Sermons

And His Name Shall Be Called

November 27, 2022 Speaker: Josh DeGroote Series: Advent

Topic: Advent Season Passage: Isaiah 9:6–7

Good morning. Today is the first day of Advent, which is the season in which Christians have for centuries celebrated the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world. The word advent comes from a Latin word meaning “a coming” or “an arrival” and there has never been an arrival like that of the eternal Son of God into the world through the incarnation. It is the arrival of all arrivals. This is what Christmas is all about. Joy to the world, the Lord has come. He has come! And because he has come, the earth is exhorted to receive her King!

With all the ways in which the world (and Christians) have corrupted the Christmas season - and that certainly has happened - the answer is NOT to dampen the merriment and celebratory nature of the season. Not at all. Rather, we should celebrate like Christians. Which means we have to be reminded, often, about the significance of the coming of Christ into the world, AND we need to be provoked to celebrate like Christians who understand - with gifts, music, good food, lights, trees, and all of it - and Christ at the center!

This is what I hope to help you do this Christmas season. To go overboard in all the right ways. Overboard in joy, overboard in generosity according to your ability, overboard in love for one another and for the Lord Jesus Christ. His coming was the dawn of redeeming grace, and the sun has been shining ever since. His coming was to save us from Satan’s power, when we were gone astray, and indeed for all who trust him, we have been saved from that power. 

Today, we look at a remarkable text which may be all too familiar to us - at least the first part. Verses 6-7 are among the most common passages quoted during this season and for good reason. Let me do so again:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will rest upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this. 

This prophecy from Isaiah, spoken 700 years before Christ was born, came at a time of incredible spiritual darkness. The moral or spiritual darkness was culminating in God’s judgment on the northern tribes of Israel. The judgment would be the Assyrians invading and ravaging the northern tribes. This was a word of hope for them. The Messiah would come and light would dawn on the northern tribes first. 

It was also a spiritually dark time when the fulfillment of this prophecy occurred, at the time of the birth of Christ. Amazingly, when the Magi came from the east looking for the King of the Jews, Herod asked the chief priests and scribes where the Messiah was to be born, and they told Herod, but stunningly had no interest in checking it out for themselves. The very one who held all their hopes had arrived, and they cared little about it. They were immersed in their corrupted religious practices and couldn’t be bothered that the Messiah had possibly been born. Stunning! That is a moral decay that’s hard to fathom. Then again, it’s not. 

We find ourselves in a time of deep corruption and moral decay and darkness. We live in the most prosperous nation in the history of the world, surrounded by immeasurable blessings, living off the spiritual capital of our forefathers, and yet we find ourselves spiritually destitute. This Christmas, we need a renewed faith in the glorious hope that dawned at the coming of Christ. “The dawn of redeeming grace…” When I say we need a renewed faith… what I mean is we need a spiritual awakening, to have our eyes opened… the eyes of faith, so that the explosive power of its truth is lodged in our souls and comes out of our fingertips. In the prologue of John’s gospel, John says the following:

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. ~ John 1:14

John really did see Christ’s glory in the flesh. John walked with him, touched him, heard him audibly. We don’t see him the same way. But this verse can be true of us. We can see him, behold him by faith. And we need to. To behold the glory of Christ by faith is our highest privilege in this life. John Owen said the following:

It is by beholding the glory of Christ by faith that we are spiritually edified and built up in this world, for as we behold his glory, the life and power of faith grow stronger and stronger. It is by faith that we grow to love Christ. 

This is exactly what we need. We need to be men and women… children full of faith, strong faith. So this morning, I want you to see, by faith: 1) The glory of His humility, 2) The glory of His Person, and 3) The glory of his empire.

The Glory of His Humility

To us a child is born, to us a Son is given… 

The incarnation (God becoming man without ceasing to be fully God) is an astounding miracle. One we cannot wrap our heads around, and praise God we can’t! But it is true. The eternal God became man. He emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man. The God of eternity, entered time. The Creator God entered into His creation and was born of a woman - a woman he made. He lowered himself all the way to become a single cell in the womb of Mary. He humbled himself to be laid in a manger that he made, to be nursed at Mary’s breast. The little child Mary held was the great “I Am.” Stunning. We might wonder why? Martin Luther helps us understand, at least partially, why Jesus came in such a humble way:

If Christ had arrived with trumpets and lain in a cradle of gold, his birth would have been a splendid affair. But it would not be a comfort to me. He was rather to lie in the lap of a poor maiden and be thought of little significance in the eyes of the world. Now I can come to him, as he reveals himself to the lowly and miserable…

The coming of Christ is a powerful act of God, but it is what Luther elsewhere calls God’s “left handed power”, power disguised in weakness. He stoops low to come to those who are low. And so, when God stoops low it is always an act of grace. Because we cannot get to where he is, he comes to where we are. And so verse 6 says, a child is born “to us”. A son is “given to us”. This is the language of sheer grace. What have we done to deserve such kindness? The answer of course is nothing. Grace doesn’t make a bit of sense to us. We often recoil at the freedom of God’s grace. We cannot control it, and he bestows it on whom he wills. But we live in a world in which generally speaking you sow and reap and you reap in proportion to how you sow. God’s grace is Him giving his great bounty to the undeserving. He stoops low to give us what we cannot get ourselves. Ultimately, Jesus stoops low to bring us to Himself. In his book Miracles, CS Lewis said,

But He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world up with Him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders.

He comes low, he stoops in order to lift. Of course, the end for which Christ came into the world was not to lay in the manger, but to grow to be a man who would bear the sin of the world on his shoulder in the ultimate act of humility, by dying in our place on the cross. You cannot make any of this happen. It’s already happened, and it cannot be undone. We are called simply to look in awestruck at the glory of the humility of the Lord Jesus Christ. 

 

The Glory of His Person (v. 6) 

And the government shall be on his shoulder, and his name shall be Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace…

First we see the government is on the shoulder of this child, this son given. He is One with authority, authorized to carry the empire of God forward. He is royalty. A King. And he’s a King with four names. And here we see the glory of the Person of Jesus Christ. 

When the bible speaks of different names for God, or gives him different names, what is that all about? For instance in the OT if you see a passage with “LORD” (all caps), it is the name Yahweh - God’s covenant name. However, if you see “Lord” (cap L and lower ord), it is most often the name “Adonai” which means sovereign one. And there are many, many others. What does all this mean? Well, each one of these names, communicate something to us about who God is. Here we see four names given to Christ. 

His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor. Some translations actually separate wonderful and counselor and I think the reason why is because the Hebrew word translated “wonderful” is a noun rather than an adjective. The word might be better translated as “wonder” or “marvel”. In fact, it is most often translated wonder, so I am compelled to simply follow suit and say that our Lord truly is a Wonder, he is a Marvel. If we are bored with Jesus Christ, trust me it is our problem, not his! 

He also is indeed a Wonderful Counselor. Paul says, Jesus Christ is not only the power of God, but also the wisdom of God. And how does he counsel us? He knows what we need. And he always gives good counsel to those who want it. Sadly we often don’t. We are often too content, like the Laodiceans, to rely on our own resources. But what did Jesus say to them? 

I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. - Revelation 3:18

He knows what we need. He counsels us through his word and Spirit. He is Wonderful Counselor.

His name shall be called Mighty God. El Gabor. El is God, Gibor is mighty. The child born, this Son given is none other than the mighty God. Much to the chagrin of the Jehovah’s Witnesses and every other group that denies the deity of Christ, this a clear affirmation that he is mighty God. There is no other. He was aware of this and he didn’t deny it. It’s one of the reasons why the Sanhedrin wanted to kill him. He claimed to be not just one with God in some figurative way, but truly and fully God - “I am” (John 8). He is El Gabor, mighty God. 

His name shall be called Everlasting Father. When we hear this, I hope you are at least thinking “wait a second… we are trinitarians.” He is the Son, not the Father. And that is true. But Jesus Christ is tender and merciful like a Father. He is eternally one with the Father (John 10:30), the image of the invisible God and Father (Colossians 1:15), He reveals the Father (John 14:9), he is the only way to the Father (John 14:6). He is Everlasting Father. 

And his name shall be called Prince of Peace. He is a Prince, and he is a Prince that brings peace. This was the message the angels sang of: “Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth…” Think of this. When this glorious invasion took place, rather than declaring war on this rebellious and dark world, the armies of angels came declaring peace. And for good reason, He’s the Prince of Peace. The prophecy in Micah 5 says that the Messiah doesn’t just bring peace, but he himself is our peace. Peace with God first and foremost. 

This is who our Messiah is. You can’t add to him, nor can you take anything away! We are called simply to look in awestruck at the glory of who our Lord is, and live in the light of it. He is Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

The Glory of His Empire (v. 7)

Of the increase of his government and of peace, there shall be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness, from this time forth and forevermore. - v. 7

So remember verse 6 says the government of God rests on the shoulders of Christ. Here we see that government and peace will increase and spread without end. The word government here means dominion, rule, reign, or empire. The word peace is the Hebrew word shalom, which is such a pregnant word, that it means completeness. Peace in the fullest sense of the world. This is a stupendous promise. Now we are tempted to completely spiritualize this or push it off into the millennial kingdom. 

I have a hard time doing that with the language of this verse. Listen: “Establishing [the kingdom], upholding it with justice and righteousness. From this time forth and forevermore”. From what time? It seems reasonable to say from the time of the child being born, the Son being given. All this language sounds like something that doesn’t come all at once, but gradually, over time - like a mustard seed growing. 

Do you remember the message of Jesus Christ when he began his public ministry? “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand…” We look around and see how things are and it seems as though the light is being snuffed out by darkness. It seems as though the kingdom of God is being thwarted. It seems as though the church is shaken. Athanasius lived in the 4th Century at a time when there was massive apostasy in the church, and much of the world still lay in darkness as to God’s truth. Nevertheless, he believed that because the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, a seed had been planted, the growth of which could never be stopped. John Calvin comments on verse 7. This is so good because it gives us a realistic picture of how things can look, but then points us to God’s promise. He said,

Though the kingdom of Christ is in such a condition that it appears as if it were about to perish at every moment, yet God not only protects and defends it, but also extends its boundaries far and wide, and then preserves and carries it forward in uninterrupted progression to eternity. We ought firmly to believe this, that the frequency of those shocks by which the Church is shaken may not weaken our faith, when we learn that, amidst the mad outcry and violent attacks of enemies, the kingdom of Christ stands firm through the invincible power of God, so that, though the whole world should oppose and resist, it will remain through all ages. We must not judge of its stability from the present appearances of things, but from the promise, which assures us of its continuance and of its constant increase

We sing the words “No more let sin and sorrow grow, nor thorns in fest the ground. He comes to make his blessing flow as far as the curse is found…” How far has the curse spread in the world? Everywhere. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there shall be no end. 

What guarantee do we have that this will happen? The last phrase of verse 7 says, “The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do it.” What more could we ask for? Who can stop Him? 

 

Advice or News

I remember hearing Martyn Lloyd Jones describe the difference between advice and news. Advice is counsel about something to do that hasn’t happened yet. News, on the other hand, is an announcement about something that has happened or that God promises to do. Since we live on this side of the coming of Christ, Isaiah 9:6-7 is an announcement that the King has come. It’s an announcement of who this King is in his glorious splendor. He is Wonderful, Counselor…. It’s an announcement of God’s invincible purpose to spread his empire far and wide. 

We must ask the Spirit to open our eyes by his grace, so that we see differently, believe God’s sure word of promise, and live in light of it.

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. ~ Isaiah 60:1-2

Let’s pray. 

More in Advent

December 17, 2023

Living Between Two Advents

December 10, 2023

Zechariah's Song of Praise

December 3, 2023

Mary's Song of Triumph

Join us Sunday at 

9:30am