Brookdale Baptist
December 15 AM Service
  • Joy To The World
  • Thou Didst Leave Thy Throne
  • Only A Holy God
  • O Come O Come Emmanuel
  • Isaiah 9:1-7
    The concept of "God" varies widely across cultures, religions, and philosophies. Some believe that God doesn’t exist, others that he may or may not exist, and still others that he does exist. Some believe there is one God and others multiple gods. Some believe God (or gods) is a personal being (or beings) and others an impersonal concept, entity, force, or state of existence. Some believe that God created all things and others that he is a part of creation. Some believe God exists and is involved in the universe and others that he exists but is aloof and uninvolved.
    Apart from these varied beliefs, our human response towards God ranges widely, too. Some revere and worship God (or gods) seriously, others more casually, and others not at all. Some take God seriously only in difficult moments of life and others as a more regular pattern of life. Some mock or make light of God and others use his name habitually as an expression of disgust, frustration, or surprise.
    In reality, God is the one supreme being who created all things. He is eternal, all-powerful, all-knowing, and present everywhere. The OT identifies him by the general Hebrew word elohim and the NT by the general Greek word theos. More specifically, Scripture identifies him by the personal name Yahweh, and throughout Scripture, we find many additional descriptions and titles for God which help us to know and understand him better.
    Scripture teaches that there is one God and that we must him worship him completely and exclusively.
    Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. (Deut 6:4-5)
    Scripture also teaches that our ultimate purpose and success in this life and eternity is tied completely and directly to our acceptance of, trust in, and submission to God.
    Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil. (Eccl 12:13-14)
    As 20th century Christian songwriter, Willliam Holloway Main, has said, “One of the great needs of today is a profound conviction that God is.” And as the 20th century Canadian pastor observed, “What we believe about God is the most important thing about us.”
    Now, as we consider the reality of God, we must also remember what was happening in Isaiah 9, when the prophet Isaiah presented a message from God to a king of Israel, named Ahaz, and to people of Israel, specifically those living in the northeastern regions of Israel, called Naphtali and Zebulun. Due to the people of Israel’s centuries-long disobedience to and disregard for God and to their numerous kings’ perpetual rejection of and rebellion against God, God had assigned the rising world power of Assyria to invade their land. The first wave of this invasion had taken place, with more waves to come.
    What was a dark time would grow even darker. Yet against this backdrop, God offered an encouraging message. This message explained that through all the dark and difficult experiences that were to come, there would shine a light in the distance, a light that would supply God’s people with hope – with a calm, patient confidence in his ultimate plan. He would send them a king unlike all other kings, one would end their oppression and suffering once and for all and would govern all people with justice and peace forever.
    In Isa 9:6, we read four descriptions of this future king. Last week we learned about the first, “Wonderful Counselor.” We learned that unlike other government leaders who tend to give and receive bad advice and counsel, this one would provide extraordinary, supernatural, and truly wonderful counsel and plans. He would be the one king in history who we can look to for consistently, genuinely good governance and guidance.
    This week, we’ll focus our hearts and minds on the second description of this future king, the “Mighty God.” With this title, we learn something mind-blowing and remarkable.

    The promised king would, in fact, be God himself.

    Now, this concept of a king or top-level government leader being considered a god is – by itself – not unusual. Such a view has occurred elsewhere throughout history.
    Ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian rulers were considered to be gods.
    The senators of Ancient Rome declared Caesar to be a god.
    Ancient Incan or Japanese rulers were viewed as descendants of the gods.
    Additionally, Scripture itself teaches that God himself sovereignly appoints world leaders:
    Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. (Rom 13:1)
    While this is true, some royal figures, such as European royalty through the ages, have exploited this concept to avoid accountability, enforce unthinking obedience, and even to require things of people which are contrary to God himself.
    While we in the Western Hemisphere tend towards a limited, low, and modest view of government leaders, we are rightly turned off whenever a government leader – a President, for instance – acts or behaves as a god, though in a nonreligious, unofficial sense. We also, though, tend to have a small, irreverent view of God, as well.
    But what if a government leader IS God? What if there were an exception to the rule? And this – remarkably – is a key, underlying reason for why we celebrate Christmas.
    “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” says, “Glory to the newborn King!”
    “Angels from the Realms of Glory” says, “Worship Christ, the newborn King.”
    “Joy to the World” says, “Let earth receive her King.”
    “The First Noel” says, “Born is the King of Israel.”
    At Christmastime, we actually acknowledge a human king who is also God, only unlike ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Incan, and Japanese rulers, this man – this king – actually IS God.

    He would be God and man.

    We call this the “incarnation,” which means to “put on flesh.” It describes how God – the King of the universe – became a human being, only one without sin. In doing so, he took on all the attributes and qualities which are essential to be called “human,” while at the same time retaining all of the attributes and qualities essential to being God.
    I appreciate how one theologian describes this:
    He was like a king who temporarily puts on the garments of a peasant while at the same time remaining king. (John F. Walvoord)
    At an earlier place in this prophecy, Isaiah already once foretold that this coming child and king would, making this claim that he would be the “Mighty God” a repeated promise. In Isa 7:14, he said that the child would be named “Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.” The angel who announced Mary’s pregnancy to her betrothed husband, Joseph, quoted this prophecy verbatim.
    Years after Christ’s birth, death, resurrection, and ascension, the apostle Paul said this about Jesus Christ a pastor named Timothy:
    There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus …” (1 Tim 2:7)
    Then to another pastor named Titus, he said this:
    Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ (Tit 2:13)
    So, Jesus Christ is the child and king promised by Isaiah in Isa 7:14 and 9:6. Let’s consider how else the NT affirms that Jesus Christ is the promised King who is God.

    The New Testament reveals that he is God.

    Christ was fully God. By this statement we mean that Christ is not just likeGod or partially God; he is completely God. He possesses all the essential attributes and qualities of God without altering, diminishing, or relinquishing any of them.

    Both the Old and New Testaments teach the deity of Christ.

    He claimed himself to be the “I AM” who spoke with Moses (John 8:58; cf. Exod 3:14).
    The writer of Hebrews points out that even God the Father called Christ God (Heb 1:8; cf. Psa 45:6-7).
    So, the prophets, Christ himself, and God the Father all call Jesus Christ ‘God.’

    John announced dogmatically that Christ is God.

    John opened his NT Gospel with the following announcement about Christ:
    In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (Jn 1:1)

    Christ exhibited the attributes of God.

    In other words, he has qualities and abilities that belong to God alone. Theologians call these the “incommunicable” attributes of God because they are unique to God alone and impossible for a human being to possess. These differ from the “communicable” attributes of God, such as holiness, love, goodness, mercy, and more. God possesses such “communicable” attributes to the highest, perfect degree but has designed and enabled human beings to possess such attributes to a lesser but increasing degree.
    These uniquely divine attributes, the incommunicable ones that only God has are:
    He is eternal – in the past as well as the future. (Jn 17:5)
    O Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.
    He is omnipresent – which means he is everywhere at once. (Matt 28:20)
    Behold, I am with you always…
    He is omniscient – which means he knows everything (Jn 16:30).
    Now we are sure that You know all things, and have no need that anyone should question You. By this we believe that You came forth from God.
    He is omnipotent – which means he is all-powerful. (Matt 28:18)
    Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.”
    He is immutable – which means he never changes (Heb 13:8)
    Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
    That Christ possessed these attributes shows that he is God, for no mere human being can possess such qualities and abilities, whether that be all of these attributes together or any one of these attributes by themselves – no man who is not also God is like this.

    Christ himself claimed to be God.

    In addition to John 8:58 which we’ve already read, Jesus claimed to be God at other times as well. Consider this clear example when he said:
    I and the Father are one. (Jn 10:30)
    We know this is a direct claim to be God since the Jewish religious leaders, who were experts in OT, theological, and religious language, tried to kill him by stoning him.
    Nowhere does the OT teach that stoning was an appropriate response to something less, such as claiming to be “on the same page” as God or “similar to God” in some limited ways. But death by stoning was the consequence for committing blasphemy by claiming to be God. The religious leaders knew that Christ was making this claim, because they said, “You, being a man, make Yourself out to be God” (John 10:33).
    Christ never corrected them but fully accepted their claim as true. He was claiming to be God, they were right! But they were wrong to assume that he was committing blasphemy because what he said was actually true.

    Christ did things that only God can do.

    Christ not only has attributes only God can have, but he also did things only God can do.

    He created the world.

    “He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him” (John 1:10).
    “By Him all things were created … all things have been created through Him and for Him” (Col 1:16).

    He forgives sins.

    “He said to him, ‘Man, your sins are forgiven you.’ And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, ‘Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’” (Luke 5:20-24; see Isa 43:25, too).

    He will judge the world.

    “Not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22).
    “He has set a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all people by raising Him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

    Christ received worship as God.

    At the end of John’s gospel, he features a climactic moment, a shocking exchange between Christ and Thomas, one of Christ’s closest disciples who knew him intimately:
    “Thomas answered and said to Him, ‘My Lord and my God!’ Jesus said to him, ‘Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed’” (John 20:28-29).
    What’s shocking about this exchange is that Christ not only accepted Thomas calling him “God,” but he applauded him for doing so. What’s more, he even encouraged other people to do the same.
    About these kinds of statements that Jesus made about himself, C.S. Lewis once said:
    I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God’. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on the level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut him up for a fool, you can spit at him and kill him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
    C.S. Lewis is absolutely correct here. Since Christ himself claimed to be God, we must believe what he said. Either he was a false teacher, an arrogant person, a crazy person, or he was God.
    Now, to the people living in Northern Israel being invaded in the OT would have been encouraged to hear not only that a future king was coming who would give good counsel and have good plans, but that he would also – in fact – be God. That he is God would ensure that his guidance and governance would, indeed, be wonderful. But that he is God would also mean something else, something that Isaiah specifically emphasizes here.

    He would also be a mighty and zealous warrior.

    The word “mighty” placed before “God” describes a “mighty warrior.” And while the word “Mighty” (or as some translations say “Almighty”) by itself does not automatically mean that a person is God, Isaiah does closely connect this word specifically to God, both here and also in Isa 10:21 (you can turn or scroll forward one chapter):
    The remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God. (Isa 10:21)
    This matches how Moses and David also described God as a mighty warrior:
    The LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe. (Deut 10:17)
    Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. (Psa 24:8)
    This word describes a strong and mighty person, used of successful hunters, energetic, powerful soldiers, high-ranking military leaders, and renowned heroes.
    In this same prophecy, Isaiah also describes this coming child and king as having “the zeal of the Lord of hosts.” Zeal, here, refers to an ardent, burning drive and tenacity, as when a chivalrous medieval knight set out to rescue the princess he deeply loved from the villain he deeply hated. Such would not be a casual quest or relaxing journey, but would be, instead, an intense adventure with a dramatic climax, likely consisting of harrowing experiences and vigorous duels and battles.
    By describing the coming child and king this way, Isaiah portrayed God not as carelessly abandoning Israel to the Assyrian Empire nor as casually sitting back and letting history unravel. He portrayed God, instead, as guiding and pursuing his people with deeply felt love and intense determination. What’s more, he did not and would not act alone, but would go forward on this divine quest with the armies of heaven at his command.
    “The Lord of Hosts” is the most frequent compound description of God in the OT (285x) and describes God as the commander of all the heavenly armies, waging and winning battles which involve not only human conflicts in history and the future, but also in the cosmic, unseen realm. As such, it also portrays God as the supreme king and ruler over human events.
    World history features many great rulers who were also incredibly successful military leaders: Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, William the Conqueror, Shaka Zulu, Saladin, Charlemagne, and many more. Even King David of Israel’s own history would qualify as such a person. But no military and political leader but Christ has ever or ever will command the heavenly armies.
    According to Heb 12:22, this heavenly host is “innumerable.” According to Luke 2:13-14, a group of this heavenly host announced Christ’s birth to the shepherds on the nighttime hillside (think a large, loud company of soldiers rather than a quaint, classical musical choir).
    And according to Rev 19:14, Christ will return once more in the future to overthrow the governments and wicked people of the world, leading an army which consists of not only the full, uncountable angelic armies, but also God’s people whom he has rescued from sin and death throughout history.
    Since we see that this coming child and king who was born at Christmastime, Jesus Christ, is not only God himself but God as a zealous and victorious warrior, how should we apply this understanding to our daily lives?
    First, we should be emboldened by knowing that we serve a King who is infinitely powerful and committed to our defense and salvation. This should inspire us to face our personal battles, whether they be spiritual, emotional, or physical, with courage and hope. Knowing that Christ leads the heavenly hosts on our behalf means that we can approach each day with confidence, trusting that no enemy or challenge can ultimately prevail against the plans of our Mighty God. This should translate into a life of fearless faith, where we personally believe on Christ as God and Savior and follow what he says, even if that means entering into difficulty and suffering, knowing we are backed by the greatest military leader of all.
    Also, knowing that Jesus is the Mighty God calls us to worship and serve him with all our might. We are called to align our lives with his will, acknowledging his authority in every aspect of our existence, and depending on his might as our strength. This Christmas season, we should be ambassadors and witnesses for his coming kingdom, living according to the wonderful counsel and guidance found in his Word. Let this understanding of Christ as Mighty God propel us to live with integrity and extend his love and mercy to those around us, just as he did at his incarnation. This is our calling and privilege as subjects of this child and king who is the Mighty God.
  • Go Tell It On The Mountain
Brookdale Baptist
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