Summary: The key words that we are talking about with Jesus Christ today are redeemed, vanquished, triumphed, and sacrifice. Those words describe Jesus the Son of God Who is Mighty God.

ISAIAH 9:6 CHRISTMAS: MIGHTY GOD

ISAIAH 9:6

#isaiah96christmas

INTRODUCTION… Cool Gifts for Christmas 2021, thegrommet.com

Christmas, more than any other time of year, is a season of giving gifts. It is part of what we do and what makes this time of year special. I am a full-service pastor so we are going to begin today in this ‘season of giving’ with some cool gift suggestions to get you warmed up to giving gifts and give you some good ideas. [all from thegrommet.com]

#1 Fire Extinguisher Ball. The Elide Fire Extinguishing Ball is easy to use and provides permanent protection as it self-activates in the presence of a flame without human intervention. Just think of it as a grenade in reverse — when you throw the ball into the flames of a fire, it creates an explosion that actually puts it out.

#2 Pack of Dogs Playing Cards. These playing cards are infused with charm and humor courtesy of original illustrations depicting adorable dogs. A story unfolds through each ace through 10 suit telling an engaging, pup-centric story, while the face cards star dogs dressed up as a pirate, a prima ballerina, and other colorful characters.

#3 Curved Corn Hole Set. Curved design brings a new dimension to the ever-growing sport of corn hole and elevates the excitement of play.

#4 Butter Mill Butter Dispenser. Twist and spread a thin ribbon of butter, margarine, or cream cheese. Stores in the fridge or stays on counter. Keeps your butter fresh for longer. Tablespoon gradiations.

THE PURPOSE OF CHRISTMAS

Gift giving is definitely part of Christmas, but the reason that we celebrate and give gifts is because of the birth of Jesus. We who believe in Jesus make sure each year that we observe and celebrate the birth of Jesus. Christmas is about the birth of Jesus because He is the greatest gift that the world has ever received! Jesus is worthy of being celebrated and we celebrate everything about Jesus… even His birth!

We celebrate the birth of Jesus because…

… the birth of Jesus is a supernatural event where God becomes flesh and dwells with us

… the birth of Jesus looks forward to all the magnificent miracles He would do

… the birth of Jesus looks forward to all that He would teach us and His life example

… the birth of Jesus looks forward to His meaningful death

READ MATTHEW 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with Child from the Holy Spirit. 19 And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. 20 But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for That which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a Son, and you shall call His Name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22 All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: 23 “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and they shall call His Name Immanuel” (which means, God with us). 24 When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a Son. And he called His Name Jesus.

Jesus is so important and so grand that even before His birth He had a nickname! His nickname in this passage from Matthew was “Immanuel” which is a significant name which means “God with us.” That nickname came from an Old Testament prophecy from Isaiah about the coming of the Christ. Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the Christ which means He is the plan for salvation that people were waiting on.

ISAIAH 9:6

I find it very interesting that Isaiah was an Old Testament prophet who gave this Christ to be born several nicknames all throughout his writings. Isaiah prophesied and predicted Jesus most notably in 11 chapters in the book that bears his name. I believe these Names of Jesus are impactful and meaningful for our lives. It is going to be an Isaiah 9:6 Christmas!

CONGREGATION READ TOGETHER … READ ISAIAH 9:6 (ESV)

For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His Name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The second nickname that the prophet Isaiah gives Jesus Christ in Isaiah 9:6 is “Mighty God.” Last week we looked at “Wonderful Counselor” and we will get to the other names in coming weeks as we approach Christmas, but today we focus on “Mighty God.”

MIGHTY

The adjective that describes the word God in Isaiah 9:6 is a specific word that has great meaning for us. The Hebrew word that we translate as “mighty” in Isaiah 9:6 means “a strong vigorous champion hero.” This is no small word. The word is big. The word is large. The word calls to our minds epic battles and fame and extraordinary deeds done for the protection of others. This is not the only place in the Bible where the word “mighty” is used and is a significant descriptive word to God.

We find in Deuteronomy 10 that God is mighty for many reasons. God set His heart to love the people of Israel and He keeps that love for them for all time. Deuteronomy 10 says that He is the Greatest and most Supreme Being. Great. Mighty. Awesome. Incorruptable. Just.

READ Deuteronomy 10:15-17 (ESV)

Yet the LORD set His heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day. 16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn. 17 For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.

We find in Psalm 24 a bit of a rousing fight song. As I read the words I imagine pounding drums and people shouting at the top of their lungs about our Mighty God. Psalm 24 is a song written by David and focuses on our Mighty Creator God Who is holy and strong and Who blesses the generations and is found by those who seek Him.

READ Psalm 24:7-10 (ESV)

Lift up your heads, O gates! And be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 8 Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle! 9 Lift up your heads, O gates! And lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 10 Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, He is the King of glory!

Then we have Isaiah 42.

READ Isaiah 42:10-13 (ESV)

Sing to the LORD a new song, His praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and all that fills it, the coastlands and their inhabitants. 11 Let the desert and its cities lift up their voice, the villages that Kedar inhabits; let the habitants of Sela sing for joy, let them shout from the top of the mountains. 12 Let them give glory to the LORD, and declare His praise in the coastlands. 13 The LORD goes out like a mighty man, like a man of war He stirs up His zeal; He cries out, He shouts aloud, He shows Himself mighty against His foes.

In Isaiah 42, make no mistake that we have our God as a Warrior Who is victorious no matter where He goes. In the Old Testament days, it was thought that gods were powerful in certain areas. The gods of the mountains had power in the mountains. The gods of the desert had power over the sands. The god of love was powerful in matters of the heart. Isaiah 42 shares with us that our God is victorious in all places with all people and in all situations. Mighty. Zealous. Loud. Victorious. Everywhere.

The Mighty God who is a Warrior is not just found in Isaiah, but also in the Book of Jeremiah. The prophet Jeremiah believed with his whole heart that with God on your side, anyone who comes against you unfairly will meet with shame… and not just shame in this life, but shame in the life after this one!

READ Jeremiah 20:11-12 (ESV)

But the LORD is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten. 12 O LORD of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see Your vengeance upon them, for to You have I committed my cause.

I think we sometimes think that God is only mercy and love and grace and kind and patient and forgiving. He is most definitely all of those things. We are thankful for all of those things. But our God is also The Dread Warrior. He is power and wrath and vengeance and zealous and holy and righteousness incarnate! He is not just God, but King of Kings and Lord of Lords and God of all beings everywhere. He is the Uncreated One who sees all and when you are on His side… there is no help for those who are in His way.

We also have Zephaniah 3 where in the midst of our weakness we are shown that we have the presence of the Mighty God among us who is mighty to save and mightily rejoices over us and is so powerful and strong and firm that His love can quiet us.

READ Zephaniah 3:16-17 (ESV)

On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak. 17 The LORD your God is in your midst, a Mighty One who will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness; He will quiet you by His love; He will exult over you with loud singing.

SUMMARY

I do not know what picture is in your mind when you think of God. It could be that you have no picture at all because you aren’t sure about Him. Perhaps you think of Him as a Kindly Quiet Old Pushover in Heaven Who sits on fluffy clouds. Some of us may feel like He is a Divine Thumb that enjoys pushing us down and tripping us up for laughs. God might be to you a Loving Heavenly Father.

In all of the ways that you think about the God of Heaven, make sure that you do not miss the MIGHTY nature of the God we worship. Our God is a strong vigorous champion hero that never fails. He is no pushover and His will is always done. He is no slouch and He keeps all of His promises. Potent. Ominpotent. Indomitable. Stalwart. Strong. Great. Supreme. Awesome. Incorruptable. Just. Zealous. Loud. Victorious.

ILLUSTRATION… Mighty God (p)

I was thinking about our Mighty God and how He has shown Himself mighty over and over in the Bible. I was thinking even more specifically how Jesus has shown Himself Mighty in the New Testament over and over. Miracles like turning water to wine or feeding 5000 people.

I was then thinking about how Jesus has been Mighty in my own life and those times when I saw Him be mighty. I thought of a missions trip I took in September of 2012 to the Bahamas. Now before you think it was some kind of vacation, it was a missions trip to the All Saints AIDS Camp. The camp is not a government facility, but is run by missionaries and volunteers. People drop their family members off who are ill and leave them and never return. I was part of a group that went down to cut trees and make sure the camp grounds were taken care of.

We worked 8-10 hours a day cutting branches and talking with the residents and doing Bible studies with the residents and the missionaries who were there. We did more than was expected. On October 22, about one month later after our visit, Category 3 Hurricane Sandy went through the Caribbean and killed 148 people and did $68.7 Billion in damages. Our thoughts immediately went to the folks we had met at the All Saints Camp. The missionaries reported to us that the only place on the island that had no damage was the All Saints AIDS camp. That is a Mighty God.

TRANSITION

Do you want to know something else?

Are you ready? This is important and worth the price of admission.

His Son is just like Him.

We should not forget that Isaiah 9:6 is not about God the Father! Isaiah 9:6 is a predictive prophecy about the Son of God Who would come and perfectly obey God and do the will of His Father. Everything that God the Father has the Son also has. Everything that God the Father is the Son also is. Everything that God the Father wills the Son also wills. Jesus Christ is God. That is why 700 years before the birth of Jesus the Prophet Isaiah could say about this Man that He is Almighty God.

HOW IS JESUS MIGHTY GOD?

Isaiah 9:6 focuses our attention that Jesus Christ is Mighty God.

How is Jesus Mighty God?

#1 He Redeemed Mankind from Sin. Sin is a pressing huge issue. The sinful nature messes up every single one of our lives and not only do we inherit the sinfulness of this world, but each of us participates in the mess.

ILLUSTRATION… Paul David Tripp Quote, Instruments in the Redeemers Hands, pg 2

Paul David Tripp in his book Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands says it this way: “In the mist significant rebellious act ever committed, man and woman stepped outside of God’s ordained plan. In a second, it all came crashing down. All of the amazing beauty of that world was deeply and permanently scarred. In an instant, fear, guilt, and shame became standard human experiences.”

READ ROMANS 5:8 (ESV)

“but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

The Mighty God Jesus redeemed men and women from sin with His death. It is no small feat to take on every single sin that has ever been committed and every single sin that ever will be committed and receive the wrath of God for all of it. Jesus our Strong Vigorous Champion Hero stayed on the cross for us and submitted Himself to death that we might be redeemed.

#2 He Vanquished Death. I am pretty sure that Satan thought that He had God backed into a corner when His Precious Son was wrongfully convicted and nailed to the cross to die. I am pretty sure that Satan thought that God had miscalculated when the Way of Salvation was killed by the Jews and Romans on the cross. I am pretty sure Satan peed his pants on Sunday morning when Jesus rose from the grave! Up from the grave He arose… with a mighty triumph over His foes. He brought victory to death. Jesus was the death of death.

READ 1 CORINTHIANS 15:54-55 (ESV)

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Jesus our Strong Vigorous Champion Hero stayed in the tomb dead, but was not conquered by death. He arose and in rising He paved the way for us to have life with God forever when this life ends. Death is not unknown for the Christian. Death itself is not to be feared. Jesus our Mighty God vanquished death with an intake of breath on Easter Morning!

#3 He Triumphed Over Satan. You may not realize it, but our world and our lives are marked by sin. Our world and lives are marked by the efforts of the Devil to draw people away from God on a regular basis. Satan is a liar. Satan is destruction. Satan wants us to put ourselves on the throne of our own lives and live how we want. Satan has plans. Satan has plans that will trap us and keep us from God on a permanent basis.

Jesus our Strong Vigorous Champion Hero triumphed over Satan every single time he stuck his head out to try and derail what God was doing. Satan tried to manipulate a king to kill Jesus at His birth and failed. Satan tempted Jesus like he does us and failed. Right after Jesus had a spiritual mountain top experience at His baptism and hearing the voice of God… Satan shows up himself to try and tempt Jesus to misuse His Godhood for His own gain. Jesus refused. Satan manipulated Jesus’ closest friends into discouraging Him from the cross. Jesus kept on track. Satan duped the disciples into faithless actions. Jesus remained faithful and obedient. Jesus triumphed over Satan every single time.

READ COLOSSIANS 2:14-15 (ESV)

“by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him.”

Jesus the Mighty God, our Strong Vigorous Champion Hero, took Satan and all his plans to the woodshed and introduced him to the strong arm of God and paddled him into oblivion! Jesus is victorious. Jesus is strongest. Jesus is the Triumphant One for the souls of men and women.

#4 He is the Selfless Holy Sacrifice.

READ PHILIPPIANS 2:5-9 (ESV)

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name…”

Jesus came to die. The whole purpose Jesus lived for was to bring salvation to us and He did that by being obedient to the plan of God which meant dying on the cross. It was selfless. It was holy. It was a sacrifice. I do not think any of us can ever know the amount of strength and fortitude and self-discipline it took for Jesus to stay on the cross and to suffer all the while people hurled insults at Him verbally jabbing Him to come down from the cross.

Jesus the Mighty God, our Strong Vigorous Champion Hero humbled Himself to the point of death and died not for Himself, but died for us. There is mighty in selflessness. There is might in holiness. There is might in a worthy sacrifice.

SUMMARY

The key words that we are talking about with Jesus Christ today are redeemed, vanquished, triumphed, and sacrifice. Those words describe Jesus the Son of God Who is Mighty God. The prophet Isaiah looked forward in the power of the Holy Spirit and saw the promises that would come true in Jesus. He worshipped. He marveled. He was astonished that this was the plan of God to save people from sin. Sin is a ravaging enemy. It takes a Mighty God Who is a Strong Vigorous Champion Hero to rid our souls of sin and place us back into a right relationship with God.

What is our response? What is our response? We ought to humbly bow and praise praise praise praise.

Praise Him for His redemption of us when we don’t even come close to deserving it.

Praise Him that at the end of our lives death has no hold on us and has no sting.

Praise Him because our enemy Satan has already lost the war and is on borrowed time.

Praise Him because He obeyed and sacrificed Himself for us.

What is our response? What is our response? We ought to humbly bow and praise praise praise praise.

CONCLUSION IN PRAYER

INVITATION

I want to make sure you know that today is an opportunity to be open and confess Jesus Christ. If you are without Him today, if you are without the Mighty God, you can have His Indwelling Spirit to be your Comforter and Counselor and Assurance of peace with God. All of that comes by faith. Faith that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God. All of that comes by repentance. Repentance means turning away from sin and lost-ness and guilt and turning towards God’s forgiveness and new way of living. All of that comes by baptism. Baptism is the new birth where we receive the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit… not because of the water… but because of Jesus Christ Who saves us.