As you sit, please turn now to Isaiah 9, which is our sermon text, Isaiah chapter 9. And you will notice that the chapter opens with the land in thick darkness, a darkness that can be felt has fallen on the land, impenetrable. That darkness, of course, speaks of the wretchedness of man's heart. the ignorance and the wickedness and the cruelty that have now become commonplace in the land that Isaiah is speaking to. As we come to read the promise of God in that context, let's ask for God's help in understanding. Heavenly Father, we're coming to your word now and it was spoken for our sakes. We would even imagine that Isaiah himself didn't fully understand what it was that the Spirit of Christ that was in him was indicating when he spoke of the glory of the Messiah. But Lord, we know because these things have happened in our day. And so we pray that you would shine the light of your Holy Spirit on this text, and may the meditations of our heart be pleasing to you, O Lord, our Redeemer. Nevertheless, the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, as when at first he lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her by the way of the sea beyond the Jordan in Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil, for you have broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every warrior's sandal from the noisy battle and garments rolled in blood will be used as burning and fuel of fire. For unto us a child is born, 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. Amen. Do you remember that early on in Jesus' public ministry, word got out about Him, and what happened is one friend told another, and there was a man called Philip. Jesus was his friend, and Philip went to find his friend, his name was Nathanael, and he said, we have found Him whom the prophets have spoken of, Jesus of Nazareth. And Nathanael said, Nazareth? Can anything good come out of Nazareth? I sometimes imagine people saying that of Gateshead. Can anything good come out of Nazareth? It's like, that place, nobody's even heard of it. Well, wrong, actually. Nazareth lies on the border between two tribes. Naphtali and Zebulun between the Jordan and the sea in a region called Galilee. Its pinpoint accuracy description is in the first verse that we just read. And Isaiah is saying, out of that place will come a great light for all the nations. Maybe you know that later in Jesus' ministry, just before he was arrested, the Pharisees came together in council, and their conversation was, how can we catch this man and put him to death? And one of their number, whose name was Nicodemus, said, does our law condemn a man before he's found guilty? And they turn on him and they say, search and see. No prophet has arisen from Galilee. Now Nicodemus kind of like lapsed into silence. He should have taken them to Isaiah chapter nine. Galilee of the Gentiles. Something magnificent is going to erupt on the scene in that place. But there's much more in our passage. Because as we're going to see, what Isaiah is saying, and I don't think Isaiah himself fully understood the depths of meaning in his revelation, which came from the Holy Spirit. As we're going to see, Isaiah is revealing that this great light will be a human child born in the ordinary way to an ordinary woman. When I say in the ordinary way, he wasn't conceived in the ordinary way, but he was born in the ordinary way. He had a natural birth. But he would also be Almighty God. That's the subject. of our sermon this morning. Now there's a technical word for that, and some of you will know it and some of you won't, but I'll tell it you, because it's always good to know technical words. The union of divine nature and human nature in the one person of Jesus Christ, theologians call the hypostatic union. And you might think that sounds a little bit technical, but in the hypostatic union, John Owen said, is the gospel. There is no good news. The angel has nothing to say unless in the one person of Jesus Christ there is both a human nature and a divine nature, which is why our catechism says Christ the Son of God became man by taking to himself a true body and a reasonable soul. being conceived by the power of the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary and born of her yet without sin. You maybe know Paul Levy who's the minister of a Presbyterian church in London and he's written a blog that says this, there was a moment where the king of angels became a little lower than the angels. The eternal Son of God unites Himself to our humanity. The Creator enters the creation. We cannot fully understand, but we can worship. And Rabbi Duncan, a historical figure, famously put it in these words, a little bit briefer and maybe more memorable, the dust of the earth now sits on the throne of the universe. So our subject this morning, straight out of the prophecy of Isaiah written 700 years before Jesus would be born, is this, God and man in two distinct natures and one person forever. But we're not going to give that as the title for the sermon. Let's just call this sermon, The God-Man. The God-Man. And there are three points. The God-man born a child, the God-man born a king, and the God-man born a wonder. Born a child, born a king, born a wonder. The God-man born a child. Have a look with me at verse six and the first part. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. Since the beginning of the world, almost, this child had been anticipated. Do you remember when Adam and Eve sinned against God and God appeared in the garden in the person of a judge? And he said these remarkable words to the devil, who had appeared in the form of a serpent. He said, I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed, that is your descendant, and her seed, that is her descendant, he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel. That was the first prophecy, that a child would be born to a woman who would end up being the serpent crusher. So when Eve gave birth to the first man, Cain, she got excited. Her hopes were raised. She thought, maybe this is the one. And she named him Cain. She said, I've got a man from the Lord. She knew that the promise was that a man would be born into the world. And this man would destroy the works of the devil. Well, her hopes were to be rudely dashed. Cain grew up to be a father of the devil, a child of the devil himself. He murdered his brother. And subsequently, one figure after another born into the world appears to be the one we've been waiting for. Noah. Is this the one? His father names him Rest. Noah's father says, this one will give us rest. Maybe he's imagining that this at last is the promised Messiah. Well, he was half right. Noah foreshadows the Messiah in creating the ark in which the people of God would be preserved. It points to Christ, doesn't it? But he wasn't Christ. What happens when he comes out of the ark? He gets drunk and the curse returns to the earth. And then, of course, we have Abraham. And Abraham appears such a figure of promise. Is he the one? Is he the one who is to come? And then he disappoints us. His faith fails. And then after Abraham, we have Moses. And after Moses, we have David. And after David, we have Solomon. Solomon, the man of peace. Surely this is the one who will usher in a reign of peace and destroy the works of the evil one. And Solomon disappoints. And his kingdom is split in two. And all Israel's hopes are dashed. That's the pattern of the Old Testament. Hopes are raised, hopes are dashed. Hopes are raised, hopes have dashed. The child has not come. And Isaiah at last is saying, unto us, a child is born. 700 more years were going to elapse before the child came. But in Isaiah's mind, this was so certain, it was as though the birth had already taken place. Notice this word, unto us. A single word in the original. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. This child is going to be for us. In chapter 7, two chapters before, Isaiah has revealed the identity of the child as God with us. Now he reveals the identity of the child as God for us. Both things are true. You maybe remember we read the angel's announcement to the shepherd. There is born unto you this day in the city of David a savior. The angels were saying this savior is not for us angels. He's born into the world for you. This is a real human being. He's one of you, He is with you, and He is for you. Now, that's why we said the Nicene Creed. Let me just remind you what it was that you repeated there. For us men and for our salvation, He came down from heaven and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate. for us men and for our salvation. We have a tradition which perhaps you have as well on Christmas Day, presents under the tree. The little ones will go and get a present and they'll read the label and then they'll run and they will give it to the person whose name is on the label. And sometimes the writing on the label isn't that clear and sometimes the labels fall off and the present goes to the wrong person. And when that happens, you hand it on to the person that it was intended for. Because the whole point of a present is it's a gift of love intended for somebody for whom it is just right. It doesn't work if it goes to the wrong person. Here is a child who will be born unto us. Unto who? unto the world. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever, whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Here is a child who will be one of us, who will be with us, and who will be for us. Every one of us, not just the people in this church, but for the world. Now we're going to ask a difficult question. Why was it necessary that this child should be a real flesh and blood human being? Why was it necessary that God should take on flesh? I'm looking at the children, but I think that's a hard question for the adults to answer. Why was it not possible for God to come as God and atone for our sins? Well, let me read you from the Heidelberg Catechism. I know we normally, when we talk about catechisms, we normally mean the Westminster Catechism. If you've not discovered the Heidelberg Catechism, you must discover it. It's absolutely marvelous. This is what the Heidelberg Catechism says. The justice of God required that the same human nature which had sinned should likewise make satisfaction for sin. And then it reminds us of Ezekiel chapter 18, which says, the soul who sins shall die. And the logic is really very simple. It was man who sinned. It is necessary, therefore, that man should make satisfaction for sin. Paul puts it in 1 Corinthians like this. Since by man came death, by man also came the resurrection of the dead. Or in Romans 5, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned, Even so, through one man's righteous act, the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life. Augustine. We have to get in every sermon there has to be an Augustine quote. Here's this one. The very same nature was to be assumed, which was to be delivered. Augustine has this beautiful pithy way of summarizing something really profound in just a few words. Say it again. The very same nature was to be assumed, which was to be delivered. God had to take on human flesh because he had to die. God cannot die. God had to take on human flesh because he had to shed his blood. God cannot shed his blood, but he can if he takes on human flesh. Now before we move on to the second point, we do need to apply these words because they are altogether wonderful. Remember what Paul Levy said, where we cannot understand, let us worship. And it's okay not to understand this. But it's not okay not to worship. What do you do when you receive a gift? Children, what do you do when you receive a gift? You accept it. That's the first thing you do. Thank you. And the second thing you do is you respond in gratitude. And your relationship with the giver is deepened. There's a bond of connection between you and the one who gave. That's the application. Will you not accept Jesus Christ as God's gift of love to you? Born a child, a real child, to a real mother through real birth pangs. Let's move on to our second point, born a king. And this is in the second half of our text. And the government will be upon his shoulder. Christ, the son of God, took on flesh in order to be king, our king. And as our king, he would rule over us defend us and destroy the oppressor. Now, we've already read it before our text. In verse 4, you have broken the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. What's the day of Midian? What is the day of Midian? Who knows? Well, We read about it in Judges chapter six. Israel was under the tyranny of a people called the Midianites. And there were so many of them, they're described as locusts covering the face of the earth. They eat all the produce that the Israelites produce. And their tyranny is, as it were, God's object lesson to the Israelites. He said, you will not have me to rule over you? Well then, see how you like having an earthly king. And the Midianites terrorize the Israelites until they cry out to the Lord. And the Lord hears their cry and he raises up, do you know? Gideon. Gideon for Midian, that's easy to remember. Gideon, Gideon's threshing wheat in a wine press of all places, he's not very courageous, he's hiding. The angel appears to him, the Lord is with you, mighty men of valor. And Gideon responds, fearfully at first, but he raises up an army of 32,000 men and he's all set to fight against the Midianites and God says, stop. too many men. It's too many men. Lest Israel claim glory for itself against me, saying, my own hand has saved me. So God sends 99% of that army away, and with just 300 men, Gideon surrounds the Midianite army as many as locusts. Even their camels are too many to count. And the moment comes, it's the middle of the night and all of Gideon's men, you know the story, they smash the clay jars and out comes these blazing torches. The people who walked in darkness saw a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light shone forth. And of course, the Midianites were utterly terrified. They fall on each other. 120,000 men who drew the sword kill each other. 15,000 remain. They escape across the Jordan. Gideon Hotfoot in pursuit until he wipes the entire army out. That was the day of Midian. And God is promising another day of Midian. And another Gideon. But this Gideon would go on to inherit a kingdom, that would never fail. Look at verse 7, of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end. Gideon works this mighty battle, victory and then he falls into dishonor and he dies and is buried and Israel goes back to its old way but this new Gideon will work such a victory over sin, that not just the external oppressor, but the cause of the oppression, sin itself, that sin which pollutes our minds and weighs down our nature and makes us vile in the sight of God and enslaves us and makes us a prisoner to its lusts and renders us liable to punishment both in this life and in the next, will be destroyed. The child, Jesus Christ, will break the yoke of sin. He will remove the rod with which we are beaten because he's removed the sin that invites that. Well, what kind of a child must it be? We've seen it's a real child, a human child, a child who is for us. We've seen that it was a child born to be king, that is a child who would defeat our greatest enemy which is sin. And that takes us to the latter part of our text in verse 6, and his name And by the way, in the Bible, a name is never just a label. It's always a description. And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. There are probably four names here. I know some Bibles have a comma between wonderful and counselor, but most commentators agree that there are four names here. And let's briefly look at the four names. Wonderful, counselor. That name wonderful, in Hebrew the word is pele, is actually shorter than wonderful, it's just simply wonder. It's not an adjective. Wonder. Now what's significant about that word wonder, excuse me, is that in the Bible the word wonder is only ever used for what God has done. It is never used about people. A really good example would be Samson's birth. And perhaps you remember how Samson's father, Manoah, asks the angel who's just appeared to him and said, you're going to have a baby boy. He says, what is your name, so that when these things come to pass, we may honor you. And the angel of the Lord says to him, why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful, Pele. The angel of the Lord is saying, even if I told you my name, you wouldn't get it. It's beyond your understanding. It is wonderful, it is awesome. What does Manoah do? He turns to his wife and he says, we shall surely die because we've seen God. He understood, he had seen God. And we're to understand in this passage, his name shall be called wonder. That's a very significant revelation. This is a child who is Almighty God. But not just wonder, wonder counselor. Do you remember Paul's words to the Colossians? In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Think where Christ came from. He came from the right hand of the Father. He was intimately acquainted with all of the counsels of Almighty God. He is the second person of the Trinity in coming to earth. This is why he was a great light, because he shines into the darkness of our ignorance the truth of God. He reveals what has been hidden from the beginning. Wonder Counselor, second name, Mighty God. Well, if you weren't persuaded from the word wonder that Christ was God, I don't know how you can get out of this one. Mighty God. Could there be any more persuasive testimony to the fact that Jesus Christ is God? Matthew Henry says, he will have the strength to go through with his undertaking. He would be able to save to the uttermost. He would be able to do what only God can do. And we asked the question, why must the mediator be truly man? And we gave an answer to that. Why must the mediator be truly God? Well, this is what the catechism says. So that by the power of his Godhead, he might bear in his manhood the burden of God's wrath. Have you ever thought about that? Imagine if Jesus Christ was a mere man, then he would have collapsed, he would have been utterly destroyed. by the burden of God's wrath on the cross. He had to be God in order that by the power of his Godhead he might bear in his manhood the burden of God's wrath. And so the catechism says, obtain for and restore to us righteousness and life. Everlasting Father. That's the hardest one I think. What does it mean? We're not used to thinking of the Son described as the Father. Well, I'll offer you Matthew Henry's explanation. He says that is Father of Eternity. And I'll offer you E.J. Young's explanation. That is, the Messiah acts towards his people like a father, now and forever, guarding his people and supplying their needs. And then finally, Prince of Peace. We've already said that Solomon's name means man of peace. And we've already said that in his time there was peace, but it was temporary. No sooner had he died than his kingdom split in two. Civil war erupted. Decades of bloodshed and chaos. But of the God-man Jesus Christ, it can be said 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. Why peace? Because as the God-man, he will remove the cause of war. What is the cause of war? Human sin. But for human sin to be removed, there must be a state of peace between God and man. Not only must man be at peace with God, but more importantly, God must be at peace with us. This the God man achieved once for all by the sacrifice of himself as our righteousness. Therefore, brothers and sisters, to use the words of Paul in Romans 5 as we finish, therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. May God bless our reflections on the hypostatic union, the glorious message that Jesus Christ was God and man in two distinct natures, yet one person forever, and therefore able to save to the uttermost all that come to him. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we began by admitting that we couldn't understand these things, and we conclude by confessing that we still can't understand these wonderful truths, but we believe them, we accept them by faith, and we pray that you would help us to receive your gift the Lord Jesus Christ who was made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. And if there are any here who don't yet accept this glorious gift by faith, Lord, open their hearts, give them a longing that Jesus might be their savior. In whose name we pray, amen. conclude our worship with the words of another incarnation, Him, which is based on the passage we've read. The number is 218, 218. To us, a child of hope is born. To us, a son is given. Him shall the tribes of earth obey. Him, all the hosts of heaven.