A Child Born and a Son Given - Dr. James White

Well, it's an honor to be with you this evening. I just noticed that your your heritage cross

My I have a what's called a Johnny Cash Bible for those of you who know what this is

It's Jeffrey Rice rebinds beautiful thing, but I just noticed that's what's on the front of my

Bible So do I have to leave this? You'd probably say yes I Sort of figured you would

It's it's great to be with you this evening here in Tulsa some of you know that I was out in prior this morning and last evening and I've been visiting that thriving metropolis for 12 years now

Obviously Derek Melton has something on me and keeps keeps dragging me back there, but no it's it's been great to Watch the church growing there and I used to fly.

I don't fly any longer. Don't worry It's not because I am afraid of airplanes though If I was getting on a

Boeing I would wonder about a little bit these days but I Stopped flying in 2020 because we all stopped flying in 2020 at least for a while we did and Make a make a long story short my wife worked for the

Airlines American Airlines fired 40 ,000 people that year mainly their people had been with them for the longest and I've included my wife and If you put a mask on me

I have a heart condition I go into superventricular tachycardia they didn't care So it's sort of like go ahead and die.

We don't mind and so I was like, you know We've been given these folks $100 ,000 a year. I mean in 2019.

I flew 165 ,000 miles I taught in Samara Russia Johannesburg South Africa Kiev Ukraine Melbourne Australia spent two months in London.

I lived overseas almost and It's like, you know, you don't care about me. You're firing my wife

I don't think we're gonna give you any money anymore. And so I am parked at a KOA out in Claremore and We started

RVing and that's how I get around and the neat part is I get to be in all sorts of churches

I wouldn't be able to be in otherwise We actually have a list of churches people have sent in to us and they're like look if you're passing through Even if it's a

Tuesday night a Thursday night, whatever if you're gonna be coming through Let us know and we'll we'll do something.

It might be informal but you know and so that's that's what I do now and I enjoy it very much and I have to admit

I don't miss the TSA at all You know, I said

I was starting to get to know some of those people by name that's that's way too much familiarity and I don't

I have not missed them at all. I don't miss hotels. I like having my own refrigerator my own bed my own food

It's it's great. Now. I'll have to admit while I was driving here You all had some wonderful winds coming out of the southwest and when

I'm hooked up I'm 57 feet long and 13 and a half feet tall. So that's a big sail and that wind hits and I was

I was having lots of fun for about four hours that day, but We we managed to get here in one piece.

So when when pastor Melton Communicated the request that I join you this evening

I started thinking about well, you know, I suppose I could redo the sermon from Sunday morning

But some of you came all the way out to prior this morning and so that would be a little bit boring for you and So I'm looking

I was looking at the the calendar and I certainly enjoyed this time of year

I've always loved this time of year. I feel sorry for the hyper -puritans who detest this type of year and so there's a particular text of scripture that I've worked through many times before and so I Asked if that would be an appropriate thing.

I didn't want to show up and believe me there are There are churches that if I did something seasonal would be deeply offended by that But I'm thankful that that's not the case here.

So I had to had to sort of check ahead of time Because I have done things like that There have been there have been times.

I just the sermon that I brought Almost split the church. So I don't want to do didn't want to do things like that So think with me if you will what

I what I'd like to do Is I would like to Eventually focus our attention on Isaiah chapter 9

Because this is a text. I think you know, we're well by the way, you know, I could have worn

You know, I could have put on a boring tie Actually, I don't own any boring ties. I'll take that back

If you're gonna wrap something around your neck, it might as well be colorful and pretty so I've got my bow ties with me

I think I've got a rush limbaugh tie with me. I've got a bunch of those So I thought about that but then

I thought you know what look if we're gonna try to encourage these folks, how about I wear Not only a coogee sweater, which

I am famous for as you all know but this is a cashmere coogee sweater and I don't think

I've even ever worn a cashmere coogee for you Derek. So there you know, I'm sorry

So, I mean this is I don't know how more encouraging I can be than to wear a

Besides that it keeps people awake Because it moves now if some of you have certain

Neurological problems it might cause dizziness and nausea and things like that. So I'm sorry about that But no,

I I love my my coogee sweaters. This is cashmere. We could drop it down to about 40 degrees in here

I'd still be fine This has got to be one of the warmest sweaters ever made so I did that just for just for for you all

So I hope you you take that in the spirit that it's intended Before we look at Isaiah 9.

I want to share something with you that It would have been somewhat self -evident

Before the middle of the Middle Ages and That is I want to look at a number of different texts in the book of Isaiah in What we would call chapters 6 through 11

But remember there were no chapters when it was first written The chapters were introduced during the medieval period and then the verses that we use today

Were introduced in 1550. In fact, I have a 1550

Stephanos Greek text That's an actual 1550 Stephanos Greek text and it has no verse numbers

Stephanos who is Calvin's printer in Geneva is the one that introduced the verse numbers into the

Bible into the New Testament and So everything after 1550s of his he did a 1551 edition and it then had the verse numbers

Those things are so useful. Can you imagine if we didn't have verse numbers in our iPads or our phones right now?

How would you get anywhere Click on Isaiah. Well, that's gonna take me a while to find that particular text so there there is a great advantage to it, but but it also tends to break the text up in our minds artificially and So, you know people will will you know, and I highly encourage memorization of Scripture Especially amongst you younger folks who can memorize things easily

We can we can memorize the text of Scripture and Then we hear somebody preaching on the immediate context and realize that how we've understood that text all along was inaccurate because we didn't see how it fit into the flow of the text itself in a chapter in a book or something along those lines and So when we when

I when I encourage you to look at Isaiah turn with me, for example to Isaiah chapter 6 and Remembering that these chapter divisions are artificial think with me for a moment

Isaiah chapter 6 when you think of Isaiah chapter 6, what's the first thing that comes in your mind for most people?

It should be Isaiah's temple vision. This is where Isaiah is set aside as a prophet and Some of the greatest sermons

I've ever heard have been taken out of Isaiah chapter 6 and the the temple vision and and who will go for us and holy holy holy and all these other things and and Yet at the same time

What you have in chapter 6 at the beginning And I got an opportunity to preach on Isaiah 6 at g3 a few years ago

I'm not sure if anyone was was there for that but one of the Fascinating things to me about the

Establishment of Isaiah as a prophet is you have the beautiful picture of The heavenly throne and the the worship of God and very clearly revelation four and five is

Drawing from this this imagery. It's showing us that that that worship that has been going on in heaven is

Continuing to go on even though all of the empires that existed in Isaiah's day are now gone and There are new empires in there in their in their place.

And of course we look we think today All the empires back then are gone and we have new empires today.

And what lesson can we learn? God's worship is continuing in heaven as it has and always will

But we are so focused upon here upon this earth is Not something that's going to disrupt our

God and his purposes and his worship But there's also the lesson to be learned at the beginning of Isaiah 6 and I'll be very brief with this

But you you know that you know that you probably memorized in the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the

Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up the train of his robe filling the temple now

I am by the way reading my my Johnny Cash Bible is a legacy standard

Bible. I am using the LSB these days when I Preach from the

English text and the reason for that is I had worked on the NASB back in the 90s I was one of the critical consultants and defended the translation, but there were certain things that I would do with the translation

I felt that it's rendering of Romans 9 5 wasn't all that clear So I'd fix that and and ever since seminary when

I would see the tetragrammaton Yod, hey, wow Hey The the four letters the divine covenant name of God in the

Old Testament that would be printed Lord with capital O R and D But in smaller font size,

I'd read it as Yahweh. Well as you know The legacy standard

Bible does everything that I did to the NASB every time I would make an alteration That's exactly what the

LSB does. So hey, why not go with it? Why not? Why not enjoy it and so but you'll so you'll notice in Isaiah 6 1 it says

I saw the Lord It doesn't say I saw Yahweh. Now. This is Yahweh because you'll notice down to verse 3

And one called out to another said holy. Holy. Holy is Yahweh of hosts The whole earth is full of his glory, but the term here is

Adonai. I Saw the Adonai sitting on a throne high and lifted up the train of his robe filling the temple and so this is a vision of God upon his throne and What's fascinating and I don't want to lose anybody here.

Just track with me for a second. What's fascinating is that the Greek Translation now you need to understand there's something called the

Greek septuagint The Greek septuagint is the Greek version of the

Hebrew scriptures and it was really the Bible of the early church The vast majority of the citations in the

New Testament are taken from the Greek septuagint which makes sense I mean if you're writing to the Church of Colossae You're gonna quote from the version of the of the

Bible. They're familiar with they didn't have the New Testament they had the Greek septuagint and I remember when

I discovered a number of years ago that there is a difference between The Hebrew text which is being translated by the

LAS LSB when it says The train with the train of his robe filling the temple there's a difference that's what the

Hebrew reads, but the Greek septuagint says something different the Greek septuagint says and His glory filled the temple or filled the house literally the the heavenly temple his glory

Now why is that significant? Well, you're probably tracking with me There is a very significant text in John chapter 12 where right the end of Jesus public ministry when when the

Greeks come seeking him and he doesn't meet with them and His public ministry and starting with chapter 13.

It's his private ministry to the disciples one of the things that John says

That's fascinating is that he quotes from Isaiah chapter 6 and Then he says these things

Isaiah said Because he saw his glory and he spoke about him

These things Isaiah said because he saw his glory and he spoke about him

Now, when did Isaiah see Jesus's glory the only him in the in the context of John chapter 12 is

Jesus And the very next verse says points out that he's talking about Jesus. So when did

Isaiah see Jesus's glory. Well, he just quoted from Isaiah 6 and When you remember when you realize that the

Greek version of Isaiah 6 says his glory filled the temple

Then you realize that anybody who would have heard or initially read John's gospel That knew the

Old Testament in the Greek septuagint knew what he was talking about John was making an explicit connection between Isaiah's temple vision and who he saw lofty and lifted up and Jesus he was identifying

Jesus as Yahweh the pre -incarnate Christ and so there you have

Isaiah 6 a testimony to the deity of Christ once you once you have the New Testament fulfillment and Then think about it.

What's in Isaiah 7? What's the key? Text of this time of year that's in in Isaiah chapter 7.

Well, you you probably know it Isaiah 7 14 therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign behold

The Virgin will be with child and bear a son and she will call his name Emmanuel Emmanuel Now most of us know what

Emmanuel means Emmanuel is a Hebrew phrase That simply means

God is with us God is with us it's not us it's not We know that most

Hebrew names are actually Hebrew phrases That you know, God gives life or you know,

God reigns and it they're phrases And so Emmanuel as we use it is in the

Hebrew language simply the phrase God is with us and Here you have the virgin birth and we could go into all the

Bethula and Alma and all the stuff about that we can argue about in in Isaiah 7

I don't have time for that this evening, but you have Isaiah 6 of the reference to Christ you have

Isaiah 7 being cited in the New Testament as Having its fulfillment, of course the

Gospel of Matthew does in Christ and she will call his name Emmanuel Now, you know where we're going in Isaiah 9

I just haven't read it yet because we'll get there and and you you know, how important it is in the

Christmas season So you've got chapter 6. You've got chapter 7 and Then most people don't know that chapter 8

Contains a similar reference That clearly, you know

I've Mentioned this before well, not not to you But I mentioned this a lot that remember what the first thing that that Jesus does after his resurrection according to the gospel

Luke is he explains to his disciples to the root the two the two on the road to mass and then

To the disciples gathered in the upper room the testimony of From Moses through all the prophets of himself

He taught them what scripture taught about himself and Clearly, these are the texts that Jesus went through with them

Because and this is this is probably one that that most that most people don't don't catch they don't see this one

I know I was a seminary graduate before I ever ever ran into into this but notice beginning in verse 11 of chapter 8

Isaiah 8 11 for thus Yahweh spoke to me with a strong hand and disciplined me not to walk in the way of this people

Saying you are not to say it is a conspiracy in regard to all this people call a conspiracy boy

We could use that today And you are not to fear what they fear and you shall not tremble

It is Yahweh of hosts whom you should regard as holy and he shall be your fear

And he shall be your cause of trembling Now Where do we find that text in the

New Testament because we do It is in the text that we apologists preach on all the time.

It's in 2nd Peter and Peter quotes this very text from Isaiah 8 in 2nd

Peter chapter 3 and In fact, I haven't I haven't looked let's let's just do a quick look back here

Into 2nd Peter and see if he oh,

I'm sorry first Peter. We'll get to the right one eventually Okay, yeah

Well sort of if you look at the LSB or ESV Well, yes, he does things differently the

NAS beer, but if you look at first Peter 3 14 But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness

You are blessed and then and I do appreciate this it doesn't work well electronically, but but in capital letters with small font and Do not fear their fear and do not be troubled but sanctify

Christ as Lord in your hearts always being ready to make a defense now if you look at the

Greek Septuagint, I think the LSB and and in in the

Modern Greek New Testament called the Nessie all -in 28th edition. It does do this that indication of an

Old Testament citation should continue into verse 15 with sanctify and Then as Lord in your hearts because what do we have in in Isaiah 8 it is

Verse 12 and you are not to fear what they fear and you shall not tremble it is Yahweh of hosts whom you should regard as holy and then

Peter quotes that as but sanctify or Consider holy Christ as Lord in your hearts so he's quoting from Isaiah 8 the original text is talking about Yahweh and Then he identifies

Christ as Lord who is the Lord that's that's in reference in in Isaiah 8.

It's Yahweh He's identifying Jesus as Yahweh in First Peter 3 and the amazing thing is what that means is and I had always wondered about this

I had not seen it for years and years even though as an apologist I'd refer to it all the time But I hadn't seen this

Because that passage in first Peter 3 refers to when people ask you about the reason for the hope that's within you within you

We were always just going out and telling people They they never got around being able to ask us. We wanted to tell them about it

They will ask you a reason to hope so then you why? because if you live in light of Christ as Yahweh in your heart if you know that this that your

Savior the one that you're serving is Actually the Creator Then that reorients your entire worldview

Everything that happens in your life is in light of his sovereignty his power his purpose in your life and so you are going to respond to trials and difficulties very differently than the people in the world and So they're gonna ask you.

Where did you get this? Hope? Where did you get this encouragement? It's because you know in your heart in that ordering part of your your innermost being

That Christ is Yahweh Christ is Lord and you are seeking to live in light of his

Lordship That's what Peter is instructing his and he's not talking just to elders and people like that They're not the people of advanced theology.

No, he's making application of Scripture for all believers This is how all of us are to be.

This is the level of Theology that all of us should be involved in and so you've got

Isaiah 6 You've got Isaiah 7 you've got Isaiah 8 and So once you get to Isaiah 9

Which we're gonna look at in a moment. You might go well So does it continue on from there and it does

Because when you think of as a chapter 10 when I think of as a chapter 10 I think of its incredible discussion beginning in verse 8.

I'm sorry verse 5 of God's Use of Assyria.

He punishes he uses Assyria to punish Israel as a as a weapon in his hand and Then he punishes

Assyria For the attitude of their heart. So you you have I think

Genesis 50 Isaiah 10 Acts 4 are probably the three best texts in the

Bible that present to us what we call Compatibilism that God's sovereign decree is compatible with the responsibility of man because the

Assyrians They're lofty and lifted up in their heart. He punishes them for that, but he uses them

To punish Israel in fulfillment of his covenant promises to Israel Deuteronomy 28 29

So that's what I think of when I think of Isaiah chapter 10 But there's actually more

Because when you look at Isaiah 10 20 now will be in that day the remnant of Israel and those the house of Jacob who have

Escaped will never again rely on the one who struck them But will truly rely on Yahweh the Holy One of Israel a remnant will return the remnant of Jacob to the mighty

God For though your people or Israel may be like the sand the sea only a remnant within them will return a destructive and is decreed overflowing with righteous righteousness

We know Paul's quoting this in Romans to discuss the remnant of Israel that will be saved by the decree of God and so we have a continuation of passages used in the

Old Testament in regard to fulfillment in Christ in regard to fulfillment in the church in Isaiah 10 and that continues on Actually into Isaiah chapter 11 where you have more references to to the

Emanuel and and Here's here's the point You have an entire section of Scripture here, which we've divided up into chapters

Which wasn't divided up into chapters in the day of days of Jesus and the Apostles where you have this constant theme

Emanuel God with us. Sometimes the translations will render it Emanuel Sometimes they'll say God with us. You don't necessarily see the parallels, but there's all this material and I mentioned last evening in in prior.

I've only gotten to go to Israel one time I don't know that I'll ever get to go again because it's a very long drive and now that I don't fly and I'm not sure that my how well my my unit would float either so So I probably won't get a chance to go there again

But when I did get a chance to go I got to lead a Bible study on John 6 at the seashore at Capernaum Okay, that's a that's a bucket list type of a thing to do

But I also led a Bible study right in front of Qumran and and in fact right behind me was the opening to Qumran cave number one where the

Isaiah scroll was discovered and The point here is these words were written 700 years before the birth of Christ, so we're talking almost 2750 years ago now

These words are written now you can you know you? Pick up your critical commentaries and there there's going to be all sorts of Argumentation about first Isaiah and second

Isaiah and all the rest of stuff leave that aside for a moment minimally absolutely minimally

These words are in the Isaiah scroll that were discovered in that cave which very firmly dated at least 100 years before the birth of Christ So these are words that predate their fulfillment in the birth of Christ And if you believe

Jesus's view of Scripture, which I think is a wise thing to do then we are talking about 700 years prior to the birth of Christ you have these prophetic words and I know you know if we if we did a prophecy conference

We could fill this place up You know you'd have people all over the place And you know if if I if I proclaim that I have figured out you know from the the original language of the

Bible Who the coming Antichrist is we would have people standing outside the doors to try to find out about this kind of stuff

There's such fascination about all these things and I'm reminded of the fact that Late great planter

Hal Lindsey died just recently just a couple days ago actually and So, you know that stuff was

I grew up with that stuff man. That was I I Remember my first tritium watch

Got a tritium watch had a tritium watch face. It would glow all the time because it was radioactive

You can't get him anymore because they're radioactive for some reason And and I remember at a lock -in and as a junior in high school and at a lock -in at our large

Southern Baptist Church I had a little soul winners New Testament. That's how good my eyes were back then and I was you know, like midnight

I'm using my tritium watch to Light up the pages and I'm explaining to all my friends what the budding of the fig tree was in Matthew chapter 24 and because I had read the late great planet

Earth and you know all that kind of stuff 40 years from the 1948 and so it's 1988 and and it was like 1980 then so we're getting really close guys and all that type of exciting stuff

We could fill this place up if we were talking about Prophecies and things like that and yet to be honest with you when you think about it central to the

Advent season central to this season where we Consider well the birth of Christ.

And by the way, I have a study. It's somewhere on YouTube We've just put James White Christmas date.

I think it will come up I did a Bible study class at Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church about 2016

I think where I went through the evidence and You don't you don't hear this stuff you get all this stuff

Oh, it couldn't have been in December because it would have been cold and the flocks wouldn't have been the field and It's all pagan but all the system

The reality is let me just mention this in passing if you're really interested in this

What I'll do is I'll just ask the pastor to look all this stuff up for you and and he'll explain it to you

By tomorrow, I would imagine That's how you do this type of thing. But Dr.

Beckwith Roger Beckwith, he wrote a fantastic book called the Old Testament Canon the

New Testament Church It's not Frank Beckwith. That's somebody different. Please differentiate them

Roger Beckwith died. I think last year And his book on the

Old Testament Canon very hard to read but it's the best book I've ever seen on The apocryphal books and the

Old Testament Canon and all that kind of stuff He wrote an in -depth article, I don't know how many years ago 20 years ago at least

Where he followed the courses of the priests we have records of the which families

Served in the temple at the time of the birth of Christ, of course after 8070, you know we don't have anything after that, but we still do have records from before then and We know that there's a relationship between Jesus and John the

Baptist as far as what their births are We know because of Mary and Elizabeth and so we know when

Elizabeth's husband Would have been serving in the temple because of the courses of the priests and What's fascinating is when you look at that data, which

I'd never seen anybody else do it's about the only historical data We can actually look at outside the

New Testament that would give us some type of idea Guess when he would have been serving a guess when?

His service in the temple would lead us to the birth of Christ the birth of Christ would have been in late

December early January and What was the first? What's what's what's the

Eastern Orthodox date of Christmas, January 6th and In the West is

December 25th. So all that stuff you hear about no, I couldn't have been this It was just you know, it was mithraism.

No, there's a it's a bunch of baloney The best information we've got does point to this time period

For the birth of Christ, so I just point that out to you and let you do your own research from that that point onward so We have all these

We I think we struggle in our day to really enter into an

Understanding of the fulfillment of prophecy we we know about it we We it's part of our our thinking but we are so Much wedded to a worldview now of Secularism that I just wonder how many

Christians really are excited to recognize That God had told his people 700 years earlier what he was going to do and He didn't do it with some kind of you know video presentation or something like that.

He did it He did it in in words of Scripture that would satisfy the godly but not the ungodly and For me at this time of year.

I truly love to Consider the incarnation and to recognize this was something that God gave word in his prophetic scriptures

About so that when it was fulfilled We could look back and see that God has been in control.

He remains in control. He's accomplishing his purposes and So when we finally now turn to Isaiah at 9, you know the text

We put it in that context It's it's it's the center. It's the centerpiece of a number of key prophetic texts from the

Old Testament here in Isaiah and so We begin if you look at it, you'll notice that the the poetic section begins with verse 2 you can identify

Hebrew poetry, but I'll just begin with verse 4

For you shall shatter the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders and the rod of their task master

Master at as at the battle of Midian for every boot of the booted warrior in the rumbling of battle and cloaked

Cloak rolled in blood will be for burning fuel for the fire. So this is this is a section where you're talking about again.

There's There's a tremendous amount of Pressure upon the people of Israel there.

They're at they're at the crossroads of the ancient world. You have you have huge Military forces to their north and to and to their west to their south with Egypt and and That they're in a crossroads there they're constantly getting run over by people going north and south and that's the history of Israel as we know it and so God is talking about bringing judgment upon nations things like that and in the midst of that in the midst of that we have these words for a child will be born to us a

Son will be given to us and the government will rest on his shoulders and his name

Will be called wonderful Counselor mighty God eternal father prince of peace there will be no end the

Increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice

And righteousness from then on and forevermore the zeal of Yahweh of hosts will accomplish this

So we know the text We've heard it many many times before But maybe if we can try to lay aside our preconceptions and listen to it afresh

Because very often as we have seen as we've looked at other texts For example when when

Peter quotes the text from Isaiah 8 he's making an application in his day that wouldn't have necessarily suggested itself in the days of Isaiah and The same way in the middle of this this discussion of judgment upon nations and things like that We have this section

For a child will be born to us a Son will be given to us now

I cannot with absolute certainty Prove what

I'm about to say to you But I think it has some really strong validity.

I'll let you judge yourself in Hebrew poetry you have very very commonly

I The last sermon I preached in at Apologia We're going through Proverbs and we've gotten into the section of Proverbs now

Where there is no context or every single verse is? A context unto itself the one verse will not be related to the next verse below it

So earlier on in Proverbs, you'll have the wisdom sections and you can sort of do stuff contextually once you get into we were in Proverbs 14 each

Proverb stands unto itself and that can be that's tough to preach to that is that is very very hard And so I was talking about the the text that that a sin is a rebuke to any nation

And in these poetic sections Hebrew poetry Will take a concept and will repeat it by using in using different phraseology to expand upon what is being asserted and You have to be careful that you don't just assume that the author is trying to say something new now

He may just be expanding upon and repeating the same thing in other words to give a

Fuller expression of it a little more color in the paint. Shall we say and So it is quite possible that that first Section a child we born to us a son will be given to us is just Hebrew poetry

It's just it's just the standard type of repetition So child son born given just simply an expansion

Maybe that's quite possible But The the term child is yelled in Hebrew and to be born is yell odd Interestingly enough just in passing you find this interesting sometime in the future

Arabic I studied Arabic for a number of years. I have let it go unfortunately But I studied for a number of years and they're both semitic languages

And so there's a lot of parallels. In fact for a long time. My Arabic was just my Hebrew Gallivanting around in new clothes the the grammar and syntax and stuff are very very similar and In the

Quran in Surah 112 called surah surah taliq loss. It's about the closest you'll get to a

Creedal statement in the Quran the third ayah says lem yell it while I'm Yulid Lem yell it while I'm Yulid is speaking of a lot

It says he is he does not give birth nor is he born using the same?

terminology used here in Isaiah and It's very clearly meant to be a denial that God has a son

Now whether the author of the Quran had any idea of what we meant by the Son of God is another issue

I think is very clear that he did not which means that the Quran was not given by God But be it as it may that is the the terminology that's being used in in the

Quran So here you have for a child will be born to us. It's the natural term regular term for birth a child will be born to us and Notice it is to us

That's why I think there it the to us is found in in both of these phrases

So a child we born to us natural birth a Son a

Ben a Son will be Nathan given to us the

Prophet Nathan Nathan in Hebrew is to give one who is given and So a son

Will be given to us. So again, I admit the Simplest interpretation is that this is just repetition of the same of the same concept but What if there is something more there?

What if what we're seeing here is a child who is born a?

Son who is given Nathan Can we see here?

Is it appropriate for us? with New Testament eyes To look at this and see the son

Who is given? to us Remember this is in the same section of Isaiah where you have

Emmanuel God with us This is the assertion being made in numerous texts

So is it possible? that we have at the beginning of verse 6 a

Faint glimmer of what we're going to see fulfilled in the New Testament in places like John chapter 1

Where you have the eternal logos in the beginning was the Word and where is with God the Word was

God This son who has eternally existed becomes flesh and Dwells amongst us and we we behold his glory the glories of the only begotten the father full of grace and truth is

It possible what we're seeing here is yes. He is truly human. He is a child who is truly born

It's not like Roman Catholicism If you understand Roman Catholic theology, and this is one of my biggest problems with with Roman Catholic theology is

That the dogmatic teaching of the perpetual virginity of Mary Involves the assertion that she maintained her perpetual integrity even in the birth of Christ Now they're drawing that from proto

Gnostic sources It doesn't come from Scripture it comes from external stuff that then became

Combined with The desert fathers and monasticism and developed into all the stuff you have in Mary but but in the earliest source that they draw this from When you read it and I've read this on the dividing line before when you when you read it what it says is is there was a great great blinding light and as the then when the light diminished

There was Jesus There was no birth To use a

Star Trek analogy Jesus beamed out of Mary. I Mean, that's the only way you can look at it. If you don't have a natural birth, you don't have a true human

Hence, you don't have a real giving of a real life. I think it's extremely important And so when it says a child be born to us, that's natural.

He was truly man. The word became flesh But then a son will be given to us

The giving of that eternal son, is it there? I can't prove it, but I think it is and I think the rest of the verse

Helps substantiate that why well the government will rest on his shoulders.

So you're in the midst of a text that speaks of judgment coming upon nations things like that and so here you have the

Stability of what God is going to do the government will rest on his shoulders

I think we sort of skip over that one because And again, I can't necessarily prove this but I can make a strong argument for it

I think when you look at Daniel chapter 7 and you see the one presented before the

Ancient of Days and a kingdom is given to him and his his Followers worship him and the term there in the

Greek Septuagint is Latreau. It's the highest form of worship I think that's a picture of what happens with Christ at his when he ascends to heaven having accomplished redemption and he is seated and he is given a kingdom and Hence, you've got

Psalm 2 kiss the Sun lest he be angry and and you perish in the way And it it all fits together in a in a in a wonderful way

The government will rest on his shoulders on this one. Well, who is this one?

Well, we know all the rest of this but let's look at it carefully and his name will be called wonderful counselor it you could if you wanted to divide it up into his name will be called wonderful and counselor and Elgibor mighty

God Avi odd eternal father Prince of Peace Sar Shalom Let's think about each each one of these let's go let's go with wonderful counselor as a single as a single name

What is a how does how do we even understand wonderful? counselor well,

I Would my best suggestion would be? that What does what does the

New Testament writers do when they describe Jesus when they will quote from passages about wisdom in?

The Proverbs and make application to Jesus He is the one who reveals the father's heart.

He is the one who brings wisdom on a level We cannot possibly know he is the one who has been what is what is

John chapter 1 say he is at the father's side At the bosom of the father at the father's side.

He knows him intimately and so he is able to provide Wonderful counsel and of course the father and the son what do they do when when

Jesus returns to heaven they send the counselor the spirit

Who then indwells the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ? So he is the one who can give us wisdom from God Then when it says mighty

God Elgibor We saw that in Isaiah chapter 10

In Isaiah chapter 10 verse 21 a remnant will return the remnant of Jacob to whom?

Elgibor It's the exact same phrase. It's the exact same phrase even though in Chapter 10 verse 21.

What's what's the preceding verse say? But we'll truly rely on who Yahweh the

Holy One of Israel a remnant will return the remnant Jacob to the El Gabor the mighty God now you say why are you emphasizing that because I've talked to a to hundreds of Jehovah's Witnesses.

That's why and if you bring this text up they will say well, he is a mighty

God and They'll take that in the sense of a mighty angelic being or something along those lines

But in this section of Isaiah, who is El Gabor? Elgabor is

Yahweh and So he is called El Gabor he is called mighty

God Now again, if you go buy a critical commentary or something like that Online or something like that.

We used to have these things called Christian bookstores. They were really cool. It was really neat they were all over the place before Amazon came along and then they all died a slow and agonizing death and I used to say that the

Christian bookstore was one of the most dangerous places a Christian could go Because what you should think of when you're in a

Christian bookstore I'm not talking about when you're walking down the precious moments aisle. Okay, that's not really a dangerous place

Though it is I think for most husbands like no dear. No, I've already got too many of those in the house. No stop But when you're walking down the theology aisle

What you've got to think is there are coiled rattlesnakes on all the shelves you're passing

Because I can't tell you how many people I've known who you know Just innocently went to a Christian bookstore bought a commentary on Isaiah Thinking that well everybody believes what

I believe about Isaiah that it's the Word of God It's consistent and all the rest of stuff. No, I hate to tell you something We lost most of the

Old Testament to the liberals a long time ago Almost everything that's publishing not everything but almost everything that's published today by the major publishing houses on Isaiah or anything in the

Old Testament Does not begin with the idea that this is the Word of God. It's consistent things like that They begin with the idea that this is actually been edited and redacted over time and and all this kind of stuff

So they're not concerned about these things and there's a there is a useful commentary book by Kylan Delitch It's rather old.

It's from the late 1800s as I recall Anyway, when they comment on and they're

German they're they're German scholars And so, you know, they tend to be normally way to my left, but when they get to this text

Even they have to go. Is it is it even possible? That this ancient text when it speaks of mighty

God is Talking about what we find in the New Testament.

Is that even possible and they have to go We have to admit that it is now that was that was that was a wildly conservative thing for them to say

Okay, that was that was a radical thing. They probably got got a tremendous amount of emails.

That's a joke There was the 1800s. They didn't have emails back then but they probably got got mocked horribly for saying that but even they had to say

There just seems to be something here That cannot be explained on a naturalistic basis when we have this one called the mighty

God now Next phrase I have to spend at least two or three minutes on Because I can't tell you how many people

I had someone come up this evening and had me Sign the first edition of my book on the Trinity By the way, there's a second edition that's that's out

So at 40 pages longer whoever had me sign that hate to do that to you, but hey helps me out

I think I make about Oh four cents maybe something like that But I address it in my book on the

Trinity because one of the most common questions that I get Is people say hey, you know if I if Isaiah 9 6 is talking about Jesus and it clearly is

How do you understand eternal father because we don't believe Jesus is father In fact, the

New Testament clearly distinguishes the son from the father The son is sent by the father and and I in John chapter 17 the son speaks to the father and speaks of the glory that he had in the father's presence before the world was and and and you know

We we do have people out there called oneness Pentecostals the the modalists who believe that that Jesus is

Multiple persons that his the son is a just a human being that hasn't eternally existed

But he's indwelt by the father who is God and now God the father acts like the spirits

There's only one divine person and they deny the doctrine the Trinity if you want to see debates I've done a few debates on that subject, too

But how they will refer to this text see he's called the eternal father So, how do we explain that?

Well as I mentioned In the in the the text itself and the the terminology that is used of him

The the Hebrew phrase is a single phrase avi ad Which again literally avi

Abba? So father odd eternal eternal father avi avi ad

I would understand as father of eternity and How would that connect with Jesus in the

New Testament? Well read Colossians chapter 1 I Was Jesus described in Colossians chapter 1 for by him were all things created whether in heaven and earth

Visible invisible principalities powers dominions or authorities all things created by him and for him

He is before all things and in him all things Sunnis take him they hold together.

He holds all of creation together That's the description of the Sun in Colossians chapter 1 and that fits perfectly because the term father normally in the

Old Testament is referring to God as creator or maker of something and So he is the one who has eternally made he is the creator of all things

John chapter 1 Apart from him. It's not anything made that was made He is described as the creator in the

New Testament. And so that's how I would I understand mighty God Eternal father and then sar shalom.

We all know the term shalom. I would imagine Interestingly enough in Arabic. It's Salam If you listen to Muslims greeting each other, they'll say salaam alaikum alaikum salaam and that's the

Arabic form of the same root shalom in Hebrew and hopefully you're aware of the fact that the concept of peace in Hebrew is much richer and deeper than it is in English language and the way we speak about it so if today

I have not followed the news or like that, but My assumption is probably today there were no rockets fired into Israel Israel's been beating up on everybody and in fact

To be honest with I recently got word from a friend of mine who has a lot of Christian friends in southern

Lebanon they're just Bombing the Christian areas horribly and there's there's there's no

Hezbollah is not in those areas and the Christians are suffering greatly in that in that in that war at the moment

But let's say no missiles were fired into Israel today That would not be considered peace

Just because there was not open warfare. That would not be peace as Long as the

Iron Dome and all the other stuff is sitting there waiting As long as the tanks are there and the guns are there and the armies are there.

That's not peace Peace is not simply a cessation of hostilities

Peace true shalom is a wholeness of relationship when you can drive across the border and Have a

Bible study with the Christians on the other side of the border then we can start talking about peace existing but peace does not exist there at all and so when we think of Prince of Peace We think of one who brings peace by his authority and by his power

And I I just can't avoid thinking about Not only the descriptions of Jesus ruling the nations with a rod of iron in Revelation Revelation chapter 1 especially and all the

Old Testament imagery that's fulfilled in Christ in those descriptions there if you don't see how

I mean Book of Revelation is like 60 % of the Old Testament being recited

It really is and it's very helpful to keep that in mind, but I immediately think of Romans 5 1

Therefore having been justified by faith. We have what we have peace with God how through our

Lord Jesus Christ Peace with God. That's the highest form of peace.

You can create a creaturely level of peace here on earth but true full peace

Is only to be found in peace with God and how do we have that according to the

New Testament through Jesus Christ through what he has accomplished. He is the

Prince of Peace He has by his obedience to the Father by his self -giving provided the perfect peace that we have with God because We're not taking something that he has done and adding to it

Our peace with God is because we have been justified by faith by the empty hand of faith

That does not bring works and merit with it He is the one who has brought about that peace

So he is the Tsar Shalom the Prince of Peace the one who gives us that right relationship with God and That's what must be proclaimed

To our fellow citizens at this time of year Because they don't they don't mind a

Jesus in a manger who is in no way a threat to them But when you think about what is really said about Jesus in this text and how many how many

Christmas cards are being sent? Well, did anybody do Christmas cards anymore? I guess a few people do some of us older folks

Will do Christmas cards. My mom would get started on Christmas cards the day after Thanksgiving and She had the most beautiful handwriting and did any of you

I'm really dating myself here. It's terrible, but that's okay Did any of you ever have back in the olden days

She had these candles and you'd light this candle and you'd you'd let it drip some wax on the on the seal of the envelope and Then you blow it out and you'd have a we had a

W for white This metal thing and you'd press it. You'd had you had to let the the wax

Dry, just a little bit. You couldn't do it immediately But while it was still pliable you'd press that W Into the wax and you'd pull it off and there's this beautiful wax seal on the back of the envelope

You're all looking at me like I am from 1842. You really are No one how did anybody do that?

I've got one. I've got two Okay, I think I'm gonna need CPR here in a second

Wow Now I know why they don't do it anymore because that gums up the postal machines

You know what you're sending it will never get any place. But man, it was classy That was really really cool

And she'd let me do that not for everyone because that would slow the process down a lot But but anyway,

I just chased that rabbit right through the Oklahoma countryside there How many

Christmas cards When they were still being sent had this text You know in nice fancy lettering and maybe some glitter on it and the pretty scene behind it, but what's it really saying?

This one who has come this child that is born the Sun's been given the government rest on his shoulders.

He's the mighty God He's the father of eternity. He's the very Prince of Peace What happened in Bethlehem is

Part of the very center point of history. I Mean one of the differences between East and West between Eastern Orthodoxy and Western Christianity is

We are focused very much upon the cross and the resurrection They're focused very much upon the incarnation

They all go together You can't have the one without the other He had to be truly man.

He had to be truly born. The incarnation is central He lived a perfect life. People don't know why well, it's because the righteousness that's imputed to you

It is not just the removal of your sins, but it's also his perfect righteousness. He obeyed the father in all things

Did you know that one of the differences between the Westminster Confession of Faith and the London Bapst Confession of Faith?

the London Bapst Confession of Faith specifically speaks of The active and passive obedience of Christ being imputed to us as the grounds of our righteousness

The Westminster doesn't mainly because they had had a whole lot more people writing it There were people there that believed that there were people there that wanted that but they couldn't get everybody on board

So it's not there. We have it in the London Bapst Confession of Faith. Just one small improvement for those of you who are here that's why he lives that perfect life and That's what he gives to us.

And so you have you have to have incarnation You have to have death, burial, resurrection. You have an ascension and enthronement

It's all the Christ event. But the point is that's the center part of history Everything before it looked forward to it.

Everything since then looks back to it so that little baby in a manger the world world's like not threatening but you need to know he didn't stay in the manger and who he was before the manger and Who he is after the ascension

Consistency we're talking about the Creator who has invaded his own creation What an amazing message

What an amazing reality. I understand Why the secular mind today won't accept any of these things

But that's why I'm so thankful that I'm not dependent upon the secular mind to believe these things

It's the Spirit of God That opens hearts and minds and continues to do so that's why we're sitting here in Oklahoma on the other side of the planet from where these events took place and we have been brought here by our commitment to that one

Savior and That one spirit that he and the Father has sent in the world

Drew us under the Sun and so we are excited about celebrating once again

God's invasion into his own creation What an amazing thing the world calls it foolishness.

Let them when the Spirit of God moves They won't be calling it foolishness anymore.

Let's pray together Father we do thank you for this time that you've given to us to consider your word.

We do pray that during this season You would grant to us in the midst of all of our busyness

Time to truly consider What took place so long ago

What it means The great price that's been paid for our own redemption The great condescension of the

Sun the love of the triune God Help us to rejoice

Help us not to be so Taken up with everything we have to do during this season

To not have time to consider Why we should truly rejoice at the gift that has been given to us a child born.

Yes Son given may we rejoice and may we communicate these truths to those around us with great clarity