him. [12] But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God... [John 1:10-12]

Ah! So just as a biological father helps bring children into this world, so too did Jesus make it possible for us to experience new birth and a new life. 

And thus, the resurrected Jesus, who according to Romans 6:4 was raised from the dead by the glory of THE Father, this Jesus is a forever father to everyone who trusts him. That doesn't take away from God the Father. In fact, it simply affirms the oneness of God, especially the fact that, as Jesus expressed it, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?" [John 14:9]

So if we combine all of these amazing ideas together, I think we can confess something that may sound unusual to us. We can confess that Jesus Christ is a forever father to all who trust him, in order that he might bring us to his Father forever.

Doesn't that sound amazing, and reassuring, and almost too good to be true?

But what about you? How does all that father language land in your heart?

Maybe you're here this morning and you have or had a really good dad. Maybe you're here this morning and you have or had a not-so-good dad. Or maybe your relationship with your dad is just so-so, even though you wish it was deeper.

Wherever you're coming from, God uses this father/offspring language for a specific reason. It is meant to communicate something specific. It's meant to evoke something, to stir something in you.

You see, if you have or had a good dad, then you recognize the very best things about what a father can embody. Warmth. Security. Strength. Wisdom. Provision. Protection. Connection. Care. Leadership. To whatever degree your earthly father has or had these qualities, they can be found in Jesus... in perfection. 

If you have or had a not-so-good dad, then you recognize just how important those things are. You understand better than most the gaping hole the absence or distortion of those fatherly qualities, of that fatherly presence, can leave in your heart. 

And so, again, wherever you're coming from this morning, and whether you recognize it or not, there is a longing in you for an everlasting father, one that death cannot snuff out, and one not damaged by the taint of sin. The risen Jesus offers us that very thing. He is a forever father, the One who alone can bring us to THE Father forever.

Perfect and eternal Warmth. Perfect and eternal Security. Perfect and eternal Strength. Perfect and eternal Wisdom. Perfect and eternal Provision. Perfect and eternal Protection. Perfect and eternal Connection. Perfect and eternal Care. Perfect and eternal Leadership. 

What a gift! 

How is this forever father at work in your life? Have experienced the new birth he helps make possible? Are you experiencing those fatherly qualities in your own life? Do you sense your need, your hunger for such things. If so, reach out to him in faith this morning. One thing the resurrection of Jesus confirms for us is that Jesus isn't going anywhere. Death couldn't stop him. The grave couldn't hold him. He came just as predicted. He suffered just as predicted. He rose again... just as predicted. He isn't going anywhere. For any who look to Him in faith, he will be there for you. Always.

Examine your heart this morning. How is God stirring you? Please know, he hears you. He hears everyone who reaches out to him in faith. 

Thanks be to God this Easter morning for what he's revealed to us about this amazing reality of Jesus forever. Our forever King. Our forever temple. Our forever father... the One who brings us to THE Father forever.

Let's go to him in prayer with grateful and humble hearts, ready to receive his fatherly care.