This Christmas, we celebrate Christ’s incarnation, born of the Virgin Mary. The Prophet Isaiah foretold this hope, “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given” (Isa. 9:6). In Bethlehem, Jesus was to be born of a woman, not a man (Gal. 4:4). This is vital, because substitutionary atonement requires a sinless substitute — the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. But Isaiah declared more: Jesus was to be called, “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6). This was no fluke, but God’s resolved purpose, for, “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this” (Isa. 9:7). In this we have an unstoppable hope: the Messiah has come — Merry Christmas! 

 Sermon:https://churchandfamilylife.com/sermons/6948df0a1f15531a561fbb64

Isaiah 9, one of the pivotal prophecies of Christ is what I want to talk about, that unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. He's referring to the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The atonement requires a sinless substitute and the virgin birth safeguards it. But what Isaiah is coming to is he speaks about what the Messiah is doing and he first of all says that there will be no more gloom. He's banishing gloom from the hearts of his people even in the midst of really rough political and economic things going on in that time.

And then Isaiah says in Isaiah 9 that people will call him something. He's talking about a personal confession that the people who follow him will have. They're not just coldly reciting it, it's what they say in their hearts, even when life is hard. And the first thing you will say if you believe in Jesus Christ is that he is a wonderful counselor. The world tells you to go look inside of yourself.

Christ says come unto me. He never lies, he never misleads, he never runs out of wisdom. The second thing that you will say if you follow the Lord Jesus is that you'll say he's a mighty God, not a helpless Jesus, not safe for hallmark kind of Jesus. He's El Gabor, a warrior king. He's mighty God.

And what that means is that you don't need to fear the future, you don't need to fear the economy, you don't need to fear your own weakness. The third thing that you'll say is that he is everlasting father. And this is really important because there are many who do not have fathers or they have been failed by their earthly fathers. The Lord Jesus Christ who is in the image of the Father never fails. He will never leave you fatherless.

Finally, the fourth thing you'll say is that He's the Prince of Peace. He's not just talking about peace in the midst of circumstances. The whole context of this is a context of war and financial collapse. But Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God, Romans 5.1. The peace of God will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

And then Isaiah ends by saying, who's gonna pull this off? The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. In other words, God is unstoppable in the heart of the believer. And so the question is, what do you call him? What do you call him deep in your heart?

Is he a wonderful counselor to you? Is he mighty God to you? Is he everlasting father to you and prince of peace? The Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah has come. Merry Christmas.

Amen. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever.