WWUTT 1869 To Us a Child is Born (Isaiah 8:19-9:7)

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Unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders, and he'll be called

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Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

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Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

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Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We're back to our study in the book of Isaiah with a little bit of Chapter 8 to finish up here.

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But before getting to that, let me recap where we've come up to this point. King Ahaz, king of Judah, is surrounded by Ephraim and Syria who have joined forces to try to unseat

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Ahaz and put another king on the throne of Judah who will become their ally in their fight against the

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Assyrians. Now, the Lord has made a covenant with the house of David, and he is not going to allow anyone but someone from the line of David sit on that throne in Judah.

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So he says to Ahaz, ask me for a sign, and I will show it to you, be it as high as heaven or as low as Sheol.

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But Ahaz says, I will not ask for a sign. So through the prophet Isaiah, it is said to Ahaz, the

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Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call his name

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Immanuel. You know that passage perhaps is Isaiah 714 and that it pertains to Christ.

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For Matthew says that it's in the birth of Jesus that particular prophecy was fulfilled.

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Well, that's the ultimate meaning of that prophecy. There is still an immediate application to this regarding the birth of a child whose name will be

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Immanuel. And before that child reaches a certain age, it says in verse 17, Yahweh will bring on you on your people and on your father's house days which have never come since the day that Ephraim separated from Judah, the king of Assyria.

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So there is going to be hard times as punishment that will come upon Judah because Ahaz and all of Judah with him were disobedient to the

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Lord. It is said later on in chapter 8 that Isaiah would have a son whom he would name Meher -shalal -hashbaz, that name meaning the spoil speeds, the prey hastens.

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So there is yet another sign through another child of a curse that was going to come upon Judah because of their disobedience against God.

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So the Assyrians are going to come against Judah. This was who Ahaz was trusting would come to his aid.

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He thought that the Assyrians would help him fight back the Assyrians and Ephraim. But it's actually the

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Assyrians who are going to make things very difficult on him. But through the prophecy that's made regarding these two children, presumably two sons of Isaiah, God is going to fulfill a promise to afflict

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Judah because of their disobedience against God. Nonetheless, there is a promise of a greater king to come.

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And that's where we come to today in our text. I'm going to pick up in chapter 8 verse 19 and read through chapter 9 verse 7 out of the

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Legacy Standard Bible. Hear the word of the Lord. Now when they say to you, inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their

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God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living, to the law and to the testimony?

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If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

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And they will pass through the land hard -pressed and hungry. And it will be that when they are hungry, they will be angry and curse their king and their

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God as they face upward. Then they will look to the earth and behold distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish.

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And they will be banished into thick darkness. But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish.

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In earlier times, he treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt. But later on, he shall make it glorious.

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By the way of the sea, on the other side of the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.

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Those who live in the land of the shadow of death, the light will shine on them.

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You shall multiply the nation. You shall make great their gladness. They will be glad in your presence as with the gladness of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil.

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For you shall shatter the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, the rod of their taskmaster, as at the battle of Midian.

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For every boot of the booted warrior in the rumbling of battle and cloak rolled in blood will be for burning, fuel for the fire.

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For a child will be born to us. A son will be given to us.

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And the government will rest on his shoulders. And his name will be called

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Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

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There will be no end to 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.

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The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will accomplish this. There's another passage you're surely familiar with.

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Another one just like Isaiah 7, 14 that gets read right around Christmas time.

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A child will be born to us. A son will be given and the government will rest on his shoulders,

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Isaiah 9, 6. But let's consider our text leading up to that couple of verses,

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Isaiah 9, 6 and 7. So in verse 19, this is the Lord speaking through the prophet

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Isaiah. Now when they say to you, inquire of the mediums and of the spiritists who whisper and mutter.

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This is the people of Judah saying, we need to know what's going on. We have no idea what's happening.

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So inquire of the mediums and the spiritists, those people who talk to the dead, who commune with the spirits that they might divine for us what it is that's going on here.

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Because remember, when the Assyrians come against Judah, it's going to be a people of a strange tongue.

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They will not be able to understand what the Assyrians are saying. They will not have any idea what is going on.

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And they're going to assume everything is a conspiracy. We considered this last week where the Lord said to Isaiah, verse 12, you are not to say it is a conspiracy in regard to all that this people call a conspiracy.

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And you are not to fear what they fear and you shall not tremble. It is

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Yahweh of hosts whom you should regard as holy. He shall be your fear and he shall be your cause of trembling.

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Then he shall become a sanctuary. Now, that's the way Isaiah is going to regard the

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Lord. But that's not the way Ahaz and the rest of Judah think of God. They have been given answers clearly spoken to them.

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It has been spoken to them through the prophets, by God, through the prophets that they might know exactly what it is that God is doing, but they're not listening.

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Their ears are stopped up. Remember that the Lord said previously to Isaiah, and this was back in chapter six.

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Remember when God said, who is going to go and speak for us? And Isaiah said, here I am, Lord, send me.

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And God said, Isaiah 6, 9, go and tell this people, keep on hearing, but do not understand.

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Keep on seeing, but do not know. Render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, their eyes dim, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and return and be healed.

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So this is part of the affliction that is coming upon them that they cannot even hear.

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They cannot understand the word of God plainly spoken to them. It is because, as it said in Romans 1, 18, they have suppressed the truth.

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With their unrighteousness, they have loved wickedness and falsehood.

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And so God is giving them over to their own unfit minds.

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So the best that they can come up with to try to reason with the times, to try to understand or fathom what's going on, they're not going to listen to a prophet of God.

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Let's talk to those who commune with the dead. And of course, they really don't have anything to say.

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Any of the stuff that comes from the diviners, it's all muddled nonsense. You can't understand what it is that they're talking about.

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It's ambiguous. It's open to interpretation. It can mean anything that I want it to mean.

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And this is exactly what the false prophets do today. Today's false prophets who say ridiculous things like, the

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Lord is giving me a word. He's got a word for me for 2023. That word applies to your life if you'll just listen to the

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Lord and follow his word. And that word is breakthrough. This is going to be the year of your breakthrough.

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Or it's going to be something like, this is the year of your success. Cindy Jacobs does this.

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I think every single year, at the start of every year, she's got a new word that God has given to her.

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Beth Moore even does this. She's got some light version of this, where she'll say, the

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Lord gave me a word in my mind, and it was bind. The Lord gave me this word, bind.

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And so I knew whatever I was supposed to say to you today, it was going to have something to do with bind. And then she'll go to the scriptures, but all of the scriptures that she'll end up accumulating have to fit into this certain paradigm that she believes that the

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Lord has given to her. It's false prophecy. It's ambiguous. It's whatever I want it to mean.

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But it's the same kind of thing that the Hebrews are doing right here. They're not going to listen to the

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Lord. They're not going to go to the word, his word. They're listening for, you know, words out there in the ethereal.

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Whatever can just pop into my head. And since I am someone who is of the people of God, then whatever comes into my mind must be from God.

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And so the people confused about all this is that is going on, not able to discern the times they say, inquire of the mediums and the spirit is who will whisper and mutter.

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You know that word mutter. It means they're going to say things that really are not discernible. And that's the hard heartedness of this people.

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They don't want clarity. They don't want to believe that God is a God who speaks clearly.

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They hate that. They want to believe God is someone who mutters that I have to kind of figure all of this out.

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And then whatever it is that I want God to say, that's what it is that I hear. That's the same thing with our culture today.

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The culture is deeply offended by those who claim to know the word of truth because they read it in the

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Bible. I know what God has said. It's right here in his word. Women can't be pastors. Homosexuality is a sin.

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Jesus died and took upon himself the wrath of God that we deserve. And only by faith in him will you be saved from your sin and from the judgment of God that is coming against all unrighteousness.

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Only by faith in Jesus can you be saved and have everlasting life. Oh, the world hates that message.

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Bible doesn't say that. Bible doesn't say God's wrath poured out on his son. God is not a

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God of wrath. He is a God of love. His wrath is not going to pour out on me. They'll be deeply offended whenever you talk about God's wrath, probably because they're still under it.

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Worldly people hate the idea that there is a God who speaks clear truth.

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And we see that even here among Judah. They don't want to believe that God has spoken clearly.

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So they're going to those who inquire of the dead. They're going to they're going to go inquire of people who don't speak the dead.

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They don't even speak. Should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?

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To the law and to the testimony, that's Isaiah 920. In other words,

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God has spoken clearly. The word is right here for you. Even living in obedience unto the

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Lord, the law and the testimony. But that's not what the people want. They want to continue to chase after the passions of their flesh, not living as God has told them to live.

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But but Isaiah speaks out to the law and to the testimony. If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn.

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In other words, they are not children of light. They are of the darkness. As Paul talks about in Ephesians 5 verse 21 here, and they will pass through the land hard pressed and hungry.

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And it will be that when they are hungry, they will be angry and curse their king and their God as they face upward.

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You know, what we're reading here is is kind of a taste of hell. Jesus said that's a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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They will be under the wrath of God forever, for all eternity in hell. And in that place, they will not be repentant.

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Hell will not be full of repentant people. It will be full of people weeping and gnashing their teeth at God, cursing their king and their

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God as they face upward. Then they will look to the earth and behold distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be banished into thick darkness.

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Just more and more uncertainty. And the yield will not or the earth rather will not yield its fruit.

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It will be barren to them. And so will the future. Now we start in chapter nine here, verse one.

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But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In earlier times, he treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with content.

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But later on, he shall make it glorious by the way of the sea on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the

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Gentiles. Now, this is prophecy concerning Christ. Where does Christ come from?

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He lived in Galilee. So this place where God had had previously afflicted because of their disobedience against him, the land of Zebulun, the land of Naphtali, he's going to make it glorious.

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Because it's from this land, Christ is going to come. Verse two, the people who walk in darkness, they who don't know, they don't see the future.

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They cannot hear from God. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light.

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Those who live in the land of the shadow of death, the light will shine on them. Again, talking about the coming of the

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Messiah. You shall multiply the nation. You shall make great their gladness.

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They will be glad in your presence as with the gladness of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil because the

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King comes. Remember the first words of Jesus when he began his ministry, repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.

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Verse four, for you shall shatter the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders.

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In other words, like the staff that a taskmaster will strike his subjects with, it will not afflict them.

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It will break on their shoulders. The rod of their taskmaster as at the battle of Midian. That's a reference to judges.

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That was the battle that Gideon won against impossible odds. But even that battle that Gideon by the power of the

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Lord one, though he was just him with 300 guys against armies of tens of thousands, yet he was able to succeed because of the power of God.

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And so even here against improbable odds, there will be victory among the people of the

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Lord, though they may even be small in number. Whoever has

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God has a majority. Verse five, for every boot of the booted warrior in the rumbling of battle and cloak rolled in blood will be for burning fuel for the fire.

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Even the strongest warriors will not be able to stand against this king and his kingdom. And here he is talked about in verse six.

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For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us, and the government will rest on his shoulders.

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And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

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Every one of those words has to do with something sovereign.

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It is a title for a sovereign ruler, Wonderful Counselor. His counsel will be so wonderful and so great.

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No other king on earth will be able to compare. They would all consult his counsel.

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No other king has the wisdom that this king will have. He will be Mighty God.

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Now, Mighty God in this sense, of course, we're talking about the coming of Christ, who is

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God. But in this particular sense, Mighty God is talking about a warrior, one who conquers one who destroys one who wipes out his enemies.

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Because those kings that were great and mighty in battle who had the strongest armies, they were considered to be as gods.

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But this one who comes actually will be God. He is the Mighty God, the one who will destroy his enemies and his people will live in victory.

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He is the Eternal Father. Now, father in this sense is talking about a head of state.

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Whoever is the king on his throne is considered the father of his kingdom.

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So there are some that, knowing this verse has to do with Christ, will take that descriptor,

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Eternal Father, and they will say, see, Jesus is called Father. So he is both son and father.

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And they will attempt through that to malign the doctrine of the Trinity. But this is not saying that Jesus is

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God the Father. That's not what Isaiah 9 -6 says. Again, all of these titles are with regard to a sovereign ruler.

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It's just saying that he is the head and there's none above him and his reign will last forever.

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He is the Eternal Father. His reign will have no end.

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That's coming up next in verse 7. He is also the Prince of Peace.

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So he is Eternal Father and he is Prince of Peace. He is called

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Prince because he belongs on that throne. He is the rightful heir to that throne.

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He will be born in the line of that throne. That's Jesus, born in the line of David, who belongs on that throne, which

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God has said he would establish forever. And he will bring peace.

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There will be peace on earth. By the destruction of his enemies, there will never be conflict against God or against the people of God again.

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Verse 7, there will be no end to the increase of his government or of peace on the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.

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Now, let me mention something else here before we kind of wrap up the rest of verse 7.

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Remember the words that the angels spoke to the shepherds in Luke 2. Surely you have this memorized.

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Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which will be for all people.

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For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you.

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You will find the baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Everything that is being said there by the angel is communicating a fulfillment of prophecy that was made from Isaiah 7 to 9.

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Unto you is born this day in the city of David. There's a reference right there.

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Born on the throne of David to be over his kingdom, the city of David, a

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Savior, a Messiah. Exactly a reference to this wonderful counselor, mighty

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God, eternal father, prince of peace, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you.

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All of this is being talked about here through the prophet Isaiah as a sign. And it was as if the angels was saying to those shepherds, the fulfillment of that sign has come.

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And you'll find him wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. That is the beautiful promise that we have here from Isaiah 7 to Isaiah 9 regarding the coming of the prince of peace.

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And he has come and he is here. Jesus Christ, our Savior. The greatness of his peace is this, my friends, that in Jesus Christ, the wrath of God is satisfied and we have peace with God, though we might be in conflict with the rest of this world.

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Romans 8 1. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because the anger of God is no longer against us.

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For those who are in Christ, he now has his love and his affection on us through his son in whose righteousness we have been clothed.

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So let us live as citizens of his kingdom even now until his coming heavenly father.

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We thank you for what we've read here. And may it be a reminder that a son has come, has been given, and the government rests on his shoulders.

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No one in this world can unseat Christ from his throne. He reigns.

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And that is good news to us. And it is the cause for our joy and our hope.

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No matter what is going on in this world and in this life, we do not despair because Christ reigns and we are citizens of his kingdom and will join him in glory.

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Either when we die or when Christ returns, whichever comes first.

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Be with us today, Lord Jesus, and may that peace that surpasses all understanding guard our hearts and minds.