I ask that you turn with me tonight to Isaiah chapter 9. Isaiah chapter 9. I say that carefully because it was brought to my attention before the service this morning. I tried to lead both services astray by announcing Romans 12 when I read from Revelation 12. I apologize for that. I had no idea. So Isaiah chapter 9, as we read together this most familiar and beautiful portion of Scripture, our text being verses 6 and 7 of this chapter. We're going to read together the first seven verses. As we hear now the Word of God, Isaiah 9 beginning at verse 1. Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past He humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future He will honor Galilee of the Gentiles by the way of the sea along the Jordan. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy. They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder. For as in the day of Midian's defeat, you have shattered the yoke that burdens them, the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor. Every warrior's boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire. 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. Of the increase 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. But, beloved of the Lord, it won't be long, and once again the holiday rush will soon be over. The lines in the stores will be getting shorter once again, except for those wanting to return those unwanted gifts. The mall traffic will thin out a little bit. The busyness will die down somewhat. The world celebration of Christmas 2002 will be over. So then what? It seems that for the world, Christmas is just something that comes and goes once a year with no lasting effect. As we said last week, just a band-aid for a short time every year. But for those who celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ, who celebrate the anniversary of His coming to live among men instead of the world's Christmas, there is a lasting effect. Why? Because we know that the Savior has come. You see, we live in the fulfillment of that which those in the Old Testament only had a promise, as we also consider this morning. But they clung to that promise and they looked forward to the fulfillment of that promise for far longer than we look forward to celebrating that same event each year. The prophet Isaiah, as you know, is one of many in the Old Testament who spoke of the coming of the Messiah. But the difference is that Isaiah's prophecy is one of the clearest and most specific prophecies of Christ's coming of all of them. Isaiah was prophesying to a dark time, as we know. It was a time of decay in the life of God's people. He speaks of those walking in darkness. God's people were walking in darkness morally, spiritually, politically. And as well, we know that Isaiah 9, verses 1 and 2 was also quoted at the beginning of Christ's ministry in Matthew 4, pointing as well to the Gentiles, that Gentiles would also be brought out of darkness into the marvelous light. But again, God's own people, especially at the time of Isaiah, were walking in that darkness. They had forsaken God. They had not listened to His warnings. They had blended in with the nations. So now God had begun to give them into the hands of their enemies, especially the Assyrians. But in the midst of a decaying, torn up society, Isaiah comes with a word of encouragement. He comes with a little good news. And he says that those walking in darkness have seen a great light. There is hope. There will be restoration. But how? Boys and girls, Isaiah takes out his binoculars, we might say. And some 700 years before the actual event takes place, he speaks of the birth of the Messiah. He tells what we call the Christmas story. And he tells it with such confidence and assurance, just as if it has already taken place. 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. Of the increase 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. Tonight, I bring you with confidence the message Isaiah preached so many years ago. The message that the Savior has come. He has come in humility. He has come with highest honor. And He has come as a perfect ruler. Now, we're familiar with the humble nature of Christ's coming. We're familiar, of course, because we have the story of Christ's birth recorded in God's Word. But again, those who lived in the Old Testament times, They didn't have what we have. Again, they did have the promise of a Redeemer, a Deliverer, of a Savior. And God gave this promise already to Adam and Eve in the garden recorded in Genesis 3, verse 15. And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel. Now that verse in Genesis points toward the Savior. And it points, maybe not primarily, but secondarily to the humbleness of the Savior's coming. It speaks of seed or offspring of the woman. And this naturally refers to children. The promised Messiah would come as a child. And Isaiah also tells his listeners that the promised Savior would be a child. He echoes Genesis 3 verse 15. But you see, for God's people, this was something that would be hard to imagine because it would seem much more reasonable to them. It would make much more sense for God to take one of Israel's great leaders, someone like David, for example, and to save His people through such a man as this. In fact, when Christ came, that's why many rejected Him. Because He wasn't what they expected. He didn't enter Jerusalem riding on a white stallion with an army of soldiers around Him. Instead, He entered riding on a young donkey surrounded by people armed with palm branches. God's plan was not to take some great earthly king or nobleman to deliver His people. He took a child. And not just any child, but His own son. And we know that throughout Scripture, people are identified with their parents. For example, David, son of Jesse. Isaac, son of Abraham. Joseph, son of Jacob. Or Rachel. But here in our text, we're not given any sort of specific identification. It just says a son is given. But this isn't just any child. It's not just any son. We are to understand this as the one and only begotten Son of God. That's how He is often referred to in Scripture simply as the Son. In Psalm 2, Today you have become My Son. God gave His only Son to become human like you and me only without sin. He was human and divine. He was God Himself in the flesh and He came as a child, a baby born in Bethlehem. Now, according to Paul's words in Philippians, for the Son of God to become human was the same as becoming nothing. Paul says, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And in 2 Corinthians 8, verse 9, Paul says, Though He was rich, yet for your sake, He became poor. Jesus humbled Himself, first of all, by becoming a human child. But we must also understand, beloved, the humble character of His birth. And for this, we turn to that familiar story in Luke 2, the story of our Lord's birth. And we note especially verses 6 and 7 there, which say, And it came about that while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the end. Now, do you recognize the real physical humility involved? You might say, sure I do. Jesus was born possibly in a stable or a cave with a manger for a bed. There may have been cattle and sheep around and since they were poor and didn't have any blankets, He was wrapped in strips of cloth. Congregation, this passage of Scripture has been romanticized, or we could say hallmarkized. These words of Jesus' birth are taken, and an out-of-the-ordinary picture of Christ's birth is painted. The picture that we have with a manger and strips of cloth seems to be such an unnatural type of birth. And of course it is to us. But because it seems to be so unnatural, we see Jesus' birth as being both humbling and sort of special because of the details. One of a kind. But there are a few details that we need to understand. First of all, we read no room in the inn. I believe, on the one hand, that points to the fact that right from the very beginning, our Lord was rejected. But when we read those words, in other words, there were no deluxe hotel accommodations available for Jesus and His parents. And when there was no room in the inn, Mary and Joseph, you see, were forced to find other housing arrangements. This could have been a private room somewhere. Some say it might have been a cave. Or it may have been a stable. But we don't know for sure. What we do know is that during those days, People didn't have cradles or cribs. It was customary to lay a baby on the ground to sleep or in a box or crate of some kind if that was available, like a manger box, which served both as a feeding trough for animals, but also a box to store firewood in. And they didn't have warm receiving blankets. All babies were wrapped in strips of cloth to keep them warm. The point of all of this is that we must understand the earthly, physical humbleness of Jesus' birth, not because of the manger or the stable or animals, but because of its ordinariness. Was it special? Yes. Because the Savior had come, but it was not special because it was one of a kind in its physical details. Jesus' birth was the same as any other child in Palestine during that time, especially a poor child. It was humble, not because it was out of the ordinary, but because it was no different than any other child. Jesus Christ, the Son of Almighty God, was treated like every other child. This King of kings and Lord of lords did not have a royal birth with deluxe accommodations, with servants attending His mother as we might imagine David's sons as having when they were born. But He had a humble, lowly birth. He came to be one of us from the very beginning of His earthly life. And Isaiah says that this child, this Son, is given to us. He doesn't say, for a child will be born to us and we will willingly receive the Son. But Isaiah says that He is given to us. Sometimes we as parents give our children what they need. Not necessarily what they want. and they don't always want what it is they need, but we give it to them anyway. You see, His coming had nothing to do with our wanting Him and our willingly receiving Him. God gave His only Son to be sacrificed for our sins. The familiar words of John 3, verse 16 echo this. For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. Beloved, that is the physical humility of Christ's coming. God gave His Son as a human child to come in an ordinary, unexalted fashion. But we know that Christ's humility reached far beyond His childhood. In fact, all of the days of His earthly life were days of humility for our King. And His humility came to full expression on the cross. Jesus Christ was humbled as He suffered a criminal's death on the cross and as He was rejected by God His Father for the sins of His people. You see, this Christmas story does not begin and end with Christ's birth. It includes His entire earthly life and work, His death, His resurrection, His ascension into heaven, and the work that He continues to do from His seat at His Father's right hand even at this moment. You see, these things cannot be separated. They all belong. They all make up the one story. And Isaiah recognized this. As he looks through his binoculars, it's clear that he sees the entire scope of Christ's work. And therefore, he moves right from the humility of Christ's coming to the high honor that he comes with. What a contrast. Yet not an earthly high honor, but heavenly, which only those who believe on him by faith will recognize. He first tells us about what the child will do. And then He gives us four titles or names that describe the child. He says in verse 6, And the government will be on His shoulders, and He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Now God had given Jesus Christ the task of ruling, of governing. And not just a small task, but an enormous task. He is the complete ruler, the King over all. In fact, the first five verses that we read together teach us that the kingdom would include the Gentiles who would be drawn to His light. And the government of all would be on His shoulders. God's justice would be applied to Him. And Jesus would bear the burden of the world on His shoulders in His own strength. In Matthew 28, verse 18, Jesus Himself tells His disciples of the extent of His authority. He says, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. And then Isaiah helps us to understand how Jesus can bear the government on His shoulders. He gives us these four names which describe the high honor of Jesus, wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Now first of all, these names testify to us that the child is God Himself and He is worthy to be called by these names. They accurately describe who this child, who Jesus is. The first name is Wonderful Counselor. Well, a counselor is one who is considered as having wisdom and one who gives wise counsel and comfort to others in the face of problems. And Jesus is described as the Wonderful Counselor because His ways are great or marvelous. He Himself is a wonder to behold. And in Him there is perfect comfort. In Him we can find all the perfect counsel that we need. All that we need to know about God and all that we need to know about ourselves. And all that is necessary for salvation is found only in Him because He is God. The word wonderful points to that. You may remember when Samson's father Manoah was talking to the angel of the Lord whom we believe to be the pre-incarnate Christ. He said, what is your name? And the angel said, why do you ask me not my name, seeing that it is wonderful, pointing to God Himself. And as well, the miracles in the Bible, the miracles of God, are considered wonders, divine doings. The second name that describes this child is mighty God. And with this name again, Isaiah puts us face to face with the fact that this child is God. He is the God of might. He is the God of power. He is the God of strength. And He has power over the devil, over sin and death and hell. And beloved, this must be a comfort to you and me that He is mighty God. Because as Paul says in Ephesians, our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world, and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. You see, without our mighty God, we would be swallowed up by the devil and his accusations against us would stick. Again, Isaiah also refers to God the Father with the same title, pointing to the truth that this child is one with God. In chapter 10, verse 21, he says, A remnant will return, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. And as the mighty God, beloved, Jesus has the power to save His people, to deliver those who believe in Him from the power of the evil. And He is pleased to use His power and strength for our salvation. Next, Isaiah calls Him the everlasting Father. Jesus is like a father to His children, to His church. And just as God exercised His fatherly care over the Israelites in the wilderness and provided them with all that they needed, in the same way Jesus rules over His people in a fatherly way with tenderness and love and compassion, and He provides all that we need, and He will continue to do so eternally. This is reflected in Psalm 103, which says, As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him. And finally, Isaiah describes the child as the Prince of Peace. These four names describe the Christ child. And they tell us how He can bear the government upon His shoulders, because He is God, wonderful, mighty, everlasting. And peace point to that. And together with Counselor, God, Father, and Prince, we are taught that nothing and no one can compare with Him. He is one of a kind. And we can find in Him and only in Him all that we need in this life and the next. But this last name, Prince of Peace, also describes what His government will be like. Peace. wholeness, completeness, friendship. And again, it's ironic that Isaiah would even speak of the Prince of Peace since he was living in a war-torn time. Peace was just a dream. And if we look around us today, we might also be tempted to ask, where is true peace? There is war and rumor of war around us in the world. And all we need to do, as we've said before, is listen to the news or read the newspaper as we are constantly fed with news of crimes or difficult and terrible situations and much more? Where is the peace? Did true peace or hope for true peace die with Jesus on the cross 2,000 years ago? No, it didn't. True peace was established with Christ on the cross 2,000 years ago. Jesus Christ came to bring peace He came to mend that which was fragmented and to make whole and complete that which was broken. He came to end all wars and fighting, but the peace that He came to establish, we must understand, was much more than temporarily stopping the hostilities between two warring nations, for example. Jesus came to restore peace between God and man. But in order to do this, He had to break down the wall that separates man from God, that wall of sin. And He broke down that wall of sin when He was crucified, died and buried. But that's not all as we even confess tonight already. Jesus rose from the dead. He ascended into heaven. And He sits at the right hand of God the Father. Jesus is seated because He has brought peace. He has made us right with the Father. We read in God's Word that the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God. He is victorious. He is worthy to be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. He has come with highest honor. And it's through the characteristics described in these names that He also comes as a perfect ruler. Isaiah says in verse 7, Of the increase 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. People of God, I know that it's no secret to you, but Jesus Christ is the light that shines on those walking in darkness. He is the light of the world that illumines the path and leads on to the path, the only path that leads to the Father. He came to mend the separation between God and man that began in the Garden of Eden. He came to bring peace to that governmental administration that was disrupted when man sinned and God placed enmity between the woman and her seed and Satan and his seed. Jesus Christ sits on the throne of David. He is the fulfillment of the promise to David. That David's throne would be established forever. Christ's kingdom and His government include His church. The body of those who believe in Him, past, present, and future. And the Prince of Peace establishes and supports His kingdom with justice and righteousness, with an absolute standard of right and wrong. What a contrast to the kingdoms of this world. You see, if we scan back through the pages of our history books, we see that most of the governments of this world have been established on the foundation of oppression and injustice. And these same governments found their increase only through war. These worldly kingdoms have been quickly swept away as our history books also tell us. But this is not the case with the kingdom of Jesus Christ. His kingdom will last forever and ever. And it will always be changing in the sense that until He comes again, it will continually grow. Beloved, the government of Jesus Christ is not characterized by war, but by unending peace. Government and peace seems somewhat like a contradiction in terms, doesn't it? But in the church today, when it seems like we're losing ground, When we experience shake-ups and struggles, we are to remain firm in our mighty God. We have this promise recorded in Isaiah that the government of the Prince of Peace will not only increase, but as Isaiah says, it will last from that time on and forever. How is this possible? Because the child who was born, the son who was given so many years ago, has established a perfect kingdom and he is the perfect ruler. And Isaiah ends the text by saying the zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. In other words, all of this is a done deal. We consider the truth of God's Word this morning that what He says goes. It will not be changed. Our God deeply loves His church and He has a fervent desire to preserve His church. And only He can do these things that Isaiah talks about and He will accomplish this. Beloved for the world, Christmas 2002 will soon be over. It will be nothing but a memory. But for those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, His birth has a lasting effect. Every day we must look back through our binoculars in the same way that Isaiah looked forward through His. And we are called to focus on that child who was born, that son who was given, and in the power of the Spirit we must know beyond a doubt that the Savior has come. And He lives and reigns today. He has come in humility. He has come with highest honor. He has come as the perfect victorious ruler because of God's decision and God's grace. And that lasting effect for you and me includes the fact that for those who believe in Jesus Christ the Savior, we live day by day in the awareness of being saved. that's what we are to consider day by day that beautiful truth that I am saved that truth is real to the believer's conscience we live in the assurance of being guarded in Christ Jesus and therefore our lives take on a different character and it is our desire to influence our surroundings for the sake of Jesus including our work and our recreation and our home, our shopping, our classroom, our studying, and our everything. That character for you and me as believers is the peace of God that passes understanding. And that lasting effect is that the smile on the Christian's face or that is supposed to be on the Christian's face has real meaning as it reflects our hope in Christ. A hope that lasts for eternity. Jesus Christ established peace with God when He died on the cross for the sins of His people. He now sits, even at this moment, at the right hand of His Father because He is victorious. And if you believe in Jesus Christ, that He has brought you peace with God and that peace is not just for today, but it's forever. And you too are victorious in Him. But if Christ really has no place in your Christmas, then you have no peace with God and the only lasting effect for you is separation from God. Repent and believe today because there is no peace with God apart from Jesus Christ. Do you believe in Him? Do you confess Him as the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace? You see, what comfort we enjoy as believers. Because if God is for us, who can be against us? And the expected answer is no one. No one. Now that's a little good news today. And that's definitely something we're smiling about. Don't you think? Amen. Shall we pray? Dear Heavenly Father, once again as we bow before your throne of grace, We praise You that You will hear us for the sake of Jesus Christ. We thank You that indeed our wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, came, that He accomplished His work, that He lives and reigns today. We ask, O Lord, that You would strengthen us in our faith, that You would increase our assurance of that salvation in Your most holy name. We pray, Father, as well, that Your Word, this Word of the Gospel, would continue to go forth to ears that have never heard, that through it You would prick consciences, that You would change hearts, that indeed You would continue to increase the government of Jesus Christ. Father, we ask for Your blessing. We ask that You would continue to grant us all that we need. And may our celebration of Christ's birth be not just for this time of year, but may we rejoice each and every day as we consider the truth that as Your people we are saved both now and forevermore. In the name of Jesus Christ we pray these things. Amen.