John Calvin Commentary Isaiah 63:16

"For thou art our Father, though Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us: thou, O Jehovah, art our Father; our Redeemer from everlasting is thy name." — Isaiah 63:16 (ASV)

Surely you are our Father. God permits us to reveal our hearts intimately before him, for prayer is nothing other than the opening of our heart before God, just as the greatest relief is to pour our cares, distresses, and anxieties into his bosom. Roll your cares on the Lord, says David (Psalms 37:5).

After enumerating God’s benefits, from which his goodness and power are clearly seen, so that it is evident that it is nothing other than the sins of men that prevent them from feeling it as they did before, he returns to this consideration: that the goodness of God is nevertheless so great that it exceeds the wickedness of men. He calls God a Father in the name of the Church, for not all can call him this, but it is the unique privilege of the Church to address him by a father’s name. Therefore, it should be inferred that Christ, as the first-born, or rather the only-begotten Son of God, always governed his Church, for in no other way than through him can God be called Father. And here we see again that believers do not contend with God but draw an argument from his nature, so that by conquering temptation, they may strive to cherish good hope.

Though Abraham does not know us. Here a question arises: Why does he say that the patriarch does not know the people? Jerome thinks that this is said because they had degenerated and therefore were unworthy of such a high honor, but that interpretation seems exceedingly unnatural to me. The true meaning is, “Though our fathers deny us, yet God will reckon us as children and will act toward us as a Father.”

Those who say that Abraham and other believers no longer care about the affairs of men torture the Prophet's words with excessive ingenuity. I am not speaking of the fact itself, but I say that those words do not prove that the saints have no concern for us. The natural and true meaning is, “O Lord, that you are our Father will be so sure and so firmly established that even though all parentage and all relationship should cease among men, yet you will not fail to be our Father. Sooner would the rights of nature perish than you would fail to act toward us as a Father, or than the sacred adoption—which was founded on your unchangeable decree and ratified by the death of your only-begotten Son—would be infringed.”

Yet we may infer from this that holy men present themselves before God and pray to him in such a way that they do not look to any intercessions of others, for they are commanded to pray in such a way as to rely on God’s fatherly kindness and to lay aside every other confidence.

And if the Prophet did not instruct the Jews to turn their minds to Abraham and Jacob (to whom so many great promises had been given) in order for God to listen to them, assuredly much less should we resort to Peter, Paul, and others. For this is not a private prayer offered by a single individual or by a few people, but the public and universal prayer of the whole Church, as if the Prophet laid down a general form.

Besides, our confidence should be founded on God’s favor and kindness as a Father, so that we shut our eyes to all the intercessions of men, whether living or dead. In a word, believers profess that they do not gaze around in all directions but rely on God alone.

The question now arises: Why did he pass by Isaac and specifically mention Abraham and Jacob? The reason is that with those two individuals the covenant was more solemnly ratified. Isaac was indeed a partaker of the covenant, but he did not receive promises as large or as numerous.

Our Redeemer. Redemption is here described as a testimony of that adoption, for by this proof God showed himself to be the Father of the people. Therefore, believers boldly and confidently call on God as their Father, because he gave a remarkable testimony of his fatherly kindness toward them, which encouraged their confidence. But redemption alone would not have been enough if a promise had not also been added; and therefore, just as he once redeemed them, he promised that he would always be their Father.

From everlasting is your name. The word “everlasting” points to the stability and continuance of his fatherly name, for we did not deserve the name of children, but his will, by which he once adopted us to be children, is unchangeable. Therefore, since the Lord has an eternal name, it follows that the title and favor connected with that eternity and flowing from it will be durable and eternal.