Thank you, Roxanne, for that thoughtful song. There's probably no aspect of scripture that stirs up more interest and curiosity in the part of people than that of prophecy. We are fascinated by having some insight into the future. I guess that's one reason why astrology and other occult practices are making a strong comeback here in the mid-'90s. People are seeking to uncover some secrets about the future, and by that, I think, hope to manipulate the future to their own advantage.
I was reading one of our local high school student newspapers recently, and there was a whole column given for astrological information for the students in the newspaper. Astrology, however, is a lie. It is a deception, as are all of the occult practices that seek to expose the future to us. God forbids us to be involved in that kind of prophecy. It leads to demonic control. It leads to manipulation. It leads to darkness, not to light about the future.
The mysterious things, the things of the future, belong to the Lord our God. And God has not been pleased to tell us everything about the future, but God has included in His word some prophetic truths. We're going to look today at some truths of prophecy regarding the gift of God. In Isaiah chapter 9, I invite you to turn there with me, verses 6 and 7. Verses 6 and 7 of Isaiah 9, where we read, for to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. A good deal of prophetic scripture focuses on the coming of Jesus Christ, the Savior that God promised to send to the human race.
Last week, we looked at that promise in Genesis 3, 15, where God began to weave for us the truths about the Redeemer, who would come to bring judgment to the serpent, that is to Satan, and to the works of darkness, and to bring redemption to the human race. God's gift to humanity is Jesus Christ, his Son. His coming is foretold by the prophets, and none of the prophets stands above Isaiah, who ministered in Judah and to Israel in the seventh century BC.
We see the hint here in this text that Messiah will be more than a man. You see, in this concept, a child is born, a son is given. There is at least the insinuation, there is the hint that Messiah is more than a mere man, that he is God himself. Now, there are four truths about this God-man Messiah that we want to look at in terms of prophecy in Isaiah chapter 9. The first truth is that he will be born. He will be born. For to us, a child is born. Why is it that he will be born?
The story is told about a Christian who was one day walking down the street, and in front of him, he saw some grain that someone had thrown out. And around the grain were some birds that had come to eat, little sparrows. He was fascinated as he watched them eat the grain, and he stopped to watch. He took a step toward them, and they looked up at him, but did not feel threatened at that point. And so he watched some more.
And then he took another step, at which they looked up again, and some of the ones near him began to back away as they kept eating. He then took another step toward them, and by this time, they all got spooked and flew away. And he thought to himself, now, why did they fly? And he realized it was because of his size. He was rather imposing. He thought to himself, how is it that I could get down there with those birds?
And he concluded the only way that he could do it was to become a sparrow and fly down there alongside of them to eat that grain. How is it that God is going to reveal Himself to us in all of His holiness? He is so different than we are. How can the God of the universe reveal Himself to us without frightening us? The answer is that He must be born. He must become a man. He could not be born again. He must become a man. He could have come in other ways.
He appeared as an angel in the Old Testament. The angel of the Lord was the Lord Himself appearing in human form. That is one of the titles given to Messiah before He was born, the angel of the Lord. And so the Lord appeared to Abram, for example, as a man, but it was the angel of the Lord. It was God Himself who came. God might have taken control of another human person and simply adopted Himself into the life and the personality of that person.
Or He might have directly created a body for Himself like He did Adam. After all, why couldn't He simply get down into the clay and form another body and inhabit the body Himself? Well, the answer to those possibilities is that birth was absolutely necessary. It was essential for the Messiah to be fully human, to be flesh and blood, to be the descendant of Adam. Not only did He have to bear the likeness of Adam, but He had to come. He had to come as the seed of the woman, as we saw last week.
It was essential for Him to be born, but there's a problem. Most of you would realize that that problem is that humanity is sinful. All of the descendants of Adam are tainted with sin. How is it then that the Holy Messiah could come into the human race, actually be born as a man? Well, the answer that God miraculously provided is the virgin birth of Jesus Christ.
And it is Isaiah who gives us the first word about this just back a page or two in your Bible in chapter 7, where in verse 14, Isaiah speaking to King Ahaz about a situation that they were involved in says this, Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son and will call him Emmanuel. Now in that day Ahaz was an unbelieving king. He had a hard time accepting the promises of God. And so Isaiah says, God's going to give you a sign Ahaz.
The virgin is going to conceive and bear a son. I believe the best way to understand this is that there was a woman who was a virgin at that point in that day, who then was married probably to Isaiah, became his wife. She became pregnant, bore a son, and that son was a sign to Ahaz that God was with His people and was going to fulfill His promise to deliver Judah from their enemies.
But we know this, behind that promise in that day, probably a promise Isaiah didn't fully realize, there was a prophecy. And it is the Holy Spirit who tells us in Matthew chapter 1 that Isaiah 7 14 refers to the birth of Jesus Christ. Because it says that what happened in Jesus' birth was the fulfillment of Isaiah 7 14. Because Jesus did not have a human father but was conceived miraculously by the Holy Spirit. He did not inherit Adam's sin. Now there's another problem. What about Mary's sin?
I'm going to answer that in a later Sunday, not today. The Roman Catholic Church answers that one way. The Bible answers it a different way, as to how God dealt with the sinfulness of Mary in the birth of Jesus. But we'll leave that for another Sunday. The point I'm making this morning is that He had to be born. Isaiah mentions His birth. And he says to us, a son, a child will be born.
And so the angels appeared to the shepherds and said to them, get on down to Bethlehem, for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Messiah, the Lord. And truly in this one who was born and laid in that manger, we find Emmanuel, God with us. The first prophecy, the first truth that we see from Isaiah, chapter 9, is that He will be born. Why? He had to be born. He could not merely enter the world. He had to be born to identify with us.
Thus He could be our Savior, Christ the Lord. The second prophecy that we see in our text is that He will be given. Now there are those who understand these two phrases to be parallel, to be a poetic construction, and there's some truth to that. A child born, a son given. And yet it strikes me that God may be saying something different in that second phrase, that it's not merely a parallel expression that's intended to be poetic. It is that, but probably more. A child born, a son given.
Do we have any people here this morning named Benjamin? First, second name? Not a single Benjamin. I can't see any hands. Yes, there's one right here. A little hand. Thank you, sir. Does anybody call you Ben? Does anybody call you Ben? The word son right here, a son will be given, is the word in the Hebrew, Ben. There is the implication in this word, not merely of a baby, but of a son who is grown to maturity.
A child will be born, a son who has all of the privilege and all of the rights, all of the responsibilities of an adult, a son will be given. And in that word given, might there be the implication of more than a birth, but rather a gift? I believe so. And I believe that what we have here is an implication of the cross. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Ben, His son. How did He give him? At the cross.
That whoever believes in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life. Herein is love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and gave His Ben, His son, to be the propitiation for our sins. A son given. In His fascinating book, Peace Child, Don Richardson tells the story of his family as they went to Irian Jaya to reach the Salvi people.
If you've read the book, you've heard him speak, and you know that they labored for many months to try to find a way to communicate the gospel to these primitive people. And there was a major problem in that culture. The problem was that anyone who demonstrated kindness to the Salvi people was regarded with suspicion. So how do you tell them about God's kindness, God's love in giving His son for them, if kind acts are regarded with suspicion?
They prayed about that, and as you know, many of you know, God had built into that culture a key. For in that culture, all gifts, all demonstrations of kindness were regarded with suspicions except one. If a father gave his own son to the enemy, his sacrificial deeds showed that he could be trusted. Furthermore, anyone who then touched that child, who was called the Peace Child, was brought into a friendly relationship with the father who gave the son to the enemy tribe.
Do you see how wonderfully that pictures what God did for us? In giving His son to be truly the Peace Child, and all who touch Him by faith, all who are related to Him by faith, men are at peace with God. A child will be born, Messiah will be born. A son will be given, Messiah will be given. Now the third prophetic truth that Isaiah gives us is that He will rule. This born child, this given son, he says, will rule. The government will be upon His shoulders. What will He rule?
The answer is a kingdom. This is elaborated upon by Isaiah in this text. There are five insights He gives to us about this prophecy that He will rule. The first insight is the fact of it. He says the governmental authority will reside in Him. When it speaks about the government being on His shoulders, the allusion is to the monarch's robe that was tied across His shoulders and around His neck. That robe was a symbol of His power, of His authority.
And it says here regarding Messiah that the government will be on His shoulders. The royal garment will be worn by Messiah to show that He is the sovereign, that all authority is represented in Him. And then notice secondly the extent, the extent of His kingdom. It says that of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end.
Now if you just take this at face value, you might think that somehow the Republicans and Democrats have something to do with Messiah's kingdom because it says of the increase of His government, there's no end. But I assure you that that is not the case. It is talking about something other than Washington, D.C. It is talking about the extent worldwide of His kingdom. Zechariah says, the fourteenth chapter, the ninth verse, the Lord will be king over the whole earth.
Revelation 11, 15, the angel says, the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Messiah, His Christ. And He will reign forever and ever. The extent of His kingdom cannot be measured. There is no end to it as you cannot measure east and west. You cannot measure the extent of His rule. It will extend outward and outward and outward forever and forever. That's what Isaiah says. Having talked about the fact of His kingdom and its extent, he now talks about its foundation.
He says He will reign on David's throne. Last week I mentioned to you the covenant that God made with David. It's called the Davidic covenant. I think it would be good to turn there to 2 Samuel. This is back closer to Genesis, about halfway to Genesis. 2 Samuel chapter 7. God begins revealing His covenant to David in verse 8. But I think for time's sake this morning we'll just go to the last verse in this paragraph, which is verse 16.
God is speaking to David here through Nathan the prophet, but He says to David, verse 16, 2 Samuel, your house and your kingdom will endure forever before Me. When He talks about your house, He's talking about David's family, just as in England now the house of Windsor rules on the throne of the British Empire. He's talking here about the house of David. And He says your house, your family rule, and your kingdom will endure forever before Me. Your throne will be established forever.
Now there was an immediate fulfillment to some of what God says in this paragraph in Solomon who succeeded David. You don't find a forever in the life of Solomon. In the first place, his rule became corrupt, and he died a very unhappy, broken man. And the second he did die, you don't find a forever in Solomon, but you do find a forever in Jesus, the Christ. And what Isaiah says to us is that the foundation of his kingdom is David's throne.
In other words, in him will be fulfilled God's covenant to David because Jesus Christ is the Son of David according to his ancestry. Now let's go back again to Isaiah, where we find the character of this kingdom that is here prophesied. He will rule, says Isaiah. Its character can be summarized in three words that are used, peace, justice, and righteousness. Our world today likes to talk about peace, and it likes to talk about justice, but don't talk about righteousness to our world.
The problem is you can't have peace, and you can't have justice unless there's righteousness too. You see they all go together. Peace here is shalom, that familiar Hebrew greeting, shalom. It refers to health and security, to tranquility and prosperity. It means more than the absence of warfare. Peace to the Hebrew mindset means complete satisfaction in every way. The peace that will describe the kingdom of Messiah is rooted in God's character. In the book of Judges, the Lord takes a name.
He calls himself the Lord our peace. In other words, peace is rooted in God Himself. It's who God is. And the kingdom of Messiah will be an expression of God Himself on the earth. And then justice is a judicial verdict. It's a judgment. It too is rooted in God's character. Isaiah 30 verse 18 says, the Lord is a God of justice. In other words, God has the ultimate authority to decide all cases. He is the judge. He is the judge. And in that day, that will be the case for Messiah.
All justice will flow back to His throne. And then thirdly, righteousness, which refers to virtue and faithfulness. It comes from a verb that means to be straight or to be true. In the kingdom of Messiah, no law breaking will be tolerated. Righteousness too is rooted in God's character for in Jeremiah 23 verse 6, it calls God the Lord our righteousness, Jehovah-Sid-Kinu. Righteousness describes God and this kingdom will be the expression of God's rule on the earth.
So the kingdom of Messiah, the character of it is that it will conform in every respect to God's character and God's demands. How far the nations of the world are today from peace, justice, and righteousness. And there is no greater expression of the failure of man to come to any of these than the United Nations. Which has proven itself utterly bankrupt of justice and righteousness and peace around the world and most recently in Bosnia. But not so the kingdom of Messiah.
There will be justice, righteousness, and peace when He reigns. And the final insight that we have from this text is the guarantee that He will rule. Because Isaiah says the Lord's zeal will fulfill this. God has a passion for this. God is jealous for the rule of His Son. He is committed to this. God's emotion is behind the rule of Jesus Christ. God is eager to see Him reign and He will. God will see to that Himself. He will rule. He will rule.
Back again in the Gospel of Luke in the first chapter. We have an expression of similar thoughts in verses 32 and 33. These are the words of Gabriel to Mary as he announces that she will be with child. Luke 1, 32. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His Father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. His kingdom will never end.
You see the very same ideas expressed again to Mary there in the city of Nazareth as Gabriel announces the birth of Jesus Christ to her first. Now there's a final prophetic truth that we come to in Isaiah chapter 9. It is that Messiah will be named. He will be called certain names. Who is He, this Messiah? Well Isaiah says, He will be called first the wonderful counselor. Now those can be understood as two names. I'm taking them as a singular name this morning.
It means that He is the supernatural advisor who alone gives counsel as to salvation. In Him dwells the fullness of the Spirit as described in Isaiah 11 verses 1 and 2. He has never sought the advice of man. All the final authority for everything rests with the one in whom all wisdom resides as Jesus Christ. All wisdom is rooted in Him. He is the one who is mentioned in Proverbs chapter 8 as wisdom.
These foolish people who have created this goddess called Sophia as though somehow she is the female counterpart to the male Jesus Christ. What bunk. I can think of other words I can't use this morning. When it mentions wisdom in Proverbs 8, it's not some pagan goddess. It is talking about wisdom that resides in the person of Jesus Christ. Check it out in Colossians 1 and 2. The wonderful counselor. Then He is the mighty God. El-Gabor is the name.
The word El is one of those compound names for God like Emmanuel. El is God. It's the singular form of the Hebrew word Elohim. Here it is mighty God, El-Gabor, the strong and faithful God. The God who is the champion in battle. The one to whom all power is given. Isn't it amazing that this babe in Mary's lap that we heard sung about this morning, this babe in Mary's lap is the mighty God.
And that as He lies there waiting His next meal, He is at the same moment holding the whole universe together. What an amazing contrast in the person of this baby. The weakness of His humanity and yet He is the mighty God. And third, He is the everlasting Father. There are those who scratch their heads at this and they say, now wait a minute, I thought He was the Son of God. And here He is called the everlasting Father. Well in terms of His relationship to the Trinity, He is God the Son.
He is not God the Father. But in relationship to time and to His people, He here takes the name of everlasting Father. It means that He who inhabits and possesses eternity, a concept that is so far beyond us that we can only begin to grasp it. He who possesses and inhabits eternity at the same time tenderly cares for us and provides for us as His people, as does a Father for His family. He is the everlasting Father. And finally, says Isaiah, He is the Prince of Peace.
He is the ruler who will subdue all of His opposition, who will enforce peace, who will cause wars to cease. There was a couple in England a few years ago who wanted to give their daughter some way to be remembered and so they gave her 139 names. Do you remember reading about that? Her first name was Tracy and that is what everybody was going to call her, but she was Tracy, Mary, Claire, Lisa, Tammy, Samantha, Christine, Alexandria, and on it went for 139 names.
Jesus Christ has more names than that. And you know something about a name in the Bible? It has significance. I mean, that little girl is growing up with, I mean, I can't imagine being in elementary school and having to sign your name on your paper. Take her all day just to sign her name on the paper. But those names have no significance. Every name given to Jesus Christ in the Bible has significance.
We've talked about wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and His names go beyond that. Now the one thing that Isaiah was not given was the depth of this prophecy. He saw it in one dimension. What we now are able to see is that this prophecy has some time depth to it. The son would be born. About 33 years later, excuse me, the child would be born. About 33 years later the son would be given.
And now at least 2,000 years later he will rule because the rule of Messiah that is predicted here is a rule on the earth in what is called the millennial period, the thousand year reign of Jesus Christ, and He will reign as the son of David. All of these wonderful names of Jesus have such great application to us. He is the powerful, faithful one who stands for us in battle. Are you in a battle today? Remember this, if you are a Christian, the one who dwells you is the mighty God, Elgibor.
He's the champion who has won the victory. Do you have some need for provision? Are you struggling, looking for some answer? He is the everlasting Father who tenderly cares for you. He is the Prince of Peace who can right now bring peace to your heart. First, between you and God. He can cause the war to stop. You see, as sinners we are at war with God. We are hostile against God, but He is able to bring peace if we will trust in Him because of the blood of His cross.
And then He is able to bring peace in the relationships of our lives as we allow Him to be Lord. With all of these wonderful truths about Him, it's no wonder that we worship Him. There is no gift that surpasses the wonder and the worth of God's Son. Clarence McCartney preached for more than 25 years at the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Died in the late 50s. A marvelous preacher and author of 40-some books.
In one sermon he said, Shepherds with your staves and shaggy coats, move over. Wise men with your gifts, your gold, frankincense and myrrh, move over please. Wondrous star with your guiding radiance, move over and make room for me. You see at this Christmas time as we think about all of these scenes, what we need to think of is ourselves participating in faith, in worship, in giving ourselves to Him.
This last week I had the privilege again to go down to the Billy Graham Telephone Center and answer telephones during the crusade. Every time there is a crusade on television, you know there is a number that is flashed on the screen. Somebody has to be at the other end of the telephone. And all of you by the way have the opportunity to volunteer to do that. I am telling you it is a great experience. It is not intimidating. It is not threatening. It is a wonderful experience.
You don't have to be a pastor to do it. We have a number of people in our church who have been trained to do this very simple counseling. One man called in from Ohio. His name was Mike. I got a chance to talk to Mike. And Mike began to tell me that he was at his office. He had come back from dinner. His secretary was still there. They had work to do late. His secretary had the television on. And he said to her, what are you watching? She said, Billy Graham. He said, oh turn that thing off.
Well she started to do it and then a lady came on to give a testimony. I don't know who it was. I didn't remember who it was. He said, wait, wait, wait, just a minute. Let me listen to her. And whoever this lady was on Thursday night there in Ohio giving a testimony, she began to tell what God had done in her life. And it just struck Mike. Oh, he was captivated by what she said. And do you know in the five minutes or so that she shared her testimony, God radically changed his life.
Instead of being a 32-year-old single businessman who's going out for money, his whole life was revolutionized and he realized he needed a relationship with God. He took the little remote control from his secretary, put it in his desk, and locked the drawer so he wouldn't be tempted to turn the television off until the crusade was over that night. And he called in and he said, I just got to tell somebody. He said, my whole life has changed this evening by what that woman said.
We had the opportunity to review that briefly with him and then to send him some material to help him understand more thoroughly the change that God had made. You see, he received the gift. That's what Christmas is all about. It's about having your life changed to the power of Jesus Christ, coming in faith and believing Him, worshiping Him. Maybe you're a mic, maybe today you need to make that same decision. Let's pray. Are you here without Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior?
Have you ever experienced the true meaning of Christmas by receiving the gift of God that we've seen prophesied in Isaiah 9? Would you receive that gift this morning by opening your heart and saying something like this, Lord Jesus, I acknowledge that I'm a sinner. I believe that you died for my sins and rose again from the dead. I invite you to come into my heart and save me. Forgive me of my sins. You know that He'll do that.
If that is your heart's attitude today, would you just lift your hand briefly and put it down? Say, Pastor, that's my decision. That's what I need to do today. I want to receive God's gift. Is there one? Let's stand together, please, all of us, and sing with our heads bowed as we contemplate the wonder of the child being born and the son given. Let's sing again that chorus that we sang earlier. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him.
O come, let us adore Him. O come, let us adore Him. We'll praise Your name forever, Christ the Lord. Father what a marvelous gift You have given us in Your Son. As we have seen the prophecy of Isaiah, the man of old, our hearts are brought to renewed wonder how You prepared the way and made everything perfect for the coming of Jesus. We have just sung that we will praise His name forever. We thank You that in Him we have eternal life.
We thank You that with Him too we will reign forever and ever. That will surely be a service of praise for all that You have done for us, our Lord. Now as we go from here, Father, we pray that You will use us and You'll help us to share this gift with others. Bring us back this evening. Make it a wonderful evening of praise to Your name as we adore and worship You. Amen. God bless you.