UNTO US A SON IS GIVEN

Isaiah Chapter Nine

Sermon of the Week 200547- December 18, 2005

           "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."

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. Consider 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.

Then note again the contrast of darkness and light in the ten plagues in the land of Egypt. The ninth plague was the plague of great darkness. A darkness that could be felt. The Israelites had light in all their dwellings. Light again contrasted with darkness.

Consider thirdly 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. Then the fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah—the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. Again the light followed darkness. The land of Naphtali and the land of Zebulon Galilee of Gentiles-this area was considered a dark place to the leaders of Jerusalem. Most of Jesus' ministry was carried on in the area considered to be dark.

Let us have one more go at it. Jesus says that before He comes the sun shall be turned into darkness. The earth's light will go out. Without the sun all will be dark everywhere and then the light shall appear. Jesus will return, there again darkness then light. We live at a dark time in world history now; it has never been darker. Could this be the time when the light will appear? As a Christian I say, "LET THERE BE LIGHT!"

            Who are the people who shut their eyes against the light that Isaiah saw walking around in the dark? Those who live apart from the word of God—the lamp unto our feet—are in the dark. Those who call right wrong and wrong right. How about the abortionist? They say it is right to kill. How about the homo and the lesbian? They say God made them this way. How about the porn traffickers? They claim the God‑given right of free speech. Right is wrong and wrong is right. People live in the dark and walk in the dark as far as God's truth is concerned; they cannot see the clear statements about the plan of salvation in God’s Word, Their minds have been darkened. It could be that in this dark time the light will appear at any moment. OH Lord, let there be light

Isaiah says the light at the first arrival of Jesus would be in the form of a Child. Unto us a Son is given. Now just how would the Son be given? Isaiah leaves no doubt as to how the Son was given. He says, Behold a virgin shall be with child and she shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel which is to say 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 is 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.   

 Isaiah continues when he says that the government shall be upon His shoulders. The government is upon His shoulders not ours. The government is not on the shoulders of the pope or any other religious leader or denomination. The government is upon His shoulders. The Government of Heaven is upon His shoulders. He rules Heaven. Heaven belongs to Him and you will go His way or you will not go at all. The government of Hell is on His shoulders. Jesus said, "All authority hath been given unto me in Heaven and on earth.”            Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, and His name shall be called WONDERFUL, COUNSELLOR.

WONDERFUL COUNSELLOR

Isaiah said, "His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace." Note first the Wonderful Counsellor.

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 could say He was greater than Abraham, greater than Solomon, greater than Jonah. This would be the same as some political leader today saying, I am greater than George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.   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. Because of all this He is a Wonderful Saviour to me, Of Him I'll sing, to Him I'll cling, what a wonderful, wonderful Saviour.

His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor. We definitely need a wonderful Counsellor like Jesus because if we don't listen to His counsel be assured that 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. His counsel was the Lord did not really mean what He said. Yea hath God said?  He still uses it today. Did God really say that? 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. 

Jesus is the wonderful counsellor 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. Paul gave his over all plan of finance when he said, "My God shall supply all your needs according to your 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 himself knew what He would do. He always knows what He will do.

Jesus never had to ask advice. The reason He never asked for advice is because He had all the counsel He needed from the Heavenly Father. 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 Jesus 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 Counsellor. 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 that Hercules held up the world. I have seen that picture somewhere. Hercules is 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 of them; not one sin was left behind to be burned off in the imaginary fires of purgatory or brought up on the Judgment Day. 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 Counsellor, 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? It is God the Father and God the Son. Yet Isaiah calls Him the Everlasting Father.

We speak of George Washington as the Father of his country. 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. Consider Jesus in this light. Turn it around instead of Everlasting Father think of Him as Father Everlasting. He 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. He is the Father of all of these things. These elements were all planned, conceived, formulated, devised, concocted, made up, thought up, perfected, in the heart, brain, mind, conscience of our Lord Jesus Christ who is indeed the Everlasting Father.

            His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, 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, good will 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.

I was talking with a man I had not seen for several years. During the conversation I asked him how it was between him and the Lord. He told me he had not been in Church recently, but then in defense of himself he said, "But I can look any man in the eye." I suppose he thought he had done no ill to anyone and had no enemies. Not long after this, in a matter of weeks I had the wedding of one of his children. At the practice for the wedding his wife told me they were getting a divorce. He had another woman. I thought at the time maybe he can look any man in the eye but will he be able to look God in the eye? 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. This was the war that was fought to make the world safe for democracy. This was the war to end all wars. There was a peace treaty but no peace with God. We had to fight the war all over again in World War Two and we are still at it. Without the Prince of Peace there is no 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 the 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 good will to men. Wonder what happened to all that peace and good will the angels sang about?  Were the angels mistaken? Did not the coming of Jesus mean peace on earth good will 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 good will 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 good will 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? Is it giving glory to God in the highest when the dominant cry is not Praise God, but that ball is outta here?  How can there be glory to God in the highest when legalized murder can be called pro choice? How can there be glory to God in the highest when Christians can quote batting averages and who has the greatest number of yards gained rushing and cannot quote three verses telling some one what to do to be saved if their lives depended on it? Until there is glory to God in the highest there can be no peace on earth good will to men. His name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the prince of peace.

CONCLUSION

His name shall be called all of these things. What a NAME! Jesus said, "Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My NAME that will I do." Peter told the lame man at the beautiful gate of the temple, "In the NAME  of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk." Peter told that great assembly on the day of Pentecost, “This Jesus whom ye have crucified hath God made both Lord and Christ.” When they realized they had nailed their Messiah to the cross 3,000 penitent believers asked what they must do. They were told, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the NAME of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins...On another occasion Peter said, ”For there is none other NAME under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Paul said, “Let everyone that nameth the NAME of the Lord Jesus depart from iniquity. Thou shall call His NAME Jesus for it is He that shall save His people from their sins.” God also hath highly exalted Him and given unto Him a NAME that is above every NAME: that in the NAME of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. His NAME shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. All Hail the Power of Jesus' name Let Angels prostrate fall. Bring forth the royal diadem and Crown Him Lord of all. Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.