Naylor Community Christian Church
I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Isaiah 9:6-7
Isaiah
9:6 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.
7
Of the greatness 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.
-- on Saturday, June 23, 2018, a
soccer coach led his 12 team members, aged 11 to 16, into a cave complex in
Thailand to celebrate one of the boy’s birthday -- it was to be a joyous event
-- a time when the team would band together to explore the cave system that
underlies their region of Thailand
-- but disaster occurred when heavy
monsoon flooding unexpectedly flooded the passages of the cave, trapping them
deep underground with no light, little food, and little hope -- for days, the
world watched with growing despair as rescue teams tried unsuccessfully to
locate the boys and their coach -- everyone began to lose hope as they realized
it had been too long -- the boys and their coach were surely dead
-- however, ten days later, on July
2nd, a British rescue diver located the team deep within the cave structure --
all 12 team members and their coach were alive -- they were hungry -- they were
tired -- they were scared -- but they were alive
-- the question now was how to
rescue them with the flood waters filling the cave and more waters entering
every day, producing a strong current that tested even the strength of the most
seasoned divers -- and, to make matters worse, oxygen levels in the cave had
dropped to just 15% -- a few more days and they all would not have enough air
to breathe -- no one knew how to get the team through the flooded, narrow
channels and out to safety
-- for the next week, the world
watched in breathless anxiety as effort after effort -- plan after plan -- was
tried and failed -- finally, in desperation, someone came up with the idea to
have the divers escort the boys out one-by-one with their own SCUBA equipment
-- with each boy being led by a rescue diver through the passageway and out of the
darkness into safety
-- on July 8th, the world cheered as
the first four boys were successfully rescued from the cave and reunited with
their waiting families -- the next day, four more boys were brought out -- and,
then finally, on July 10th, the remaining team members and their coach were
successfully rescued1, 2
-- the only word the news
broadcasters could use as they relayed to us the story of this daring and
improbable rescue was “miracle” -- “it was a miracle,” they said, over and over
again, as the boys rejoiced that they were out of the darkness and back in the
light again
-- today is the last Sunday in our
Advent Season -- as you remember, Advent is the period the church recognizes as
a time of waiting -- as a season of hope for a people who are walking in
darkness longing for the Light -- it is the time in the church when we prepare
our hearts and our souls for the coming of the Messiah
-- first, His coming at Christmas as the
baby born in a manger -- then His coming in our hearts in salvation and with
the forgiveness of sins -- and finally, His return as our Lord and King when He
comes to establish His throne in Jerusalem and reign over us forever
-- Advent is a season when we look
for the Light that is to come and we rejoice in the hope we have in Christ
-- this morning, we are going to conclude
our Advent season by looking at Isaiah 9:6-7, where Isaiah proclaims the coming
of the Light of the World -- the hope of Israel realized through the return of
the King
II. Scripture Lesson (Isaiah 9:6-7)
-- if you would, look back with me
again at Isaiah 9, beginning in verse 6a
Isaiah
9:6a For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his
shoulders.
-- Isaiah opens this verse with the
word, “for” -- this is a remarkable word -- all too often, we pass right over
words such as these in our scriptures, but we need to see them -- we need to
spend time with them -- we need to dwell on them -- because they explain the
will and the purpose of our God
-- in this case, Isaiah has been
announcing a coming transition on earth -- a time of hope and life and peace --
a time when a light will shine in the darkness to dispel it from the earth and
from the souls of men -- a time when war is ended and is known no more -- a
time when peace shall reign
-- it will be a time like that of
Eden -- when Adam and Eve were in perfect harmony in their relationship with
the Father and there was no darkness, no war, no violence, no sin
-- Isaiah cries out in these verses
of the glorious hope of this time -- and the unwritten question from the
Israelites is “How? How will this come
to pass?”
-- and Isaiah responds, “it will
come to pass…for…”
-- it will come to pass for
-- because -- a child is born to us -- a Son is given -- and that
will make all the difference -- because of the coming Messiah, all will be made
right again -- a new light will dawn -- and we will no longer see darkness or
war or crime or violence or sin in our lives
-- with this little preposition,
Isaiah announces the culmination of the Promise and all the prophecies of the
Messiah throughout scripture -- Christmas has come, and the world will never be
the same again
-- in speaking of the Christ Child,
Isaiah tells us that the Messiah will be a child born into the lineage of the
Jews -- born to “us” -- and being born makes it clear that this is referring to
the incarnation of God Himself -- God with Us -- Emmanuel
-- this child is not a created
angel, as some religions like to claim -- nor is He simply the naturally born
son of humans, filled with the divine Spirit -- no, this is the Son of God --
born of a virgin -- born to become one of us while still never ceasing to be
God -- fully God and fully man
-- the Son was given to us -- as it
says in John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that He gave us His only
Son…” -- Jesus was a gift -- an act of grace from the Father to a people living
in darkness and sin with no way out
-- this time of the year, we need to
remember who this baby in the manger is -- He is not just the child of
Christmas -- He is God Almighty -- the Son of God -- who chose to set aside His
deity and become one of us so that He might live with us and die for us on the
cross of Calvary as an atonement for our sins
-- I like the way Greg Laurie put
it: “He left His Heavenly home so we could have a Heavenly home. He left His
home in Heaven to make a home in our hearts. He was born so we could be born
again.”
-- the New Testament expounds on
what Jesus did when He came to earth on that first Christmas morning -- let me
read Philippians 2:5-11 for you
Philippians
2:5-11
New
International Version
5
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God
something to be used to his own advantage;
7
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
9
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every
name,
10
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
11
and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.
-- Paul makes it clear here --
Jesus was not a created being -- He was not a normal man -- the baby in the
manger was the God-man -- and Paul tells us here that Jesus, being in very
nature God, humbled Himself and came to earth, taking the very nature of a
servant and being made in human likeness
-- As C. S. Lewis put it in Mere
Christianity: “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of
God.”
-- so, the child that was born --
the Son that was given -- was God incarnate -- God in the flesh -- Christ, the
Messiah -- the Savior of the world
-- Isaiah continues in his
proclamation of the coming of the Messiah in the first part of verse 6 by
saying that “the government will be on His shoulders”
-- in other words, the government will rest
on His shoulders -- this is a reference to the coming reign of Christ in the
millennium -- when He shall physically reign from Jerusalem for 1000 years
prior to the coming of the new earth and the new heaven
-- Isaiah tells us that in the first
Advent, Jesus comes as the child born and laid in a manger -- the Son who was
given -- but when He comes again, He will come as the Lord of Lords and King of
Kings
-- look back at the second part of
verse 6
Isaiah
9:6b And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
-- one of the things that couples do
when they have a baby is try to come up with the perfect name -- to choose what
they’re going to call their child -- the name that will follow them for their
whole lives
-- sometimes, we give our children a family
name -- you see a lot of sons named after their fathers or grandfathers -- and
you’ll see a lot of little girls named after their mothers or grandmothers -- I’ve
noticed a trend of late where people are naming their children based on the surname
of the family, as a way to commemorate the maternal side of our family trees
-- sometimes we name our children
based on the sound -- on what names just naturally come together and just sound
good with our surname -- you don’t want a first name and a last name that is
going to cause the child difficulty or confusion later on in life -- for
instance, there was a football player at the University of Arkansas called
Bumper Pool -- and you’ve got a kid at Alabama named Kool-Aid McKinstry -- and
you just have to ask, “what was going through their parent’s minds?”
-- sometimes we name our children
based on what is currently popular in today’s culture -- find a
culture-defining movie or tv show and you’re going to have a plethora of
children named after the characters or the actors or popular singers -- because
of the movies Frozen and Barbie, there’s a bunch of kids in America right now
named Claire and Elsa and Ken
-- but the thing about naming our
children as we do, their names rarely reflect who that child is or who that
child will become -- that’s why it’s so common in the Bible to see people’s
names change as God works in their life to change who they are and what they
are to do
-- so, Abram becomes Abraham -- the
father of many nations -- Jacob becomes Israel -- he who had struggled with God
-- and Simon becomes Peter -- the rock upon which the church will be built
-- in this case, though, the
incarnate child will be called by names that describe the character and nature
and purpose of the Messiah -- wonderful counselor -- mighty God -- Everlasting
Father -- Prince of Peace
-- I want us to look at these
separately
-- first, “wonderful counselor” --
some translations divide this into two terms, changing the meaning to “He will
be called wonderful and He will be called counselor” rather than one title
alone, “Wonderful Counselor” -- you hear that interpretation in Handel’s
Messiah in the song, “For unto Us a Child is Born”
-- regardless, the meaning remains
the same, whether it is one title or two
-- wonderful means extraordinarily
good or great -- excellent -- admirable -- impressive -- it reminds us of how
we are to see the name of Jesus -- of how we are to react when we hear His name
-- when is the last time you heard
the name of Jesus and trembled in its presence? -- when is the last time you
stopped and reflected on just how wonderful Jesus is?
-- I like what Adrian Rogers wrote
about this -- he said, "Jesus is wonderful. Everything about Him is
wonderful: His birth is wonderful -- His life is wonderful -- His works are
wonderful; His words are wonderful -- His death is wonderful -- His
resurrection is wonderful -- His ascension is wonderful -- His intercession for
us is wonderful -- His coming again is wonderful.
“I heard of a preacher who was on a
train, and he noticed a man looking out the window. And, as they went past the
landscape—and it was beautiful landscape— [the] man kept saying,
“Wonderful—wonderful.”
“He’d pause and look for a while,
wipe the tears from his eyes, and would say, “Wonderful.” -- The preacher’s
curiosity was aroused, and he went over and sat by this man. -- And, he said,
“I’ve never seen someone enjoy a train ride quite so much. Can you tell me why
it is so wonderful?”
“He said, “Sir, you don’t
understand. -- I’ve just had surgery -- I have been without sight for years and
years and years and years; and now, I am seeing things that I’d long since
forgotten -- I’d forgotten how blue the sky was -- how green the grass was --
how beautiful the trees -- how bright the flowers.” He said, “It’s
wonderful—it’s wonderful.”
-- I pray that this is the way we
react whenever we hear the name of Jesus -- whenever we realize His presence in
our lives -- whenever we see His hand on us -- wonderful, wonderful, wonderful
-- the text calls Him, “wonderful counselor”
-- in English, a counselor is someone who gives advice to us from their great
wisdom -- who stands with us in court -- and who looks over those in their
care, like a summer camp counselor with their kids
-- as our wonderful counselor, the
Messiah is our source of wisdom -- He speaks the words of God into our hearts
and our souls -- He enlightens our understanding -- He gives meaning in a
meaningless world
-- He stands with us as our defender
and champion -- He carried our sins to the cross to declare us free and
innocent before the Father -- and He intercedes for us at the right hand of God
Himself
-- He is our Great Shepherd -- the
One who watches over us -- the One who keeps us in His hand and guards our life
and keeps us from all harm -- not necessarily physical harm, but eternal harm
-- harm to our spirits
-- Jesus is the wisdom and the Word
of God made flesh -- He counsels us on the way we should go -- He leads us and
directs our path, so that we might live our lives in all holiness and
righteousness -- and He continues to dwell in us through His Holy Spirit --
guiding and guarding and protecting us throughout our days
-- next we see the Son who will be
given described as Mighty God and Everlasting Father -- a reminder again that
the Messiah is not just a man -- not just an earthly king -- but fully man and
fully God -- part of the blessed trinity
-- when Isaiah is describing the
Messiah as the Everlasting Father, we need to understand that Isaiah does not
mean that Jesus is the Father -- rather, this is a reference to the role of the
Messiah as the author of our salvation and the protector of the faith -- Isaiah
described Him as our everlasting father because he won for us eternity on the
cross by paying the penalty for our sins and defeating sin and death forever --
in this sense, He is our father because He is the author and perfecter of our
faith and cares for us as a father cares for his children and provides for our
needs
-- Mighty means having or showing
great strength, force, or intensity -- it means being powerful or strong --
possessing impressive power
-- this is no ordinary child who
will be born on Christmas morning -- this is the mighty God who will bring
light and life to this world and conquer sin and death once and for all
-- it’s obvious here that Isaiah is
proclaiming to the Jews that the long-awaited Messiah will be God Himself
wrapped in human flesh -- God incarnate -- God with us
-- Jesus is our Mighty God -- through
Him we have all the power we need to live the Christian life -- He indwells us
as the Holy Spirit -- He fills us with His presence and His power and His provision
-- as our Mighty God, He stands for us and strengthens us in our weakness
-- He is our Everlasting Father -- as
Jesus said in John 10:30, “I and the Father are one” and in John 8:58, “Truly,
truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am”-- Jesus is the Great I Am -- He
is God incarnate -- He is God with us -- and He will return to be our King and
our Savior and our Lord for all eternity
-- the adjective “Everlasting” refers to
our future -- it points to the victory that was won by Jesus on the cross of
Calvary and evidenced by the empty grave -- through Christ, we have everlasting
life with Him -- through Christ, our eternity is secure -- through Christ, our
salvation is safe
-- I’ve shared with you before that
one of my favorite Christmas songs of all time is “Mary, Did You Know?”,
written by Mark Lowrey -- more than any other Christmas song we usually hear
this time of the year, “Mary, Did You Know” captures this proclamation of
Isaiah so wonderfully in its last verse:
“Mary, did you know that your baby boy is
Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know that your baby boy
would one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is
Heaven's perfect Lamb?
That sleeping child you're holding is the
great I am”
-- for the Messiah is all of those things
-- Ruler -- Lamb -- King of Kings -- Lord of Lords
--
the Great I Am
-- finally, we see the Messiah
prophesied as the Prince of Peace -- the One who will finally bring lasting and
eternal peace to this world
-- peace is something that all of us
long for -- it is what we have been looking for since the fall in the garden of
Eden -- but true peace cannot be found in this world -- it cannot be found in
any of the places the people are looking for -- true peace is found only in the
person of Jesus
-- that’s because peace is not a
precept but a Person -- the Messiah is our peace because He is the Prince of
Peace
-- when the Bible speaks of peace,
it doesn’t speak of it the way we normally do -- when we speak of peace, we
recognize it as the absence of conflict -- the absence of war -- in other
words, peace is what we experience when war and conflict and hostilities cease
-- but, the Bible realizes peace as
not the absence of something, but the presence of God permeating all -- the
Hebrew word for peace is Shalom -- it is defined in the positive, because it
not only erases war and hostility, but it brings with it serenity and harmony
and restoration -- it makes all things right -- it restores what once was back
to God’s original plan
-- Shalom results in several
different expressions of peace in our lives and in this world
-- the first is peace among men --
the traditional definition of peace as we understand it -- the absence of war
and hostility
-- the second type of peace is peace
from God -- that internal feeling of comfort and support that lets you survive
daily in the chaos and the struggles of life
-- the third type of peace is peace
with God -- this is the peace of
Christmas -- this is the peace of the cross -- this is the peace that only
Jesus can bring -- this is the peace that Isaiah is talking about in this
passage
-- J.I. Packer wrote, “The Christmas
message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity—hope of pardon -- hope of
peace with God -- hope of glory" -- all because of Jesus -- all because
God didn't give up on us, but sent His only Son in exchange for peace with us
-- In Chapter 2 of the Gospel of
Luke, we read that after Jesus was born, angels appeared to shepherds who were
there in the fields outside of Jerusalem and proclaimed to them the birth of a
Savior -- the birth of the Messiah -- and promised peace and good will to them
from the Father above -- they promised peace would come through Jesus
-- it is this promise of peace
through Jesus that leads Isaiah to proclaim Him as Prince of Peace
-- verse 7
Isaiah
9:7 Of the greatness 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.
-- in verse 6, Isaiah’s prophecy
began with a child -- here in verse 7 it concludes with a King -- the baby who
was born in the manger -- the Christmas Child who died on the cross for our
sins and rose from the dead on the third day and ascended to the Father in
Heaven will return again -- this time as King of King and Lord of Lords
-- His kingdom will be greater than
any kingdom ever before known -- its greatness will continue to increase as
God’s grace and mercy continue to be poured out on us for eternity -- and it
will be an eternal and everlasting kingdom -- a kingdom with no end
-- when Isaiah says that the Messiah
will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, it is a prophecy that the
Messiah will come from the house and line of David -- God made a covenant with
David that said a descendant of David would sit upon the throne of Israel and
reign in righteousness forever -- that is the same thing that Isaiah is
prophesying here
-- it also means that the kingdom of
the Messiah will be based in Jerusalem and will be established with justice and
righteousness -- we’ve all seen how power corrupts people and how governments
tend to favor their supporters over others -- that will not be true in the
kingdom of the Messiah -- here true justice will be known by all and
righteousness and holiness will reign from the throne
-- Isaiah says that the zeal of the
Lord will accomplish this -- zeal means intense fervor, passion, and emotion --
to have zeal means that you have an interest or devotion in pursuing something
-- in this case, Isaiah is saying
that the Lord desires to establish His throne on earth -- that He desires to be
with us as our God and our King -- that He desires that His will would be done
and that peace and righteousness and holiness would be known among all those in
His kingdom
-- the time is coming, the Bible
says, when Jesus will return and we will know Jesus as the King on His throne
and finally experience true and lasting peace in our lives forever
III. Closing
-- Years ago, there was an ad in the
New York Times that said, "The meaning of Christmas is that love will
triumph and that we will be able to put together a world of unity and
peace." -- In other words, the ad proclaimed that since we have the light
within us, we are the ones who can dispel the darkness of the world -- and if
we work together, we can create a world of unity and peace and overcome
poverty, injustice, violence, and evil
-- we live in a time when the term,
“Fake News,” is commonplace -- know this -- that ad was fake news -- it wasn’t
true, because we cannot do what the ad proclaims -- it is impossible for us as
humans to come together to create a world of unity and peace -- that is not
what Christmas is about -- that is not what Advent teaches
-- no, the only One who can create a
world of unity and peace is the One who was born in the manger on Christmas
morning -- the One who went to the cross to pay the penalty for our sins and
who rose from the dead on the third day -- the One who will return again as
King of Kings and Lord of Lords
-- it is then that we will realize a
world of unity and peace -- it is then that we will know what it means to live
in righteousness and holiness and justice for all eternity
-- this is the hope of Advent --
this is the Light of Christmas that is promised to us -- this is what we are
waiting for as we live in a world trapped in darkness
-- so, as we close in prayer, let us
remember to prepare our hearts for His coming and to proclaim the good news of
Christ and of Christmas to all we see
--
let us pray
1
Thailand: Boys’ Soccer Team Lost in Cave Found Alive
[https://www.dw.com/en/thailand-boys-soccer-team-lost-in-cave-found-alive/a-44494040]
2
Thai Cave Rescue: All 12 Boys and Soccer Coach Freed, by Euan McKirdy, Kocha
Olarn, and Steve George, CNN
[https://www.cnn.com/2018/07/09/asia/thai-cave-rescue-mission-intl/index.html]
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