Isaiah 9:6 (NASB)
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.
The truth and importance of these four simple clauses cannot be overstated, for this prophetic message by the prophet Isaiah is describing who the Messiah would be. Isaiah was announcing the good news that one day a child would be born, but no ordinary child. This prophecy, which took over 700 years to be fulfilled, is part of the vast proof of Jesus’ identity as the Messiah. Let’s look closer at this passage.
Isaiah states with certainty, “For a Child will be born to us,”. This tells us that the Child would be human. He doesn’t say that an angel will appear or a messenger will come. He says a child will be born. This speaks of the very human birth of this child. Knowing the whole story, we know this Child was Jesus and He in fact was born of woman. Galatians 4:4 tells us, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law.”
Galatians echoes what Isaiah is saying, for not only is Jesus a human child, but He is the Son of God. Isaiah says, “a Son will be given to us;” just as Galatians tells us, “God sent His Son,” and this is so important, for it testifies that Jesus was more than simply human. He is the very Son of God.
Not only is Jesus a child born of a woman, and the Son of God, but astoundingly, He is born to us and given to us. God has given Jesus to us. We should note the significance of this. This word us could mean the Israelites, the people to whom Isaiah is delivering his prophecy. But we can also take Isaiah’s word to mean all of us, the whole of humankind. We see this truth repeated in John 3:16, which says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but have eternal life.” That tells us that the “us” to whom Jesus is given is all of us. God sent Jesus to the whole world.
Then Isaiah says, “And the government will rest on His shoulders;”. I wonder if this phrase contributed at all to the mistaken idea that a lot of Jewish religious leaders had during Jesus’ time, that the Messiah would arrive and establish a government on earth. They thought Jesus would take over Rome. I see how they could arrive at that conclusion if they were going off this idea of the government being upon His shoulders. Since we know that is not what Jesus did, how do we better interpret this clause?
I think the government resting on His shoulders means that from birth He already has authority. For the government is the government of the Kingdom of God. I’ve been touching on these ideas in recent sermons and here we see it again. Jesus has authority in the Kingdom of God because He is the Son of God. In the following verse, Isaiah 9:7, Isaiah explains:
“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 armies will accomplish this.”
Again, I see why the Jewish religious leaders thought the Messiah would conquer and take over the government of their time. It sounds like that, doesn’t it? We know, only because of hindsight, and the rest of Scripture, that Jesus’ increase of His government is talking about the Kingdom of God. Like I said in the sermon about the Lord’s Prayer, when Jesus came to earth, He brought His Kingdom with Him. All His miracles, His teachings, everything that He did and said, was a picture of how the Kingdom of God operates. When we follow Jesus and obey His word, we are helping to build His Kingdom on earth now. As Isaiah is saying, God’s kingdom with keep on expanding. He says, “There will be no end to the increase of His government” because when Jesus returns, at the end times, He will then establish His Kingdom in all of its full power and glory and that Kingdom will have no end. It will be “from then on and forevermore.”
And the idea of this government of the Kingdom of God resting on Jesus’ shoulders seems like intentional imagery. Today, if we say that something rests on someone’s shoulders, it means that person has a particular burden or responsibility to bear. The burden rests on them. They have to ‘shoulder’ it. If the Kingdom of God’s government rests on Jesus’ shoulders, then it is His burden to bear. That certainly came true, did it not? Jesus bore on His shoulders the entire weight of the world when He took upon Himself all of our sin and He died on the cross. It was a burden that He willingly did for us.
Then Isaiah tells us four different names for this Child. The first is Wonderful Counselor. There are a lot of synonyms in the English language for wonderful, ranging from pleasing to breathtaking. The Hebrew word for wonderful is pele and according to Strong’s Concordance, it means “marvelous thing, wonderful, astonishing.” So Jesus isn’t just the pleasing counselor, He is the breathtaking, magnificent, glorious counselor. Keeping in mind the unfathomable burden that He shouldered for us, it is easy to see why He is called Wonderful. For He truly is astonishing. He is marvelous, in the sense that He is a marvel to us. He is not easily understood. It is hard to comprehend how much He loves us that He would suffer so willingly for us. But He shouldered that burden because He loves us.
Because He loves us, that is why He is the Wonderful Counselor. The Hebrew word for counselor is yaats and according to Strong’s Concordance it means, “to advise, counsel.” I think it’s intentional wording that Isaiah calls Him the Wonderful Counselor. The Child who was prophesied about would be our Wonderful Counselor. He does not stay distant and unapproachable, but was given to us, made available to us. He loves us so much that He came to earth, taking on a human form, suffering and dying for us. Now today, as the risen Christ, He draws near to us and cares for us individually. He wants to help us and counsel us. He wants us to seek wisdom from His Word. James 1:5 tells us, “But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” And He wants us to go to Him in prayer and give Him our worries and problems. As 2 Corinthians 1:3 tells us, He is the “God of all comfort” and again in 2 Corinthians 7:6, that He “comforts the discouraged.” He is available to us as a Wonderful Counselor. And who better is there to seek help from than the One who has infinite wisdom? Yet, I wonder how many Christian regard Jesus in this way?
It’s pretty standard these days for people to speak with counselors or therapists as they are more frequently called. A couple of years ago, when I was the college-age pastor at a church, I realized just how common it is for the younger generations to be in therapy. As I got to know the students, they would mention problems and concerns they had about themselves or life in general. When I mentioned I was available for them to talk to, they would literally tell me they didn’t need to talk to me because they had an appointment in a day or two to talk with their therapist/counselor. This was new to me! Over the years, I’ve ministered in many capacities, and always before, as I got to know students, they would tell me their troubles and I would listen to them and pray with them. Not anymore. These new students didn’t want to bother talking to me, for they were already seeing a ‘professional’.
I’m concerned that this practice has simply become another arena in which Christians have outsourced something that should not be outsourced. Have we so fractured our worldview that we go to secular therapists when we should go to the One who made us? Who better is there to talk to than Jesus? Who knows us better than Jesus? Who else can actually heal our heart and make us whole? We should seek counsel from the One who was given to us. As Psalm 73:23-24 (NIV) says, “Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.”
The second name Isaiah gives for this foretold Child is Mighty God. This tells us that there should be no debate as to if the Messiah is also the One true God. The prophesied One is not just a man or a prophet. He is the Son of God, and as is the mystery of God’s being, He is also God. They are one God. Yet, how many people do not regard Jesus as such? But this is the central belief required for salvation. We must have faith in Jesus. Not faith in Jesus as a prophet. Rather, faith that Jesus is God. Not only is He God, but He is mighty. This word is gibbor and Strong’s Concordance defines it as, “champion, chief, excel, giant, man, mighty man, one, strong man.”
We see this name for God in other places in Scripture. Jesus Himself described God this way when He was speaking to the chief priests. In Luke 22:69, He said, “But from now on, the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the mighty God.”
This designation for God is important, for it tells us that God is powerful. He is not weak or limited in any way. There is no one who compares to the mightiness of God. As this relates to His Kingdom and authority, it tells us that He is strong enough to bring His Kingdom into power and have it endure forever. Which relates to the third name.
Isaiah calls Him Eternal Father. This speaks to His role as our Father and our role as His children if He has adopted us into His family. Going back to Galatians 4:4 but this time adding verses 5-7, we read, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons and daughters. Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, ‘Abba! Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”
We are brought into the family of God through faith in Jesus. This was the reason that Jesus came to earth, born of a woman, and carried the weight of suffering and death upon His shoulders. He was given to us so that we could become children of God and receive all that is made available to those who are heirs to the Kingdom of God. And one of the greatest gifts we are given, apart from forgiveness and salvation, is seen in the fourth name Isaiah calls Him. He calls Him the Prince of Peace.
The Child who Isaiah foretold about brings peace to all who believe in Him. As Jesus said about Himself in John 16:33, “These things I have spoken to you so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.”
This world we live in is still the same dark world that Isaiah prophesied to. He said earlier in this same chapter, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them” (Isaiah 9:2). The world is dark and full of turmoil and sin. Isaiah’s prophecy is one of hope. A Child would come to us who would liberate us from this dark world by shining His light into the darkness. He is the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. No matter how dark or hopeless our world or circumstances appear, for those of us who believe in Jesus, He offers us His peace.
Corrie Ten Boom lived during the Holocaust. She and her Christian family risked their lives to care for and hide Jews who were being killed by the Nazis. She is quoted as saying, “If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed. If you look within, you’ll be depressed. If you look at God you’ll be at rest.” I tried finding the source of when she said this or wrote this but could not find it online, but I’m including this quote because whether or not she said it, it is very true. If we keep our eyes on Jesus, we will find rest, for rest is peace. That is because rest doesn’t always mean the cessation of work. Rest, the way Corrie meant it, is a state of mind. We can be at rest even while being tasked with a job. If we don’t look at Jesus and we look at the world, we will be distressed. Corrie was more acquainted than most of us, of just how evil the world could be. Her experience of being put into a concentration camp was beyond distressing. It was terrifying. And she knew that if she only looked within herself, it was not helpful, but depressing. Instead, she and her family kept their eyes on God, and He helped them and gave them the strength and faith to endure the unthinkable.
I know Corrie’s story and her book, The Hiding Place, is not usual Christmas reading, but it is a part of our 10th grade homeschool curriculum and it’s assigned reading right now. Whenever I read an amazing story like hers, it helps me put my own trouble into proper perspective. There is so much pain and suffering in our world. There is so much sin and evil. There is so much hate. When we look at the world, it can be very distressing. The world’s answer to this distress is to check-out and distract from the problems. Or the world tells us to look within ourselves and be positive. But as Corrie stated, if we look within, we’ll be depressed. We’ll be depressed because if we spend all our time being self-focused, we will only discover more and more problems. Instead, we should focus our eyes upon Jesus. Then we will find rest.
Corrie’s advice to look to God is still the way to find peace. For if our eyes are on Jesus, we can find rest and peace, even if Nazis are hunting us. We can find rest and peace, even when we have lost our job. We can find rest and peace, even in the middle of health problems. In all circumstances, we can find rest and peace if we look to the Child who was given to us. For only He has the answer to all the distressing problems of the world. Only He can heal all the problems within ourselves. When we put our eyes on Him, we will find peace.
This second week of Advent, as we move nearer to Christmas Day, let us pray for the Holy Spirit to draw us nearer to the Child. The One given to us. My favorite name for Jesus at Christmastime is Emmanuel, for it means “God with us.” He was born to us, died for us, and rose again to bring us to Him for all eternity. He will one day come back and the Kingdom of God will be established everywhere and upheld everywhere with “justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.” Until that day arrives, we live in this in-between. We still live in a dark world, but we follow a light. And this light of Christ gives us peace even in the midst of the darkness. Our job is to share this peace and shine this light in the dark world so that others may see and follow the Christ too.
The angels proclaimed, on the night of His birth, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among people with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14). Let us be people who proclaim the same message. We have a message of peace to share with the world. A world that is so at war with themselves and each other. Jesus, the Prince of Peace, has been given to us. All we have to do is receive Him, just like the Christmas Carol says: Where meek souls will receive Him still, the dear Christ enters in.
Pray: Heavenly Father, we thank You for sending into this world, the Christ Child Jesus, to be our Savior, our hope and our peace. We pray that this Christmas season we would be filled with Your peace that surpasses all understanding. Please guard and keep our minds on Christ during this busy season. And help us to shine brightly the hope and peace we have in You. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
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