The Promise of a King - Isaiah 9:6-7
Over the next five weeks, in the lead up to Christmas Eve, we’ll be pausing our study of the book of 1 Samuel and start a five week series on The Coming King. It actually fits neatly into what we’ve been looking at in 1 Samuel since it primarily deals with the establishment of the monarchy in Israel, because of course, the monarchy finds its ultimate fulfillment in King Jesus.
So we’ll be looking at this morning the promise of a king, next week the king’s arrival, then the king’s message, and the king’s mission, concluding on Christmas Eve with the king’s kingdom.
But this morning, we’re jumping into the middle of the book of Isaiah, and at this particular moment in Israel’s history - the kingdom was divided between the northern kingdom, Israel, and the southern kingdom, Judah. Now Isaiah was ministering in the southern kingdom of Judah under the wicked King Ahaz.
Much of the beginning of Isaiah deals with a geo-political crisis that’s brewing in the southern kingdom of Judah. The Assyrian Empire was growing stronger and becoming a greater threat to their surrounding nations. And because of the growing threat of Assyria, Israel and Aram (which is Syria) formed an alliance to resist and fight the Assyrians.
And here’s why all of that is relevant: Syria and Israel wanted Judah to join their alliance against Assyria. Isaiah’s advice to King Ahaz was don’t do it. God’s people were never supposed to form alliances with pagan nations because pagan nations would pull them away from God. So, Ahaz needed to stand firm and trust that the Lord would ultimately protect him.
In the midst of this concern over the Assyrian threat God gave two words of comfort through Isaiah. The first is in 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.”
The other passage is the one we just read from Isaiah 9:6-7. In many ways, Isaiah 9:6-7 is an extension of Isaiah 7.
And of course, both of these prophecies find their fulfillment in Jesus Christ.
If you know what happens at this moment in Israel’s history, Ahaz doesn’t trust in the Lord; and instead, ironically, turns to the Assyrians for help.
Admittedly, when war drums are pounding and a prophet says, don’t trust in an army, rather, trust in a child, that’s a difficult pill to swallow. What does a child have to do with impending war?
Isaiah 9:6-7 isn’t a prophecy about a random child, it’s a promise of a righteous and eternal King who will bring peace, justice, and stability—qualities that stood in sharp contrast to the fear and instability surrounding Ahaz during his reign.
What Ahaz and most of us for that matter often forget is that the things that consume so much of our time and attention, our immediate circumstances are the least of our problems. Humanity’s primary problem is spiritual - we need salvation from our sin.
And that’s precisely what Isaiah told Ahaz. Don’t put your trust in an army, put your trust in the child of promise, Jesus Christ.
And Isaiah gives each of us reasons why we should trust in Jesus Christ: First, he's a Wonderful Counselor, second, he’s a Mighty God, third, he’s an Everlasting Father, and lastly, he’s a Prince of Peace. We learn a lot about the person, work, and character of Jesus Christ through the nicknames that Isaiah attaches to him.
King Henry the VIII is famous for demanding the Pope to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon because he wanted to marry Anne Boleyn, which ultimately led to him rejecting the authority of the Roman Catholic Church and establishing the Anglican church. But if you remember one of the major problems King Henry had with Catherine of Aragon was that she was unable to bear him a son.
But in King Henry’s third marriage to Jane Seymour, (not to be confused with the actress from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman) he finally had a legitimate heir to the throne, Prince Edward.
Here’s why I bring this up: when Prince Edward was born, there was national celebration over this long awaited child. Bonfires were lit, church bells rang out, and feasts were held across the nation. Because an heir to the throne symbolized political and national stability.
Which is what Isaiah is telling Ahaz when he says, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” A special child from God is coming who will secure eternal stability.
When Isaiah says that a child is born, he’s emphasizing the humanity of this future, messianic, eternal king. Because he’s going to be born just like everyone else and he’s going to come from the royal line of David.
This child of promise was not only going to be born, but he’s going to be given. This messianic king wasn’t born by random chance - he was given.
Given suggests that this child has divine origins and God is gifting him to his people. The child of promise is going to be fully God and fully man. Is any of this sounding familiar?
It’s the exact point that is made in the Nicene Creed:
“And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man…”
Isaiah is emphasizing this short prophetic word that the Messiah will be both fully God and fully man and only one person fits that description: Jesus Christ.
But Isaiah doesn’t stop there: He explains what Jesus will be like by giving him four titles: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Wonderful Counselor
The word counselor has been co-opted. Because when I think of the word counselor, I think of a person sitting in a chair with a notepad asking you questions as you’re stretched out on a couch relaying to him your life story.
Isn’t that the typical conception of a counselor? I can’t be the only person that thinks that.
And so when we hear that Jesus is a “Wonderful Counselor” we may be led to believe that Isaiah is saying, Jesus is going to be the most attentive, sympathetic person who will help you better manage your emotions, after all, he’s a wonderful counselor.
You have to be careful not to read the Bible and constantly ask yourself what’s in it for me? Isn’t that a temptation? Rather you have to read the Scriptures in order to better understand who God is. But here’s the irony in that: if you read the Scriptures in order to better understand who God is, then you will get something out of it.
‘Wonderful Counselor’ isn’t a reference to the fact that Jesus is going to be the best emotional support friend you’ve ever had, rather, Wonderful Counselor is a reference to Jesus’ divine teaching, instruction, direction, and guidance.
As I understand it, most modern day counselors and therapists generally don’t give you direct advice and guidance on how you should live your life, but that’s exactly what Jesus Christ does.
Think about the Sermon on the Mount from Matthew 5-7.
Jesus teaches on anger, lust, divorce, oaths, retaliation, loving your enemies, giving to the needy, prayer, fasting, anxiety. In other words, Jesus gives instructions for how to live your life.
But do you remember the response of the people when he finished the Sermon on the Mount? We’re told,
“And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”
In fact, that’s a running theme throughout the gospels! Jesus’ teaching amazed the people. It happened when he was a child in the temple. It happened when he famously said, “render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.”
His teaching left everyone astonished, but if Jesus simply said wise things, then we’d have to put him in the same category as Buddha, or Confucius, or Gandhi.
But Jesus was far more than just another wise teacher, because he taught on something much more important: how to have your sins wiped away and inherit eternal life.
Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”
Or consider what Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.”
The title of “Wonderful Counselor” can only be applied to Jesus Christ because his teaching wasn’t about managing the pain you experience in life. His teaching dealt with how to be made right with the living God.
So much medical treatment revolves around addressing symptoms. Take this pill for x, that pill for y, and another pill for z. They’ll load you up on medications when you need to lose weight or something along those lines. They’ll treat symptoms without addressing the disease.
The same is true for worldly advice or counsel. You can spend the rest of your life reading online articles about improving your self-esteem, or improving your relationships, or coping with things that are out of your control. But those things are treating symptoms and not the foundational disease.
Your disease is that you’re an imperfect, flawed sinner, who cannot stand before God on your own merit.
In the midst of the sin and confusion that Jesus gives you and me the treatment for the disease of sin, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
Jesus is a “Wonderful Counselor” because he teaches you and me that we must trust in him to receive eternal life.
Mighty God
The second title Isaiah applies to Jesus is “Mighty God.” Again, Jesus is going to be born naturally, but at the same time he’s going to be “Mighty God.” In other words, this child will also be God in the flesh, which is quite the shocking claim, right?
One of the more interesting side notes of early Christianity is that many assumed Jesus’ divinity and doubted his humanity. Many thought he was fully God but not fully man. Isn’t that interesting? In case you’re wondering, the ancient heresy that affirms the divinity of Christ but denies his humanity is called Docetism.
Today, I think most people are willing to admit that Jesus was a historical person. But now, the debate over Jesus is whether or not he was truly divine.
The incarnation, the teaching that Jesus is both fully God and fully man has also been a source of controversy.
And yet, so much of Jesus’ earthly ministry demonstrated his divine nature. Not only did Jesus claim to be God, he also performed many miracles, and then of course, his resurrection and ascension further prove his divinity as well.
But ‘Mighty God’ is more than a title isn’t it? Much in the same way ‘Wonderful Counselor’ points us to the gospel, ‘Mighty God’ points us to his ability to save. After all, a man can’t save. He has no power. The Scriptures attest to Jesus’ and Jesus’ alone as the only one who has the power to save.
Peter makes this point in Acts 4, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Jesus is ‘Mighty God’ and because he and he alone has the power and authority to save sinners like you and me.
Everlasting Father
The third title that Isaiah gives Jesus is admittedly a little trickier because if you know anything about the Trinity, then you know that Jesus is the second person in the Trinity: he’s the Son, which is distinct from the first person of the Trinity: the Father.
It might seem that Isaiah needs someone to refresh him on the Trinity, right? Because Jesus is not the Father and the Father is not Jesus.
But of course, Isaiah isn’t improperly applying the name of the first person of the Trinity to Jesus.
Rather, Isaiah is using ‘Everlasting Father’ to help us better understand the characteristics and role of Jesus Christ. ‘Everlasting Father’ is a title that draws a comparison between Jesus’ role as our Messianic Savior King and a man’s role as a father.
Think about all the good characteristics of an earthly father. A good father is a provider and protector of his children. He’s going to take care of them and keep them safe.
Which is really the point of Jesus’ whole Good Shepherd metaphor isn’t it? Isn’t Jesus saying that he provides and protects his people when he says, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”
Jesus provides and protects like an earthly father, but unlike your father who will one day no longer be with you, Jesus will be with you forever. He’s our ‘Everlasting Father.’
Whenever you think about fatherhood and families in general, there are some that seem to have it all. They want you to believe that they stepped right out of a Norman Rockwell painting. But the reality is, every family is flawed. Every family at some point feels the effects of sin.
Which stands in stark contrast to the family of God. Because the family of God is marked by utter holiness, complete righteousness, and total perfection in every way - none of us belong in a family like that.
We’re sinners and our sin has alienated us from God. We’re spiritual orphans.
And so, Jesus being described as our “Everlasting Father” points us to how God cleanses sin and adopts us into his family as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ.
John tells us exactly how we’re adopted in John 1:12. He says, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…”
You are adopted into God’s family and become one of his children through faith in Jesus Christ.
Everlasting Father isn’t Trinitarian language it’s familial language and it helps us better understand how Jesus Christ brings us into the family of God.
Prince of Peace
So Jesus is our Wonderful Counselor, he’s Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and he’s our Prince of Peace.
We don’t often like to think that there is hostility between you and God. But the reality is, sin creates a barrier, a separation, in fact, it makes you an enemy of God. That’s because God is utter holiness and righteousness. Sinful people cannot stand in his presence.
Isaiah makes this point when he says, “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.”
You and I need peace with God. I was recently reminded of the 1914 Christmas Truce.
During World War I, the Western Front had devolved into trench warfare. And as many of you know, trench warfare was gruesome, terrible fighting. Everyone was longing for a momentary relief from the horrors of war and on Christmas Eve in 1914, the German soldiers began singing “Silent Night,” which could be heard by British soldiers in nearby trenches.
Soon the British soldiers began to sing Christmas carols too. Which eventually led both Germans and British soldiers to call out “Merry Christmas” to one another. Slowly heads began to poke out of the trenches which then gave way to several hours of peace.
At various places along the Western Front, during this moment of peace, German and British troops exchanged gifts, allowed one another to collect their dead from no man’s land, and they even played a soccer game.
I bring that story up because I think it illustrates our general conception of peace. Peace is a momentary break from war. Peace is a temporary ceasefire.
But when Isaiah calls Jesus our Prince of Peace, he’s not saying that Jesus will bring a temporary ceasefire.
When Isaiah says that Jesus is the Prince of Peace he’s saying that he will end all hostilities between man and God. Jesus brings us spiritual peace with God and one day he’ll even bring total and complete peace here on earth.
And that peace will be so pure and so beautiful that “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat…” In other words, Jesus will bring such tranquility, such calmness and comfort that even predators will be at peace with their natural prey.
This is exactly the sort of peace that Isaiah is referring to in verse 7:
“Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”
Jesus will not only give us peace with God but he will one day give us peace on earth too. Human history is like a flower preparing to bloom. Obviously it hasn’t bloomed yet but it will when Jesus comes again. And when comes again wrongs will be made right, accounts will be settled, and he’ll establish the new heavens and new earth and make everything perfect.
I don’t care how much money you’ve made, how healthy your marriage is, or how good the political environment is; at the end of the day, we’ve all looked around and said to ourselves, ‘this cannot be as good as it gets!’ There must be something more!
Scripture tells us that no matter how good things are here on earth, we’ll always know in our hearts that there is something better.
And that’s the message Isaiah wanted Ahaz to receive and that’s the message you and I must receive this morning: no matter our circumstances, no matter what’s going on in the world, Jesus Christ shines forth as a brilliant ray of hope.
Are you confused and unsure where to turn? You have a Wonderful Counselor. Are you weighed down carrying the burden of your sin? You have a Mighty God. Do you feel despondent and rejected? You have an Everlasting Father. Do you sense the hostility between you and God because of your sin? You have a Prince of Peace.
The promise of a king is a promise of hope.
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Amen. Let’s pray together.
