Scripture Reading: Isa. 7:14; 9:6-7; Matt. 1:20-21, 23; John 3:16
In this message we come to two of the greatest prophecies in the Bible concerning Christ, recorded in Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6. These prophecies speak of a child born and a son given. The word child in these verses implies God, implies man, implies God becoming a man, and implies God and man mingled together as one. Such a child was a God-man. This child of both the divine and human natures born of a human virgin was also a son given in the divine nature by the Eternal Father.
The first poetic pair of items revealed concerning Christ in the book of Isaiah is that He is the Shoot of Jehovah and the Fruit of the earth (4:2). The second pair of items concerning Christ is an issue of the first pair. This pair is Christ as the covering canopy of glory and the overshadowing tabernacle of grace (4:5-6). We are covered under the glory and we are overshadowed by grace. Christ as grace is a tabernacle overshadowing us, and Christ as glory is a canopy covering us. Many of the riches of Christ seen in Isaiah are not pointed out in the New Testament. Paul's writings, for example, do not speak of Christ as the Shoot of Jehovah and the Fruit of the earth. The Christ whom Paul ministered to us and helped us to pursue is God's Shoot to branch out God and the Fruit of the earth for His multiplication and reproduction. God's branching out was for Him to spread Himself from and with divinity into humanity. In eternity past and before the incarnation, He was merely in the territory of divinity. Then through His incarnation, He branched out into another territory, the territory of humanity.
The second revelation Isaiah saw concerning Christ was that of Christ in His divine glory with His human virtues held in His holiness (6:1-10). His divine glory is signified by the smoke, His human virtues are signified by the train of His robe, and His holiness is held by the seraphim. Isaiah was sent by the Christ who is full of the divine glory and the human virtues in His holiness.
In this message we come to the third major revelation of Christ in Isaiah, seen in 7:14 and 9:6. This pair of items of Christ is a child born of a human virgin and a son given by the Eternal Father. Isaiah 7:14 says, "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and will bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel." Isaiah 9:6 says, "For a child is born to us, a son is given to us; and the government is upon His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." The child born in 9:6 is the One born of a virgin and called Immanuel in 7:14.
The child born of a human virgin is Immanuel, God with man (Isa. 7:14; 9:6a). He was a human child born of a human virgin, yet He was also the very God. Isaiah was written about seven hundred years before Christ's incarnation, yet it speaks of a child born who would be the very God. This child was a "God-man child," a child of a dual nature, the divine nature and the human nature. He was a divine-human child.
First, God was begotten in the virgin Mary of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 1:20 says that the angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph saying, "Joseph, son of David, fear not to take Mary your wife, for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit." Before Jesus was born of a virgin, God was begotten in her, born into her. That which was begotten in Mary was of the Holy Spirit. The divine essence out of the Holy Spirit had been generated in Mary's womb before she delivered the child Jesus. God was born into Mary and remained in Mary's womb for nine months.
Then that which was born of God the Spirit into Mary was brought forth. Jesus, Immanuel, was delivered out of Mary's womb. First, God was begotten in the virgin Mary of the Holy Spirit. Then, a human child was brought forth with the divine nature, out of a human virgin, to be a God-man (v. 23a).
This One was named Jesus — Jehovah the Savior (v. 21). Jesus is not only a man but also Jehovah; He is Jehovah becoming our salvation, our Savior.
He was called by the ones who experienced Him Emmanuel — God with us (v. 23b). The child born of Mary was a God-man child. Jesus is a God-man. On this earth there was a child who was a God-man. God did not create such a man. He created Adam approximately four thousand years before the birth of Jesus. Before His birth, there had never been such a human being, a man mingled with God. Jesus was the name given to Him by God, while Immanuel was the name called by man. This God-man is Emmanuel, and He is also God the Savior.
He is God coming from divinity and with divinity into humanity to be Jehovah the Savior to save us from sin, on the negative side, and to save us to God, on the positive side. We were created by God and unto God, but we became fallen and left God. God placed man in front of Him, the tree of life, but man's fall caused us to turn our back to Him. Therefore, God Himself came to be both God and man that He might be Jehovah the Savior to save us from sin unto Himself. The destination of our salvation is God. Before we were saved, we were in sin. Now that we are saved, we are in God and God is in us (1 John 4:15). In God we have been regenerated with His life to be men of God, God-men. Before a brother was saved, he may have been from Hong Kong. He was a "Hong Kong man." But now that he is saved, he is a God-man, one who is in God and who has God in him. We now have Jesus, Jehovah our Savior, and Emmanuel, God with us.
The child born of a human virgin is a son given by the Eternal Father (Isa. 9:6a; John 3:16).
Isaiah 9:6 says that this One's name is to be called "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace." Thus far, we have seen that this One is both Jesus and Immanuel. Isaiah 9:6 reveals four more items of what Christ is. Some translations separate the words Wonderful and Counselor with a comma, indicating that these are two separate titles. However, because the other items in 9:6 are composed of a noun with a modifier, it is logical to say that "Wonderful" should modify "Counselor." Christ is the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Eternal Father, and the Prince of Peace.
The prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 concerning Immanuel can be seen in its fulfillment in Matthew 1:20-23. The prophecy in Isaiah 9:6 concerning Christ as the wonderful One can be seen in its fulfillment in John 3:16. Isaiah 9:6 says that "a child is born to us, a son is given to us." John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." John 3:16 is based upon Isaiah 9:6. A son was given by a child being born. In the birth of that child, there was a gift given by God — His Son. That child was both a man-child and a God-child, that is, a God-man child. The Eternal Father gave us a gift, and that gift was His Son, who became the God-man.
His Son, the gift given to us, is called the Wonderful Counselor. He is also the Mighty God and the Eternal Father. The Gospel of John unveils the Son as well as the Eternal Father. The Son and the Father are mentioned many times in this Gospel. It shows us that the Son and the Father are one (John 10:30; 14:9-10). He is also the Prince of Peace. This title is related to government. Isaiah 9:6 says, "The government is upon His shoulders," and verse 7 says, "To the increase of His government and to His peace there is no end." In Luke 1 the angel Gabriel said to Mary that "He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there shall not be an end" (v. 33).
This One was a child born of a human virgin and a son given by the Eternal Father. John 1:14 says that He was the Word, the very God, who became flesh. John 1:14 does not use the words born or given. It says the Word became flesh. He was the Word, and then He became flesh. His becoming flesh was His coming full of grace and reality. His becoming flesh was God's incarnation, in which He became God's embodiment (Col. 2:9). God came as grace and reality for us to receive Him, gain Him, and enjoy Him. This God, who is grace as our portion, is also our reality. We had nothing real until we received the incarnated God. When we enjoy Him, He becomes our portion, and this portion is our reality. When the Word became flesh, He came as grace and reality.
The child born of the virgin is Jesus and Immanuel, and this child is the gift given as the Son. This Son, this gift, is the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Eternal Father, and the Prince of Peace. When we received Christ, we received Him as so many marvelous items. He is Jehovah our Savior, to save us from sin into Himself, and He is Immanuel, God with us. We enjoy this One as grace, which is God Himself as our portion for our enjoyment. The issue of our enjoyment of Him as our portion is that He becomes our reality. We then become real men. Nothing with us now is false, unreal.
We also enjoy Christ as our Counselor every day. Sometimes when we go to our wives or husbands to ask them something, they will say that they do not have the time at that moment to answer us. But whenever we go to Jesus, He never tells us that He is busy. He immediately gives us the counsel. In all of our relationships with others, He is our Counselor to give us the best counsel. Our Counselor is the Mighty God. Without Him, we do not have the power or the strength to carry out His counsel. He gives us counsel, and then He is our power and strength for carrying out this counsel.
We also enjoy Him as the Eternal Father and as the Prince of Peace, reigning and ruling within us in peace. When we have Him, we have His ruling, His government, His peace. When a husband is angry with his wife, he is not under any ruling, so there is no peace. If he would silently receive the cross and receive Christ as the Prince ruling over him, he would immediately have peace within. This peace comes from Christ's inner ruling.
The wonderful One we possess and enjoy today is Jesus, Jehovah the Savior, and Immanuel, God with us. He is grace, reality, the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Eternal Father, and the Prince of Peace. Jesus is everything! We have only one God, but our God is an all-inclusive God. Whatever we need and whatever we lack, He is.
The government is upon the shoulders of Christ, the wonderful One (Isa. 9:6). The government which is upon His shoulders will be increased with His peace without end. He will be upon the throne of David to rule over His kingdom, to establish and uphold His kingdom in justice and righteousness firstly in the millennium and then in the new heaven and new earth unto eternity (Isa. 9:7).
