Well, I'm pleased to be able
to welcome you again all here this evening. And I thought this
evening, instead of speaking from a New Testament text, which
we often do, I thought I would just speak to you from an Old
Testament text, and that's one which is found in Isaiah. And
it's very interesting, of course, to know that the Bible, right
from the beginning of Genesis, speaks about the coming of the
Lord Jesus. It is not just confined to the
New Testament. We go right back to the third
chapter in Genesis, when Adam and Eve took of that fruit, and
the Lord came to them, and he told them then what would happen,
that there would be that one who would come and bruise or
squash the serpent's head. So way back in the beginning
of Genesis, we see that prophecy with regard to the Lord Jesus. And of course that carried on
through the Old Testament, which really is very confirming to
us today. And when we think that the record
of the beginning of the Old Testament was written some 3,500 years
ago, in fact 1,500 years before the Lord Jesus' birth, it's amazing
to think that those prophecies which were made were very accurate
in those things which were to come. Now, this verse here in
Isaiah, Isaiah lived something like 700 or 800 years before
the birth of the Lord Jesus. And we see in this verse a very
clear picture of what Jesus would be like and who he was. And it's very confirming to Christian
faith to know that These things were prophesied so many many
years ago and they came to pass in great detail. Now in this
chapter in Isaiah and the sixth verse we read these words that
they are familiar because if you listen to the hand of Messiah
you know that's one of the parts of it. For unto us a child is
born and unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon
his shoulders And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. So we have here a very full picture
of Jesus Christ. And what it shows to us is that
Jesus Christ was no normal person from that perspective. He was
so great. Now we also know of course that
Jesus was just like you and I. He was born in a very poor way
in that manger in Bethlehem. And he took therefore the very
lowest place. None of us can think today, well
Jesus was born in a palace and of course he had a very pleasant
and easy life. He had the opposite in actual
fact. He had a very difficult life. And so here we have in
this verse here, the Bible tells us, for unto us a child is born. That means to the whole church
of God a child was born. And that child of course was
the Lord Jesus Christ. And how do you try and think
of this? Remember that the Messiah, the
Lord Jesus had been prophesied and especially the Jewish people
had been looking forward to his coming. year after year they
would have been remembering these prophetic verses and wondering
when Jesus was coming for unto us a child is born and he was
to be born and of course he was born in that manger in Bethlehem
and it's good to see not only was he referred to as a child
but unto us a son is given And that refers there to, of course,
the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of the Father. And that's
a wonderful prophecy, isn't it? As we see this. Here is this
Son being prophesied. And given to Him, given to the
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, were these, this situation. And we
read, and the government shall be upon His shoulder. You may
think, well that's a rather strange statement. Well it is in one
sense a strange statement, but in those days, when this was
written, the important people like the Mayor etc. of those
places, they would carry on their shoulders, usually what we might
think of as a mace or something, and it was fairly heavy, and
would describe that they were the ones who were to make the
law. and so the government here refers
to making the law and here we have this statement that his
son the Lord Jesus Christ is the one who would be the government
and that shall be upon his shoulders well that's just a little picture
then of the Lord Jesus and what he would be and the Israel of
old, the Jewish people were of course looking forward to this
great and glorious day Sadly they made a big mistake, generally,
because they thought he would come as an earthly king in great
splendour. They never imagined that this
Messiah would come like he did and be born in that manger in
Bethlehem. And again you might ask, well,
that's interesting, why was this man, Jesus, born into those poor
circumstances? The whole plan of salvation,
the whole gospel really teaches us this, that Jesus came to save
his people from their sins and he therefore came in the most
humblest place, so no one could say, well of course that person
was far greater than I was. Jesus was born in the most humble
circumstances. No one could be born in a more
humble situation. So the Jews really got it wrong. But thankfully everybody, true
believer, is thankful for the truth of scripture. So we have
here then, the government shall be upon his shoulders. And then
we have this long list, what he shall be called. And it goes
through these points, Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. So, first of all, we
might ask, wonderful, what does that mean? Well, we know what
wonderful means, I'm sure. When we say something is wonderful,
it's really good to look at, it's good to hold perhaps, it's
good to talk about something wonderful. Well, Jesus was wonderful. And he was wonderful in so many
ways. All that he did. We shouldn't
forget that Jesus, although he was a human person, just like
you and I, no different, he was also the Son of God. So he was,
from that perspective, a very special person. And he was indeed
wonderful. And he was wonderful because
He never sinned. He never sinned on one occasion. His life was an absolutely perfect
life. When we think of that today,
we think that was impossible for someone to be like that.
But Jesus was perfect. He lived a perfect life. And of course, it was wonderful
in the miracles that he did. They were very amazing to behold. They were wonderful. And therefore,
he was wonderful. And in the life he led, the example
he gave us, it was wonderful. He didn't seek the best places.
He was a very humble person. And he was a wonderful person.
And of course, what did he come to do into this world? He came to die. for us so that
our sins might be forgiven and wasn't it wonderful of Jesus
to willingly do this to die on our behalf to give his life just
think of that and what a death it was you think on that cross
at Calvary this wonderful son of God willingly died for us
if we are indeed those who believe the great truth of the gospel
And those who realise that we aren't what we should be, we
are sinners, we are fallen, and we deserve eternal punishment.
So here we have this statement, he is wonderful. Well, wonderful
he was, he died, wonderful. He rose again from the dead,
and he rose victorious. Yes, because he had conquered,
and what had he conquered? He conquered sin. Yes, he conquered
sin, conquered death, conquered hell, conquered the grave. He
was wonderful. And not only did he rise from
the dead, but then he ascended to his father. Yes, wonderful,
wasn't it? That ascension. No one apart
from Elijah had been like that. The Lord Jesus then ascended
to his father. and now today this wonderful
saviour is in heaven there as we pray he takes our prayers
and presents them to his father because he is worthy because
he in fact kept God's law perfectly so we have indeed a wonderful
saviour today to think of now not only was he of course wonderful
he was a counsellor counsellor. We know what a counsellor is,
I'm sure. It's that which is wisdom which
is given to people, advised people, and they're called counsellors.
And we read in the Psalms, Psalm 73 and verse 24, Thou shalt guide
me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory. So this
is Jesus, this child, this son. He guides us. He guides us day
by day. We don't always realise it, we
very seldom realise it. But if we are His people, if
we are Christians, He is guiding us day by day by His counsel. And then because of that, then
there will be that time when He will receive us in glory in
heaven at last. So He is a most wise counsellor. Jesus never makes any mistakes. We make mistakes, don't we? People
make mistakes. Jesus never made any mistakes. His counsel was 100% right and
true. So we can be very thankful today
that we have such a person, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is called
counsellor. Sometimes these words are joined
together, and true it is, he's a wonderful counsellor. And then,
the mighty God. Well, Israel were looking forward,
weren't they, to this great Messiah, a mighty person. He was the mighty
God. He didn't come as they expected,
but he was the mighty God nonetheless. And as we know, he just spoke
and things were done. He just touched people and they
were healed. And he just spoke to people and
their sins were forgiven. He was indeed the Mighty God. No one else could possibly do
that. No one else has ever been able
to do that. And no one else will ever be able to do it in the
future. And so we have here the Mighty God. Let us never underestimate
how great this God is. Remember His very humble beginnings.
Remember His humble life. And yet nonetheless He was the
Mighty God. And that mighty God was shown
forth, wasn't it, when he was raised from the dead. And then
he is referred to, interestingly, as the Everlasting Father. And Paul helps us when he wrote
to an epistle or a letter to his son in the faith, Timothy.
And he writes these words, Now unto the King, and the Lord Jesus
was indeed the King. He was the King of Kings. not
in an earthly way, but he was the King of Kings. And Paul tells
us this, now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only
wise God be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. So here we have this gracious
blessed Lord who is of course everlasting. And that's very
hard for us to understand, isn't it really? Our minds can't get
round such a truth that God was always and God is today and God
always will be. And God doesn't change. He is
the same yesterday and today and forever. He is a wonderful
God and He is therefore the everlasting God. And then finally the Prince
of Peace. The Prince of Peace. Again Paul
helps us this way when he speaks or writes to the Colossians and
he tells us this. And having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto
himself by him I say whether they be things in earth or things
in heaven. Now we live in a world don't
we where there is not much peace. Not much peace as they look around.
It's a world in turmoil, isn't it? Wars, people being deceitful,
governments falling, and we don't find very much truth, we find
much opposition, and we look around, we don't really see peace.
So where is peace? Where is true peace? It's really
only knowing the Lord Jesus Christ. He is peace. And here we have
these words, and having made peace, through the blood of his
cross that means when the Lord Jesus Christ gave his life at
Calvary when he shed his blood through that he brought peace
to his church to his people and it's good for us today as we
come to this Christmas period to not only think of Jesus being
born in that manger in Bethlehem which is very true But to think
of his life, think what a perfect and wonderful life it was, and
think how then he lived that life in accordance with God's
will, and he did all that God told him to do, he never backed
away, and he gave his life. And through that act upon Calvary's
cross, he brought peace. Now as we think of the Lord Jesus
Christ, Think of Him as our peace. Our peace. There's no real peace,
you know, outside the Lord Jesus Christ. But if we know Christ
as our Saviour, if we know that He did die for us, to take away
all our sins, then there will be that peace that we will have.
And that's a peace which really is outside of this world. It's
a spiritual peace which God gives. And it's very precious and it's
very wonderful. and it really is the evidence
that we are one of God's children so today let's bless God for
this great truth which Isaiah prophesied so many years ago
and it came to pass and it's true and we can believe it today
and bless God for it so reading it again for unto us a child
is born unto us a son is given and the government shall be upon
his shoulders, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."
It's just interesting to note here that these words are spoken
in this way, it shall come to pass. How many times in the Bible
we read, and it shall come to pass. And then we often read
also, and it came to pass. Well, here we read, and it shall
come, and it shall be called, and it was. So let's bless God
today for this wonderful verse we have in the prophecy of Isaiah.