Everlasting Father

Isaiah says that God is the Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6). What does that really mean? According to the Oxford dictionary, “everlasting” means lasting forever or a very long time. Not to be confused with the Energizer Bunny that can go on and on and on. Eventually, the bunny’s power will be used up. Not so with God.

In Revelation 1:8, God says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, who is, who was and who is to come.” This speaks to His self-existence; He has no beginning or end. He always has been and always will be. Also, Isaiah 40:28 says, “The Lord is the everlasting God.”

Not only is He everlasting, but all His attributes are also everlasting. The word “everlasting” appears in the Bible about 20 times to greater than 60 times, depending on which translation you use. Usually, this word is used in connection with God, either Himself or one of His attributes.

Abraham appears to be the first person who called God the Everlasting God (Gen. 21:33). Also, the Bible says that God is from everlasting to everlasting (1 Chronicles 16:36, Nehemiah 9:5, Psalm 41:13, and Psalm 106:48). There are mentions of God’s everlasting covenant with man and the creatures of the earth earlier in the Bible (Gen. 9:16, 17:7). So, we need to ask: can God make an everlasting covenant if He Himself is not everlasting? The answer is no; however, He can make an everlasting covenant because He IS everlasting, permanent, and always existing. Hard for us to wrap our finite human brains around, but since it is included in the Bible, which is God’s inerrant word, it is truth.

Now, regarding His attributes. The following list of scriptures tells some of His everlasting attributes. This is not an exhaustive list, as that would take many pages. This list will give you an idea of His everlasting attributes:

Back to Isaiah 9:6. This verse is a prophecy regarding the birth of Jesus, and one of His names will be the Everlasting Father. To better understand how the Son is referred to as Father, the gospel of Matthew 1:23 quotes Isaiah to support that Jesus fulfills this prophecy when Jesus is called Immanuel, which means God with us.

How else can we see scripture let us know that Jesus is eternal? In Genesis 1:26, God said, “Let us make mankind in our image…”. The key words in that verse are “us” and “our.” Also, John 1:1 says, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” The “Word” is Jesus. Another convincing verse is John 17:5. That verse says, “And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with You before the world began.” In this verse, Jesus is praying to God and indicating His eternal existence. God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all everlasting entities.
So regardless of our circumstances, we can rest in the fact that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are with us and are in control from everlasting to everlasting.