“A Son is Given”
(Isaiah 9:6)
Christmas at the Fine Arts Center, 2013
Team Preaching by Todd Linn and Rich Stratton
Words in Black: Todd Linn
Words in Red: Rich Stratton
•If you have a Bible with you, let me invite you to open it to the Old Testament Book of Isaiah, chapter 9 (YouVersion Bible App).
We’re going to be looking at a well-known Bible verse often read at Christmas time. It is Isaiah 9:6 and we’re going to read it in the greater context of the first seven verses of chapter 9. Just a little background before we read.
The year is about 733 BC. The Northern Kingdom of Israel is about to get wiped out by the Assyrians. Most of you know that that happened in 722 BC. So Isaiah is prophesying 11 years before the downfall of Israel. So what he prophesies is at first not very good news. In fact, chapter 8 ends in verse 22 this way, “Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness.” That doesn’t sound very good, does it?!
So that’s the bleak and black background of the context. It’s bad news. Because of their sin and the wickedness of her kings, the Israelites will walk in darkness. God is judging them for their sin and He will punish them for their sins through the Assyrians, the coming Assyrian invasion that will happen in just 11 years.
But then, the good news comes. We can never appreciate the good news without first understanding the bad news. The good news comes to God’s people in chapter 9. Before you stand to hear the Word of God, just look down at chapter 9 and note the contrast between how chapter 8 ends and how chapter 9 begins. Chapter 8 ends again in verse 22 where Isaiah says, “Then they will look to the earth, and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish; and they will be driven into darkness.” He’s talking about the bad guys coming, the Assyrians, and it will be a time of heavy darkness. Now, chapter 9, verses 1 and 2:
1 Nevertheless the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed,
As when at first He lightly esteemed
The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
And afterward more heavily oppressed her,
By the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
In Galilee of the Gentiles.
2 The people who walked in darkness
Have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.
Do you hear the encouragement here? The people were in darkness, a darkness they had brought upon themselves by worshiping other gods, but the light came upon them and shined into their darkness. They “dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,” but, “upon them a light has shined.”
So certain is this prophecy that Isaiah prophesies about the future in the past tense! He speaks as though it has already happened. That’s what the prophets often did because they were speaking for God and you can count on God to fulfill His promises. They will come to pass. So speaking of the future Isaiah says, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.”
Christmas time is about celebrating the coming of the Eternal Light that shines into the darkness of our condition and brings us the light of hope and salvation!
The prophet Isaiah continues speaking in verse 3 where he now addresses God. He says with gratitude to God in verse 3:
3 You have multiplied the nation
And increased its joy;
They rejoice before You
According to the joy of harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
Isaiah is talking about a future time, a joyful time, long after the Assyrian invasion. To the people of Isaiah’s day, it likely sounded like God was going to give them victory over the Assyrians. There’s this war-like imagery, continuing in verse 4. Isaiah says to God:
4 For You have broken the yoke of his burden
And the staff of his shoulder,
The rod of his oppressor,
As in the day of Midian
5 For every warrior’s sandal from the noisy battle,
And garments rolled in blood,
Will be used for burning and fuel of fire.
To a people familiar with ongoing battles and wars, the Israelites likely heard these words from Isaiah as a prophecy about their ultimately defeating the Assyrians.
And yet, God is talking about a victory far greater than victory over human oppression. God is talking about a coming victory over spiritual oppression. Isaiah is prophesying about a coming event that far surpasses short-term victory over earthly battles. He is prophesying about an event that ushers-in victory over spiritual battles, a future event fulfilled 700 years later in the event of our Lord’s birth. Listen for that as you stand.
•Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
6 For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.
•Pray.
Introduction:
The title of our message this morning is, “A Son is Given.” The Bible says in verse 6, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given.” Did you hear that? A Son is given. There is no person “Gift-less” at Christmas. A Son is given, given to all persons.
Two months ago in the October edition of the Harvard Business Review, researchers reported some interesting facts about Gift Cards, gift cards like many of us will give and receive this Christmas season.
Nearly 40 percent of shoppers will purchase a department store gift card for friends and family and just over 30 percent of shoppers will purchase restaurant gift cards to give as gifts.
But according to estimates reported in the Journal of State Taxation, the typical American home has an average of $300 in unused or “unredeemed” gift cards. The cards are often misplaced, accidentally thrown out, or only partially redeemed. In fact, between 2005 and 2011, $41 billion in gift cards went unused. (“Stats & Curiosities,” Harvard Business Review, 2013; page 104).
$41 billion in unused gift cards! So you see where we’re going, right? Just because a gift is given doesn’t mean it will actually be redeemed. God has given the greatest gift to each of us at Christmas. The Bible says, “A Son is given.” There is no person in this room or listening to this message who is “gift-less” at Christmas. A Son is given.
The gift has been given. But in order for the gift to fulfill the purpose for which it was given, it must be “redeemed,” which is to say it must be received to fulfill its intended purpose. We must receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior: “Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King.”
So we want to talk about this Christmas gift Isaiah mentions in verse 6. We want to “unwrap” this Christmas gift by focusing on verse 6 and noting the four compound names, the four descriptive titles of our Lord Jesus. You see them there in verse 6:
“And His name will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.”
His name will be called these things. That doesn’t mean that Joseph and Mary called Him by these names. You know, “Come to dinner, Wonderful Counselor” or, “Please meet our Son, Mr. Everlasting Father.” No, His name is Jesus. And these are titles of the Lord Jesus, titles that tell us something of His wonderful attributes. So we’re going to go through these four titles of our Lord Jesus Christ. First:
1) Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor
The title “Wonderful Counselor” describes a king whose counsel is wise, a king who rules and reigns in wisdom (cf. Isaiah 11).
The wisdom of the counsel of King Jesus stands in stark contrast with the unwise counsel of the foolish kings of Israel. Those of you familiar with the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah know that while the Southern Kingdom of Judah had a few bad, but mostly good kings, the Northern Kingdom of Israel however, was 100% bad kings. Every single king of Israel led the people to follow after false gods, every single one without exception!
So Isaiah says that King Jesus is coming, a king who will rule and reign unlike any other king has ruled and reigned. This King rules and reigns as 100% good, reigning as our wonderful counselor, a king whose counsel is always wise, a king who is “just in all His ways and kind in all his doings (Psalm 145:17).”
Indeed, in the words of Isaac Watts in the Christmas carol:
He rules the world with truth and grace,
Jeremiah also speaks of the wisdom of this coming King in Jeremiah 23:5:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.”
So King Jesus reigns in wisdom. Verse 6 says, “The government will be upon His shoulder.” He is in charge, reigning over the events of our world, “He rules the world with truth and grace.”
He is “Wonderful Counselor.” Unlike the foolish, earthly kings who provided ungodly counsel, He not only gives good counsel, but is Himself the embodiment of counsel. He is not an earthly ruler who needs a team of counselors, a president who needs a cabinet of advisors. He is Himself Wonderful Counselor!
This means you can trust Him. You can trust that King Jesus will never lead you astray and will always do what is right in your life. The events of our lives are often shrouded in clouds of darkness and we don’t always understand why things happen, but we can trust that our Wonderful Counselor knows what is going on. He’s got the whole world in His hands and “He rules the world with truth and grace.”
Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor. Secondly:
2) Jesus is our Mighty God
Now it becomes even clearer that this coming king about whom Isaiah prophesies is no mere earthy ruler. Verse 6 says, “His name will be called…Mighty God.”
Paul says in Romans 9:5, “Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God.”
And in Titus 2:13, Paul refers to Christ as, “our great God and Savior.”
Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God who has taken on flesh. He is the Divine Son of God who took on humanity.
This is why John begins his Gospel, stressing the joining together of the two natures of deity and humanity. Referring to the Son of God as “the Word,” John writes in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” The Son of God is co-eternal with the Father. There has never been a time when the Son was not. He has always been.
Then down in verse 14 of John’s Gospel, John says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).” The eternal Son of God took on flesh, joined humanity to His deity.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see;
Hail the incarnate Deity,
Pleased with us in flesh to dwell,
Jesus our Emmanuel.
Now why is that important? Why is it important that we get our christology, our study about Christ, correct? Why is it important that we understand that Jesus is not just a man, but the God-Man, 100% God and 100% man? Why is it important to know that Jesus is the perfect joining together of two natures in one person? To paraphrase a question raised by Ligon Duncan in my study last week, noting that Christians often insist, ‘Jesus is the reason for the season,’ he asks, “But what is the reason for the reason?” That’s a great question. In other words, “Why did God come to us in the person of Christ, why did perfect deity take on humanity, why must the Messiah be 100% God and 100% man?”
And the answer to this question also explains why Christ must be born of a virgin. The virgin birth made possible the uniting together of full deity and full humanity in one person.
At this point I’m reminded of the pastor’s family on their way to the Christmas Eve service. They were driving along in the car and the pastor’s 5-year-old son said, “Dad, are you going to let us enjoy this Christmas or are you going to try to explain it to everybody?!”
But of course it is the explaining of Christmas that helps us understand the supernatural significance of it. “For unto us a Child is born,” and this Child is born of a virgin.
The virgin birth makes possible Christ’s true humanity apart from inherited sin. In one sense Christ was born as other men are, but He was not conceived other men are. Jesus did not descend from Adam the way you and I descend from Adam. Jesus was conceived by way of the Holy Spirit, which helps us understand why the legal guilt and moral corruption that belongs to all other human beings—like you and I—does not belong to Christ. He did not descend from Adam as you and I. He was conceived supernaturally in Mary’s womb by way of the Holy Spirit.
The activity of the Holy Spirit in the conception of Jesus of Nazareth suggests a close link between Christ’s holiness as God and his sinlessness as man. Jesus is conceived of the Holy Spirit, a supernatural event which stresses the sinlessness of our coming Savior who bears no guilt or stain of Adam’s sin.
And why does this matter? It matters because in order to die for the sins of humanity, the Son of God needed a human nature. He needed a body that a nail could pierce. He needed flesh that could be crucified. And in order to die as the perfect, righteous, sinless substitute in our place, He needed a perfect, righteous, sinless divine nature. At the cross, the sins of believing Christians are ascribed to Christ and the righteousness of Christ is ascribed to believing Christians. This is precisely what makes salvation and the forgiveness of sin possible.
And this is precisely why the Bible records that salvation is found in no one else (Acts 4:12; 1 Timothy 2:5-6). As our Lord Jesus Himself says: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). Yes, the virgin birth matters. It matters because it highlights the perfect, righteous, sinless Savior for all who believe.
As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5:21, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
Jesus is our Mighty God. So He is our Wonderful Counselor, our Mighty God, Number Three:
3) Jesus is our Everlasting Father
This is not a reference to the first Person of the Holy Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity teaches that God is one in essence, and three in distinct Persons. So Isaiah is not saying that the Son is the Father. That’s not what Isaiah is talking about. He is referring rather to that loving attribute of the Son of God as a caring father. He is talking about the paternal love of this Messiah. King Jesus loves His children as a caring father loves his children.
And “everlasting” refers to the duration of our Lord’s paternal care. He is a caring Father who will go on caring everlastingly. His love has no end. He will go on loving everlastingly.
He is unlike earthly fathers who often disappoint. You are not alone if you have or had an earthly father who disappointed you. Some of you here today may have earthly fathers who have profoundly disappointed you. But the Son of God loves us in a paternally perfect way. And His love is everlasting.
And just as fathers can disappoint, so can children. But, if you are a Christian you can never so disappoint the Lord that He will write you off as a child. He will never abandon you, never leave you nor forsake you. He said, “All who come to Me I will never cast out (John 6:37).”
And the breadth and depth of His love is seen at Calvary’s cross. God so loved the world that He gave—gave His Son to die—a Son is given—given to die on an old, rugged cross, the emblem of suffering and shame.
Unfortunately this point is often neglected or overlooked at Christmas. Some people never seem to get beyond the mere sentimentality of Christmas.
Like the 10-year-old girl who went with a group of family and friends to see the Christmas light displays at various locations throughout the city. At one church, they stopped and got out to look more closely at a nativity scene. The little girl’s grandmother smiled and said to her, “Isn’t that beautiful? Look at all the animals, and Mary, and Joseph and the sweet baby Jesus.” The little girl said, “Yes, grandmother, it really is nice—but it’s the same as last year, and the baby Jesus is the same size, is he ever going to grow up?!”
We must always remember that the Christ of the cradle came to be the Christ of the cross. He grew up. He came as a baby, lived a perfect life, and died a perfect death. He came as a gift, came to die that we may be saved.
In the words of C.S. Lewis, “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God.”
This is the greatest sense of that phrase in verse 6, “And the government will be upon His shoulder.” Christ will shoulder the weight of this world, including the weight of all its guilt and shame.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, writing from prison reflects on this phrase. He writes:
That the government of all the world should lie upon the weak shoulders of this newborn child! This one thing we know: These shoulders will one day bear the weight of the whole world. With the cross, all the sin and the sorrow of this world will be laden upon his shoulders. But His authority will remain, He will not break under the burden, but bring it through triumphantly. The government which lies upon the shoulders of the child in the manger consists of the patient bearing of humanity’s burden and its guilt. The bearing of this burden begins in the manger, begins there were the eternal Word of God took to himself human flesh and bore it.—(Christmas Sermons, Zondervan, 2005, p. 152).
That well describes the everlasting paternal love of our King Jesus. To quote Lewis again: “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God.”
Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and, number four:
4) Jesus is our Prince of Peace
To really appreciate Jesus as our Prince of Peace, we need to think about what life is like without peace. Apart from peace we have strife, we have turmoil, problems, conflict, battles, oppression, sin, and darkness. And Jesus comes to bring peace and calm as a Light that shines in the darkness. Remember verse 2:
9:2: The people who walked in darkness
Have seen a great light;
Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death,
Upon them a light has shined.
Christ is the Light Phillips Brooks was describing in “O Little Town of Bethlehem”:
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight
Jesus is our Prince of Peace, the coming King who shines the everlasting light of His peace into the darkness of our fears, bringing calm to our lives.
Some of you may feel you are in darkness. While others are happy at Christmas, you are not as joyful. I understand that. Some of us are remembering a loved one who is no longer with us, or we’re dealing with a job loss, a sickness, brokenness in marriage, a wayward child. All of these things remind us of the fallenness of this world. But you know, Alexander Maclaren said, “The darker the cloud, the brighter is the rainbow.”
Please hear me: the only way you can have lasting peace in the midst of this darkness is to trust the Prince of Peace, our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember, He is also Wonderful Counselor. He rules the world with truth and grace and that includes ruling over your health, your work, your marriage, and your son. The hopes and fears of all the years are met in Him, in Christ, the Everlasting Light. Trust Him this Christmas time.
And some of you are lost and still in your sins. Trust Christ as Savior and Lord. Receive Him. Remember the gift cards we talked about earlier? The gift card doesn’t fulfill its intended purpose until it is redeemed, until it is received and used by the one to whom it’s been given. So God gives us Christ Jesus. A Son is given, but this Gift God has given does not fulfill its intended purpose until it is received and appropriated. Otherwise, this gift is like a gift under the tree that is never unwrapped, a gift simply left under the tree of life. Turn from your sin and trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
Conclusion:
If you have received the Everlasting Light of Christ and you know the “reason for the season” as well as the “reason for the reason,” then your role is to share that Everlasting Light with others. Jesus says in Matthew 5:14-16:
14 “You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden.
15 Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Just a little over two months ago on October 18th in Buffalo New York, one young woman stood still in the darkness of her depression and despair. And God in His providence worked in such a way to bring to her the Everlasting Light.
Meet 37-year-old bus driver Darnell Barton, a big and kind young man known affectionately as “Big Country.”
**[Pic 1]
Darnell was driving high school students along his route in Buffalo on October 18th when he saw something wrong: a young woman was standing on a bridge on the opposite side of the guardrail, preparing to jump from the bridge to end her life.
Barton slowed his bus down and carefully pulled near the woman and opened the bus door. From his seat behind the steering wheel, Barton called out to the woman, asking if she were okay. The woman looked at Barton, but did not respond. Quickly, but carefully, Barton left the bus and approached the woman.
He later told a Buffalo News reporter, “She turned back to look at me and then back at the traffic and that’s when I kind of lunged and got my left arm around her body.” He added, “I asked her, ‘Do you want to come on this side of the guard rail now?’ and that was the first time she spoke to me and said, ‘Yeah.’”
**[Pic 2]
Keeping his arms around her, Barton carefully lifted the woman over to the safe side of the guard rail and sat down with her on the pavement. He just sat down there with her and talked with her while they waited for first responders to arrive. Later when he got back onto his bus, he received a standing ovation from the high school students.
The whole thing is captured on a surveillance camera and you can Google it later if you want to watch it online, but the irony is that the camera shows others just passing right by this woman, leaving her in the darkness of her condition. A pedestrian and then a bicyclist just go right by her.
But Darnell Barton comes along and does the right thing. After he had sat on the ground with this woman, what do you suppose he talked to her about?
**[Pic 3]
As Barton later explained to a reporter, “I grew up in church. I kept hearing my mother’s words.” Speaking about always being ready to share the Light of the Good News, He added, “The Bible says we are to be ready in season or out of season. You’ve got to be ready. If you’ve got time to do anything you’ve got time to do the right thing.”—
**[Pic 1 again]
“If you’ve got time to do anything, you’ve got time to do the right thing.”
You are the light of the world. You have received the Everlasting Light of the Prince of Peace? Then let your light shine and point others to Him who is called, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Make time this week to shine the light of Christ.
“If you’ve got time to do anything you’ve got time to do the right thing.”
•Stand for prayer.
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