This afternoon I want to speak to you from Isaiah 9 verses 6 and 7, which is a very famous passage of scripture, especially around Christmas time. So I hope that you will appreciate this. I want to be able to speak to you about the zeal of the Lord of hosts in relation to this particular text of scripture. Let me read it for you first and then we'll pray just briefly and then I'll tell you what I'd like to say. It says in Isaiah 9, 6 and 7, for unto us a child is born and unto us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder. and his name 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. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and establish it with judgment and justice. From that time forward, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Well, let's look to God in prayer just for a minute. Oh Lord, we come here eager to set forth the truth of these verses and to portray you as you truly are, the greatness of your glory, Lord Jesus. So we pray that we would all be able to receive these truths and to benefit by them in the coming minutes, in Jesus' name, amen. Well, we're told here at the end of verse seven that the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform these things. This is what we'll bring all these things about. And the things that are being mentioned here are the things related to Christ's birth, most of them, and about what he would be like in his greatness. and His glory. So in this message I would like to link the zeal of the Lord of hosts, first of all to the child born, second to the son given, and third to the names and titles of this glorious person that's spoken up here. Now it's good for us to remember that these verses were written some 700 years before Christ was born, and yet they tell us quite a bit about Him. First of all, I want to bring to your attention, it was the zeal of the Lord of hosts that caused a child to be born who would be our Savior. The Savior of all people who will place their faith in Him. What a great thing it says to think about. The us, in the immediate context of the book of Isaiah, when it says, for unto us a child is born, is that Christ was given to the Jewish nation and people. I don't know if you've ever thought about this much, but the Jewish people were, according to God's purposes, the only people that God set His love on before Christ came into the world. The only nation of people. The only race of people that God set His love upon. And the reason for that is because of the fact that people were so sinful after the world was created. Maybe you remember this, that God actually had to destroy the world with a flood in the days of Noah. And only eight people were saved by being on the ark. Everybody in the world died. And then from Noah and his family grew the whole race as it is today. God promising that he wouldn't bring a flood. Again, promising with the rainbow as a sign that he would not destroy the world in a flood. ever again. But I think it's important for us to understand that Jesus was sent first of all as the promised Messiah to the Jewish people and that's what's being talked about here in these verses. God would let the nations of the world go their way for thousands of years. worship whoever and whatever they wanted to, but God did not save very many of them. Now he did save some, like Ruth, you'll remember was a Gentile, and Rahab in the days of Joshua, had Jericho there, and there were others that the Lord saved. But I want you to see here that, well the Ninevites, remember them too, they were 100,000 people probably. I think it was 120,000 people, wasn't it? They didn't know their difference between their right hand and their left, and yet the Lord had mercy on them. But when the fullness of time came, then God sent forth His Son, who was born of a woman, and born under the law that He might redeem a people for God's own possession, and that would include many billions of Gentile people as well. If anything is going to happen in the rest of this church age, which it will, we can be sure that many, many millions and probably billions of people will be saved before the end of time, before Christ comes back again. But I'm saying at a specific time when the 70 weeks of Daniel's prophecy were fulfilled, then Christ was born. And when Christ came into the world, he fulfilled that prophecy. He was born of Mary and his stepfather, Joseph. Joseph wasn't his father, but God was his father. And Joseph was troubled about this, if you'll recall. He thought that Mary had been unfaithful to him. And that's why she was going to have a baby, because he knew the baby couldn't be his. but an angel was sent to him to explain these things to him and tell him that this child was not conceived by any unfaithfulness on Mary's part with some other man, but this child was conceived by the Holy Spirit. And you see, there was a reason for that. The reason for that was that for any of us sinful people to have a savior from our sins, there had to be a child born who couldn't be anything other than absolutely perfect in the sight of the holy God. And this is because all the people who are descended from Adam, without exception, are all sinners. So Jesus had to be different. Jesus had to be perfect. And the way that he could be perfect was if the Holy Spirit formed him in the womb of Mary as a man. What an incredible thing the incarnation is. Do you believe in the virgin birth? If you're a Christian, you really must. You really must. Because if Jesus wasn't virgin born, then Jesus came into the world as a sinner. But we know from the Scriptures that Jesus came into this world and he was without sin. And indeed, Jesus lived his whole life without sin until he went to the cross and died for our sins. there so that we could be saved. So we've been born into the world with sin in our nature, passed on to us from Adam, but this verse that we're thinking about tells us that this child who would be born could not come into the world in the way that children normally come into the world, which is why the Holy Spirit had to do this gracious work in Mary, in her womb. I'm saying this is the zeal of the Lord of hosts, zealous for your salvation and for mine, for this to take place. Because not one of us could, or any couple among us, could ever bring forth a child who would be a savior for ourselves or for any other sinful person in the world, no one in all of human history. By the way, that's the reason why you must believe in Jesus and not in some other religion or some other person. Jesus alone can save because Jesus is a savior. Remember, the angel told Mary that you shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. So, ever since Satan instigated the fall of man in the Garden of Eden in the beginning of the world, God was zealous. for our salvation. Now that first prophecy in Genesis 3.15 says it all, doesn't it? I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed, and he shall bruise or crush your head. Satan and you, Satan, shall bruise his heel. Well, that's what happened at the cross. And what a mighty work our Lord Jesus did there at the cross. So Jesus when he's speaking to someone during the time of his earthly ministry said salvation, he was talking to the woman at the well, is of the Jews. You can thank the Lord that our Lord was a Jew. Salvation came from the Jews because of the promises given to Abraham. And there was a certain and specific line of people that would be descended from Abraham, called the seed, all the way down to Jesus, who would be the seed, capital S. And because he was the seed, he said in John 12, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains by itself. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. And that's what happened at the cross, is that his death bore much fruit. We just sang a few minutes ago, providentially, Come thou long expected Jesus born to set thy people free. from our fears and sins, release us, let us find our rest in the Israel strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art, dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart. So beloved, the reason that we Gentiles can sing this song as well as Jews is because when Jesus was born and when he grew up, he undertook our salvation. Do you see that? And he knew that he had to fulfill and keep all of God's holy law, all of God's commandments. Always keep them from the right motive of love to God and men. And he had to do that perfectly. So he had to have this fervent love, this zeal for the salvation of men. And this he had, and fulfilled the law he did. And in fulfilling God's holy law, then the Apostle Paul tells us that he broke down the barrier between Jew and Gentile, and made them into one new people, that is the New Testament Church. Are you thankful for the New Testament Church? The New Testament Church is composed not only of Jews, like the Old Testament Church, but Jews and Gentiles. As I've been trying to say to you, what a glorious truth this is, that you and I have been brought into the commonwealth of spiritual Israel. And that there is neither Jew nor Gentile, slave or free, or male or female, you're all one body in Christ. And that's why this child had to be born, I'm saying. That's what he had to do. That's how you came to have a Savior. That is if you're saved. Now, you should understand too that you're not automatically saved. I think some people get the wrong impression. They think that since Jesus has died that all people are automatically saved. They're all automatically Christians, but it's not the case. Instead, it is that he who believes in Jesus shall be saved. And sometimes even believing in Jesus splits families right down the middle. And Jesus says, I came not to bring peace, but a sword. And people are set against each other because they don't believe that they need to be saved to be a Christian. But I'm saying to you that that doesn't mean if you've had that kind of experience that you can't even pray here today, even at this hour, and find this great salvation that I'm talking to you about right now. So I'm saying come to this child, Jesus, even if you never have. And you'll find forgiveness of your sins and eternal life. And second, it was the zeal of the Lord of hosts that unto us a son was given. It says, unto us a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulder. So we've seen why a child needed to be born if we were to be saved. Now we need to understand why a son needed to be given. A son needed to be given in order that God could become a man. I wonder if you've thought about this before, that God would take upon himself human flesh and a nature like ours, except with no sin. And indeed, these two natures of God and man needed to be joined together in order that we could be saved. Why is that, you ask? Well, it's so that God's justice and His mercy would both be satisfied. Now, you know that God is a just God and He must punish sin. He's either got to punish it on you or he had to punish it on Christ. And he punished it on Christ in order that he would not have to punish you eternally and everlastingly. And so that was why a son was given. A son, the only begotten son of the Father, was sent. by the Father into this world in order that you and I might be saved. These two natures together in one blessed person. What I'm trying to show you here is that nobody could ever redeem their fellow brother or give them a ransom, give God a ransom for their soul? You ever thought about it? How much money would you pay for the redemption of your own soul or somebody else's? Well, even if you were to give all that you had, in money or any other valuable that you had, or even your own person to die for them, you would not be able to purchase their redemption. But you know something? It was because Jesus is God, as well as man, that the value of His sacrifice and the value of His righteousness are so infinitely great that when you believe in Him, they are given to you. Do you see what I'm saying? This is really a precious truth because that's why we believe in the deity of Christ. Jesus was a man, yes, but Jesus wasn't just a man or only a man. He was also fully God. And since He was fully God and fully man, He could satisfy the justice of God fully. And as a man, He could suffer on our behalf and also obey God's law perfectly on our behalf. And therefore, when we believe in Him, we are really given something tangible, spiritually, as a gift of God. And that is, He gives us a gift of life in Jesus' name. So we come to have eternal life as a gift. And we're born again by the Spirit of God. And we're justified freely by the blood of Jesus Christ. And so we actually have this real redemption, a real buying back from the guilt and defilement and power of sin. That's the zeal of the Lord of hosts that I'm trying to tell you about here this afternoon. All this was done out of love from the Father and love by the Son and love by the Spirit to people like ourselves who really didn't deserve this great gift or were worthy of it. But thirdly, I want you to think even more about the titles. that are given to our Lord Jesus Christ here in these verses. The descriptive titles of this glorious person that I want to link to the zeal of the Lord of Hosts and it says in his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. There's so much packed into these verses I'll only just have A very few short minutes to be able to tell you about them, but let me see if I can do it. First, He is wonderful, or a wonderful counselor. The Lord Jesus is wonderful in His person, wonderful as God with all of His divine attributes, infinite in wisdom and understanding, and eternal and unchangeable in His being. He is God of one essence with the Father, the radiance of his glory, the exact representation of his nature, in the incarnation his deity was joined together with a true human nature which was in every way perfect. So even though as God, Christ is impassable, that is that nothing can really move him or move him away from what he wants to do or feel or think or say, that nevertheless we have one here in the Lord Jesus who has great feelings of love and zeal and concern for the salvation of sinners. He's able to sympathize with our weaknesses, which are due to our own sins, sometimes even. Our own ignorance, sometimes. So this is what makes Christ's counsel so wonderful, that is the things that he said. All the people that he preached to, to repent and believe in the gospel, he truly loved them. And He truly sought their highest welfare. So, in this case we find that the Gospel itself is primarily concerning Christ Himself. Do you see that? So when someone says, I want to preach to you the Gospel, if they don't preach Christ, they're not preaching the Gospel. And if they don't preach Christ as being fully God and fully man, they're not preaching the Gospel. You have to have both and that's what the Incarnation brought to us. So that we could have a Savior and a guide and tell the truth and actually have a friend. Jesus is the friend of sinners. And so that's what makes Christ's counsel so wonderful. Is that Jesus seeks your highest welfare in everything that he has done and everything he does now from the right hand of the Father. He is wonderful in his comprehension of all that you need to know God. His being a wonderful counselor is found in all of his teaching, and that being the only way to eternal life. I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except by me, he says. So we have all this truth, amazingly, written down for us in the Bible. That's why, as a pastor, I often encourage people, if you don't have a Bible, get one, and if you have one, you need to read it. And it's because of the fact that there is so much for you there of spiritual truth that will do you spiritual good if you will only read it. Many people have a Bible but don't read it. Well, it won't do you the good that it could if you don't read it. But let me say this, that his counsel is wonderful because it's also accompanied by his power. He is very wonderful in terms of the promises of His Word. He stands behind them with His almighty power. Now that Jesus is raised from the dead, He says, I have all power in heaven and earth. If He says, I have all power in heaven and earth, it means that He has all power in heaven and earth. So if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain of difficulty, be removed and it will be removed from you. because of the power that's in Christ. I mean, if you ask these things according to His will, He does them. When He says He's very wonderful and that He's always with you, He says, Lo, I am with you always. even to the end of the age, he says. So his teaching and counsel in this regard is established very practically to you. You might think that Jesus is up in heaven and you're down here on earth and really you don't get to see him right now and so you don't really have an interaction with him. But beloved, you have the Holy Spirit in your heart and life. if you have believed in Jesus. And since that's the case, He is always with you. He says, I will never leave you, nor forsake you. So whether it's your brightest day or your darkest hour, that Jesus is always there with you, whether you realize that or not. And sometimes I think that we really don't realize it like we should. Another thing that we should glory in, when it says wonderful counselor, is that we can understand that we are utterly dependent upon him for grace. Jesus says, without me you can do nothing. And he means that spiritually primarily. But if we understood how sovereign God really is and how close to us Jesus really is, we would realize how utterly dependent upon him we are day by day for everything. that we need and everything that we desire to do or grow up into in terms of becoming more like Him. Now, if you know the Lord, you will appreciate what I'm saying here to you. Now you're gonna grow to appreciate it more and more because you're gonna see the surpassing greatness of the power of Christ in order for you to do what is right. This is very important that you understand these things because this is how you can live to God's glory and truly love other people around you. Because the power and the wisdom to do the things that you want to do, to obey God and to glorify Him, it comes from Christ. It does not come from you. in your essential strength. Your essential strength spiritually is something that is always given to you. Grace is a gift that keeps on giving. And that keeps on giving is personal between you and Jesus. He keeps on giving you this grace as long as you live and He builds your faith, your hope, and your love as you go through this Christian life. You know, that's what makes you as a believer in Christ more joyful than other people that don't know Him, or at least it should. It's because He's right there with you and He's working His precious grace into your heart and giving you the power to live the Christian life in this way that you'll joy and rejoice in it. Jesus is well qualified to sit at the right hand of the Father. It says from that vantage point that he's going to sit there until God says he's going to sit there at God's right hand until the Father makes all of his enemies the footstool for his feet. Wow. I mean, that's a very great thing that we're talking about here. As the mighty God, It's mentioned in our text here he's going to someday return, Jesus is someday going to return in great glory and judge the world in righteousness as the mighty God in his second coming he's going to bring an end to all rule and power and authority and he's going to destroy our last enemy. Do you know who that is? Death. death is the last enemy. And so when Jesus returns, death will be destroyed forever. And at that time, Jesus will also be seen as the everlasting Father, or the Father of a vast number, it can be translated, or the Father of eternity, it can be translated. So the title of Father here, Everlasting Father, does not so much respect His deity as it does His position as Father in relation to His Church. his brethren, his spiritual seed. In Isaiah 8, 18, Jesus prophetically says of himself, here I am and the children whom the Lord has given me. We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts, the very words that are used in Isaiah 9, 6. So when he comes in his glorious second coming, Jesus is going to do a number of things. He's going to judge the world and then he's going to burn up this world with fire, the old heaven and the old earth are going to be burned with fire. And he's going to recreate the world, new heavens and new earth in which will dwell righteousness, no sin. in that coming day when Jesus comes back and he will be the father of the world to come, the father of the everlasting age. We can understand these verses, the father of eternity. But even now we know him as the father of all strength and the father of all goodness. to ourselves, the one whose fatherly love and faithfulness surrounds all believers with a care far surpassing human understanding," one of the commentators says. Well, he's also called her the Prince of Peace. And with this, I'll end this message. But his purpose in coming into the world was to make peace between God and man. And when He was born, there were angels who suddenly came, you'll recall this, to a group of shepherds outside of Jerusalem. And this multitude of the heavenly hosts were praising God, and they were saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men. So what I'm trying to say to you here is that God does not continually make war against sinners who do not understand the meaning of life. But what he does is he demonstrates to them his goodwill in the gospel. His goodwill toward all men. In other words, he comes bringing peace with the gospel. Do you have peace here this afternoon with God, the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit? Do you have peace with God? through our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember what I said before, you're declared righteous in the sight of God because of the righteousness of Christ, and you're forgiven of all your sins when you believe in Him for that great gift. And when you do so, the Bible tells us that you will have peace with God. Therefore, having been justified, we have peace with God. through our Lord Jesus Christ. God is not opposed to you. He is for you. His wrath is no longer upon you. It has been taken away and laid on Christ at the cross. And therefore, He can bless you and approve of you and love you for Jesus' sake, even though there's much left to do in your learning what is right and wrong and how to live that way. He'll be with you in it, and you'll have peace in this. In fact, you'll not only have peace with God, you'll have the peace of God, like it says in Philippians 4, 7, and the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your heart and your mind. in Christ Jesus. Well I hope that you'll know the reality of this peace guarding your heart and your mind this this Christmas and even today. Let's pray together. Lord we thank you for this time and we pray that we would all receive these truths and benefit by them in joy and glory in them in Jesus name. Amen.