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.”
You talk about might and power.
And, if you have any further questions as to whether Mighty God is a true description of the Messiah you may want to check out the last book in the Bible where you will see His power on full display.
Now instead of taking the last three Messianic Titles separately let’s look at them in conjunction with each other.
God the Father and Jesus the Messiah have always had a common desire, a common goal and that was to be the God of Israel and the God of the gentiles and to be as a Father to them.
Let’s look for this Messiah as the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace and the Wonderful Counselor.
Here in Leviticus 26:3-5 Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel says to the people of Israel ...
“If you follow My decrees and are careful to obey My commands, I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.”
So we see that the Everlasting Father is promising abundance if the Israelites will keep the Lord’s decrees and commands, not just out of duty but out of love for Him.
What else does He promise? Normally there would be a time period between the grain harvest and when the fruit trees would be ready for picking. But the Lord says that the grain will be so plentiful that the two seasons will overlap. Great problem, huh?
And, not only that but the fruit harvest will be so long that it will run into the season for planting. This is what the Eternal Father promises for His children who love and obey Him out of that love.
Not only that but they will have all they want to eat and will live in safety. That aspect of safety was a very rare thing in those days.
There were always raiding bands from one country and going into the neighboring country for one reason or another. But the Mighty God offers them protection.
Here we see not only at the Everlasting Father but we get a peek at the Prince of Peace.
So, what aspects of this Messiah do we see in Leviticus 26:6-8?
“I [Yahweh, the Lord] will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the [enemy] will not pass through your country. You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you. Five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.”
Once again, the Everlasting Father is watching over His faithful people and the Prince of Peace is protecting them whenever an enemy makes the mistake of coming into their land which is under the protection of the Mighty God!
And finally in Leviticus 26:9-12 it says,
“I [Yahweh, the Lord] will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers, and I will keep My covenant with you. You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new. I will put My dwelling place among you, and I will not [despise] you. I will walk among you and [I will] be your God, and you will be My people.”
You see. That has always been God’s desire; to have people who love and who obey Him out of that Love. When you read the Old Testament you will repeatedly see times of peace and abundance when His people are faithful to Him. And, then, it almost makes you groan out loud when they turn away from Him because you know they are moving out from under His hand of protection and it won’t be long until peace is gone and famine arrives.
So, what is the remedy for this faithlessness that haunts the people of God? Here is the answer. God Himself will be a Wonderful Counselor. And if they follow the counsel of the Wonderful Counselor, they will be protected by the Mighty God and provided for by the Prince of Peace.
So, how can we have access to the Messiah who is a Wonderful Counselor?
Right now, in this day and age, we have two Wonderful Counselors to lead, to guide and to direct us.
What do you mean that we have two Wonderful Counselors?
First, we have the very Wonderful Counselor who is being described in Isaiah 9:6. This Child who was born and this Son who was given is a Wonderful Counselor.
How is He a Wonderful Counselor? Do you have a Bible?
If you have a Bible this Wonderful Counselor CAN speak directly to you!!!
Do you have a red-letter edition of the Bible? In a red-letter edition of the Bible you can find the words of Jesus printed in red.
His words are found in the Gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, and, also 1 Corinthians, in Acts and in Revelation.
Imagine if you spent an entire year reading only the Gospels which contain most of the words of Jesus. What would you learn? You would get a lot of wonderful counseling, that’s for sure. Because Jesus, the Child born to us, the Son given to us, the Wonderful Counselor Himself would be speaking directly to you!
And, all of this would be made plain to you with the assistance of the other Wonderful Counselor, God the Holy Spirit.
OK. Now these Scriptures we have been looking at from Leviticus hold these very same principles; Yahweh, the Lord God of Israel, who was with them was a Mighty God, He was the Father of the Nation of Israel, He the Wonderful Counselor through His faithful prophets and the Scriptures, and, when they were obedient, He was the Prince of Peace.
Now, since the time of Christ we have it Soooooooooo much easier!
This Child who was born for us, this Son who was given to us has come!
He did NOT speak to us only through His prophets.
As the Child that was born to us He came down and lived among us.
As the Wonderful Counselor He not only speaks to us through His words in the Bible but He dwells within us by the presence of the Holy Spirit!
As the Mighty God He protects us from the enemy. We may not always be safe from an earthly enemy. Someday we may need to suffer and perhaps even be killed by a mortal enemy but the Mighty God will protect our souls for eternity if we endure to the end.
2 Timothy 2:11-13
As the Everlasting Father He will teach us, reprove us, correct us and train us in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16
And, as the Prince of Peace, He will fill us with peace when those in the world are filled with anxiety.
Philippians 4:6-9
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable - if anything is excellent or praiseworthy - think about such things.
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me - put it into practice. And the God of Peace will be with you.”
This Child who was born for us, this Son who was given for us, this Wonderful Counselor, this Mighty God, this Everlasting Father, this Prince of Peace is OUR GOD!
The world has NEVER SEEN ANY ONE LIKE HIM BECAUSE THERE IS NO ON ELSE LIKE HIM!
HE IS OUR GOD AND WE ARE HIS PEOPLE.
Praise His name forever!
And one day, this Child who was born for us, this Son who was given for us, this Wonderful Counselor, this Mighty God, this Everlasting Father, this Prince of Peace was nailed to a cross, broken and bleeding as the one and only perfect Sacrifice for our sin.
Final thoughts and leading into communion.
