The proclamation that a son would be given to Israel and the world, the Servant of Yavah, was given at one of the darkest times in Israel’s history.

 

Idolatry was rampant, as was greed and cruelty. They were warned of the impending judgment by the great prophet Isaiah.

 

ISA 9:6-7

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.

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 to uphold it with justice and righteousness

From then on and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

 

In the midst of coming disaster, the prophet confidently announces the birth of the divine child over 700 years before it happens.

 

We who don’t know what will happen tomorrow cannot comprehend how anyone could see out over seven hundred years, but God easily can.

 

God controls all human history. The Son will be born, foretold in GEN 3:15 and with more revelation through the prophets.

 

Their times were no less certain than our own today, yet the prophet sees clearly what we have known to happen.

 

His government will rest on His shoulders, but only after all of our sins became His burden. The power of this Mighty God would be love.

 

Perhaps we have become so use to the message that “a child will be born to us” that we miss the depth of its significance. The message given to a dark world on the brink of disaster is about the birth of a child, not of the astonishing work of a strong man, not of the bold discovery of a wise man, nor the pious work of a saint. It is the birth of a child that will bring to man the deliverance he so sorely looks for and longs for but cannot accomplish.

 

All kings and statesmen, philosophers and artists, religious leaders and moral teachers put together could not remotely do what the infant Jesus could. A child born into the midst of the world has put them all to shame, shutting their mouths in disobedience.

 

The comfort from God to us who experience the darkness of the world, along with the darkness of our inner selves, is a child, His Son.

 

The child one day will be a man and He will belong to you and you will know Him, belong to Him, love Him and be loved by Him. Your entire life will depend upon Him alone - a newborn child in a cave somewhere in the little town of Bethlehem.

 

The fear of the Almighty God, standing before His infinite power will humble us and we will bow before Him. The astonishment that Almighty God would humble Himself to become an infant also humbles us, and like the shepherds and the magi we bow before Him containing no pride. Before the child we forget all our stress and struggles, our sense of importance.

 

God’s treasure is total love and graciousness. He gives His Son and we, like the Magi, give to Him by giving to others.

 

Only by the gift of the Son could we know anything about grace and love and peace, things which would become the characteristics of the kingdom that He would build, and the riches of that kingdom are ours and can be spent by us in time by faith and with gracious hearts. Without Him we cannot be godly. Without Him we cannot be that which life really is. The dark world and its objects and powers are stained with evil and sin. Even the greatest nations and kingdoms have darkness in them because they are filled with fallen men - sinners. But the inheritance of Christ’s possession is in heaven.

 

EPH 1:13-14

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation —  having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, 14 who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.

 

The “strong man” bows before a child and honors Him as his only Savior.

 

The prophecy says that the government will rest on His shoulders. How could a government rest on the shoulders of a child? Yet we know that someday the weight of the world would press down upon Him. His cross He would carry, rejected by many men, and all of our sins would weigh down upon Him in judgment to Him, innocence in the place of our guilt.

 

And He would not break under that burden, but bear it fully until every bit of it was accomplished.

 

The work of bearing this burden would begin immediately in that manger in Bethlehem. For it would be His weakness, His lowliness, His poverty, His meekness that would accomplish the work for us.

 

The human is at his weakest at birth, dependent and frail. His meekness wouldn’t change even after growing into the great Man He was. The infant in the manger would one day ride a donkey into His city, declaring Himself King, but a humble King.

 

ZEC 9:9

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion!

Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Behold, your king is coming to you;

He is just and endowed with salvation,

Humble, and mounted on a donkey,

Even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

 

He is called Wonderful Counselor. He would live a purely human life, and of course, the way it is supposed to be lived. Yet He understands that we are dust and sinners, and He will sympathize with our weaknesses and stand in our place at the right hand of God interceding for us. He forever counsels us on how to overcome and live in the midst of anything.

 

HEB 4:14-16

Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need.

 

He is called Mighty God. The child of Mary in the manger is none other than God in the flesh.

 

But where is the power in God the infant? It is in His love for all mankind. In love this Man will overcome the chasm between man and God.

 

He will destroy the barrier of the Law by fulfilling it, powerfully overcome sin and death, forgiving all sin in man. Only He, only this infant, of all the men and angels ever created, can accomplish it.

 

LUK 2:10-11

And the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.”

 

He is called Everlasting Father - how can this be the name of a child? The child and the Father are one.

 

The will of the Father is ever done in this God/Man. The Person of the Father is revealed in Him. The love of the Father shines through Him. He bears witness of the Father and glorifies the Father. He who sees the Son sees the Father. The love of heaven was brought to the earth.

 

He is called Prince of Peace - by His death He will establish peace between God and man as well as from man to man in the church, His body. Only in Him is peace possible.

 

After we have heard the birth and the names of the divine child, we then hear something of His kingdom.

 

ISA 9:7

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 to uphold it with justice and righteousness

From then on and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this.

 

His government will, in the future glory of His will, encompass the whole earth. He will sit on the throne of David and so it will be a spiritual kingdom. The justice and righteousness of His kingdom will be perfect. The subjects will bow to His justice and righteousness perfectly and forevermore.

 

The spiritual need of the world cries out for a remedy, and there is only one. Only One will show the glory of God to the world - the Servant of the Lord. He calls the whole world to hear (49:1).

 

ISA 49:1

Listen to Me, O islands,

And pay attention, you peoples from afar.

The Lord called Me from the womb;

From the body of My mother He named Me.

 

Isaiah speaks of a pilgrimage from Babylon. He speaks of release of the captives and a journey to a new land.

 

ISA 49:10

For He who has compassion on them will lead them,

And will guide them to springs of water.

 

Yet it is more than a new geographical place. It is a freedom of the mind and heart because of the redemption through the Servant of Yavah.

 

ISA 49:2

And He has made My mouth like a sharp sword;

In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me,

And He has also made Me a select arrow;

He has hidden Me in His quiver.

 

His sword is His word (vs. 2). But He was hidden (youth and young adulthood) while He prepared Himself.

 

ISA 49:3

And He said to Me, "You are My Servant, Israel,

In Whom I will show My glory."

 

Israel was the name given to Jacob after the Lord wrestled with him and here the Lord takes that name, identifying Himself with the nation, doing what neither Jacob, nor anyone else, could do.

 

The Servant then becomes despondent.

 

Israel would not respond to Him. The leaders would reject Him, so many of the people rejected Him. They were prejudiced towards Him and misunderstood Him. They were caught up in the glamour of signs and wonders that the message was not heard. He cried “How long will I be with this generation.” Then there was the falling away of His own inner group, which He foresaw, and the betrayer Judas. The people would loudly call for His crucifixion and then surround Him at the cross by the thousands, mocking and tempting Him.

 

ISA 49:4

But I said, "I have toiled in vain,

I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity;

Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the Lord,

And My reward with My God."

 

But His comfort would be that whatever was due Him was with Yavah. Justice was with the Father as well as His reward. The power and promise of the Father comforted the soul of the Servant when it was on the brink of despondency.

 

God will accomplish all His good pleasure.

 

In verse 5, the Servant reminds Himself that He has been formed for the purpose of bringing Jacob back to Him. The Lord has prepared Him for this, and although it wouldn’t be easy, “My God is My strength.”

 

ISA 49:5

And now says the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant,

To bring Jacob back to Him, in order that Israel might be gathered to Him

(For I am honored in the sight of the Lord,

And My God is My strength),

 

Despondency arises from listening to ourselves and our own self-assessment. Strength comes from looking to God, recalling His promises and purposes, living according to our dignity in Him and rediscovering in Him our source of power.

 

If the Lord could save the world, bring Jacob back to Him through an infant, can He make of you and me what He desires?

 

ISA 49:6

He says, "It is too small a thing that

You should be My Servant

To raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;

I will also make You a light of the nations

So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."

 

The Servant is a covenant figure. He alone will fulfill the covenants to Israel and to the world.

 

The Father ponders with the Servant, “Is it too small a thing to restore the remnant of Israel?” And the answer is, “I will also make You a light of the nations

 

So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” The answer is yes, it would be too small to deliver the remnant of Israel alone.