The Prophecy

What's lost is the imagery of a husband who loves his wife, comes to receive her and she willingly and joyfully responds by giving to him the care of her life.

That's the picture Isaiah is drawing. This one who will be born, he's wonderful, he's counselor, he's mighty God, he's the father of eternity, he's the prince of peace, but by the way, he loves you. In anticipation of seeing him, we put upon his omnipotent shoulders the government of our lives. Have you ever experienced something so wonderful that it was hard to put into words?

There just weren't the right words to capture what you were feeling or experiencing. The Old Testament prophets, like Isaiah, foretold the birth of Jesus and although they teach us many things, there are some aspects of Jesus that simply can't be put into words. That's why Stephen's calling this Christmas series an indescribable gift. Jesus really is indescribable. Here on Wisdom for the Heart, we're beginning a series of Christmas messages to help focus your thoughts on the incarnation. We begin today with this lesson called The Prophecy.

Here's Stephen Davey with today's message. I thought I'd just drop into a text here or there as it relates to the incarnation of Jesus Christ and so I turn your attention this morning to the book of Isaiah in chapter nine. I think of what Paul wrote and it came to my mind in 2 Corinthians where he talked about Jesus Christ being this indescribable gift.

He is impossible to describe, isn't he? I mean, this Christmas season is certainly going to see its share of gift-giving, but have you ever thought about the fact that most, if not all, of the gifts that we're going to be giving away are completely describable? They can be weighed.

They can be measured. They can be valued. They can be bought and sold. I read in the AP News just this past month that somebody gave his sweetheart the most expensive diamond ever sold in history. Just went on auction a couple of weeks ago.

59-carat diamond sold at auction for $83.2 million dollars. Now that is an expensive gift. As expensive or amazing or creative or simple or technologically savvy these gifts are, none of them are indescribable. They can be measured, valued, packaged and sold.

They can be defined and described. Nearly 2,000 years ago a gift arrives from God the Father wrapped in shiny stuff surrounded by mud and manure in a feed trough more than likely carved into the stone side of a cavern near that tavern in Bethlehem. And yet to this day that gift is called indescribable. You can't place a value upon him.

You can only say he's priceless. You can talk about him, but you can't fully define him. You can sing to him and about him, but you cannot measure his majesty or his attributes. You can love him and serve him, but you cannot come close to comprehending him. 600 years before the gift arrives. It's as if God says, Isaiah, I want you to put into language some terms.

Let's attempt, as it were, which a human tongue cannot do, to describe the indescribable. It's exactly what will happen in Isaiah 9 as we're given sort of an inkling of this indescribable Messiah, this gift, this Son of God. Isaiah 9 and verse 6 will give us a list of descriptions.

Look there. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Now you notice it starts out by letting us know he's going to be a child or a baby. This relates to the humanity of Christ, God yet man. He's also called a son.

That is a royal nuance to it. It also, of course, reveals his relationship of flesh and blood to the human race as the son of the Virgin Mary. But in scripture he'll be called the Son of Man. It's going to reveal his relationship as the royal Messiah to human history. He'll be called the Son of God. That will reveal his relationship as deity within the triunity or the trinity of God. For unto us a child is going to be born, a son is going to be given, but he's no ordinary baby. He is fully human in form and substance. He is royally messianic in purpose, and he is fully divine in essence. Now Isaiah goes on to give us five descriptions of this little boy, this baby, who has already come. Five descriptions of this indescribable gift.

Let's drop in here for a few moments this morning and take a look at them. First, Isaiah refers to him as wonderful. There could be, I believe, a comma after this English word in your translation serving not as an adjective but as a noun. Simply put, he is wonderful. The text isn't telling us that he's going to do wonderful things and he will. Or that he'll say wonderful truths and he will. That he will prepare for those who follow him a wonderful, eternal future and he will. Now Isaiah is telling us here that he is wonderful. Hebrew prophecy is not based on flattery.

It's based on truth. He really is. He's wonderful.

I've had young ladies and young men in my office planning their wedding ceremony. I've had more than one young bride-to-be gushing to me. Oh, he is so wonderful.

I think give it a few months. Now he'll do wonderful things and I'll look at him and say do them as often as you can. He'll say wonderful things. He will act wonderfully on occasion. Isaiah says this one is consistently, unchangeably wonderful.

By the way, I believe this first description could serve as a categorical heading. You could read it to understand he's a wonderful counselor, he's a wonderful mighty God, a wonderful prince of peace. In other words, the more you get to know him, the more wonderful he becomes.

This indescribable gift from God is wonderful. Not only that, notice, his name shall be called counselor. He never gives wrong advice. He never has to say, you know, I wasn't aware of that issue so let me back up and give you a little bit of a different direction. I'm sorry, I gave you bad advice earlier. I've done that. How about you? He never does.

He never does. What a counselor. I'm going to say something that might take you by surprise. Every woman in this auditorium needs counseling. And all the men said?

Well, I'm not finished. Every man in here needs counseling. And all the women said?

That's what I thought. You see guys? You walked right into that one. I had nothing to do with it. The truth is everybody needs counseling at some point or time, right?

Think of it. Would you ever go to a counselor for advice if they needed advice at that moment for the same thing? Obviously we're all flawed even as we are trained counselors or maybe you are.

But you probably wouldn't go to somebody who's struggling with the same thing at the same time. You wouldn't do that with anything probably. You wouldn't even do it with a mechanic. A few weeks ago I hopped into my youngest daughter's Volkswagen Bug, which means I folded up four times and finally got in there. And we took off for the mechanic.

Her car had been idling hot as soon as she turned it on until she put it into gear. Went to a wonderful mechanic, Demetrius, he's in our fellowship, honest, accurate, amazing gentleman. Can you imagine us showing up over there at Demetrius' shop and describing the noise to him and then him saying, you know, I got the same sound in my car.

Come over here. What do you think I ought to do about it? What do you think we'd do? Well, I'd probably say where's Demetrius and what have you done with his body because that's not Demetrius.

But we'd probably drive away and not come back. The truth is you'd never ask somebody to help you solve a problem that they have. I mean, would you go to a Christian counselor for marriage counseling before you even got started? You know, he looked across the desk at you and said, listen, before we get to your problem, I've got a problem in my own marriage and I need your advice.

Probably not. See, when Isaiah describes him as counselor, he's not just describing a good counselor. He's not just describing a counselor who fixed all his problems first. He's not describing someone who ever needs counsel. He is describing the divine advisor who will never need your advice or mine. He is divinely insightful. He is omnisciently aware of everything about you and me, which is remarkable when you think of coming to him for advice, you don't even need to tell him the problem. It's like the woman who came to Jesus.

You remember that wonderful story in John chapter 4. She comes to the well. She's thirsty, which is a metaphor for her life. She's thirsty. She is tired of life.

She is exhausted. And it isn't long before the Lord engages her in a conversation and then tells her without her ever offering it, look, I know you have divorced five men and right now you're living with experiment number six. She runs back eventually to the village and she tells the people, I love this statement, come see a man who told me everything I did.

The whole village empties up to the well. See, she never explained it. He already knew it.

She didn't reveal it, but he was aware. No wonder people would say in John chapter 7, no one ever spoke like this man. No one. The teachers in Jesus' day would quote each other. They'd quote this rabbi and that rabbi and Jesus would say to them, now you've heard this, but I say to you, nobody spoke like that. Who has known the mind of God and who has ever been his counselor? Paul asked in Romans chapter 11. And the answer is nobody. Not ever.

Not once. Isaiah says, let me try to describe the indescribable to you. His name's going to be called Wonderful because he's wonderful.

Counselor because he is, oh, he is the counselor. Notice, mighty God, this is perhaps one of the strongest descriptions of coming Messiah's deity anywhere in Old Testament prophecy. He, the Messiah, the son of God, will literally be the mighty El in the Hebrew, E-L in the English language. The mighty El.

Throughout the book of Isaiah, in fact consistently, Isaiah never uses that name unless he's speaking about deity, true deity. El, it forms the beginning of Elohim. Emanu El. Elohim, triune God. Emanu El, God who happens to be with us. He is the mighty El.

So you think of that when you picture him lying in that borrowed trough. He's the mighty El. Think of it when he's standing before Pilate, that puppet. He is the mighty El.

Think of that when he's hanging on the cross. That is the mighty El, not diminished. The mighty God who surrenders himself to become the sacrifice for our sins. He is the mighty God, this baby, the mighty El. Now, although Isaiah has given us enough to already exhaust our comprehension he's not through, he also says, notice, his name is also going to be called Everlasting Father. Now of all of his titles, this one sounds strange, doesn't it? We don't tend to think of Jesus as Father and we don't use that term. Yet it's appropriate when understood correctly. We typically refer or reserve that title for God the Father and Jesus as God the Son.

In fact, in the New Testament as the epistles describe to us their relationship when it says simply God, we know that's referring to God the Father. However, this word refers to one who, you can translate it, rules the ages. Rules the ages.

Rules all of time. The Father of eternity. It's a strong declaration of the deity, by the way, and the eternality of Jesus Christ. In fact, let me read a text to you.

Don't turn for the sake of time. But Hebrews chapter 1 opens and there's a conversation going on between God the Father and God the Son. It's a remarkable conversation. And here's what God the Father says of God the Son. But of the Son, S capital S-O-N, he, God the Father says, thy throne, oh God, is everlasting.

Your scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. On the cross Jesus said to God the Father, my God. Here in Hebrews 1, God the Father is saying to God the Son, my God, equal in essence, fully divine and mysterious. The Father continues being quoted in Hebrews 1, he says, you, Lord, he calls his son Lord, you Lord, laid the foundations of the earth in the beginning and the heavens are the words of your hands or the works of your hands.

They, the heavens, are going to wear out, but you, Lord, are the same and your years have no end. That's God the Father talking to God the Son. Amazing. See, the Jewish leaders and nation would be scandalized when Jesus would claim to be God. One of those declarations was when he took the title of God from the Old Testament and attributed it to himself when he said to them, before Abraham was, I am. I love that.

I go, Amy, I am. That was the title. God said, Moses, go tell them my name is I am. He is the father of eternity, the ruler. You could understand it as the originator. It's the idea of the word father. The originator of everlasting. In fact, on one occasion, this may help explain it further, Jesus called Satan the father of what?

Do you remember? Lies. The father of lies. He is the originator of lying. He is the ruler over everything deceitful. So Jesus Christ is the originator, the ruler over eternity.

He is the father of everlasting. Now, the last name Isaiah ascribes to this coming Messiah is the wonderful term or title, Prince of Peace. Because of Jesus Christ, we can have peace with God. Romans 1.7, because of Jesus Christ, we can have the peace of God as we commune with him and walk with him. Philippians 4.7. This phrase here, however, speaks more prophetically than any even beyond our generation today. That's because the birth of Christ did not bring peace to planet earth. Wake up and read the news. Our world is filled to this day with warring and violence.

In fact, Jesus Christ himself said, I haven't come to bring peace, but a sword, he said in Matthew chapter 10 verse 34. In other words, I'm going to divide families. Maybe you're living it right now. Because of your faith in Jesus Christ, your Christmas isn't what it used to be.

You get around that family table and you are the one marginalized, you're the strange wacko. Why? Because you believe this gospel of Jesus Christ. What happened?

There's a sword. It isn't what it used to be. If you're wondering, well, I thought when I gave my life to God, you know, everything would get peaceful. Talk to some of the older saints around here. Coming to Jesus Christ might have just turned your life upside down. Jesus promised to his disciples in John chapter 16, you follow me and you will have trouble. See, the title, Prince of Peace, speaks of the time when Jesus Christ will inaugurate his kingdom on earth.

It hasn't happened yet. At his first coming, they put the prince on a cross. At his second coming, we will be there in such a coronation ceremony as Jesus Christ ascends the throne of David in Jerusalem to set up his earthly kingdom. We can't imagine it.

We can't imagine it. These are five wonderful descriptions of who Jesus is. You might notice that Isaiah slips in at least one thing that Jesus does. Go back to verse 6. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given. Notice I skipped this earlier. And the government shall be upon his shoulder.

I love this. This is wedding terminology. This is the wedding terminology of a bridegroom processing with his bride. And I hope you understand that we have to get back into Jewish culture and understand that their marriages were, they involved three different stages.

The first stage was called the engagement. This is where a man went and sold all of his livestock, emptied his bank account, sold everything he owned, including the shirt off his back and bought a diamond ring for his fiancé. Oh, wait. That's American.

That's not Jewish. Wait. Back to the text. That's our custom. But it was worth it.

Wasn't it men? Yes. There you go. Okay.

With me. In Old Testament times, the engagement was actually carried out by the parents when the children were younger because the marriages were arranged. I've mentioned before we have Raj and his wife from India. They had an arranged marriage. They met by way of phone six months before they were to be married.

Believing families still continue the tradition, many of them. He came up to me after the first service because I wasn't sure about his anniversary because I'll joke with him as I see him in the hallway. Sure enough, I'll ask him, how's that arranged marriage working out for you? He'll say, well, we're on our 12th year now. 12 years. They choose whom they will marry and then they will learn to love.

There's some wonderful, wonderful truth in that, by the way. But the engagement was carried on by the parents. The second stage is called the betrothal.

That's the kidushin. That's a ceremony that will be binding to both families. In fact, at this ceremony, the bridegroom will come and pay the dowry.

They're now older. They're about 12 months away from uniting. But at this ceremony, he'll pay the bridal price, depending on his wealth. He will pay.

It will be in cattle, more than likely. It will be clothing if he's wealthy, even coinage. The dowry is delivered at this betrothal ceremony to the bride's father, and the dowry, among other things, pays the wedding expenses. That's a wonderful custom.

It's biblical. After this ceremony, the bride and groom are considered married. In fact, even though they're not living together, they don't consummate their marriage, they're considered husband and wife.

The kidushin will last about a year. In fact, it's so binding that during that year period, if the man dies, the woman is considered a widow in Israel. During this year-long period, the bride is preparing the things that she'll need for the household, and the bridegroom is typically adding on to the father's house. He's building on an addition. That's where they'll live.

That's the way they did it. You can immediately see the analogy of prophecy at our own soon-coming bridegroom, can't you? Our bridegroom has already paid the price for his bride.

The marriage has already been arranged. We are already in a binding covenant. We just haven't seen him yet. He's told us that there's an interval here before we do see him, and he's adding on to the father's house.

And eventually he's going to come and get us and take us there. We're going to have a festivity. The Jews would celebrate about a week, seven days. We know our festivities will take place over seven years, while on earth there's a tribulation period. So this is a wonderful analogy to what we're expecting and anticipating.

But now when the third stage arrives, the third stage is called the Hoopa. Sounds celebratory, doesn't it? This is the wedding ceremony. The groom is now making this noisy procession toward the bride's family home.

Neighbors will join in. They'll bring noisemakers and whatever they'll be singing and shouting. Much like when Jesus, our bridegroom, comes for us, there's going to be the music of trumpets and the shouting. Upon arriving at the bride's home, he would get her and they would begin to walk back to his home, and the beginning of the festivities would take place.

During that walk home, however, this will go right to Isaiah 9.6. During that walk home, at some point in the brief journey, she removes her veil and drapes it over the shoulder of her beloved. At that point, the crowd will begin to chant a song that has something to say to or about in English about the fact that her life is upon his shoulder. His shoulder will now bear the ruling of her life.

The government of her life is now on his shoulder. Obviously, the reference here in Isaiah 9.6 will be the fact that he will rule over all the governments of the world. What's lost is the imagery of a husband who loves his wife and comes to receive her and she willingly and joyfully responds by giving to him the care of her life. She finds in him her security and her provision and her care.

That's the picture Isaiah is drawing. This one who will be born, he's wonderful, he's counselor, he's mighty God, he's the father of eternity, he's the prince of peace, but by the way, he loves you. In anticipation of seeing him, we put upon his omnipotent shoulders the government of our lives. Lord, you rule my life. My trust, my security, my provision, I put upon your shoulders. We cannot fully describe them.

We can't fully surrender to them, can we? Even now, you place the veil of your dreams, your hurts, your hopes, your longings, your wishes, your plans, your past, your future. You say, here, Lord, I lay this, I'm your bride and I put this on your strong shoulders. And learn a little bit more that he is indeed wonderful. Wise counselor, mighty God, the originator of eternity, the prince of peace.

We'll spend more time reflecting on Christ in the days ahead. This is Wisdom for the Heart with Stephen Davey. Stephen's in a series called An Indescribable Gift.

He's calling this lesson The Prophecy. All through December, we have a special gift for you. This entire series An Indescribable Gift is available free of charge as a digital ebook for you to download. If you want to download a copy of this resource, here's what you do.

Go to wisdomonline.org. And when you get to that homepage, you'll find a link that takes you directly to this resource. It's absolutely free all this month. In fact, you can send the link to friends and family members and they can enjoy this resource as well. Please note that this offer is only available as a digital download. If you need a printed copy, call us for information. Our website once again is wisdomonline.org. Please take advantage of this offer and then join us tomorrow here on Wisdom for the Heart. Thank you.