Isaiah 9 v1-7 DRBC 14/12/03 am
Read: “For unto us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be upon his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
Introduction
• What is the first thing you do when you see a baby? Go all soppy? Suddenly remember you had something else to do? Try to hold it but not manage very well? Let it grip your finger? You might be amazed at how perfectly formed it is, with its fingers and toes and everything in place. But would you worship it?
• That’s what some very wise men did 2000 years ago. They worshipped a baby. What is your relationship to this child of Bethlehem- do you sentimentalise Him so he can be conveniently stored away with the other Christmas gifts until next year, or do you worship Him too?
Context
Ever since they established themselves in Canaan in 1375BC, the Israelites had looked to great leaders to guide them. Moses had led them out of Egypt and Joshua into the Promised Land, and then a series of Judges from Othniel to Samuel kept their focus on the one true God, though every time a Judge died, they wandered off after idols.
The Israelites grew envious of the nations around them and in 1050BC demanded a king of their own. The LORD took this very personally and said, “They have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them” (1 Samuel 8:7), and He warned them of how a king would treat them. Nevertheless, the children of Israel insisted, so Saul was crowned.
Saul appeared at first to be the ideal king, as he was about 7 foot tall, good-looking, brave and generous. Could he be the anointed messiah who would lead Israel into victory, peace and prosperity? Unfortunately not. Saul refused to consult God on a number of occasions, and end up visiting a witch then falling on his own sword.
David, “a man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22) seemed a much better prospect to be the ideal king, but he too had serious shortcomings, to say the least. He committed adultery with one of his friend’s wives, tried to cover up the matter then murdered the man so he could have her all to himself and totally failed to control the evils done by his children, had by his different wives.
Finally, God raised up Solomon, who built Him a magnificent temple to God’s original design. Solomon was the wisest sinner who ever lived, wrote much of the wisdom books in the OT, and presided over 40 years of unprecedented wealth, peace and dominion. If Isaiah 9:6 could apply to anyone thus far, he would be the man. But unfortunately, there was a problem: idolatrous wives. 1000 of them to be precise. “When Solomon was old…his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the LORD his God, as was the heart of his father David” (1 Kings 11:4). Even though David was a covetous deceptive adulterous murderer, he never worshipped any other god than YHWH, the one true God. So Solomon was even less the ideal king than his father before him.
In 930BC, due to Solomon’s rejection of God, the 10 northern tribes of Israel split off from the two southern tribes of Judah & Benjamin. Away from the temple of the true God in Jerusalem, the northern tribes very quickly fell into idol worship and had a series of incredibly evil kings. Unfortunately, Judah didn’t manage much better, and one king (Ahaz) even sacrificed his own son to other gods and nailed the temple doors shut in a gesture of defiance against the LORD.
Into this terrible mess, Isaiah is called to be God’s prophet and as you might expect, God has quite a lot to say to Ahaz and the people of Judah.
Turn with me to chapter 1 verse 4. See how the prophet almost sighs, “Ah, sinful nation, a people loaded with guilt, a brood of evildoers, children given to corruption! They have forsaken the LORD; they have spurned the Holy One of Israel and turned their backs on him.”
It’s not a million miles away from Britain, Christmas 2003AD, is it? So what does the book of Isaiah have to say to us?
There are 39 chapters of impending doom and judgement at the hands of God, who uses the savage armies of Assyria to wreak his revenge on Israel.
But embedded in the middle of these terrors are some glimmers of real hope, such as our verses today (turning over the page): There will be an anointed messiah, there will be an ideal king, a child born who will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
I’m going to examine those titles today and show how Jesus, the baby born in Bethlehem over 700 years later, was the very one seen a long way off by Isaiah, and tonight we will hear from Ron how Mary was called by the Angel to bring Him into the world.
Content
1. Wonderful Counsellor
Gamini Perera- Tears in my eyes and hugging my waitress, I just reached out to even just touch the Great Man, as he was taken to the City Square to receive a worshipping nation’s adulation, after yet another incredible display. To the footballing world , PELE is still the greatest.. Yes. No certainly is. Hence, seeing this great man in flesh and blood and touching his garment is also simply great. Incredible. The immortal Pele. Many moons have passed since Pele, the world’s greatest soccerite hung-up his magical boots. But, he still remains a man of international stature and influence. Now turned a mature 62, Pele, the scorer of 1,300 goals said: " I‘ll never stop thanking God for every wonderful thing he has given me."
People don’t know where Pele got his nickname from, but amazingly enough the word ‘Wonderful’ in our text today is translated from the Hebrew word ‘pele’! The man was truly a wonderful football player, and the writer almost seems to worship him, calling him the Great Man, immortal and talking about touching his garment. But is Pele truly a wonderful man? Not really. He is a sinner just like the rest of us, and if Pele was made king, he’d probably fail as badly as many of the kings of Israel. He himself acknowledges that God is the source of “every wonderful thing.” We are looking for someone more wonderful than Pele, someone who is not just talented, but wonderfully perfect. We need something more than a footballer to admire: we need a counsellor, a saviour.
After the miraculous Red Sea crossing, Moses says in Exodus 15:11, “Who among the gods is like you, O LORD? Who is like you- majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?”
If this coming Child is to be Wonderful, he must be like God, because Psalm 136:4 says He “alone does great wonders.” If the coming Child is to be a Counsellor, he must be like God because Psalm 16:7 says “I will praise the Lord, who counsels me.” In fact, in some mysterious way, this child must be God.
2. Mighty God & Everlasting Father
Not only must this child be mighty God, but- what an enigma!- this child who is to be born is to have been a Father, from eternity. But what does ‘mighty’ mean? A few years ago, there was a TV series about superhero teenagers called ‘Mighty Morphin Power Rangers’, and they were generally admired for their ability to beat up bad guys and put the world to rights. Well this is and isn’t an accurate description of the word ‘mighty’. It is accurate in that the Mighty God comes to bring judgement on the wicked (as seen in the first half of Exodus with the plagues on Egypt). And it’s true that the Mighty God came to bring the Israelites out of bondage “with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm.” But where it isn’t accurate is that the Power Rangers are only able to deal with people’s external problems. If you have an enemy called Minotaur, Terror Toad or Babe Ruthless, then the Power Rangers could obliterate them for you. But if you have an enemy inside, an enemy called Sin, then they would be truly powerless to save you from that. Even the perfect Law of Moses could not bring deliverance from sin. It says in Galatians that “the Scripture has confined all under sin” (3:22) and that “by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified” (2:16). Only the Mighty God Himself, the Everlasting Father, who is given to us as a Son of Men, can do this.
3. Prince of Peace
My dynamite will sooner lead to peace than a thousand world
conventions. As soon as men will find that in one instant, whole armies
can be utterly destroyed, they surely will abide by golden peace. —Alfred Nobel
In his will, Nobel left a $9 million fund, the interest from which was to be used to give awards to “people whose work most benefited humanity.” The Peace prize has been won by Nelson Mandela, FW De Klerk, Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, Yitzhak Rabin, David Trimble and John Hume. All of these people have done impressive things, and brought some measure of stability. But in South Africa, Israel and Northern Ireland, can it really be said that there is peace, that peace reigns? Though heroes to many, Mandela and Arafat have been connected to violence many times, and now both Trimble and Hume’s parties have been sidelined in Ulster politics because of voter disillusionment. The guns are still under the table, and the Semtex is still in the cupboard. Suicide bombers disrupt the peace of Jerusalem on a weekly basis, and South Africa has one of the highest crime rates in the world, with serious violent clashes in the 90s between Mandela’s ANC and the Inkatha Freedom Party.
So much for the Nobel Peace Prize winners. We applaud some of the work they do, but in the end, this world is even more bloody and restless as it was when the prize first began 100 years back, and Alfred Nobel was wrong- his dynamite has done a lot to increase the death count.
You see, what all these people fail to come to terms with is that the peace we need does not come through new constitutions, amnesties, assemblies, peace prizes, shuttle diplomacy or power-sharing. This is because none of these worthy things actually address the root problem. And the heart of the problem is the problem of the heart. The lack of peace lies within us, and this again is due to sin. James says, “Where do wars and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desire for pleasure that war in your members?” (4:1). Isaiah says, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear” (Isaiah 59:2). Our situation is far more serious than we thought, and all our attempts to get peace are just papering over the cracks. We need peace with God, and we need it fast, before He comes again in judgement and we see what He really is made of: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31). We need a true Prince of Peace.
Big idea- who is this Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace?
JESUS!
1. Jesus is the Wonderful Counsellor- “As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet Him” (Mark 9:15, page 1013). Why? Because He has been transfigured, shown in His true glory up on the mountain, and the people are drawn to Him instinctively as the Wonderful one. And we also see Him counselling people here too, sending out the evil spirit from the lad, and explaining how He was about to be put to death for them.
2. Jesus is the Mighty God & Everlasting Father- “Jesus…said, ‘Son your sins are forgiven.’… Some teachers of the law were thinking to themselves, ‘…Who can forgive sins but God alone?’” (Mark 2:5-7, page 1003). Theology correct, application incorrect! “Because Jesus lives forever [He is everlasting]…he is able [mighty] to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them” (Hebrews 7:24,25).
3. Jesus is Prince of Peace- Jesus is able to make peace between God and us, and give us peace with others and ourselves. Romans says, “Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering” on the Cross (5:1; 8:3).
Application
• If you have followed Jesus for a while now, consider Him afresh. Here before us lies the Baby Jesus, who is God made flesh. He grew up to be the Promised King, the one who is both our Wonderful Counsellor who saves us, and the Mighty God who judges us.
• Perhaps you have never come to the manger and knelt with the Wise Men. Or never come to the Cross and looked up at the Saviour pierced for you. Now, says the Bible, is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation. Don’t put it off- come to Christ now, while He is still extending His offer of mercy to you.
Big idea restated
Jesus, the Wonderful Counsellor- will you take His advice? Jesus the Mighty God- will you worship Him with reverence? Jesus, the Prince of Peace- will you make peace with Him today?
Amen.
