Wonderful Series

"Wonderful"

Chuck Sligh

Series: Isaiah 9:6 - The Birth of the Almighty

December 1, 2013

A PowerPoint slide presentation of this sermon is available upon request at chucksligh@hotmail.com.

TEXT: Isaiah 9:6 – “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

INTRODUCTION

Illus. – Before the composer Mozart rose to fame, he was engaged to a young woman. She became disenchanted with him because he was so short. So she gave him up for someone taller and more attractive. When the world began to praise Mozart for his outstanding musical accomplishments, she regretted her decision. “I knew nothing of the greatness of his genius,” she said. “I only saw him as A LITTLE MAN.”

The Jewish leaders in Jesus’ day saw Jesus as only a “little man.” They didn’t recognize Him as the Messiah—and certainly not the “Mighty God.” However, hundreds of years before Jesus ever came to earth as a babe, the Old Testament prophet Isaiah saw Jesus for all He was and would be.

Isaiah was living in a dark time. For some 3,000 years the world had been getting worse. Kingdoms had arisen and fallen. Sin abounded everywhere, and God’s people had experienced great oppression. But far in the future, God allowed Isaiah a glimpse of hope of the coming Messiah.

Look back at verse 2: “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.”

What was this light Isaiah saw? It was JESUS, whom the Apostle John would later call “the light of the world.” This revelation of the Messiah was like being in an awful storm on the ocean and seeing a ray of light in the distance piercing the clouds, portending hope, peace, rest.

Then in verse 6, Isaiah tells us about this great Messiah—whom we know as Jesus Christ. He says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder…”

Through the telescope of prophecy, Isaiah saw 3 things about Jesus:

• He saw a CRIB: “unto us a CHILD is born” – He would be born a human.

• He saw a CROSS: “unto us a son is GIVEN” – Given by whom?—By God. Given for what reason?—To die for sinners on a cross!

• He saw a CROWN: “and the GOVERNMENT shall be upon his shoulder” – This is speaking of Christ’s kingdom that will be set up on this earth after the seven-year tribulation the Bible speaks about.

But Isaiah also saw something else: He saw what kind of person the Messiah would be by certain descriptive titles. Look at them: “…and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”

My sermon this morning is the first of a series of sermons on these titles that we’ll examine in each of our Sunday morning services from now until Christmas.

Let’s look at the first one: “His name shall be called WONDERFUL.” The Hebrew word translated “wonderful” here means something indescribably great— something so awesome and amazing as to be BEYOND ALL DESCRIPTION. It speaks of that which GOES BEYOND HUMAN COMPREHENSION.

This morning I want us to see how Jesus is indeed “Wonderful” in every aspect. When I’m finished, I hope you’ll see how wrong those Jewish leaders were who saw Him as just a “little man” instead of the indescribably great person these titles describe.

I. SEE FIRST HOW JESUS WAS WONDERFUL FOR WHAT HE WAS IN THE PAST.

• Before ever coming to earth in His PRE-EXISTENCE, Jesus was incomparably wonderful.

He was of the same essence as God the Father and God the Holy Spirit—that is, He was co-equal to them in every way. He was “very God of very God.” He was perfect, holy, all-powerful, everywhere present, all-knowing. He was also ETERNAL—existing forever outside of time and space, and time does not permit us to name all the things Jesus was and is as very God.

• Second, Jesus was also wonderful in his birth on earth.

No one ever had a birth like Jesus had! Isaiah earlier prophesied in Isaiah 7:14 – “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Here Isaiah said the Messiah would be born to a virgin, and Luke 1 tells us the story of how an angel came to Mary and told her she would give birth to the Messiah. Now, a meeting with an angel is pretty shocking in itself, but what the angel then told her was beyond anything she could have ever imagined. He said she would become pregnant, and that her baby would be the “Son of the Highest” who would reign in David’s throne (Luke 1:32). “How could this be?” she asked, since she had never been with a man. The angel said, “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.…with God nothing shall be impossible.” (Luke 1:35, 37)