The 18th Day of Advent
December 14, 2022
For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
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 it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this (Isaiah 9.6-7).
Incredible truths.
The child and son spoken of in these verses is the same child and son Isaiah spoke of in 7.14, Immanuel. Note the following realities of these straightforward verses.
The government of the world will rest on His shoulders. He will rule the world on the throne of David. No elections. No primaries. No debates. No military coups. It will be forever. Forever and ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this. It is God’s plan that the universe will be ruled through the Person of His only begotten Son. Hallelujah!
No wonder George Frederick Handel wrote the words he wrote in his “Messiah.” Although Handel wrote his text from Revelation 19.6, 11-16, he could have written them from Isaiah 9.6,7.
For the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
For the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
The kingdom of this world Is become the kingdom of our Lord, And of His Christ, and of His Christ; And He shall reign for ever and ever, For ever and ever, forever and ever,
King of kings, and Lord of lords, King of kings, and Lord of lords,| And Lord of lords, And He shall reign, And He shall reign forever and ever, King of kings, forever and ever, And Lord of lords, Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
And He shall reign forever and ever, King of kings! and Lord of lords! And He shall reign forever and ever, King of kings! and Lord of lords! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!
His name will be called –
Wonderful Counselor – He will be the greatest counselor and encourager ever. He will not need to learn wisdom to give counsel for He Himself is wisdom. He will already know everything there will be to know about those He counsels for He is omniscient, and He knows everything wisely. The apostle Paul reminds us of this truth; “to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever. Amen” (Romans 16.27). He only authors eternal wisdom.
Mighty God – He is the sovereign King of the universe. He works everything according to counsel of His will (Ephesians 1.11). There will be no war that He will not win. There will be no enemy that could withstand His offensive. The gates of hell cannot and will never prevail against Him (Matthew 16.18).
Eternal Father – This newborn child and son will love us with an everlasting love. He will be and is a perfect eternal Father for us. Not one of us has ever had a perfect father, but we now have a perfect father through our heavenly Father. I once preached on this verse, and as I preached this concept of our perfect Father, one of my congregants grew angry and rejected the entire message because they had had a father who had abused them. While I understood and grieved their pain, they missed the entire point of Isaiah 9.6 because they saw God only thought the hurt, loss, and anger of their own experience.
Prince of Peace - No one has ever seen a Prince of Peace like this child. He Himself is our peace, He will be our peace, and He brings us peace. “We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5.1). “For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall” (Ephesians 2.14). This was the message of peace the angels heralded in Luke 2.14.
There is no problem in our lives nor in our world that could and would not be solved if we would only embrace, yield to, and be subject to Immanuel, God with us. He is the One Isaiah spoke of in his prophecies. May He be the One we speak of and live for in this Christmas season and in every day of our lives.
This is the One born in the manger!
This is the sovereign Ruler today (Psalm 103.19)!
And this Ruler will return in His second Advent to rule this world once again!
We ought to be celebrating His second Advent right along with our celebration of His first Advent!
While we anticipate and celebrate His rule, we work faithfully side by side in a world that desperately needs help. In a world plagued with Covid, anger, political acrimony, despair, and dissolution, with deep confidence we proclaim the good news of Jesus who alone is the truth and love. We encourage and lift up those who are broken and alone. This is Christmas. Just as Jesus entered the broken world of Judea, we enter our own broken world in His name for His glory.
Happy 18th day of Advent!