UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN

Isaiah Chapter Nine

SOW#200849—December 14, 2008

Isaiah prophesied in Isaiah chapter nine, “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them the light shined.” Mathew says that prophecy was fulfilled in his fourth chapter when he said, “The people that sat in the darkness have seen a great light.”

John furthermore identifies Jesus in his first chapter when he says, “And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was the true light, even the light which lighteth every man coming into the world. He was in the world and the world was made through Him and the world knew Him not.”

Who are the people who shut their eyes against the light that Isaiah saw walking around in the dark? They are those who live apart from the Word of God, the lamp unto our feet. If Jesus would return for a short visit today, and went to the darkest place He could find, it might very well be America, when you consider for over two hundred years it seemed like a good idea to have prayer and Bible reading in the school system. And now the light has been turned off and people prefer to walk in the dark. Why was it a good idea before, and now it is a bad idea? Why is it that what was right before, is now wrong, and what was wrong before, is now right? Why the flip-flop?

John gives the answer in his third chapter, “Men loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” Then again remember the ominous warning in Ephesians chapter six, “For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual host of wickedness in high places.”

The contrast between the dark and the light is a thing of great importance in the Word of God. Notice the contrast in darkness and light in the first chapter of Genesis, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep.” All was dark. Right after the statement that ‘all was dark’ is the advent of light, “Let there be light, and there was light.”

Consider also the end of the Old Testament. There was silence from God for four hundred years. No voice from God was heard. The world was in spiritual darkness. And then there was light.

Isaiah says the light would be in the form of a Child. Unto us a Son is given. Isaiah leaves no doubt as to how the Son was given. He says, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and she shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel; which is, being interpreted, God with us.” The Son was given by the virgin birth. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

That name ‘Immanuel’ is loaded with comfort. Immanuel, God with us. Jesus is with us in temptation. He was tempted in all points like as we are and yet without sin. Immanuel, God with us. Jesus is with us in our mortality. He tasted of death once for every man. Immanuel, God with us. Jesus is with us in our conversion, “Know ye not that as many of us as were baptized into Christ were baptized into His death. We were buried with Him in baptism.” Immanuel, God with us. Jesus is with us at the Lord’s Table. He said, “This is My body, and this is My blood. This do in remembrance of Me.” Immanuel, God with us. His name is called ‘Immanuel’ in the first chapter of Matthew and His name is called ‘Immanuel’ in the last chapter of Matthew. He said, “I will be with you always even unto the end of the world.” Immanuel, God with us.

It is interesting to note that Isaiah said, “Unto us a Son is given.” When Jesus was born the angel announced to the shepherds, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” Isaiah could say, “Unto us a Son is given”, but when the angel announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, he could not say, “Unto us a Son is given”. The angel said, “Unto you a Son is given.” Unto you is us, mankind. Unto you a Son is given. Think of it; Jesus was sent from Heaven as a personal gift to you!

Isaiah continues when he says, “The government shall be on His shoulders.” The Government of Heaven is on His shoulders. The government of Hell is on His shoulders. Paul tells us in Philippians chapter two, “Every knee shall bow, of things in Heaven, of things on earth, and of things under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.

WONDERFUL COUNSELOR

Isaiah said, “His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor; the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” Note first His name is Wonderful Counselor.

He is wonderful in His birth. There was never another like it; the virgin-born Christ. He was wonderful in His life; absolutely perfect. He could and did issue the challenge to humanity when He said, “Which of you convicteth Me of sin?” He was wonderful in His death. Christ died for our sins. His resurrection is wonderful. No other raised up to live forever, the first fruits of them that sleep. His influence is wonderful. His ascension was wonderful. As our High Priest, He passed through the heavens, and sat down at the right hand of the Father to intercede for us, and leave the Christian the gracious invitation to draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace to find mercy and grace in time of need. His Church is wonderful because it is the colony of Heaven right here on earth. His Word is wonderful.

Remember, His name is Wonderful Counselor. Just how does Jesus counsel us? We have an example of His counsel to the Church in Laodicea; a rich Church much like the Churches of America today in Revelation the third chapter, “I counsel you to buy of Me gold refined in the fire that thou mayest be rich.” That is good counsel in view of the way Peter explained the gold of Jesus in the first chapter of his first epistle when he referred to the proof of our faith when tried by fire will be more precious than gold when Jesus returns. Jesus counsels us to buy up all that gold we can get.

If we don’t listen to His counsel the Devil will counsel us. The Devil counseled Eve in the Garden of Eden. His counsel was the worst advice ever given to the human race, “Yea hath God said?” He still uses it today, “Did God really say that? Is that a good translation?” He has never been able to improve on it.

Another counsel of the Devil that worked like a charm on Eve was, “Ye shall not surely die.” Most folk live without a thought of eternity until someone they know dies suddenly, and then for a few days they sober up, and then business as usual. Others may die all around us, but it won’t happen to us.

Another counsel of the Devil he used on Eve was, “For God doth know that in the day that ye eat thereof, then your eyes will be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

Satan gets a lot of mileage out of that one. We have already become wise, and we are already as gods. Our polls of what we think, has replaced the Word of God. We decide what is good and evil and trash the Ten Commandments.

Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor, and needs no advisors. The President of the United States has many advisors. The Lord does not need a Secretary of State to advise Him on foreign affairs. He has directed that the gospel be preached to all the world, all the nations, and to every creature both foreign and domestic. The Lord does not need a Secretary of Defense. His strategy of defense is to put on the whole armor of God that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the Devil. Jesus needed no Secretary of the Interior because John tells us that Jesus knew what was in man. Search me O God, and try my thoughts and lead me in the life everlasting. Jesus needed no chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He Himself was the Chief of Staff. Jesus appeared to Joshua before the battle of Jericho and identified Himself as the Captain of the host of the Lord. Jesus does not need a Secretary of the Treasury; His over-all plan of finance was given by Paul when he said, “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ.” Jesus never had to ask anyone’s opinion on anything. He never sought advice. One time He seemed to be asking for advice when He asked Phillip, “Whence, should we buy bread that these may eat?” John is quick to point out that Jesus was trying him, not asking for information, for He knew what He would do. He always knows what He will do.

After all, God the Father and God the Son often times counseled each other on important matters. Jesus counseled with the Father in the Garden of Eden. Remember how it says, “The man has become as one of US”? Who is US? The US is no doubt, Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Before that He said, “Let US make man in our image.” At the Tower of Babel, God said, “Let US go down and confound their tongues.” No wonder Isaiah calls Him the Wonderful Counselor. All things were made through Him and without Him was not anything made that hath been made. Next, Isaiah calls Him the Mighty God.

THE MIGHTY GOD

He is the Mighty God; mighty, because as Paul says in the book of Hebrews, “He upholds all things by the Word of His power.” The ancients believed the world is held up by Hercules, standing on the back of a turtle, and he is balancing the entire world on his shoulders.

That is not the way it is. Jesus upholds not only the world, but also the entire universe on His shoulders, and He is not standing on the back of a turtle. He is standing on His own essence. He is the Mighty God. He who was upheld in the arms of His mother upholds all things by the word of His power. But there is more reason to call Him the Mighty God than that. Remember the scapegoat of the Old Testament? On the Day of Atonement the High Priest having slain one goat placed his hands on the head of the other goat and pronounced the sins of the people on him, and the goat carried the sins far away into the wilderness. Jesus is our scapegoat. He carried our sins far away.

Robert Green Ingersoll in derision one time said of the scapegoat, “How many sins can the average goat carry?” I’ll tell you how many sins the scapegoat of our salvation can carry, He carried all my sins away and not even one was left off, and because He carried away this tremendous load of guilt, sin, and death, we can truly call Him the Mighty God. Isaiah calls Him the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God and next the Everlasting Father.

THE EVERLASTING FATHER

Everlasting Father for Jesus seems at first-glance a little awkward. How could the Son be the Father? God is the Father, and Jesus is God the Son. Yet Isaiah calls Him the Everlasting Father. We speak of George Washington as the Father of his country. But when we call him father we do not mean that he is the biological father of every American. If a person starts a political party or movement, he is called the father of it. Jesus is the Father of Everlasting Life for us. He is the Father of the Church. He is the Father of baptism. He is the Father of the Lord’s Supper. These elements were all planned, conceived, formulated, devised, concocted, made up, thought up, perfected, in the heart, brain, mind, and conscience of our Lord Jesus Christ who is indeed the Everlasting Father.

His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, and the Everlasting Father, and then consider that Isaiah said He would be the Prince of Peace.

PRINCE OF PEACE

The angels in the fields of Bethlehem told about peace on earth, goodwill to men. Sometimes people have the idea of peace a little messed up. They think that peace with men is the same as peace with God. Peace with men can only come when we have found peace with God. Until there is peace with God there can be no peace with man.

Peace with man is not necessarily peace with God. I well remember in the year 1929, on November the eleventh at eleven AM, the teacher in my grade-school class announced, “It has been eleven years, eleven months, eleven days, and eleven hours since the Armistice was signed.” She was referring to the Armistice of World War One. That war, they said, was fought to make the world safe for democracy. This was the war to end all wars. There was a peace-treaty between the nations, but no peace with God. We had to fight the war all over again in World War Two, and we are still at it. Jeremiah had it right when he said, “They are saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace.” Without the Prince of Peace there will never be any peace.

On the Day of Pentecost, Peter told the people that God had made Jesus both Lord and Christ. People are willing to accept His cross but they reject His throne. They want Him as the Messiah, but not as their Lord. Until He is made Lord as well as Christ there can be no peace. Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given. The song the angels sang was ‘peace on earth goodwill to men’. Wonder what happened to all that peace and goodwill the angels sang about? Were the angels mistaken? Did not the coming of Jesus mean peace on earth goodwill to Men? There is one war after another. Peace, peace, and there is no peace. The big hang-up is the world has forgotten the words of the first line of that angelic song. The line that goes before ‘peace on earth goodwill to men’ is, ‘Glory to God in the highest’. Until the world is willing to give God glory in the highest, there will be no peace on earth goodwill to men.

How can we give glory to God in the highest when the dominant cry on the Lord’s Day is not ‘Hallelujah’, but ‘Touchdown’; not ‘Praise God’, but ‘That Ball is Outta Here’? How can there be glory to God in the highest when Christians can quote batting averages, and cannot quote three verses telling someone what to do to be saved? Until there is glory to God in the highest, there can be no peace on earth goodwill to men. Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given. And His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of peace.