If I consider it a great blessing, it's not often I get to bring two Christmas sermons in one week. privilege and the pleasure on the last Lord's Day to bring a message concerning God's reason for sending forth Christ, his Son. And of course, the ultimate reason is his own glory, as this is why he does all things. He does all things for himself. He sent forth Christ to redeem his people, and he ultimately did it for himself, for his own glory, for his own namesake. But also as we consider the great incarnation of Christ and God choosing a people unto himself and pledging these people to his son. He had the great motivation of love. And we looked at John 3.16, for God so loved the world. And we looked at the world in a general sense, because obviously God has a love for all of His creation. The incarnation of Christ is a token of mercy upon all men. And if Christ had not come, if God had not had a plan of redemption for His people, then the only thing that we would have, there would be no mercy, there would only be the judgment of God. So the great joy that human beings have, the great goodness that they enjoy, the continued rising of the sun, the continued watering of the crops, and the continued good things that we have to enjoy are all based upon the incarnation of Christ. But particularly, His love upon the elect, His covenant people, the apple of His eye, that He sent forth Christ to die for a particular people, and that the Lord Jesus Christ came for His bride, and a love for them, a passion for them. This is truly at the very heart of the Christmas season, that God so loved us that He sent forth Christ, His beloved Son. Tonight, I want to pursue a different direction. I actually didn't decide to cover this particular text until yesterday. I actually had a different message for tonight, but this is such a wonderful passage that I want to look at tonight. I want to direct your attention to Isaiah chapter 9, and this was one of the passages that we read on Sunday night. Isaiah 9, verses 6 and 7. It's a very familiar passage, and it is at the very heart of the Christmas message. Unto us, verse 6, Isaiah 9, 6, for unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever, the zeal of the Lord of Hosts will perform this." Tonight, as we consider the person of Christmas. I want to, for a while, a bit season tonight, to bring us away from all of the tradition, to take us away from the story of a baby in the manger, the story of Bethlehem, of the inn, and the innkeeper, and the wise men, and the shepherds, and all these things that that surround the thoughts often during this time of the year with all the Christmas pageants, the stable and the manger and all the things that often attract our attention to the birth of Christ. And I wanted to direct our attention more to the Christmas story from God's perspective. Because we have here unto us A child is born. And this child is not just a typical child. This child is indeed the living God. And to look at it in the context of the passage here, in chapter 9 and verse 2, we read, The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath light shined. As we can see often in the book of Isaiah and often in the prophets that there are multiple interpretations, not interpretations, multiple fulfillments of various texts as we consider the prophecies. Often there's an immediate situation that's going on, such as the case here. And I disagree with those that say, no, the prophecies have one fulfillment and you're wrong to try to read anything else in it. No, I think they're wrong. There's an immediate context, and so as we see verse 2, There's immediate context, for surely as the Assyrians are raining down upon Israel, surely there was a great shadow upon the land, a great kind of darkness upon the land. And then to look at it a little further out, surely with Israel, prior to the coming of Christ there was a season when the lights went out if you will all prophetic utterance had come to an end when literally when when Christ came into the world or more particularly before John the Baptist entered the scene as once again bringing prophetic words before the children of Israel there was indeed great darkness upon the land and then to broaden it out a little further All of humanity are in a terrible curse of darkness. And we can really read verse 2 in all three of these ways. In the very immediate sense, Assyria had brought a great shadow of darkness upon the land. And then, indeed, before this child would come, Israel was in a terrible darkness. There was a famine in the land, for the Word of God. And then to bring it in its universal sense, there is indeed a great blackout upon humanity. Then Christ entered in, and there was a bright light that shined upon the world. Indeed, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. John 1, verses 4 and 5. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. E. J. Young said, quote, The whole work of Christ and all the blessings which he brings may be characterized by one word, light. That's the work of Christ. And indeed, light has shone upon this world of darkness. And it's the glory of the Gospel, 1 Peter 2.9, that you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So how in the world was this possible? that the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. How is this possible? Well, it's possible because of Christmas. Christmas was necessary. In other words, Christ had to come. A son had to be given. And Isaiah describes it in verse 6, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. Isaiah says that the end of all conflict, really the passage here is talking about conflict. Look at verse 5. For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood, but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. In other words, all the instruments, all the garments, all the tools of war will be burned with fire with the coming of this child. So Isaiah says, the end of all conflict and the shining forth of glorious light is made possible through the coming of this child. Who is this child? Well, he's God. He's fully God. This child is Emmanuel, God. Isaiah has already spoken about him in the seventh chapter, Isaiah 7, 14. Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign. Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Emmanuel. What's Emmanuel mean? God with us. How do we know that? Well, we know it for one thing, because Jesus told us so. Matthew 1.23, the New Testament tells us so. Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Who is this child? The child is God. But on the other hand, he's man. So it says, unto us a child is born. So it's a human child. He's born. There's a birth to be brought. And then unto us a son is given. So he's the prophesied son of David. He's the eternal son of God. And then he was the one to be given. For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. In this verse, we find several wonderful names of this child. That's why I wanted to take us away from the manger. We have such low views of the Christmas season. All we can picture is a baby. This is no mere baby. This is the living God and the names used to describe this child are excellent to consider. Raise your thoughts during this Christmas season beyond just this small baby. And that's fine if you want to consider a baby. He was a baby. He was born a child. But he's so much more than just a baby in a feed trough. Because we're given some names here. And it's tonight I want to lay these names before you because they are indeed excellent to consider. Now, I particularly wanted to bring it tonight out of the King James Version for a particular reason. In fact, I left my King James Bible at home and had to make sure Jason brought it. Had they not brought it, I would have been in a fix. because there's a particular reason why I want to bring it from the King James, and it's this. Because the King James Version gives us five names. Five different names. The New American Standard and the ESV only give us four names. The Latin Vulgate, by the way, gives us six names for this child that is given. Because the Vulgate takes Mighty and God as two separate names. But the King James divides Wonderful, and there's a comma in the King James. Wonderful. Separate word. Separate name. Counselor. Separate. Where the New American Standard and the ESV and many of the modern texts will take the comma out and simply say Wonderful Counselor. but I want to divide it because the two names independently tell us much. So tonight I want to just quickly lay these five names before you. The first being Pelad, which is wonderful. The second one is Yats, which is counselor. The third one, and again the Vulgate divides these two up, but we'll just look at the one. It's El, which is the name for God, and Gabor, which is the name for Mighty, so Mighty God. And then the next word is Abiyad, and it's actually a compound word, but it's Eternal Father, Everlasting Father. And then the final one is also a compound word, Sar Shalom, which is Prince of Peace. So tonight as we look at these, I pray and trust that our hearts will be full as we consider this child. He's not just a baby, helpless and frail, but this child has names attached to him like Mighty God. That's not your typical vision of the Christ child, is it? He's Mighty God. So let's look at these one at a time. First of all, we do have Pele, which is translated wonderful, and it's okay to combine these together. I'm not taking great issue for taking the comma out here. Obviously, the Hebrew didn't have the comma, but I don't think that there's any reason to limit the title. The word can be translated wonderful, or marvelous, or extraordinary. Jesus Christ is both wonderful and He is extraordinary in every way. He's both a wonder and He's wonderful, and we can look at it both ways. He is a wonder. In other words, He fills us with awe and wonder. He's above comprehension. He's beyond our ability to comprehend. He is a wonder to behold. Back before Samson was born, and of course, the angel of the Lord came to Manoah, his father. And the angel of the Lord there, which is often the case with the appearance of the angel of the Lord, he was a pre-incarnate Christ. So Jesus Christ appeared to Manoah. We know that because at one point Manoah refers to him as capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D, Yahweh. He's Jehovah God. And so this angel appears before Manoah. And Manoah says, What's your name? And we find in Judges 13, 18, And the angel of the Lord said to him, Why askest thou after me my name, seeing it is secret? Well, Not to go into details on textual issues, but when scribes would copy a text in Hebrew, and if it came to a word that they thought might have been miswritten, they wouldn't change it because they were that careful with copying the text. They wanted to copy it word for word, but occasionally they'd come upon a word as they were copying a text. Remember, they made copies after copies, but they were meticulous in their copies. And so when they came upon a word that they thought might have been changed, they would make a note in the margin. Well, in this particular passage in Judges 13, the King James uses the note And the other translations are using the actual word in the text. So, the King James says, the angel says, you know, why asketh thou after my name, seeing it is secret? New American Standard says, seeing it is wonderful. It's his name. It's wonderful. So, the very name of Christ, the very being of Christ fills us with wonder and awe. His name is secret, it is incomprehensible, but we marvel as we ponder His deity, especially as we ponder this child. And this often just fills my mind with a... I can't wrap my mind around it. It's too big for me to consider. Here's this baby in a manger. He had a nurse from his mother. He was a baby in every way. They wrapped him in swaddling clothes. They wrapped him in cloth, both one to swaddle, which we still swaddle our children, but it was also their diaper. He was a baby. He dirtied his diaper, of all things. But this baby in the manger, though human in every way, weak and frail, couldn't walk, couldn't talk. Scripture tells us he grew in wisdom and stature. This infant human baby was none other than the living God who was holding all things together and ruling all of creation. Figure that one out. It's beyond us. He does fill our minds with wonder. He is wonderful. But it also describes His excellence. He is wonderful. In other words, just as all of His titles and names describe the fullness of His being, we can say that He is wonderful and marvelous in His power, in His holiness, in His love, in His justice, in His mercy, in His sovereignty, and on and on and on. He is wonderful, and you can attach this wonderful to any attribute of God. He is wonderful in all of his divine being. And to take it one step further, it describes the heart of all of those who embrace him, because we see him as wonderful. That's a very strong word that we use. There aren't very many things that we attach that to. I wouldn't really say my home is wonderful. I love my home. I love living in my home. But I won't really say that it's wonderful. But to Christ, He's wonderful. He's wonderful. That's the heart of a believer. That's what draws us to worship. It's what draws us to praise Him. It's what draws us to obedience. He's wonderful. Well, does that describe your heart? That he's wonderful. And then to move on, he's also counselor. Now if you want to say wonderful counselor, that's okay. But you can attach wonderful to whatever attribute you want. He's wonderful in sovereignty, and wonderful in mercy, and wonderful in goodness, and wonderful in holiness, and just go on and on. so you can say he's a wonderful counselor as well just like you can say that he's a wonderful mighty God and a wonderful everlasting father and a wonderful prince of peace if you want to but he's counselor now this word is a participle so it literally means one giving counsel so he's Our Counselor, it refers to His infinite wisdom. It describes His prophetic office. He is the Counselor. Romans 11, 33 we read, O the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who hath known the mind of the Lord? For who hath been His Counselor? He's the counselor. He has all wisdom. He has all knowledge and all understanding. And so this child, this babe, if you will, would be filled with all knowledge and wisdom in order to redeem his people. 1 Corinthians 1.30, But of him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Or Isaiah 11, A couple of chapters forward, we read in verse 1, "...there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots, and the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." He's the infinitely wise Savior. And He is our Counselor. Is He your Counselor? In other words, do you heed His counsel? Do you obey His wisdom? Do you submit yourself before Him? Then the third name, Mighty God. Two words. One is El, which is the word for God. The other is Gabor, which is Mighty. He is the Mighty God. Well, this Child, This infant babe is mighty God. Nehemiah 9.32, Now therefore our God, the great, the mighty, the terrible God, who keepeth covenant and mercy. Or the psalmist writes, King David writes, Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Or Jeremiah 32.18, the great, the mighty God, the Lord of Hosts is His name. Jesus Christ is all-powerful, all-mighty. He has all authority. He's the King of Kings. But He's also God. Now, He's God. This absolutely drives the cults crazy. The Mormons cannot stand it. Jehovah's Witnesses cannot stand it. The Muslims hate it. Now, you can tell a Muslim that the Lord Jesus Christ is a great teacher, and they'll go, Amen. The Lord Jesus Christ is a great prophet. He's a prophet like unto Mohammed. But try telling them that He's God. You've gone too far. You've crossed over. They cannot accept this. while the Lord Jesus Christ, make no mistake, He is God. John 1.1, In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Or, one of my favorites that we often don't consider as such a strong statement of divinity, Philippians 2.6, Who being in the form of God. He's God! Being in the form of God. Being just like God. who being in the form of God thought it not rogry to be equal with God." That's the King James. I actually like the other translations better. New American Standard says, "...did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped." What a powerful statement of the divinity of Christ. "...did not consider his equality with God." In other words, he's absolutely equal with God in every way because he's God and he did not consider this absolute equality with God something to grab hold to, to seize that he would not let go. I'm not saying that he let go of his divinity. I'm saying in the ultimate mystery of mysteries, the Lord Jesus Christ took upon himself the flesh of humanity." People often get all twisted up. What is the kenosis? Ever heard that word before, the kenosis? The word from kena'o in the Philippians chapter 2 passage, New American Standard says he emptied himself. People say, what in the world did he empty himself of? What is the kenosis? What is the emptying? I can tell you this. He did not empty himself of his glory. Scripture says, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. He did not empty himself of his glory, nor did he empty himself of his divinity. He's the fullness of the Godhead bodily. So then what did he empty himself of? Well, all I can tell you is what I know. All I can do is take that and say, well, whatever it means, it simply refers to his humiliation in the living God taking upon himself the flesh of humanity. He took nothing from himself, but he added something to himself. In other words, the living God who was always, through all of eternity, the living Christ, took upon himself flesh that he did not have for all of eternity. He then was incarnated in the advent and so from that point forever he would have flesh and blood. So now Jesus Christ has flesh and blood and forever will. So whatever the kenosis is, whatever the emptying means, it simply points to his humiliation in which the living God came, as the scripture says, to the lowest parts of the earth, taking upon himself the flesh of humanity and dwelling with us. He never ceased being divine. He's the mighty God. And then we come to the fourth one, the everlasting Father. Now, you could actually divide this up too, if you really wanted to. He's everlasting and He's the Father. We'll keep them together. But just understand that He is everlasting, which points to His eternity, points to the past, but it points chiefly to the future in this particular context. Indeed, He did exist from everlasting to everlasting. John 1 says, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So He existed from all of eternity, from the beginning. The Ancient of Days became an infant child. So this passage points to the fact that this child, this Son, this King, this wonderful Counselor, this mighty God, is everlasting, and chiefly pointing to the future, this king will have no end. And so he's eternal, he's everlasting, having no end. The Latin Vulgate literally translates the word everlasting as always future. Isn't that a neat way to look at the word everlasting? Always future. The Vulgate here calls it pater futuri. You can hear the word futuri. What word do we get from that? Future. He's a future father. He's the everlasting father. So, we find here that this king, this God, this father is eternal, everlasting, always future. But what in the world does it mean that he's the everlasting father? This often caused me confusion, particularly in the early years of my Christianity, in trying to grapple with the Trinity. And here's the Father, here's the Son, here's the Holy Spirit, and working through the Trinity, which is difficult enough, And then we come upon a passage like this, which is wonderful, it's fantastic, and it's speaking of Christ. There's no doubt about that. He's the child born, the Son given. He's wonderful Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father. How can He be the Father? Is it confusing the Trinity, to which we answer, no. The Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Father. They are two distinct persons. But on the other hand, it does point to the oneness of the Father and the Son. They are distinct, but they are one. And I'm thankful for verses like this that point to the oneness. And it's not the only verse that points to the oneness of the Father and the Son. For example, John 10.30, I and my Father are one. What a wonderful statement. I and my Father are one. Jason can say, I and my father are similar. We get along real well. We're not one, not in the sense that Jesus Christ is saying. Jesus Christ was saying, I and my father are one and the same. Wow. It's one God. We are not polytheistic. We don't worship more than one God. We are monotheistic. We serve one God. He exists in three persons, but we don't serve. Now here's the Father, and over here's the Son, and over here's the Holy Spirit, and you've got three different gods, and sometimes our minds get kind of twisted to where we're actually thinking that way. But He's one God. John 18, Then they said to Him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, you neither know me nor my father. If you had known me, you should have known my father also. Probably one of the strongest statements that Jesus made concerning his oneness with the Father. John 14, verses 8 through 10, he's having a dialogue with Philip. Philip says unto him, Lord, show us the Father and it sufficeth us. In other words, Philip says, just show us the father if you show us the father we'll be satisfied that's all we need to see if you just show us the father we'll never ask anything else of you jesus saith unto him have i been so long time with you and yet thou hast not known me philip now you hear what jesus is saying philip says show us the father jesus says have i been with you all of this time and you haven't known me what's he saying He hasn't known that I am the Father. I mean, that's what he's saying. And if that's not enough for you, let me read on. He says, Have I been so long with you, and yet thou hast not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. How sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, I am being ego eimi, I am. Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you speak not of myself, but the Father that dwells in me. He does the works. They're one. So, no, this isn't confusing the Trinity. The Father is not the Son, and the Son is not the Father, and the Father nor the Son are the Holy Spirit. They are three distinct persons in one God. But that being said, they are one God. And so the Father is in the Son, and the Son is in the Father, and the Father and the Son are in the Holy Spirit. And so sometimes the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of Christ. And Jesus says, I will send My Spirit upon you. And it's not confusion at all. It's a recognition. One God, three persons, but the three persons are one God. So there's no problem here to call Jesus Christ the everlasting Father. Isaiah, by the way, will use the expression again, this time referring very strongly to Yahweh. Isaiah 63, 16, Thou art our Father. Though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not, thou, O LORD, art our Father, our Redeemer, thy name is from everlasting." You kind of hear the same words here, that he's the Father, he's the Redeemer, and his name is from everlasting. The everlasting Father, Redeemer. And then the final, Sar Shalom. the Prince of Peace. Now the word tsar means prince or ruler or leader or chief or governor. It points to his dominion. It points to his kingship. It points to his office as king. Remember, as we looked at this, you can see his mediatorial offices. He's the counselor. He's the prophet. And he's also the prince of peace. He's the king. And obviously he's our savior or priest as well. Well, this points to his absolute dominion. He rules. All of his enemies defeated. Hebrews 10, 12. But this man, After he had once offered sacrifice for sins, forever sat down to the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool." In other words, he's on his throne right now. He's the king. 1 Timothy 6.15, "...which in his times he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate." I love that word. He's the Potentate. He's the ultimate sovereign ruler with dominion. He's the ultimate king. He's the Potentate. He's the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. This is not just a future expectation. This is not a dispensational hope where we are waiting for some future kingdom where the Lord Jesus Christ will come and reign on a throne on the earth in Jerusalem. It is a present reality where Jesus Christ is on the throne right now. He was raised, exalted to the right hand of the Father. His kingdom is right now as He's ruling and reigning through His people. Jude 25, to the only wise God, our Savior, which again kind of points to the deity of Christ, doesn't it? To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen. And so he's ruling now. His kingdom is now. And all who submit to him and come under his dominion must willfully admit defeat and gloriously admit him to be king, Lord. Almighty and through him we have been reconciled been brought to peace So we see verse 5 here again every battle of the warriors with confused noise the garments rolled in blood But this shall be with burning and fuel of fire in other words this mighty king here this Prince is the one that brings all hostility or to an end and And it's an everlasting kingdom. So this prince of peace brings everlasting peace because he is the everlasting father, which is a perfect fulfillment of the Davidic kingdom. Second Samuel 7, 16. And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established forever before thee. Thy throne shall be established forever. In Psalm 15, 13. Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and by dominion endureth throughout all generations. Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace." Isn't this good stuff? I mean, just go home tonight and read it again. This is the Christ of Christmas. This is the little babe in the manger. This is the one who is the child born and the son given. He's wonderful. He's the Counselor. He's the Mighty God. He's the Everlasting Father. He's the Prince of Peace. And He's worthy of our praise and our worship as we consider this Christmas season. Yes, He's a babe in a manger, but only as a historic fact. He's not a babe in a manger today. He's the Prince of Peace. He's the King of Kings. He's ruling with absolute dominion. And all knees must bow before Him. Every knee shall bow. Every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Well, let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for this season. Thank you for this time, Father, that we've been able to contemplate once again this glorious Savior. He is wonderful. He is glorious to behold. He is the Son given, the Child born, the wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace and worthy of our life. Father, we worship you and adore you and thank you for your goodness and your grace and your mercy. We thank you for the gift to end all gifts and sending us your Son who would provide unto us reconciliation and peace. He would provide unto us everlasting life, life abundant even now, as we continue to live for Him. Thank you for all these good things, Father. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.