What s In A Name? Christmas: Isaiah 9:6. Cradled Christ. Let s Begin. Reflection Connection

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Peregrine Richards
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1 Christmas: Isaiah 9:6 What s In A Name? by Dr. Jerry Vines By the Book A Chapter by Chapter Bible Study Series from Jerry Vines Ministries 2295 Towne Lake Parkway Suite 116 #249 Woodstock, GA Let s Begin Somebody once said if our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator; if our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist; if our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist; if our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer; but our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior. His name is wonderful. His name is Jesus. Today s theme comes from the prophet Isaiah who lived almost 800 years before God sent His Savior. Some of his words read as if he had before him the four Gospels as he wrote. Our single-verse text may be the greatest single verse which speaks of both Jesus humanity and His deity. Isaiah ingeniously reveals the character of the Christmas Child by summing His person up in five titles. Thus, observe the outline below as we consider What s in a Name?: I. The First Is Wonderful : Jesus is the Cradled Christ II. The Second is Counselor: Jesus is the Communicating Christ III. The Third is Mighty God: Jesus is the Crucified Christ IV. The Fourth is Everlasting Father: Jesus is the Contemporary Christ V. The Fifth is Prince of Peace: Jesus is the Coming Christ I. The First Is Wonderful : Jesus is the Cradled Christ Isaiah writes these immortal words, sketched in eternity, 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 (9:6). Here Jesus is first magnified as wonderful. The One who had no beginning, no birth in eternity is nevertheless to be born in Bethlehem. He is to be the Christmas Child cradled in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger (Luke 2:16). The wonder of wonders, God is born a man! First, there is mystery surrounding His birth. What a simple story is the Christmas birth about Jesus. Even a child is fascinated by it. Nevertheless, profound mystery finds solace in the narrative. Paul tells us, And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory (1 Tim. 3:16). When Jesus was born, God showed up with human skin! The Apostle John wrote, And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us...full of grace and truth ( John 1:14). Take a moment and reflect on how you think people would respond to the news that the woman your best friend was to marry turned up with child? Do you think it would have been easier to accept Mary s circumstances then, rather than now? Why or why not? What s more, the mystery is also shrouded with awe when we consider the miraculous nature of His birth; that is, the virgin birth of Jesus. Skeptics have attacked His virgin birth for over 2000 years to no avail. In addition, the Virgin Birth is not the same as the Roman Catholic belief in either the perpetual virginity of Mary or the immaculate conception. The first teaches Mary remained a virgin after Jesus was born and the latter teaches Mary remained sinless throughout her life, neither teaching of which is based on the New Testament.

2 Christmas: Isaiah 9:6 Page 2 of 5 Even so, the virgin birth of Jesus is taught in the New Testament and it becomes crucial in understanding who Jesus is. Why? Because the virgin birth is directly tied to Jesus sinless life. Had Christ been born naturally, he would have been tainted through the original sin of Adam. Hence, He could not be a perfect sacrifice for our sins. Therefore, not only is His birth a mystery, His birth is also magnificent! II. The Second is Counselor: Jesus is the Communicating Christ Remember Isaiah s words, and his name shall be called...counselor.... Some scholars think it better to translate the familiar Wonderful, above, along with Counselor and thus make the Messiah the marvelous Wonderful-Counsellor. And, while some translations do so (e.g. NASB), there is good reason to leave the two terms separate. The Hebrew term translated Counsellor refers to one who gives counsel. The verb form means to advise, counsel, consult. Jesus is the grand communicating Christ! For us today, a counselor may refer to a psychologist or a therapist. Tragically, in the Bible the counselors were not always the best sources of information. Jethro said to his son-in-law Moses, I will give thee counsel, and God Jesus is the grand communicating Christ! shall be with thee, and made good on his promise. However, the opposite is sometimes true. A tragic example exists when the mother of King Ahaziah of Judah was his counselor to do wickedly (2 Chron. 22:3). And, an even more bazaar scene takes place in the garden when Satan himself psychoanalyzes Eve, then Adam, plunging the whole world into chaos and sin. But while one counselor ruined the entire race through sin and deception, another Counselor would restore the human race through grace and truth. First, note the words of Jesus our Counselor. Soldiers once said, No man ever spake like this man ( John 7:46). Upon the ending of the Sermon on the Mount, the people were astonished at Christ s words, And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes (Matt.7:28-29). Jesus knew the Old Testament well, and even confounded the temple teachers as a young boy with unusual learning (Luke 2:46-47). The words He spoke were more than advice; His words were life the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life ( John 6:63). Hence, Jesus was a heavenly Counselor, a Wonderful Counselor! Second, note the works of Jesus our Counselor. Our words are only as good as our works. Someone said, I can t hear what you re saying because your behavior is so loud! Everything the Lord Jesus touched became gold. Others were ordinary while He always was extraordinary. In fact, no Christian is ever called to be extraordinary. God uses ordinary people in a mighty way because His Son is so extraordinary!

3 Christmas: Isaiah 9:6 Page 3 of 5 Jesus gained victory by dying. Is it hard to conceive how victory can come through apparent defeat? How would you respond to someone who said, Jesus was a failure. He did not usher in the kingdom He promised? III. The Third is Mighty God: Jesus is the Crucified Christ Isaiah writes of the Messiah, and his name shall be called...mighty God.... He is a Warrior God, a Great Hero God. But, in God s Kingdom, He wins by dying; He conquers by surrendering Himself to the enemy for abuse, mockery, and ultimately death. Note the misery of His death. The language of the New Testament speaks in the simplest terms. Few details are given surrounding Jesus physical death. Undoubtedly, the Gospel authors wanted to focus on the spiritual suffering Jesus endured for the world rather than the physical suffering. Even so, the crucifixion was the cruelest, most violent means of punishment of the Greco-Roman world. The victim could live for days, in agony every moment. Actually, the authorities wanted the person crucified to suffer as much as possible, for they believed it a deterrent to others from breaking the law. Hence, the crucifixion was very public, usually on a prominent place similar to a busy street corner in a large city. Whatever the physical pain and humiliation Jesus the Mighty God suffered before the public, nothing done publicly to Jesus compared to the hellish suffering Jesus endured privately within. The weight of the world s sin was upon Him. Hear John the Baptist s testimony, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world ( John 1:29). Later the Apostle Paul would make an extraordinary claim, For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Cor. 5:21). The Greek literally says, Jesus was made sin for us. No sinful human being can fathom how He who knew no sin could manage to be made sin Himself. Christ s inner torture surfaced at key moments on the cross. For example, Matthew records what has been called His cry of dereliction, And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matt. 27:46). So the misery of the cross is very real. Yet, as we can see, so is its marvelous victory. Jesus died for our sins! His death means our life! IV. The Fourth is Everlasting Father: Jesus is the Contemporary Christ Again, Isaiah writes, and his name shall be called...everlasting Father.... The further Isaiah travels, the further he takes us down the road called mystery. The Messiah Christ, the baby to be born to the virgin Mary, Jesus the Son of God is referred to as Everlasting Father. Christians believe in and worship the Holy Trinity Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The uninformed will suggest Christians believe in and worship three gods. Simplistically, they say = 3. Yet Christians respond that such simplistic reasoning does not represent the Biblical view they are proposing. First, while = 3 is one way to view the Trinity, it is incorrect. Leaving aside the fact that a mathematical formula is a woefully inadequate way to understand the true and Living God, nevertheless a more accurate view would be 1 X 1 X 1 = 1. Even so, Christians believe in only one, true and living God Who has eternally expressed Himself in three very real, distinct but not separate Persons Father,

4 Christmas: Isaiah 9:6 Page 4 of 5 Son, and Spirit. And, while Isaiah makes it clear that mystery is at the heart of the Holy Trinity, we rightly insist that only one true and living supreme God exists. And, in no place is the mystery more evident than when Isaiah speaks of the coming Messiah as Everlasting Father, the Messiah Who died on a cross and was placed in a tomb. The final victory came, however, when three days later, He proved Himself to be God by the resurrection. Paul reminds us, Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord...declared to be the Son of God...by the resurrection from the dead (Rom. 1:3-4). How often do you dwell upon the second coming of Christ? Are you ready were He to come today? Are there people in your study group whom you are not certain have a relationship with the Lord? Make it a point to share the urgency of turning to Christ. V. The Fifth is Prince of Peace: Jesus is the Coming Christ Finally, Isaiah records, and his name shall be called...prince of Peace. Jesus not only came as the Christ, He will also be the coming Christ! And, when He comes, He will bringing peace with Him. First, His coming is promised. When it finally sank in to His disciples that He was leaving them, as a comfort to them, Jesus told His disciples,...i go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also ( John 14:2-3). He promised He would come again! Even angels delivered the same promise. Upon His ascension as His disciples watched in amazement, Luke writes, And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is He promised He would come again! taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven (Acts 1:10-11). In addition, His coming is personal. Note the angels words again, this same Jesus. He is coming personally and He is coming for His church, His people, those who have placed their trust in Him as Savior and Lord. Paul writes, For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord (1 Thess. 4:17-18). What a wonderful day of peace for the believer living forever with the Prince of Peace. Third, His coming is powerful. The reign of Jesus Christ will usher in unprecedented peace on the earth. Isaiah tells us later on of the peaceful reign of the coming King, The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. (11:6-7). Imagine it! Total peace amongst the carnivorous animals, something never before heard. His coming will mean powerful changes.

5 Christmas: Isaiah 9:6 Page 5 of 5 Golden Greek Nugget To the Thessalonians, the Apostle Paul spoke of Christ s return (1 Thess. 4:14-18). He writes, For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep (v. 15). The term translated prevent is the Greek word phthano. We normally use prevent in a way which means to avoid. Not so the Greek word. It means to come before, to precede. Furthermore, since there is a double negative involved, it is a strong statement Paul is making. He is saying we shall not by any means whatsoever precede those Christians who have already passed on. In other words, when Christ returns and the rapture of the saints takes place, those living at the time of the rapture will follow those believers who died prior to the rapture. Wrap Up In this beautiful Christmas text Isaiah gives us five titles of the coming Messiah. Each one specifically reveals a significant truth about Jesus. How wonderful our Counselor is. He is Mighty God and Everlasting Father. And, when He comes the second time, He will descend as Prince of Peace. Do you know Him today? Will you turn to Him today?

The Comforting Christ

The Comforting Christ Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. Isaiah 9:6, For unto us a Child is