“Confessions of Christmas – the Prophets” – Isaiah 9:6-7

A number of years ago, Peter W. Stoner and Robert C. Newman wrote a book entitled Science Speaks. The book was based on the science of probability and vouched for by the American Scientific Affiliation. It set out the odds of any one man in all of history fulfilling even only eight of the 60 major prophecies (and 270 ramifications) fulfilled by the life of Christ.

The probability that Jesus of Nazareth could have fulfilled even eight such prophecies would be only 1 in 10¹⁷. That's 1 in 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000.

Stoner claims that that many silver dollars would be enough to cover the face of the entire state of Texas two feet deep. Texas is a very big state. Who in his right mind would suppose that a blindfolded man, heading out of Dallas by foot in any direction, would be able, on his very first attempt, to pick up one specifically marked silver dollar out of 100, 000, 000, 000, 000, 000? (Christiananswers.net)

But the truth is that the life of Jesus fulfilled every one of those prophesies; specific prophesies that include that he would be born in Bethlehem, born of a virgin, die on the cross and be raised back to life.  These prophecies were written by many different people from 400 years before He was born to over 1000 years before He was born and yet Jesus fulfilled them all.

That in itself should bring hope and peace to you since if everything predicted about Jesus in the Bible came true then everything to come will come true and as we all know, in the end, we win.  So, as we continue with our series entitled “Confessions of Christmas”, I want to look at the confessions of the prophets, specifically the confession of the prophet Isaiah in his book.

Like I said, there were a lot of prophets who prophesied about Jesus.  Abraham, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Micah, and Zechariah all foretold his birth, life or death.  And Isaiah made other predictions as well but I ask you to turn to the book of Isaiah chapter 9 and let’s read verses 6 & 7.

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.⁷Of 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.

Isaiah is writing some 700-plus years before Jesus was born and these writings must have brought great peace and joy and celebration to the Israelite people who later read these words, all the way up to Jesus Himself.  I have always wondered what it must have been like for the young boy Jesus to read these words in the scrolls at the temple, knowing that He was the one about who was being prophesied.  Just add that to the things to ask Jesus when we get to Heaven.

But for the Israelites, it had to be a great hope.  It had to bring peace.  It would make you want to celebrate that the beloved people would once again be remembered and blessed by the Messiah.  You know, sort of like it makes us feel even today.  We celebrate Christmas 2700 years after this was written for the same reason that the Israelites celebrated.  The tragedy is that so many of the people of the nation to which this was written fail to recognize Jesus as the Messiah.

But for us it brings great joy and peace to think that what Isaiah is confessing came true and will continue to be true.  In fact, if you remember throughout this whole series of “Confessions of Christmas” each of the confessions was intended to bring joy and peace.  When Gabriel went to Mary and told her the good news that she would be the mother of the Christ, it brought joy and peace.  When Elizabeth reacted to Mary’s visit by saying, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear”, that brought joy and peace.  And what about the joy and peace that Simeon had when he held the baby in the temple?  He had so much peace he told God “you now dismiss your servant in peace.”  He was ready to die after seeing the One about who is prophesied here in Isaiah.

Most of you have heard my testimony before.  I came to a relationship with Jesus when I was a child and lived that way for a long time but as I grew older I slipped out of that close relationship and started living just for myself.  And I have to admit that it was pretty fun most of the time.  I had a lot of friends and we had lots of fun but deep down I was miserable because I had no joy and no peace.  I knew the life I was living was wrong because while I had fun sometimes, my life wasn’t worth living without the joy and the peace that I had known.

We have talked lately about how the Holy Spirit works and that is a huge part of it.  The Holy Spirit guides us and directs us and people who don’t have the Holy Spirit often wonder how that happens.  If He doesn’t speak to you audibly or show you a physical sign then how do you know it is the Spirit that is guiding you and not just your conscience or that pizza you ate last night?  The bringing of or the absence of joy and peace as we start to make a decision is often how that happens.

I don’t want to run out of time this week like I did last week so let’s look at the 4 names Isaiah uses here to describe the Messiah we now know as Jesus.  I want to focus just on the 4 names this morning.  No, this does not do this passage justice to only concentrate on such a small part but when have I ever done that?  And besides, this is more than enough for today.  The first name Isaiah uses to describe the Messiah is Wonderful Counselor.

Since there was no punctuation in Isaiah’s written language it is sometimes difficult to translate every nuance and particular meaning but we might do well to put a comma right after “Wonderful”.  That may be a correct translation but we don’t know and for today I want to combine it like it is in most Bibles.  “Wonderful Counselor” – what do you think of when you hear the word “counselor”?

The original Hebrew word simply means one who gives good advice.  This would have been of utmost importance in the days of Isaiah.  They were going through a rough time where the leaders of the country had turned away from the one true God and had started worshipping false gods or no god at all.  And there was pressure from the community and from society to follow the lead of the kings who were going in the wrong direction.  Sound familiar?

It would have been important then just as it is important now to be able to rely on someone who gave good advice.  Have you ever gotten good advice?  Somebody tell me in a sentence or two.  Have you ever gotten some bad advice?  I’ve heard it said that a wise man seeks much counsel…and a fool listens to all of it.  Why is that?  Is it because people are stupid?  Is it because they are mean and want to see you fail?  Maybe sometimes but that’s probably rare.  More often it’s because they are human and see through human eyes.

It’s amazing to me how the Holy Spirit comes back into our conversation at this point.  The Holy Spirit is our Counselor and as I said he whispers to us through our peace and joy about making the right decisions but the word “counselor” can also rightfully be used of an attorney or lawyer.  Have you thought about that?  Yes, the Holy Spirit is our attorney who not only gives us wise counsel but also stands for us before the Father.  Revelation 12:10 says that Satan stands before God accusing us all day long and the sad thing about is, while Satan is the father of lies, some of what he says is probably true.

And so I need a good attorney.  I need a really good lawyer.  I need a Wonderful Counselor who will stand before God and say, “Your Honor, what has been said may be true but that crime has been atoned for.  That price has been paid and while I may be the Counselor I am also the one who paid the price.  This man is no longer guilty!”  THAT’S a Wonderful Counselor!  I don’t need a lawyer with a nickname like “The Hammer”.  I need one who is known as the Wonderful Counselor.  That brings me joy and peace.

He is not only the Wonderful Counselor; He is also the Mighty God.  The name means strong warrior or even hero.  Do you think about God as being a warrior or a hero?  At this time of year it is appropriate to think of Jesus lying in a manger, helpless and sweet.  But at the same time, He was and is the warrior in chief.  He is the head general in this battle and as such He has everything under control.

Psalm 45:3 says, “Gird your sword upon your side, O mighty one; clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.”  And Revelation 19:13-16 says, “¹³ He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. ¹⁴ The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. ¹⁵ Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. “He will rule them with an iron scepter.”^[a] He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. ¹⁶ On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

And while He is a mighty warrior, I have one more passage to help us understand the nature of this Warrior.  Zephaniah 3:17 says, “The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”  The Mighty God, Hero God, Ancient Warrior who is all-powerful loves us so much that He rejoices over us with singing.  That brings me joy and peace!

 

He is a Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God and Everlasting Father.  Family-life specialists Delmer W. Holbrook and his wife have conducted surveys across America.  In a survey of hundreds of children, the Holbrooks came up with 3 things fathers say most in responding to their kids.  “I’m too tired.”  “We don’t have enough money”.  And “Keep quiet”  (Illustrations for Biblical Teaching)

I don’t know what your earthly father was or is like.  For me, I have to say those exact things to him.  “I’m too tired.  Keep quiet!”  J  No, that’s not true but whatever your fatherly role model, it’s time to quit falling back on that because we have as our Heavenly Father an ancestor, teacher, advisor, priest and protector.  That’s what the words “Everlasting Father” stand for.

Now any of you that are parents know that there comes a time in almost every kid’s life that they start to pull away from Mom and Dad.  First, you can’t kiss them goodbye when you drop them off for school and then they don’t want you to even drop them off.  They would rather walk than be seen with you.  Then, as older teens, most kids finally leave the nest.  They think dear old dad is just stupid and they can do it better on their own.  Until what?  Until they need something, right?  Until they can’t figure out what to do or they have no other option and then they come back asking for help.

The shooting in Connecticut was beyond comprehension.  Nobody can understand how somebody could do such a thing and nobody can comprehend how to keep it from happening again.  You have heard the argument that we need fewer guns or more guns or better mental health programs or less video games or blah, blah, blah.  But you know what happened as soon as the news broke that the shooter had gone to that school and killed those children? 

We prayed.  We as a nation prayed.  The president prayed.  The school teachers prayed.  The TV news anchor prayed!  Because we don’t know what to do and we have no other option, just like kids who have left the house and now we are in trouble, we come back to the Everlasting Father and we cry for help.  The same people who just the day before said there is no God or God is stupid or how could God do this or that are now saying, “God, help us.”

And do you know what God says?  Do you know how the Creator of the universe responds to us when we do that?  Hebrews 4:16 says, “Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  That gives me such peace and such joy.

And it should bring us peace because He is the Prince of Peace.  He is the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace.  Oh, how those words must have comforted the Israelites back in the day.  A prince is a representative of the king, a ruler or an honored person and to know that the Messiah would soon come to save them from their enemies had to be comforting. 

I went to Israel probably 25 or so years ago and do you know what?  It had not changed much in any way from those days when Isaiah made this prophesy.  Everywhere you go there are soldiers in uniform carrying high-powered weapons and while the weapons of war may have changed not much else has.  There is still no peace.  There are still being attacked every day on all sides from people who want to take their land.  Psalm 122 tells us even today that we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem but there will be no real peace there until the Messiah comes back.

The good news is though, that peace is not necessarily the absence of war.  Those favored people, the Israelites, can have personal peace right now through a relationship with the Messiah and so can we.  The last part of that passage says that the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.  That word “zeal” means his eager desire is to make all this happen.  God has an eager desire to have a relationship with you; a relationship that means no more guilt and no more shame.  Those things get replaced with peace and joy.

Make that your confession today.  Come before the Everlasting Father and say, “God, I need help.”  Accept His mighty power, his good advice and the peace that passes all understanding even in the midst of war; even in the midst of everything going on in your life.  That is God’s Christmas gift to you this year if you will only accept it.