The angel announced to the virgin Mary,
And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
Luke 1:31-33
This promised child, this given son, is destined to reign as the Son of David, to reign over Israel forever, and his kingdom will never end.
The third name for Christ in Isaiah 9:6 is “Everlasting Father.” Of the four names, it is perhaps the most elusive.
The phrase “Everlasting Father” is translated from a single word in the original Hebrew, which occurs nowhere else in the entire Old Testament. Initially, it might seem strange to refer to Christ as “father,” but here the term does not refer to God the Father but to the ancient practice of calling the king the father of his people.1 The king’s role was to protect, provide for, and preserve his nation with the benevolence of a father. The name “Everlasting Father” rejoices in Christ’s everlasting kingship.
Christ is King, and throughout redemptive history he has loved his people with a kingly, fatherly love. When he first came to bring salvation, he came as a king “humble and mounted on a donkey” (Zechariah 9:9, cf. Matthew 21:5). He became God incarnate “to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45), for the eternal salvation of sinners (Matthew 9:13). And when he returns in his glory and sits on his eternal, glorious throne, he will provide for his people for all eternity by giving them “the kingdom prepared . . . from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). In this perfect kingdom, they will neither hunger nor thirst, nor have any lack, for he will be their shepherd king forever and ever (cf. Revelation 7:16-17, Psalm 23).
Yet Christ will not only be like a father-king to his people for a time; he will be so everlastingly. Hebrews 7:15-25 expands on the great benefits of Christ’s eternal priesthood: he has the power of indestructible life (7:16) and “holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever” (7:24). Therefore, he never fails to “save to the uttermost” his people “since he always lives to make intercession for them” (7:25). In a similar way, Christ’s eternal kingship gives believers a hope that never dies: “Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end,” for “on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness” he will reign—“from this time forth and forevermore” (Isaiah 9:7).
Only this eternal King could establish the everlasting throne of David (2 Samuel 7:13), where peace and righteousness will never end. Only this undying King could form a perfect kingdom, where his people will live forever, praising him for endless ages. All of the hopes of this broken earth find their anchor in the kingdom of this everlasting, loving King.
Born thy people to deliver,
born a child and yet a King,
born to reign in us forever,
now thy gracious kingdom bring.2
Reflection Questions
- What kind of king is King Jesus? Praise him for His goodness!
- “All of the hopes of this broken earth find their anchor in the kingdom of this everlasting, loving King.” What hopes do you have that will only be satisfied in the new, heavenly kingdom?
Photo Credit: Filip Zrnzevic
- See 1 Samuel 24:11, where David calls King Saul, “My father.”
- https://hymnary.org/text/come_thou_long_expected_jesus_born_to