The King brings light because he fulfills the messianic promise, but the King also brings light because he fits the messianic profile. In the OT we find a composite profile of the Messiah. Isaiah contributes to that messianic profile by providing the four names of this coming King.
Verse 6 says, “…His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” These names are not personal names, but they are more like titles. We should think of these four names as royal titles. Let’s look together at these names in order to understand how the King fits this messianic profile.
First we have Wonderful Counselor. This speaks of his wisdom. Literally, it means, “Wonder of a Counselor.” The word “Wonder” means inspiring awe or amazement, and the word “Counselor” speaks of a king who provides wise instruction or teaching. Taken together, “Wonderful Counselor” speaks of a King who would inspire wonder and awe with his teaching.
In the OT, Solomon is the paragon of a wise king. Solomon prayed for wisdom, and the Lord granted his request (1 Kings 3). Solomon’s fame spread throughout the whole earth, and it reached the ears of the Queen of Sheba. The Queen of Sheba traveled from the ends of the earth to hear Solomon’s wisdom, and when she saw his wealth and his wisdom, she was breathless (1 Kings 10:4-5). Solomon’s wisdom inspired wonder and awe.
During his earthly ministry, Jesus said, “Behold, something greater than Solomon is here” (Matthew 12:42). Jesus was talking about himself because he recognized that he was the Wonderful Counselor from Isaiah 9:6.
When Jesus was twelve years old, his parents found him teaching the teachers in the temple in Jerusalem (Luke 2:41-52). His teachers were amazed at his answers to their questions. Later in life, Jesus awed the crowds with his teaching, and he confounded the wisdom of the scribes, lawyers, Pharisees, Sadducees, and other learned men of his day. People continually said of him: “No one ever spoke like this man!” Indeed, Jesus was and is the Wonderful Counselor!
So then, let us come to Jesus, sit at his feet, and receive his counsel. Let us be like Mary who sat at the feet of the Wonderful Counselor, not like Martha who was too busy serving Jesus to learn from him (Luke 10:38-42). Yes, service is important, but rushed, busied, and hurried service, does not glorify our Wonderful Counselor. Our service must be informed by the doctrine of our Lord. If we want to keep his commandments, then we must seek his counsel. He is our Wonderful Counselor! Let us come to our Wonderful Counselor, read his Word, and seek the illumination of his Spirit, that we might please him in every way.
In addition to Wonderful Counselor, we also have the name Mighty God. If Wonderful Counselor speaks of the King’s wisdom, then Mighty God speaks of his power. Before speaking about his power, however, I must mention that this is an unequivocal assertion of the Messiah’s deity. The King who is to be born will be called “Mighty God.”
The King who is born is called Mighty God. On the one hand, he is man because he is born, but, on the other hand, he is God because he is called Mighty God. Here then is the profile of the Messiah: he must be God, and he must be man. Yes, brothers and sisters, the messianic profile that we receive from Isaiah is that the coming King will be the very incarnation of God himself! As Charles Wesley (1719, “’Hark!’ The Herald Angels Sing”) said, “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail th’ Incarnate Deity!” The great Puritan, Thomas Watson, also said, “In creation man is made in the image of God, but in the incarnation God was made in the image of man.”
Jesus of Nazareth is the only person who fits this messianic profile. Again and again, he demonstrated that he was and is Mighty God. He walked on water. He spoke, and the thunder ceased to clap and the lightening ceased to strike across the midnight sky. He turned water into wine. He cleansed lepers. He healed the lame, the blind, the deaf, the dumb. He fed five thousand people with five loaves of bread and two fish. He raised people from the dead. He raised himself from the dead, and I could go on. Jesus is the Mighty God that fits this profile. Make no mistake about it!
Now combine this title with the previous title. The coming King shall be Wonderful Counselor and Mighty God. With the exception of one unnecessary scene, one of my favorite movies is Braveheart. It tells the story of the mighty William Wallace who fought for the freedom of Scotland. Well, there is a scene in that movie where the boy William Wallace asks his uncle to teach him how to use a sword. The young Wallace awkwardly raises a sword and says, “Uncle, I want to learn to use this.” And his uncle points to Wallace’s head and says, “First learn to use this,” and, pointing back to the sword, “and then I will teach you how to use this.” In other words, power must be informed by wisdom and knowledge in order for it to be useful. So it was for William Wallace, and so it is for our great King. And the fantastic thing is that he has both. He is Wonderful Counselor and Mighty God. My brothers and sisters in Christ, there is nothing that Jesus Christ cannot do. He has the wisdom and the strength to accomplish his mission, and he will surely do it.
Now we come to the title Everlasting Father. This speaks of the compassion of the coming King. Now we need to be careful when we call the Messiah an Everlasting Father. In the language of the Trinity, the Messiah is emphatically not the Father, but he is the Son. However, Isaiah is not using the language of the Trinity. The language of the Trinity speaks of who the Messiah is in relation to God, but Isaiah speaks of who Messiah is in relation to us. This means that Messiah is still the Son of God in relationship to the Godhead, but as he relates to his people, he is Everlasting Father.
Jesus is like a Father to us. He is not our Son. He is God’s Son, but he is like our Father. Indeed, quite literally, he is the “Father of Eternity” because he is the author of our eternal life. He promises us that, if we believe in him, we have eternal life.
O how precious it is that Isaiah speaks of the Messiah as a Father! Aristotle called God “the unmoved mover,” but Aristotle’s “unmoved mover” doesn’t move me. Could you imagine a young woman highlighting the phrase “unmoved mover” in her Bible (if it were there of course) after discovering that her father had deserted her? I knew a girl in high school, and her father deserted her and her mother when she was very young. And I happened to glance over her shoulder at her Bible only to see where she had underlined, highlighted, and circled all the passages that spoke of God as Father. I especially remember the phrase, “Father to the fatherless” (Psalm 68:5), which she had highlighted, underlined, circles, and star-ed.
Take heart, my friends, the messianic profile speaks of an Everlasting Father. Will you not come to Jesus? He will receive you with the tenderness and affection of a good father. Please, say to yourself, “I will arise and go to Jesus. He will embrace me in his arms. In the arms of my dear Savior, there are ten thousand charms!” Sinner, he extends his nail pierced hands to you, and he says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28).
The other title we must mention in this messianic profile is Prince of Peace. Obviously, when the King comes, he brings peace. The Messiah is the Prince of Peace. There is no question about it. However, I am afraid that the peace that Messiah brings is often misunderstood. The Prince of Peace first brings peace between God and man, and then he brings peace between man and man (the end of wars, etc.).
Unfortunately, the Jews of the first century misunderstood this distinction. They thought Messiah would bring peace between man and man first. But this is not what Isaiah tells us. Isaiah was very clear that peace with God is the fountain from which all other peace flows.
Later in his prophecy, Isaiah would tells the people of Judah how this Prince of Peace would achieve peace between God and man. Listen to what Isaiah says, “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed” (Isaiah 53:4-5).
Here is what Isaiah is saying: The Prince of Peace shall become a suffering servant in order to atone for the sins of God’s people. God is holy, and man is sinful. And this Prince of Peace would take upon himself the punishment (chastisement) for our sins. Messiah would die in our place as our substitute. He would secure peace between a holy God and sinful man by a violent death in the place of everyone who believes in him. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).
Friend, do you have peace with God? You can only find peace with God through the Prince of Peace. And you can have the Prince of Peace as your Savior and Lord, if you will receive him. He will receive you; will you receive him? Believe that he died in your place. Receive his forgiveness. Receive his mercy that comes through his blood, and you are right with God.
Flowing from this fountain of peace with God is peace among men. When men have peace with God, then they begin to have peace with one another. But this never happens before man has peace with God. Nevertheless, this Prince of Peace will bring peace among men, and this means that he will end war. Isaiah makes it very clear that Messiah will cause people to “beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not light up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4).
Friends, there is coming an end to war. I am not merely talking about the war in Iraq or the war in Afghanistan, but I am talking about war. Isaiah tells us that men will transform the accoutrements of war into the accoutrements of work. Indeed, Messiah is the Prince of Peace.
So here we have the messianic profile. “His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” And Jesus Christ fits the messianic profile perfectly. When the darkness seems to overwhelm us, we must look to the person of Christ. His profile is found in this Book, and we will be encouraged by the light of his grace. His face is like the sun shining in full strength (Revelation 1:16). Look to Jesus (Hebrews 12:2)!
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