Christmas Eve (Isaiah 9:6)

We've sung about the Christmas story.

We've read already about the Christmas story.

And what we want to do here tonight is a little bit different from a typical Christmas message, but we want to zoom in on a verse that comes from Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6, and talk a little bit about that and talk about what it really means that Jesus came to earth.

Isaiah 9:6

So I want to read that verse to you.

This is Isaiah chapter 9, verse 6.

Isaiah 9:6

It says, For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders.

He will be named wonderful, counselor, mighty God, eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

And, you know, we hear that verse referred to and read and recited and printed on Christmas cards, you know, so often in the month of December.

But tonight I wanted to break it down a little bit and talk about the names that are given to Jesus, the names that are given to the Messiah in this prophecy that we see here in Isaiah.

And talk about why these names in particular are given in this prophecy?

The names of wonderful counselor, mighty God, eternal father, Prince of Peace.

But first I want to start with a question, and Ben kind of alluded to this on Sunday.

Who thinks that 700 years was a long time ago?

Long time ago, right?

Who thinks a lot has changed since 1300 AD?

A lot, right?

So we have the kids with us.

This is family service.

So kids, and raise your hand.

What do you think is one thing that has changed in the last 700 years?

Anyone can raise their hand.

Don't be shy.

Yes.

Cars having a few years.

Cars, that's a great one, yeah.

Internet and Wi-Fi.

Internet and Wi-Fi, absolutely.

There's a lot of things that we can think about.

Electricity, you know, all of those kinds of things.

The book of Isaiah, where we find this verse that we're in right now, was written about 700 years before Jesus.

It's a long time, isn't it?

And at this time in Israel, sin and idolatry were rampant.

They had threats all around them, mainly from the Assyrians at the time, but they had threats all around them.

And God is using the author Isaiah here to call Israel to a place of repentance by talking about God's judgment, but also talking about God's mercy.

With God's ultimate act of mercy being the Messiah, the Christ.

His ultimate act of mercy being Jesus.

And these were the titles that God chose and wanted the Israelites to have 700 years before Jesus came to earth.

You know, this prophecy is absolutely about Jesus' first coming.

That's why we're here tonight.

That's why we're celebrating.

But it's equally as much about Jesus' second coming and looking forward to that second coming.

And as Israel waited in eager anticipation of the coming Messiah, as we just sang, O come, O come Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel.

You know, we get to wait just as much in eager anticipation of Jesus' promised second coming as well.

And we're going to see both of those things in this prophecy here tonight.

Jesus' first coming, you know, was to overthrow sin, Satan, death, and the grave, to overthrow all of those things and to establish peace between God and man.

Peace on earth and mercy mild, God and sinner reconciled.

The Prince of Peace came to establish peace between God and man.

But his second coming will be to establish peace on earth in every way.

And then later to establish eternal peace for all that believe in him.

And that's the ultimate fulfilling of this prophecy.

So I just want to take a look real quick at the first part of verse 6.

It says, For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders.

So Israel would know this much about God's greatest act of mercy.

They'll know that the Messiah will be born of a woman and that he will be male.

And it says that the government would be on his shoulders.

What on earth does that mean?

The government will be on his shoulders.

We're going through the Gospel of John right now on our normal readings on Sunday mornings.

And we keep seeing that the expectation that the nation of Israel had for the most part is for the Messiah to come and overthrow the Roman occupation of Israel at the time of Jesus.

But Jesus doesn't meet that expectation in his first coming.

Instead, he came to overthrow the kingdom of Satan.

And we keep seeing that over and over in the book of John.

You know, when sin and death were introduced into the world through the sin of Adam and Eve, they didn't realize it at the time, but they were handing the keys of this earthly kingdom over to Satan.

A kingdom of sin and death and the grave.

You know, things that God did not create us for.

And Jesus, his first coming was to offer every human being an opportunity to be a part of the kingdom of God.

But the ultimate fulfillment of verse 6 is when he returns and overthrows the physical government of this world as well, when all authority will be under his feet.

So for those that would read this 700 years before Jesus, this is what they have to look forward to.

Now, before we go through his names, as I've talked about, we should understand that a name meant a lot more in Bible times than they do in our culture.

A name spoke of character.

It was a lot more than what the person was called.

You know, in Philippians 2, verses 9 through 11, it says that God highly exalted Jesus and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

Philippians 2:9–11

You know, this wasn't so much about what Jesus was called on earth.

He didn't, it wasn't like he had this cooler name than everybody else on the planet.

His name was Yeshua.

That was his earthly Jewish name.

Very common name.

It's where we get the name Joshua from today.

But his name, that is above all other names, speaks of him being the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, who will have all authority over everything.

That will then cause, as we just read, every knee to bow and every tongue to confess that he is Lord.

So what we're going to see in these names that we're looking at tonight are who Jesus is, not just what he's called.

We're looking at the God of the universe that humbled himself and came to this earth as an infant, born of a woman, in a very, very humble place.

Yet whose name, whose authority is above all other names.

Now, let's go through these names one at a time.

It says, He will be named wonderful counselor.

So in Isaiah 28, a little bit further on in the book, speaking of the Lord of hosts, it says, He is wonderful in counsel and excellent in wisdom.

Okay, again, for one of the kids that's here, and again, raise your hand.

What's your favorite type of dessert this time of year?

Favorite type of dessert?

Anyone?

Okay, adults too, I guess.

Yes, honor.

Sugar cookies.

Sugar cookies, that's a good choice.

Anyone else?

Yes?

Pumpkin pie.

Those are really good, aren't they?

The word wonderful here, it means more than this pumpkin pie is wonderful.

Or this sugar cookie is wonderful.

This word wonderful here, it means extraordinary in a way that's difficult to comprehend or express.

You know, we need to think awe and wonder in regards to his wisdom and his counsel.

In Colossians 2, 3 it says regarding Jesus, in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

And remember, this isn't just an attribute, this is one of his names.

So this is who Jesus is.

The next name it says, mighty God.

So this is exactly what it sounds like.

The original Hebrew lends to the idea of mightiest God, strongest, bravest, champion or chief.

So there's nothing higher, there's nothing stronger, there's nothing mightier.

It's a name like we were talking about, above all names.

A king above all kings that humbly was born in a manger.

Now, mighty God is usually a term that we see used for God the Father.

But if you've been with us as we've been studying through the Gospel of John, you'll know very well that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are one.

They're one mighty God in three persons.

So we can give that title to any of the three persons of the Trinity, including Jesus, the Son of God.

Now, let's look at the third name, Eternal Father.

So have you ever heard this and thought, huh?

Eternal Father?

Isn't he the Son?

You know, wait, isn't God the Father?

The Father within the Trinity?

Yes, absolutely.

This title isn't countering that idea.

It helps if we think of this term as Jesus as the creator, the creator of a never-ending future, of the continuous existence of creation.

You know, another way to think about it would be, you know, when somebody invents something, we call them the father of fill-in-blank.

You know, Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine.

You know, when we talk about the founders of the United States, we call them the founding fathers, right?

So this isn't speaking of the Trinity when it says this here in Isaiah.

You know, again, these are God terms.

These are God names.

When he says eternal father, this is a God title.

And the last name here that we're going to look at is Prince of Peace.

The word prince, unfortunately, usually takes our mind to Disney stuff, doesn't it?

When we think of prince.

But the word prince here is the Hebrew words.

And the word is translated in the Old Testament, Prince, 208 times, Captain 130 times, chief 33 times, ruler 33 times, and a couple of other ways that you can see there at the bottom.

But I kind of like Captain Peace.

Don't you?

Doesn't that kind of sound a little?

I mean, I think we went from Disney to Marvel there, but we're gonna but the term Captain Peace, you know, Luke and Ashley, I think we can do some youth group t-shirts.

You know, we worship Captain Peace.

I don't know, but this is the name I really want us to focus on the same Prince of Peace, not Captain Peace, I promise.

Because the reason that Jesus stepped down from his heavenly throne to be born of a woman and to dwell among us for 30 plus years was to bring peace with God.

You know, as we just read regarding the message to the shepherds, how the angels were praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace on earth to people he favors.

The peace on earth was not between countries, it wasn't even between humans, it was between God and mankind.

You know, as I already mentioned, when Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God's instruction, it set into motion a separation between God and man.

There was no longer peace in that relationship.

So the Prince of Peace, the captain of peace, the ruler of peace, the governor of peace, stepped down from his heavenly glory to give us peace that we could not make for ourselves.

So he made peace with God for us through his work on the cross.

That's why he came.

He knew we couldn't establish that peace on our own.

It required a perfect man, or maybe I should say a perfect God man to live a perfect life and die the death we deserve in our place to make peace with God.

So he didn't he did exactly that for us as the prince of peace, to offer a way that we may have forgiveness of our sin and now direct access to the Father, no longer separated.

Much later in Isaiah chapter 53, verses 5 through 6, he prophesies again about the Messiah, and it says this but he was pierced because of our rebellion, crushed because of our iniquities, punishment for our peace.

Isaiah 53:5–6

Have you ever noticed that before?

Punishment for our peace was on him, and we are healed by his wounds.

We all went astray like sheep, we all have turned to our own way, and the Lord has punished him for the iniquity of us all.

That's why he came.

He loves us that much.

Now I want to read the next verse of Isaiah chapter 9, verse 7, right after Jesus' names.

Isaiah 9:7

It says this the dominion, meaning of his kingdom, will be vast, and his prosperity will never end.

So there's eternity again.

He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness for now on and forever.

The zeal of the Lord of armies will accomplish this.

That's what we here today get to look forward to.

Not just a spiritual kingdom, but a physical kingdom filled with perfection and peace for all of eternity.

That's the king that we worship.

That was humble enough to be born of a virgin in the humbleness of a manger because he loves us that much.

So much that he wanted us to live with him for all of eternity in that perfect peace that only he can provide.

That's why we're here tonight.

To celebrate the advent of Jesus Christ.

You know, and if you have not accepted the gift that is Jesus, if you've not accepted the gift of the forgiveness of your sins, and you want to, I just encourage you, tell the person that brought you.

Come up afterwards, tell one of us up here that you want to accept that gift of Jesus, the reason that he came down to this earth, the reason that we're here celebrating here this evening.

You are so loved by the Prince of Peace.

Will you please pray with me?

Jesus, we thank you that you loved us that much, and that you continue to love us that much.

That you are willing to step down from your heavenly throne in the midst of all of the glory that is heaven, that is you, that you are willing to veil that for a time, to step down to this earth, to be born of a woman in humble estate, as we so often sing, to walk among your creation for 30 plus years, to teach us, to show us by example, to live a perfect life, to raise up disciples that could continue on your ministry, and then to have the humility to take it one step further and to die on that cross.

In our place, the death that we earned, that we deserved through our sin.

And then, Lord, to show that you defeated all of that.

The sin and the grave, you rose three days later.

And we thank you so much for all that you've done for each one of us.

Lord, help us to not take Christmas lightly.

Your sacrifice didn't start on the cross, your sacrifice started when you stepped down onto this earth, and you paid the ultimate price through the ultimate sacrifice on the cross.

And we thank you so much for that.

Help us to not take that lightly, help us to not gloss over that in this season, but help us to celebrate.

We have a lot to celebrate in the birth of Jesus.

So help us to celebrate well and to keep our eyes fixed on you this Christmas, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.