In Isaiah 9:6 we find several monikers attributed to Jesus Christ. One of them is Everlasting Father.
This is interesting – the Son is called Everlasting Father.
Isaiah said, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.
Children do not choose to be born but they have to choose to become a son!
There are four stages of spiritual maturity that correspond to our maturing in the natural realm. These stages are gender neutral. They are:
- childhood
- sonship
- young man or manhood
- fatherhood
There are four levels in the childhood stage according to the New Testament. They are:
- brephos / bref’-os ~ unborn or newborn, totally dependent on others for survival
- nepios / nay’-pee-ios ~ immature, selfish, carnal, unable to speak, unskilled, untaught
- paidion / pahee-dee’-on ~ able to assume simple responsibilities, progressing toward consistent character, becoming less self-centered and showing interest in the father’s business
- teknon / tek’-non ~ able to assume more responsibilities, more consistent positive character, becoming trustworthy, displaying focus and a greater interest in the father’s business, a pupil or disciple [disciplined learner]
In order to progress to the maturity level of sonship one must develop through each level of childhood. The Bible speaks often of sonship. Sonship is that level of maturity where the father can entrust his business to us.
Sonship is also the place where we realize that all aspects of our previous life with our old father [the devil, or our old man [the old, unredeemed nature]] has been expunged. This frees us from wanting to go back to that inferior lifestyle.
It is worthy to note at this point that although the Bible reveals people who demonstrate rebellious teenage behavior there is no allocation for teenagers in the levels of maturity. Those who display that kind of behavior are called children [See Luke 15 – the story of the father and his two sons. Do word studies on the key words that identify maturity].
The Father spoke audibly several times for the benefit of those in the vicinity of Jesus. “You are My beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased”.
The Father communicates love and pleasure to the son and the son responds by revealing the father to those in his sphere of influence.
The goal of a father is to see his child grow up and become responsible to the degree that he can be trusted with the his business. It is from here that the child can go on to progress to the levels of manhood and fatherhood. Manhood is where we can honorably relate to others one on one [the opposite gender] and fatherhood is where we assume the responsibility for the well-being of a child.
The goal of the son is to see others honor and respect his father.
Sons who know their father model their father to others.
Sons point other people to their father, not to themselves.
“The Father and I are one.”
“If you’ve seen Me you’ve seen the Father.”
“I did not come to do My will but the will of Him who sent Me.”
“Why do you call Me good? No one is good except God alone.”
Jesus the Son lived His life as a father [the Father].
Fathers want sons to surpass them so Jesus said, “The things I do you shall do, and greater things than these shall you do.” Jesus modeled fatherhood for His sons [disciples] so that when they came into their own they would raise up sons who would surpass them.
This model is needed for the Kingdom of God to advance at an accelerated rate. Fathers want their sons to start where they stop, not where they started.
It has been said, “Our ceiling must be our children’s floor.”
For this to become a reality father’s and sons must be synergized with each other. Otherwise sons will struggle in each succeeding generation. This is one reason moves of God stagnate and even die.
Malachi, the last prophet to speak in the Old Testament era said that God would restore the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers. The restoration of generational relationships is to prevent a curse from being established. One manifestation of this curse is the lack of momentum.
Momentum is crucial in every aspect of productivity. Once momentum is gained it seems as if less effort is needed to accomplish the same amount of work. But as the effort is continued the momentum increases and greater results are realized in shorter amounts of time.
Another manifestation of this curse is the loss of inheritance.
An inheritance is something gained as a result of someone else’s work or effort.
I may inherit something someone else worked for but I am responsible to steward it in such a way that it increases in volume and value.
The breach in generational relationships has left fathers with no one to leave an inheritance to, and sons having to start from scratch to build something of value.
A third aspect of this curse is when children are raising children. This is a terrible scenario that results in severe dysfunction. This vicious cycle produces spiritual dwarfs which in turn produces dwarfed production. Productivity suffers because everyone is looking for someone else to do the work and take care of them.
The Son is the Everlasting Father.
When a child becomes a son their choice of direction is always up and outward not down and inward. Sons are not looking to digress in their development so their only interest in people, places or things that will distract and detour them from their objective – which is to honor the father and become a father, is redemptive.
Sons only come into contact with darkness to transform it, not to duplicate it.
So let your light so shine before men that they see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
For HIS Glory!
Dr. Kevin M.Drury
A Hisstorymaker
Revolution Movement 