The symbolic use of the word father was an ancient Hebraism for “possessor of.” In Isaiah 9:6 the Messiah is described as both a Son and a Father. He became a child in time (through the incarnation), but He is the Father (and possessor) of eternity.

He inhabits and possesses eternity. “For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones’” (Isaiah 57:15).

His name is eternal. “His name shall endure forever; His name shall continue as long as the sun. And men shall be blessed in Him; all nations shall call Him blessed” (Psalm 72:17).

He is the eternal provider. “He said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.’” (Revelation 21:6). He is eternal in all that He is and all that He does! This implies several crucial truths claimed for God’s Messiah in both Old and New Testaments:

He is preexistent. “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (Psalm 90:2).

He is self-existent. In Exodus 3 we find the name “I AM.” This name describes and defines the God who is. He is totally independent of His creation, and totally independent of time.

He is the God who is Alpha and Omega, the God of the eternal present tense. As self-existent, He is wholly and completely self-dependent. Frederick Faber wrote, “No age can keep its outward years on Thee, dear God! Thou art, Thyself, Thine own eternity.”

In the events recorded in John 8:12-58, a fascinating dialog occurs. The exchange is between Jesus and His religious antagonists, the Pharisees. Jesus called God His Father. The Pharisees called Abraham their father. Jesus said that if Abraham were their father they would do the works of Abraham. They responded that at least they were not born of fornication (implying that Mary had been sexually active before marriage), and then matched Jesus’ claim that all have one Father—God. To this Jesus replied:

The Pharisees were making their claim to Abraham and to the God of Abraham, but Jesus wasn’t backing down. More important, He clarified that their link to Abraham was only physical. Spiritually they were of their father the devil.

Then Jesus made the most amazing statement of all: “Before Abraham was, I AM” (John 8:58). To His countrymen, He had finally gone too far. They recognized that by such a claim He was making Himself equal with God. (In Exodus 3:14, Moses met the God who identified Himself as the “I AM WHO I AM.”) As on several other occasions, Jesus so infuriated the Pharisees that they picked up stones with the intent to kill Him.

In retrospect, we can see more than the Pharisees’ rage. We can also see One who by His miraculous life, death, and resurrection has shown His right to the name Isaiah’s prophecy had given to the Messiah 600 years before Jesus’ birth.

The truth of the eternality of the Messiah is something that has come under continuous attack for centuries. But the inescapable fact is that all groups who reject the eternality of Christ also reject His deity. The two are inseparable! If Jesus is not eternal, He is not God—and vice versa. Yet Isaiah said that when Messiah came, He would be the physical embodiment of the Everlasting Father.

The ability of Christ to be a timeless source of fatherly protection and provision is claimed in a number of ways in the New Testament.

• His character is described as eternally consistent and immutable (unchanging). Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
• His New Testament title Alpha and Omega (Revelation 1:8) uses the first (alpha) and last (omega) letter of the Greek alphabet to symbolize that Christ is before everything and will surpass everything.
• He declared that His divine judgment will be an eternal one (Matthew 18:8).
• John the Baptist, whose birth preceded Jesus, still recognized the eternality of Christ when he said, “This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me’” (John 1:30). He is the eternal One!

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The self-existence of God’s Messiah means that He will not leave us, as all earthly fathers eventually do. The Eternal God took upon Himself the limitations of a human body so that He could bring us into an everlasting relationship with Himself.

May we take time to think about Christ, the timeless One who invaded time to rescue us from sin and self. He is the Father of Eternity who has given eternal life to make it possible for us to have eternal peace with God and with one another.