December 21st Sermon

Text: Isaiah 9:6-7 Supporting Texts: Psalm 103:13; Daniel 7:13-14; Luke 1:32-33; Romans 5:1, 9:5; Revelation 11:15.

I would like to draw your attention to the ninth chapter of the book of Isaiah. There are many views of Christmas, as I am sure you are aware. I was thinking this week about all of the various ways people perceive Christmas. A little child sees Christmas as bright lights, decorated trees; sort of a mystical, magical time full of anticipation, full of fun and excitement like no other time of the year; a time to receive gifts. Teenagers look at Christmas as a time to be with friends and go to parties, and be out of school and get new clothes. Adults see Christmas as a time with family and friends a time of overdrawn bank accounts and overcharged credit cards. It is a time of frantic shopping online and in stores. They try to imagine if relatives have lost weight or gained weight and try to figure out what size to buy so as not to insult them. Businesses view Christmas as a time to deplete the inventory and raise the profits. There are many views of Christmas, but how does the Bible view Christmas?

According to Matthew 1:23, the Child born in Bethlehem would be called Immanuel, which means, (according to the text) “God with us.” Herein is the definition of the Incarnation, which is that, the living God who created the entire universe, took upon Himself human flesh and lived among us. On that day, God became a human. He continued as fully God and fully human, human in all aspects as we are, except without sin. And His name is Jesus.

Isaiah’s prophetic book covers sixty-six chapters. The author, Isaiah, lived about 700 years before the birth of Christ, or roughly 2,700 years ago. Chapter nine begins with some timely relief in the form of a prophecy. There will come a great light that will cause gladness and joy. The gloom of the present would be exchanged for prosperity and peace. The difference could not be more striking. By the time we get to verse six, we find this transformation would be caused and engineered by One Person who will ascend to the throne of Israel in the future. What follows in verses six and seven is the prophecy of the coming ruling Messiah. Sparkling like brilliant lights are five astonishing certainties of the coming Messiah, whose birth we celebrate this week. His name is Jesus. These five attributes are like five Christmas presents waiting our discovery. Let us look at God’s Word together.

HE WILL BE BORN A CHILD. Isaiah 9:2-6a

The People Will See a Great Light. In verse two, Isaiah described the effect of the Messiah on this northern part of Israel. The people were in darkness and living in a gloomy land. The faithful felt abandoned by God and afflicted. Yet, at their darkest moment, they would see a great light, a light that would dawn on them. Matthew applied this passage to Jesus, who began His preaching and healing ministry in that region. Matthew wrote that when Jesus began His ministry in Galilee, He was fulfilling this very prophecy. “This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles – “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and those who were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned.”” (Matthew 4:14-16).

In verse three of the ninth chapter of Isaiah, “You” refers to God the Father, who will lead the people from spiritual darkness into light by sending the Child, the Messiah. The light will increase their joy like the joy at harvest time or the joy of winning a battle and dividing the spoil. It will be like taking a burden off someone’s back. At that time, after the Child-Messiah will come, the implements of warfare will be destroyed because in His reign of universal peace, implements of war will not be needed. This, of course refers to the reign of Jesus Christ in His Millennial kingdom.

A Child Will Be Born. In verse six, the prophecy tells us that this Child was to be born into the nation of Israel as one of the covenant people. The tense of the verb emphasizes the historical nature of His birth: it would happen at a specific time in a definite place. The focus here is on the birth of the child. It is not a conquering king or emperor that comes, but a child. The prophecy points to the birth of a future Son who will restore Israel and fulfill God’s promises. It has been God’s design all along that Israel would function as a signpost to identify the true Messiah. He would be a child born in Israel. No one else could fulfill this prophecy. The words “child” and “Son” refer to the two natures of Jesus Christ. They picture His perfect and sinless humanity. The One whom God will send as the Great Deliverer of His people would be born as a child and would be the Son.

A Son Will Be Given. He was born the son of Mary, so that He is qualified as a compassionate High Priest. He is at the same time the Son of God, fully and completely God in every respect. The Son is given by God’s grace for our redemption. Mankind has nothing to do with the birth of Christ. Jesus came at the time He did because of the sovereign choice of God. People did nothing to merit God’s choice and they could do nothing to earn it. The Messiah was given solely by God’s miraculous grace. The One born would be a child and a son. In the eyes of others, He would display nothing unusual; just a boy growing up in a typical household. But He would be God with Us.

HE WILL RULE OVER GOD’S PEOPLE. Isaiah 9:6b

The Government Will Rest on His Shoulders. Isaiah declared this Child would be human and as the Son, truly God. He will rule over God’s people and the world. The government will be on His shoulders figuratively refers to the kingly robe to be worn by the Messiah. As King, He will be responsible to govern the nation. In Isaiah’s day Judah’s leaders were incompetent in governing the people. But the Messiah will govern as David’s descendant with grace and righteousness. In this, Isaiah answered the question of why the Messiah would come. He would come so that the government would be on His shoulders.

The Messiah’s Global Rule. He will rule not only the nation of Israel, but the government of the entire world and its people will be the responsibility of this future Messiah. The child born in Bethlehem is the King of kings and Lord of lords. This prophecy of the universal rule of the Lord Jesus is seen as fulfilled in the eleventh chapter of the book of Revelation, “Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever”” (Revelation 11:15).

HE WILL BE KNOWN BY DIVINE ATTRIBUTES. Isaiah 9:6c

The Wonderful Counselor. In Hebrew, “Wonderful Counselor” is peh’leh yaw-ats’. How worthy is the Lord Jesus of the name “wonderful!” He was in Himself, all that this name implies. He was wonderful in His teaching; which surpasses the world’s greatest scholars. He was wonderful in His character; the marvel of His holiness and supreme goodness. He was wonderful in His life because of its purity and His desire to provide eternal salvation to whoever would believe. He is a wonder! This word leads us to the conclusion that Jesus Christ is far more than simply extraordinary, but who is Himself, as Creator God in His very being, an absolute wonder. He surpasses all human thought and power because He is God Himself. The designation “Wonderful” is a clear attestation of His eternal deity.

Wonderful means distinguished or great. The Lord Jesus Christ was wonderful in all things. It was wonderful love by which God gave Him and by which He came to our darkened world. The manner of His birth was wonderful; His mighty works and miracles were wonderful. To the faithful believer even His dying agonies are wonderful because He paid the price for his or her redemption. His resurrection and ascension cause admiration and wonder. And all those who will see His soon return will find His coming wonderful. It is easy to say, that when we see our Savior face to face, that we will be overwhelmed with the wonder of Him.

Counselor expresses the idea of the perfect wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. That He is perfectly wise shows the skillful application of knowledge and truth. Problems and perplexities arise in our lives that seem to be unsolvable, but we know the Counselor who is all-wise, who can and will explain all of life’s mysteries. In His grace He guides and directs us into all truth. In having all wisdom and knowledge, the Lord Jesus knows all things and all of His decisions about what He will do are always wise; that is, they always will bring about the best results from God’s point of view and they will bring about those results through the best possible means. Each moment of our lives, we may quiet our discouragement with the comfort of knowing about our Lord’s infinite wisdom: if we are His children, we can know that He is working wisely in all things in our lives. He is the wonder of wisdom and counsel.

Mighty God. In the original language of Isaiah, Mighty God is El Gibbor. These words mean omnipotence and authority. It reveals that the Lord Jesus Christ is the omnipotent, all-powerful God who has authority over all things. Allow me to remind you that this term “mighty” refers here to the “Child who was born and the Son who was given.” In other words, at the moment of His birth, even as an infant in His mother’s arms, Jesus Christ was Mighty God. He put His divine power on display when He calmed the raging storm, when He cured thousands from their diseases, when He walked on water, and when He fed the 5,000. He showed His great power and authority when He rose victoriously over death and the grave revealing that not even death’s power could hold Him. Jesus is almighty God. God or “El” in the Hebrew text of the Bible is used to designate absolute deity. Isaiah, in chapter ten, uses this word to apply to God the Father. This is a title of God Himself and it shows that Jesus is fully and absolutely God in all ways equal to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

Everlasting Father. Again, in Hebrew, Everlasting Father is “ad ab”. By “everlasting” the Bible means the unending existence of Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us that as God, Jesus has no beginning and no ending. The Lord Jesus shares this attribute with the other two members of the Trinity. We read in the Old Testament book of Micah a prophecy about the birth of Christ, “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Micah 5:2). Jesus, the infant born in Bethlehem is here declared to possess the quality of being eternal. Those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation are eternally secure in Him because He is eternal. He will forever live to protect the ones who believe in Him and their eternal salvation is guaranteed because of Him.

We should not be confused that Jesus is here called “Father.” It is true that Scripture generally refers to the first Person of the Trinity as God the Father and that Jesus is known as God the Son. Yet you and I must remember that all three members of the Divine Trinity are absolutely equal in all of their attributes. God the Father is eternal and so is the Lord Jesus, as well as the Holy Spirit. Isaiah here looks at fatherhood as an attribute and Jesus has the same qualities of fatherhood as God the Father. We must not mistake the attributes of the Triune Godhead with the roles each has been assigned by God’s wisdom from before the foundation of the world. Jesus is Father in the sense that He is the source of all spiritual life for His people.

He is also Father in the sense that He has authority. He is Father in the sense that He gives us the right to become God’s children. The Apostle Paul tells us that “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26). In these ways and in many more, the Lord Jesus reveals His absolute equality with God the Father. The Lord Jesus bears the same quality of eternality with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. All of the events of the birth of Jesus Christ were determined in eternity past by the Lord Jesus Himself.

Prince of Peace. The Messiah is also called the Prince of Peace, (Sar Shalom) the One who will bring in and maintain the time of millennial peace when the nation will be properly related to the Lord. He will restore and perpetuate peace and harmony, something the world has never seen. He began that process by making peace through His cross, forever settling the hostility between sinners and God. God’s wrath was set aside and now believers have peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And, for those who choose to obey God’s truth and live for Him, He gives the peace of God that passes all human understanding. Many people want world peace today. World peace cannot be a reality until the Prince of Peace comes to rule. Together, these four titles give a beautiful picture of Messiah’s divine nature.

Right now, we can have peace with God, through salvation in Jesus Christ. The sin that creates hostility between the sinner and God can be removed and when re-moved, provides the soul with spiritual peace. Romans 5:1 tells us, “Therefore being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” This peace comes from being made eternally right with God through Jesus Christ the Lord.

HE WILL SIT ON DAVID’S THRONE. Isaiah 9:7a

Characteristics of Jesus’ Government. Verse seven is a prophecy of our Lord’s coming kingdom. We learn from Revelation 20 that the kingdom of Jesus Christ will be established on this earth and will last here for 1,000 years. Isaiah gives us some attributes of the coming kingdom of Jesus Christ. The Messiah, seated on David’s Throne, will have an eternal rule of peace and justice. His rule will have no end; it will go on forever. Following the kingdom on earth, He will rule for eternity. He will maintain righteousness, as His rule will conform to God’s holy character and demands. Matthew and Luke painstakingly record Jesus’ ancestry, both through His mother, Mary and His stepfather, Joseph, and both lead back to David. Jesus was born the heir to David’s throne. He is, therefore, uniquely qualified to be our Master and Savior and the coming Millennial King.

The Fulfillment of God’s Promises. God promised David an unending dynasty and throne. That promise is fulfilled only in Jesus Christ. David’s line fell into terrible sin and wickedness and as the centuries passed, Israel ceased to exist as a nation, the people were exiled, and there was no throne of David. When Jesus returns and rules over His kingdom, it will be a fulfillment of God’s promise made centuries ago and this will be a tribute to His power and authority.

HE WILL DO THIS BY THE LORD’S POWER. Isaiah 9:7b

Christ’s Kingdom Will be Known for Justice and Righteousness. True justice can be a rare commodity in our world. There are numerous examples of injustice in our world. This has always been true. Sin clouds judgment and corrupts justice. Sin obscures the truth and allows lies to flourish. But a day is coming when justice will no longer be blind. With perfect wisdom and knowledge, the kingdom of our Lord will be absolutely just. Every decision will be right and just for everyone. That justice will rest on the absolute holiness of God. The Lord Jesus Christ with absolute moral excellence and spotless purity will rule a world in His righteousness and it will be pure and clean in every way.

Christ’s Kingdom Will Never End. This will be accomplished by the zeal of the Lord Almighty. It here refers to God’s passion to restore righteousness and justice in the world. God will fulfill His promises and bring in an era of righteousness. The coming of the millennial kingdom depends neither on Israel nor the church, but completely upon God. The Messiah will rule because God promised it and will zealously see that the kingdom comes. Without God’s sovereign intervention, there would be no kingdom for Israel. Isaiah prophesied that the messianic Child, Jesus Christ, would establish His righteous kingdom. Our world will grow in chaos and confusion, but Jesus will come again. Faith may nearly disappear and people may doubt the truth of the gospel, but Jesus will return. His return has the power and authority of the Lord. He will make sure His kingdom comes.

This is how the bLord Himself sees Christmas. It is the child who was born and the Son who was given to us. It is the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. It is the remarkable truth that the infant adored by angels and shepherds and worshiped by the magi was in fact the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Eternal Father, and the Prince of Peace. God purposed and planned Jesus’ first coming and the Lord Jesus accomplished the Father’s mission of providing eternal salvation for whoever believes in Him. Have you trusted in Jesus as your Savior? The Lord Jesus is coming again and will establish His kingdom. Are you ready? Were Jesus to return today, are you prepared? Have you given your life to Jesus Christ? Have you come by faith to receive Jesus as your Lord?