Is. 9:6-7
Prayer: Father, I pray that as we consider this text this morning, we might not only understand who this child is, but I pray that we would know this child personally. I pray that we would know His presence in our lives and be full of His joy and peace, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
Introduction
This great Christmas verse should be understood as connected to the prophecy of the virgin birth and helps to confirm the New Testament’s insistence that Jesus is the child who was born of a virgin to save us and our pitiful world.
But this is no mere spiritual reality; it is the ground of our confidence that Christ’s government and peace will increase until all of His enemies have been put beneath His feet. The One who was born in Bethlehem is the King of this world.
The Text: “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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this” (Is. 9:6-7).
Summary of the Text
There’s good reason to think that the “child” in Isaiah 9 is an internal indication that Isaiah’s prophecy from Isaiah 7 was always intended to have a double fulfillment. As we noted last week, the initial fulfillment of Isaiah 7 (“a virgin/young maiden will conceive”) had an immediate fulfillment and may have been a child born to Isaiah (or Ahaz). One reason for thinking that its initial fulfillment was a son born to Isaiah is because that is what happens in the next chapter (Is. 8:3-4). Add to that the fact that Isaiah says it’s related to the fulfillment of “Immanuel” (Is. 8:8, 10) and that his own children are “signs” from the Lord of hosts (Is. 8:18)
Isaiah 8 finishes with the warning not to be carried away by real or imagined political conspiracies: do not fear what people tend to fear (Is. 8:11-12). Rather, we are to fear the Lord and trust His testimony, especially the darker it gets – to the word and to the testimony, not the words of wizards that chirp and mutter, including breathless political pundits and podcasters (Is. 8:13-22).
So when we come to Isaiah 9, the promise is that the darkness will not be so terrible because a bright light will shine in it (Is. 9:1-2). God will multiply the joy of His people and break the yokes of their oppressors, and all of this apparently in the midst of great turmoil and even war (Is. 9:3-5). And that’s where our text bursts out: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…” (Is. 9:6) So while initially the “child” appears to be Isaiah’s son, the promise of a child who will have the government upon his shoulder could also be taken as a king about to be born (perhaps a son of Ahaz) who will be the answer to the political chaos of that historical moment. And as it turns out, wicked Ahaz’s son was good king Hezekiah who tore down the high places and served the Lord faithfully (2 Kgs. 18, 2 Chron. 29-30). And it was in the sixth year of Hezekiah’s reign that the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered by Assyria (2 Kgs. 18:9), and the Lord delivered Judah from the Assyrian army by striking down 180,000 in one night (2 Kgs. 19:35).
However, what begins as a prophecy of a king who might fit Hezekiah’s description, quickly transfigures into something far greater: “Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Is. 9:6). This son of David will establish a government and peace that will have no end (Is. 9:7). His justice will be established forever, and the zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish it (Is. 9:7).
Matthew’s gospel quotes the beginning of Isaiah 9 when Jesus began His ministry in Galilee: “the people which sat in darkness saw a great light…” (Mt. 4:12-16), indicating that the New Testament writers saw Jesus as its fulfillment. So is the “child” the son of Isaiah, the son of Ahaz, or the son of Mary? Perhaps the answer is yes.
His Names
The name “Wonderful” is the name of the angel who appeared to Manoah and his wife, the parents of Samson (Jdg. 13:17). It can also mean “wonder” as in marvelous works (Ex. 15:11, Is. 29:14, Ps. 77:11, Lam. 1:9). And Jesus came doing wonders (Mt. 21:15). Is He wonderful to you? And the central wonder is the miracle of the new birth.
Counselor refers to discernment, understanding, and absolute wisdom. In Greek, one word for “counselor” is “paraclete,” sometimes translated “helper,” and Jesus says that His Spirit will be their counselor/helper (Jn. 14:16-18). Jesus is our wisdom (1 Cor. 1:30). Do you know Him as your wise counselor? Does He regularly answer your prayers?
He is called Mighty God because He is the Word that is God (Jn. 1:1), the Word that created the Heavens and the earth and upholds all things (Heb. 1:3). As Calvin says, “there is in Christ abundance of protection for defending our salvation, so that we desire nothing beyond him; for he is God, who is pleased to show himself strong on our behalf.” Do you look to Him as your strength?
Everlasting Father might be rendered as the Father of the Future or the Father of the Ages to Come. This King not only overcomes death Himself, but He is the author of everlasting life. This is why we look unto Jesus, “the author and finisher of our faith,” and as a faithful father, He disciplines us as sons that He loves that we may share in His holiness (Heb. 12). Do you love His love? Not merely some vague benevolence; His person direction of your life?
Prince of peace means that peace is His to authoritatively give and establish (Jn. 14:27). This King not only establishes peace; He wields peace as a great shield for His people (Phil. 4:7). And He does this most profoundly through the gift of justification by faith which establishes permanent peace with God (Rom. 5:1). The fundamental problem with this world is that sinners have rebelled and defied the King. We have marital conflict, political turmoil, social distrust because we are out of fellowship with the King. We need to be reconciled to Him. Do you have His peace?
Conclusion: His Government
In Daniel’s vision, he saw one like the son of man coming to the Ancient of Days in Heaven to receive “dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7:14).
When the High Priest asked Jesus at His trial if He was the Christ, the Son of God, Jesus answered, “I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven” (Mk. 14:62). And when Jesus ascended into Heaven, the kingdoms of this world became the kingdoms of our Lord, of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever (Rev. 11:15).
Jesus of Nazareth is the child who was born, the Son who was given unto us, the Son who was given for us, and the government is now upon His shoulders, and of the increase of His government and peace in this world, there will be no end.
Prayer: Father, thank you for sending Your Son for us. Thank you for making Him the propitiation for our sins, so that we might be reconciled to You and one another. Give us true faith that sees how You are reconciling all things in Him. And so we pray as Christ taught us to pray, singing…
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