Thank you for your good singing this morning. The lights are on on a Ford Escort license number MD 2628. If that's yours, you may want to take care of that. The Bible is a book of promises. When I was growing up, there was a chorus we used to sing that went something like this, Every promise in the book is mine, every chapter, every verse, every line. All our blessings of His love divine, every promise in the book is mine. It's a wonderful chorus, however not true.
Because all the promises in the book are not mine or yours, thank God. Some of them are promises of judgment. I don't want those kinds of promises. But all promises are for all people in all times. But a significant number of promises, indeed the central line of them, deals with the coming of the Savior, the Redeemer. Those promises are ours. The promises regarding the coming Redeemer begin in Genesis chapter 3 verse 15 where the seed of the woman is foretold.
In that verse we have what is often called the proto-evangelium, which means the first word of the gospel, the first indication that one would come to deliver Adam and his generation from sin. The line proceeds then from Adam and Eve through Seth, Noah, Shem, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who is called Israel, the Prince of God. From Him would come the Messiah, the Anointed, that is the one set apart by God.
In the Old Testament there were three offices for which one might be anointed or set apart in the land of Israel. They were the offices of prophet, priest, and king. The Lord Jesus is the Christ, the Anointed, the Messiah in each of those three offices as prophet, as priest, and as king. Many of the prophets spoke of Him, but none of them spoke more specifically than did Isaiah. And an example of that is our text today in Isaiah 9 verses 1 through 7.
It is replete with detailed prophecies regarding the Messiah, who is called in these pages Emmanuel, God with us. The promises of Isaiah 9 verses 1 through 7 present an integrated picture of Messiah and His ministry. That is what we want to examine this morning. These promises are chronologically scrambled in the passage. Therefore we will attempt to organize them in a logical and chronological order, like pieces of a puzzle lying on a table waiting to be arranged. So are these prophecies.
Let us see if there is in fact a design that we perceive coming together as these pieces are put together. First I would have you notice verse 6 where we see the promise of His coming. In these words, a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us. We see two things about His coming. In the first place it would involve a birth. A child, it says, will be born. The Messiah would not come in some grand, magnificent display of power, but rather He would come quietly, humbly, and simply.
Yet it would be the most amazing event up to that point in the history of the world. A few pages earlier in Isaiah in chapter 7 verse 14 we have another specific prophecy regarding His birth. It says, Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign, Behold, the Virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. And so the birth of a virgin baby is predicted.
Now we believe that there was a fulfillment in Isaiah's day, or the one that was meant as a sign to Ahaz was a woman at that point still a virgin who shortly married Isaiah and bore him a son, and that son became the sign son to Ahaz in that day. And yet there is a greater fulfillment in this verse. That is made clear in the New Testament when this verse is pointed to as a prophecy of the virgin birth of Jesus.
Jesus the Christ, the Messiah, He would not come on a white charger to claim control of His world, but rather would enter into the world as a baby, be placed in a manger, and wrapped in the swaddling clothes of poverty. We notice also that His coming would involve a union, the joining together of humanity and deity, for it says a child will be born, a son will be given. In one person two natures were united indissolubly. There is no parallel that exists to it.
It is an absolutely unique event in all of history. What is predicted here is not a theophany that is an appearance of God, nor is it the same as the pagan legends proclaimed in that day. For there were legends, myths among the pagan religions of a God joining Himself to a man. We say, well, what do those legends indicate? They are probably evidence of the longing even in a pagan heart for such an identity with God.
But this event in the coming of the Messiah is unique, for this is no myth or legend, but this is history as we perceive it now. To Isaiah it was a prophecy. It was the union of God with sinless humanity for the purpose of redemption. So He has called the seed of the woman, He has called the son of Abraham, He has called the son of David, He has called a man of sorrows, and He was all of those.
But as well He has named the Son of God, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, and Christ the Lord, because He is man and God in one person. And so in the bustling, not sleepy, village of Bethlehem, just a few miles from the capital city of Jerusalem, He came and thanked God that He did. Now there is a second promise that we see in verse 6, and that is His character.
His name shall be called, it says, that does not mean that He will actually have that name, but these words describe His character. They reflect His nature. His character is found in these four names, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. No counselor. The name Wonderful, or the term Wonderful, means literally surpassing or supernatural. He is the supernatural counselor. His counsel is that which alone can save from sin. His person will be above the ordinary.
How He lives and what He says, says Isaiah, will excite amazement and wonder from all of those who observe and hear Him. And He is the mighty God, an interesting phrase which means that He is the champion in battle. It is a statement, a strong statement indeed, of Messiah's deity. Or the term for God, El, is found in this name. The same term that we find in the name El-Ohim, He is the mighty God.
This same term is used in chapter 10 verse 21 clearly of God, where it says a remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. There is no question that Jehovah is the one in view in chapter 10 verse 21, as well as in chapter 9 and verse 6. He is the mighty God, and He is the everlasting Father, or literally the Father of eternity. In other words, He, the Messiah, possesses eternity. Eternity to you and me, because we are mortals, is, or at least can be, a frightening thought.
For eternity is timelessness, and we cannot relate to that. It seems to reach out and swallow us up as we begin to ponder it. And yet eternity is possessed by Him. He is the Father of it. And because He is the Father of eternity, He also authors it. He authors eternal, everlasting life to those who come to Him. He is the Father of eternity. And the Messiah is revealed to be the Prince of peace.
It is too bad that if you use the name Prince in our day, there is another person who comes to mind, especially among a lot of teenagers, a revolting character who grew up in this area, a man who is immoral and filthy to the nth degree, and a man that our governor has named Christmas week after this year, which disgusts me no end, and about which he has heard a lot, and I hope he will hear a lot more in terms of letters and phone calls.
This Prince that is predicted by Isaiah in chapter 9 is a pure Prince, not a Prince of violence and filth and immorality, but a Prince of peace. He is the ruler who will bring peace to the world in His coming kingdom. He will subdue every foe and banish every disturbing element in His kingdom. And so we see that His nature is revealed as one of wisdom, omnipotence, eternity, and sovereignty.
I was doing some reading of Colossians this week, and I want you to turn over there with me and notice how perfectly these things are fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. Turn Colossians chapter 2 first. He is the wonderful counselor, says Isaiah. This is the way the Apostle Paul puts it in the New Testament, in whom that is in Christ are hidden or stored all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. They are stored up in Jesus Christ.
The fullness of them, all of them, are found in Him who is the wonderful counselor. Look back in chapter 1 verse 15. Isaiah says He is the mighty God. Paul puts it this way. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. That means He has preeminence above all creation. For by Him all things were created. Then at the end of the verse he says all things have been created by Him and for Him. You see He is the mighty God, the omnipotent one.
Isaiah says He is the everlasting Father. Notice how Paul says in verse 17, and He is before all things. A statement of His preexistence before creation. He is before all things. Isaiah says He is the Prince of peace. This is how Paul puts it in verse 18. He's the head of the body of the church, the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything. He's the Prince.
For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross. So He is the ruler. He is the Prince who brings peace. Jesus Christ, my friend, is all of that to you. Do you need wisdom? He is the wonderful counselor who can give you the counsel you need. Do you need power? He is the omnipotent one who can fill you with the power you need. Do you fear death?
He is the eternal one, the Father of eternity, who can bring peace to your heart about that issue. Do you face troubling battles in your life? And turn to Him who is the Prince of peace and who can calm that wild storm within your heart. Jesus Christ is all of this to you today, if you will allow Him to be. Notice with me back in Isaiah again a third promise regarding Messiah and His ministry. It is found in verses 1 and 2, where it speaks directly of the ministry that He had.
The text refers to the land of Zebulun and Naphtali. If you will get out a map which places the Old Testament tribes or families of Israel, you will notice that that is specifically the region around the Sea of Galilee to the west of it. It was that part of the ancient land which was first plunged into gloom and darkness by the invasion of the Assyrian ruler Tiglath-Pileser III. He first invaded the land in 732 B.C., and thus began the end of the northern kingdom of Israel.
It was ten years later before the judgment was fully carried out in 722, when Samaria was completely wiped off the face of the earth. But it began in the region of Galilee. That's where judgment began. Now notice the marvelous prophecy of Isaiah. He says that there, where judgment would begin, the first light of the dawn of salvation would break. He says the Messiah will make that place in Galilee glorious by His ministry.
Now would you again turn into the New Testament to John chapter 2 for just a moment. We'll turn to the last verse referring to the first of Jesus' miracles, changing the water into wine. John chapter 2 verse 11. Regarding that, John has this comment, this beginning of His signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee and manifested His glory, and His disciples believed in Him. Do you notice that? The very first miracle that Jesus chose to perform was in Galilee, as had been prophesied by Isaiah of old.
Turn back a few pages to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 4. He refers to Isaiah's words when he says, beginning in verse 13 of the fourth chapter, "...and leaving Nazareth, He came and settled in Capernaum, which is by the sea in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali." This was to fulfill what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, and then he quotes from Isaiah in verses 15 and 16. And furthermore, it was the greatest area of response for Jesus in His ministry.
And so He began His ministry there, He settled there, and that was His headquarters in His earthly ministry for those three years. And it was from that area that He got His greatest response in the terms of people who believed on Him. And so truly Isaiah's prophecy was fulfilled in His ministry, for He made it glorious, that place where gloom and darkness had settled.
By way of application, may I point out to you that so often it is those who have experienced life's greatest sorrows and its deepest gloom who most readily respond to the Lord Jesus Christ. Since that is where you are found today in your own situation, this rather dark gloomy day that it is outside is a reflection, sadly, of your heart and your circumstances.
May I bring you this word of good news, that the light of the Messiah would shine upon that darkness of yours, and He would lift that gloom and do a glorious work in your life today, if only you will call upon Him. Then in Isaiah 9 we come to a fourth promise regarding Messiah and His ministry, and we return to verse 6 for our logical or chronological order. Here we have the promise of His sacrifice, for it says, a son will be given to us.
That is not an identically parallel phrase to the first one in the verse. Another truth is hidden in these words, a truth revealed in the New Testament. Undoubtedly John 3.16 is the ideal commentary on Isaiah 9.6, for there we learn by whom this son was given, and for whom and why. It says that God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. His sacrifice is predicted in these brief words in Isaiah 9.
It is Isaiah himself who later comes back to this theme as led by the Holy Spirit and writes in the 53rd chapter of this same prophecy these words, He was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried, yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him.
By His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. When I think of the sacrifice of God's Son, there are times when I look at my youngest son who is now at a very enjoyable age of two. I think it's enjoyable twos or is it terrible twos. I forget just how that goes. But I look at him and his innocence which is beginning now to fade away.
And I wonder how it could ever be that I would give my son for anyone. I would far rather give my life for him than to give my child for anyone else. And the affection I have for him is only a fraction of that which the Father God has for His Son. And yet Isaiah says a son will be given, not just sent into the world, but sent into the world to die a horrible, excruciating death for the sakes of you and me.
Surely as we ponder the cradle at the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, we must recognize that across it falls the shadow of a cross. For that was the Father's good pleasure. That was His eternal purpose that in sending His Son, He might give Him, give Him up for you and for me. It's a very wonderful promise and one that I hope that you have appropriated for yourself and that you are expressing your love for Him is also my trust.
You can look up to the Lord Jesus at this time when we remember His coming and remember why He came and say with a heart of gratitude, thank you. A fifth prophecy regarding the Messiah and His ministry is found again in Isaiah 9. We back up to verses 4 and 5 to catch it. It is the promise of His victory. Isaiah prophesies that the yoke of bondage upon Israel will be broken. The staff of affliction, the rod of oppression will be removed.
He compares it to the victory that occurred over the Midianites, probably in the day of Gideon, when weak Israel, helpless Israel was far outnumbered by a superior power and God Himself intervened on the part of His people and delivered them. May I say by way of application, folks, that it's when you and I are weak that we are strong. When we are weak in ourselves, it is God's strength that is brought into perfection. Now, when is it that this yoke is to be broken?
When is it that the Messiah's victory will come? Well, notice that there is warfare that is graphically depicted. Jesus speaks in these verses of the boot of the warrior, the tumult of the battle, of the cloak being rolled in blood and burning and fuel for fire. In other words, His victory would come through a great battle, a great war. And what is that? Well, the answer can be nothing less than what is prophesied in Revelation chapter 19 more fully.
And that is the battle of Armageddon, when once again weak Israel, helpless Israel will be far outnumbered by a superior force of Antichrist. And in that terrible, frightening situation, the nation will turn to its Messiah and Jesus Christ will come from heaven and will destroy the enemy of Israel and will deliver His people as in the day of the Midianites. Jesus Christ's worldwide victory over His enemies will be executed in a day and He will reign. That is His victory.
May I say that by the grace of God, you and I who know the Lord Jesus will share in that victory. That is a victory for all of us that He has purchased and will execute. That brings us to the sixth of the prophecies regarding the Messiah and His ministry. It's found in verse 3. It is His restoration of the nation. The nation of Israel will be restored to the place of blessing that it once knew. In fact, it will become the prominent nation in all of the world.
It may be difficult to realize that today, but there will come a day when Washington, London, Moscow, Tehran, and Peiping, if they still exist at that time, will all look toward Jerusalem. For from Jerusalem will come the orders for the nations of the world as Jesus Christ reigns from the restored kingdom of David. We have other prophecies in Isaiah regarding this. Let's just look at a couple of them quickly in chapter 4 verse 2, the restoration of the land.
In that day, says Isaiah, the branch of the Lord, that's the Messiah, the branch of the Lord will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth will be the pride and the adornment of the survivors of Israel. And it will come about that He who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy, everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem.
When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning, then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory will be a canopy.
In other words, it seems that when He establishes His kingdom and the nation is restored, there will be this cloud of fire, perhaps similar to that which was known in the wilderness of old, which will be encamped over all of Zion in Jerusalem indicating the presence of the Lord as He reigns gloriously and bodily from that place. Turn over a page or two to chapter 11 of Isaiah.
He says, then, verse 11, then it will happen on that day that the Lord will again recover the second time with His hand the remnant of His people who will remain from Assyria, Egypt, Pathras, Cush, Elam, Shinar, Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And He will lift up a standard for the nations and will assemble the banished ones of Israel and will gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. You say, you mean God is literally going to do this?
Isn't this really spiritually applied to the church somehow? Not by a long shot, my friend. This is a specific literal prophecy that will be fulfilled when God Himself will restore and bring together the nation of Israel from all the corners of the earth and will reign personally over it. This is His restoration of His people. And it is that which is mentioned in Isaiah 9 and verse 3. And we come to the final of the prophecies regarding Messiah in verses 6 and 7 again of Isaiah 9.
And here it is, the promise of His reign. In verse 6 it says, and the government will rest on His shoulders. The shoulders represent the strength of a person. It's there that a burden or metaphorically a responsibility is born. And it says that on the shoulders of this child to be born, the Son who is given will rest the government.
Verse 7, there will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace on the throne of David and over His kingdom to establish and uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. I would have you notice at least six things about His reign which give us a description of it. In the first place, it is a prosperous reign. It is unlimited. Of its increase there will be no end. Furthermore it's a peaceful reign. There will be no more war in that day.
For then we're brought to pass the saying of Isaiah that the swords will be turned into plowshares, spears will be turned into pruning hooks, the instruments of war will be done away with. There will be no need for them in His reign, a peaceful reign. The peace which people long for today and hope to achieve on the basis of humanity is a peace that can never be achieved because humanity is sinful. But on this day when the sinless Son of God reigns there will indeed be peace and enforced peace.
And then His reign will be Davidic. It is the throne of David that He will sit upon in fulfillment of the prophecies of 2 Samuel 7. He will reign over the people of God, the Jews, and then over the world through them. It will be a righteous reign. It will be established with justice and righteousness. There will be no inequities, no unfairness in that day. But everything will be carried out to the nth degree of the law. It will be an eternal reign because it says that there will be no end to it.
It further says it will be from then on and forevermore. Though it will last for a thousand years upon the earth, the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ goes beyond that into eternity to come. It is an everlasting kingdom. And finally it is a certain kingdom because it says the zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. Someday everyone, everyone who has ever lived will have to bow the knee and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
What a joyous privilege it is now to do that when it means salvation, when it means joy and knowing His rule and reign in the heart. My friend, just as God has fulfilled every detail of prophecy regarding the first advent of the Christ, so He will keep His promise regarding His second advent. As surely as He came the first time, He will come again.
You and I at this Christmas season need to be thinking not only of His first coming and rejoicing in that, but eagerly anticipating that day when He will come again, not quietly, submissively, humbly, but when He will come victoriously to bring to an end man's day and to establish the day of God. His promise is still good for those who need to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. For anyone who will call upon Him in faith and repentance of sin will be saved.
As surely as God has kept every other promise, He will keep that promise for you. If you have never trusted Jesus Christ, will you do that today? May I point out to those of us who have that God is in the process, is in the work, rather, of restoration. Ultimately, He is going to restore all things. Even now, He can restore your life. He can make something beautiful out of the broken pieces that may be in your hands today.
You may feel that you have ruined your life, that it cannot be reclaimed, that whatever promise there was is gone and is shattered, and you grieve. May I encourage you by saying that the Messiah is the Restorer? He is able to take those broken, shattered pieces, to put them back together again to give your life meaning and purpose and promise. Will you allow Him that privilege in your life? Jesus Christ is the King, and anyone or anything that usurps His place on the throne is an antichrist.
Let us be sure today there are no antichrists on the throne of our lives. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, we would today have you alone as King, and yet so deceitfully, so easily, do usurpers come to challenge your right to reign. I pray today that you will speak to our hearts and reveal our hearts. Let there be that in our lives which is taking your rightful place. Give us repentant hearts that will turn from that antichrist and turn to you, the true Christ.
Lord, there are some here today who have broken hearts, whose lives lie shattered at their feet, who need your touch to restore. Will you and love and grace do that? And there may be someone here, Father, who needs to be saved. I pray that we'll respond to you today in obedience as you sure needs to be, in Jesus' name. Will you sing with me? Something beautiful, something good, all my confusion he understood.
All I had to offer him was brokenness and strife, but he made something beautiful of my life. And he still can and will today. Will you take your hymnal and turn with me to 528? Amen.