Everlasting Father  April, 17, 2022 - Easter

The apostle Paul says in 1st Cor 15 if Jesus be not risen from the dead our faith is in vain.  

The reason we believe on Jesus is because we see the faith that was in his heart on the cross, caused him to overcome the death of the cross, and raised him into an incorruptible life.  

The resurrection of Jesus is the proof the faith that was in his heart on the cross, the faith we believe on for life, is not beggarly.  Its the proof it’s not impotent.  Its been tried in the fire of the cross, and been proven to be precious and true.  It produces a life that abounds over the sin and death in the world.  When Jesus was on the cross as the Son of man, needing someone to be a Father to His life; needing someone who can provide him with the abundant life.  He saw God was the Father he needed, and that faith produced in him a life that abounded over the world.  

1st John says we have intimacy with the Father, through the Son.  We have intimacy with the Father; we are able to know God as Father through Him having manifested Himself and His life in the body of Jesus’ resurrection.  It’s through the life that manifested in Jesus we are able to know God as Father.  The word that was made flesh in the resurrection of Jesus gives us intimacy with the Father because its the manifestation of everlasting Father.  

Joh 17:1  These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you:
Joh 17:2  As you have given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him.
Joh 17:3  And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Joh 17:4  I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.
Joh 17:5  And now, O Father, glorify me with Yourself, with the glory which I had with you before the world was.

How does the resurrection of Jesus glorify God?  What does it mean for God to be glorified?  

The resurrection of Jesus glorifies God by revealing Him to the world as Everlasting Father.  Jesus begins in John 17 by saying He has authority over all flesh.  Jesus is the Son of man, and we are also the children of men.  Jesus says to the Father, when they see the way you care for my life.  When they see you raise me from the dead, and provide my life with the care it needs.  It will be as a light that lights up all people with the knowledge of everlasting Father.  It will light up all people with the thought you have taken to care for their lives.

Jesus goes on to say to the Father in John 17, and this is eternal life, that they know you, the one true God.  This will be unto eternal life manifesting in them.  That they see you are the one that is able to serve them with the eternity that is in their hearts … that they see you are the one that is able to give their life the kind of care it needs … that they see the thought you have taken to care for their life, that you are Mighty, possessing the strength to serve them with the abundant life they need, and in seeing that, they come to know you as Father. 

Many times children don’t know what they need, they just feel want, because they know they need something.  Do you know what kind of life we need?  A life that overcomes death.  We need a sinless life.  We long for a life that is without spot or blemish.  We need a life that overcomes the tribulation in the world.  We need the kind of life that can serve us with peace and love and joy.  We need a life that can comfort us; that can rock our flesh to sleep; that can protect us, even as we walk through a world thats shadowed with death.  That’s the kind of life we want.  A life that can even raise up these mortal bodies into immortality.  A life that can bring forth peace and love and joy even should everything around us be crumbling.  That’s the kind of life we want.  A life that isnt at the mercy of this world; that cant be corrupted by bad politicians.  Listen we have some bad politicians today but they are no where near as bad as the politicians in Jesus’ day.  In (the resurrection of) Jesus we see a life that isnt at the mercy of bad politicians.  It isnt at the mercy of corrupt Roman soldiers.  It isnt even at the mercy of the cross, because when the cross came and Jesus was nailed to the cross, the life he had in himself, it brought him out of the grave.  It brought him out of the grave in a body that could never be touched by weakness again.  Well that life is the Father’s life.  It came from the Father.  That’s the kind of life we need. 

The lives we have from the world are fragile.  We are born into a world where the life is fragile because it’s but dust.  There are a lot of cares that come along with managing the death, I mean the life we have from the world.  There’s fear and anxiety that comes along with trying to manage the lives we have from the world.  We have eternity in our hearts.  We want a life that can keep our hearts from fear and anxiety.  We want a life that can defend our name; that can defend our reputation; that can stand up to scrutiny; that can prevail against accusation.  When God brought forth His life in a man who had the fulness of death upon him.  A man who was despised and rejected and cursed by the world.  When God raised Jesus from the dead clothed in a life that is without spot or blemish, it showed us the kind of care we need and it showed us God can give our lives the kind of care they need.  The resurrection of Jesus shows us God can serve us with the kind of life that doesnt wilt under the heat of the world. 

A Father is someone who takes thought to care for the lives of their children.  They prefer their children’s lives over their own.  They will gladly lay down their life to give their child the kind of care they need for their lives to be protected from harm and to flourish.  A Father is someone that even should their child sin against them, they will only think of serving their child.  

God embraced us while we were doing the worst thing that a kid can do.  We crucified the Lord of glory.  We crucified God.  And you know what He’s doing?  He’s embracing us, telling us I know.  I know whats going on in you.  I get it.  It’s ok.  I know that death has taken you captive.  I know the world has convinced you that you have to be a father to your own life.  I know the serpent has fathered his hatred, and murder and envy inside of you.  It’s ok.  I’m here.  I’m blowing that death up right now from the inside out.  I’m absorbing that death into my body right now.  I’m absorbing all your sin; all your hatred; all your frustration; all your confusion into myself right now, and I’m about to take it all down into the grave, and I’m coming out as Everlasting Father.  I’m coming out of the grave with the life that can give you the care you need.  I’m going to show you that I drew near to you even when I knew you were going to nail me to a cross, so I can serve you with a life that overcomes death.  That’s when you start knowing God as Father.  You start to see God is the Father you need.  Because a father, if you smack a father across the face He gives you the other cheek.  If a son comes and smacks a father across the face.  Do you know what someone who is the Father will do?  Turn and give them the other cheek.  That’s what we see God doing in the person of Jesus.  There we are blaming him for all our hell; they we are smacking him across the face; spitting on him; mocking him; stripping Him naked.  That’s God.  God could’ve wiped us all out if He wanted to but He didnt.  And He didnt have to use His willpower not to do it, because He’s Father.  What He did is He said I’m going to absorb all this hell into myself.  All this hell thats comes upon my kids.  He looks at us and says, get it out.  It’s ok.  Here I am.  Get it out.  I wont return evil for evil.  Whose the only one that if you nail them to a tree, isnt going to return evil for the evil you gave them.  God, thats who.  Mankind nailed God to a tree when He came to love us and save us.  We gave Him evil for good, and you know what He gave us?  Eternal life.  As our dear friend and sister Gwendolyn Myrie says, It takes a Father to lay down their life for their children.  Only a Father will lay down their life for their children.  Only a Father would stand in the face of the sin and death bullying and bruising His children.  Only a Father would descend into the depths of the abyss; the depths of our hell, so they can kick open the gates of hell.  

When we see God layed down His life for ours, so He can nurture our dying bodies with His everlasting life.  Our hearts begin to be pricked.  Our hearts begin to tell us it can only mean one thing, God is our Father.  God is the Father we need.  Not just the one who created us, and left us alone, but the one who takes thought to give our lives the kind of care they need. 

We have eternity in our hearts.  The only person our hearts will know as the Father we need is someone who can provide us with a life that is everlasting.

In John 14 Philip says to Jesus show us the Father, and it will satisfy us.  And Jesus says to Philip if you’ve seen me you’ve seen the Father.  

It’s not just Philip who was saying that.  Philip says it because that is what was in the hearts of all people.  We all sit with a desire to have a Father.  Someone who cares for our lives above their own.  Someone who sees our lives as so precious they would rather die themselves than let harm come to us.  We have those same words in our hearts that were in philips heart.  Show us the Father.  Show us we have a Father and that will satisfy us.  In my own life, even when I didnt know it my heart was saying show me the Father, and it will suffice me.  Show me that God is the Father I need and that will suffice.  

The resurrection is God come in the flesh to be the Father we need.  If you’ve seen Jesus resurrected, you’ve seen the Father taking thought to give your life the care it needs.  If you’ve seen Jesus raised from the dead you’ve seen the Father picking you up out of the miry clay and serving you with a life that overcomes the world.  If you’ve seen Jesus raised up, you’ve seen the Father providing you the life you need to flourish and be fruitful.  In the resurrection God manifests Himself as everlasting Father by pampering us with His life, the only life that is unto everlasting.  

We had to see God caring for a human life; caring for the kind of life we have.  We had to be able to see that He could give us the care we need.  That’s the only way our hearts can know God as Father.  In order for that to be able to happen there would need to be a human who would find rest in the Father’s love for them in the midst of the world nailing them to a tree.  We lose sight of the fact that God had to be able to manifest Himself towards a human being, and not just any human being, but a human being that had the fulness of sin and death upon them, because thats where we were.  And God would also need that human being to find their rest in Him, and call upon His name in that place, instead of them trying to cloth themselves with life.  Outside of that God would never have been able to reveal Himself to mankind as Everlasting Father.  He would never have been able to show us He can provide our lives with the care they need.  So God sent His word to put on human flesh.  Psalms says a body you have prepared for me.  Now listen God’s word is Him.  Just as Johns gospel says, in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word is God …. Because we lose sight of what God had to do to be able to reveal Himself as the Father we need … We see Jesus and we fall into the trap of only seeing the son of man …. But that is everlasting Father, the creator of all things, who Himself entered into our death, that He might become that which a new creation can be born from.  Everlasting Father entered into our death; He put on our corrupted flesh so He could taste death for us.  The fulness of our death manifested in His body.  But, it wasnt possible for death to hold Him.  The resurrection of Jesus is the Father and His Word and His Spirit working together to manifest themselves as Everlasting Father.  It’s the Father and His Word and His Spirit giving your life the care it needs to prosper.  That’s Everlasting Father who entered into the very fabric of the destruction that was come upon our lives, just as He entered the darkness and the chaos in Genesis 1, and He did so He could hold our lives together by the power of His indestructible life.  Everlasting Father entered into our death torn bodies that He might nurture our flesh unto life, and rock us to a place of rest.  

Prayer