Advent Week 2 - Christ's Messianic Titles Series

The Royal Titles

Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:

Psalm 1:1-2

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His Law he meditates day and night.”

And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse is:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.

“Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we shall ever be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.”

Today we will once again be reading from Isaiah 9:2-7

Last week we took a look at the first two phrases of Isaiah 9:6 where two pronouncements are made; “Unto you a child is born” and “Unto you a Son is given”.

These two phrases prophesy of the initiation of the greatest event in the history of the world; the time when God the Father would send God the Son as the God Man.

Now, I know that God the Father and God the Son sounds kind of confusing because if are new to Christianity it kind of sounds like we have multiple Gods, right?

And then when you get into the New Testament and you read about God the Holy Spirit it almost sounds as if there are three Gods but nothing could be further from the truth.

We serve One Eternal God and this One Eternal God has three distinct and active persons within the One Eternal God.

So, to make it simpler to try to understand, since God’s name in the Old Testament is Yahweh, instead of referring to the Holy Trinity as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, it seems to add clarity to refer to the Holy Trinity as Yahweh the Father, Yahweh the Son and Yahweh the Holy Spirit.

That is a long winded way of saying that the Son who is given in Isaiah 9:6 is one of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity and is becoming conjoined with a human child. This is another mystery like the Holy Trinity because we cannot grasp that the one Child can be fully human and fully God at the same time.

This is the miracle we call the incarnation.

Today we will be looking at the other end of Isaiah 9:6 as we see some of the titles given to this God-Child, Jesus.

Let’s take a look at Isaiah 9:2-7 and see what these amazing titles tell us about the Messiah who is to come.

(Prayer for help)

Let’s put Isaiah 9:6 up on the screen again.

These highlighted parts of the verse are sometimes referred to as Royal Titles or Throne Names; and they are Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

We will be looking at all four of these titles but not necessarily in the order they are given.

Let’s look at this one first, Mighty God.

This is a title of Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel found in Genesis 21:33 and Deuteronomy 33:27. There is no doubt here that this Child who is to be born to us, this Son who is given to us will be God Himself.

He will NOT be just another king in the sad line of the kings of Judah or the horrific line of kings in the northern Kingdom of Israel!

He will be God Himself with the Might and Power of God Himself.

I am sure, this seemed unfathomable to the Jews of that time.

That may be why Isaiah also wrote in Isaiah 40:28

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? (Yahweh) The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and HIS UNDERSTANDING NO ONE CAN FATHOM.”

Did the Lord intend for us to understand that this Child would be the Mighty God Himself? Yes, He did.

I am sure this God Man who is the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace did not look mighty when He was hanging on the cross giving His life for our salvation but He certainly did when He rose from the dead.

As Jesus said in John 10:17-19

“The reason my Father loves Me is that I lay down my life - only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”