Jesus Is Mighty God

Alba 12-12-2021

JESUS IS MIGHTY GOD

Here we are, closing in on Christmas again. In less than two weeks that day will come.

Isn’t it really something that a baby born in a stable in a place called Bethlehem, thousands of miles from the United States, can cause traffic jams in countless cities, many centuries later?

But even 700 years before Jesus was born the prophet Isaiah introduced Jesus. There was something in the message of Child that was to be Born, this Son that was given, that gave Israel a reason to have hope. Turn again to Isaiah 9:6.

For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Last week we discussed the words Wonderful, Counselor. Now we see that Jesus, the child to be born, is Mighty God! In our passage there are the two Hebrew words used. First, a child shall be born and He shall be called EL, which is a word for GOD. We are familiar with that use of the word when God is called El Shaddai, a term you may have heard.

And He shall be called GIBBOR, a word which means MIGHTY. That word refers to the power that breaks through and causes victories. The over-comer of all things.

Deuteronomy 26:8 uses the word saying, So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, with great terror and with signs and wonders.

To call Jesus Mighty is to say that He is the captain of the conquerors. He’s the head of the heroes. He’s the King of kings and He’s the Lord of lords. He is the Mighty God!

Let's take time this morning to consider the meaning and implication of these two words “Mighty God” that describe the coming Messiah.

What Isaiah is prophesying here about this child who would come, he is saying something that is very distinct. The Messiah would be called Mighty. But calling the coming Messiah “Mighty – God” means even more than this.

This child would not be just some god, but...

1. He is God

Jesus wasn’t just a great teacher. He wasn’t just a good example. He IS the Mighty God.

A couple of chapters before this verse, in Isaiah 7, we read this:

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Isaiah 7:14b

Commenting on that prophecy, Matthew quotes Isaiah 7 about the virgin bearing a son, and then he explains: they shall call His name Immanuel,” which is translated, “God with us.” Matthew 1:23

Isaiah’s message was plain: A virgin was to give birth to a son, and He would be known as “God with us”. And this child that was to be born - this Son that was to be given - would be called “the Mighty God.”

The New Testament reinforces this. John 1:1 introduces Jesus as the Word made flesh in this way: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the WORD WAS GOD."

Colossians 1:15-17 referring to Jesus says it this way: 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. 17 And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.

Genesis 1:1 says, In the beginning, God created... Yet there in Colossians it clearly tells us that all things were created by and for Jesus. Jesus on earth was Immanuel, God with us.

Skeptics often scoff at Jesus’ ability to perform miracles. But miracles are only miracles because they’re outside the bounds of the normal laws of nature. Breaking such laws ought to be no problem for the God who invented them.

Scripture shows that Jesus was, and is, fully God. God in all His wisdom, and power, and might. God in all His infinite goodness, and grace, and mercy.

The God who has neither beginning nor end of days; who existed from eternity past, and who will exist into eternity future.

The God who created the universe, with all its billions of galaxies, each containing billions of stars, and who even now sustains all of Creation by His power. Jesus Christ is that God.

This fact, that Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, is familiar to most Christians. But the Jews didn’t understand it -- not in the time of Isaiah, nor in the time of Christ.

They had no concept of Father, Son and Holy Spirit being one God.