Message Five

The Sign of Christ¡¯s Incarnation
and
the Unveiling of Christ as the Wonderful One

Scripture Reading: Isa. 7:11-14; 8:8; 9:6-7; 63:16; 64:8

Isa. 7:11-14  Ask for a sign from Jehovah your God; make it as deep as Sheol, or make it as high as high can go. 12And Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not try Jehovah. 13And he said, Hear now, O house of David, is it too small a thing for you to exhaust the patience of men that you will exhaust the patience of my God as well? 14Therefore 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.

Isa. 8:8  It will sweep through Judah; it will overflow and rise / Until it reaches the neck; / And the spreading out of its wings / Will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace. 7To the increase of His government / And to His peace there is no end, / Upon the throne of David / And over His kingdom, / To establish it / And to uphold it / In justice and righteousness / From now to eternity. / The zeal of Jehovah of hosts / Will accomplish this.

Isa. 63:16  For You are our Father, / Since Abraham does not know us, / And Israel does not acknowledge us. / You, Jehovah, are our Father; / Our Redeemer from eternity is Your name.

Isa. 64:8  But now, Jehovah, You are our Father; / We are the clay; and You, our Potter; / And all of us are the work of Your hand.

                  I.    Regarding God¡¯s economy, the intrinsic connection between the books of history in the Old Testament and their fulfillment in the New Testament is in Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6; these verses indicate that God would put humanity upon Himself, thereby mingling divinity with humanity¡ªJohn 1:14; Luke 1:35; Matt. 1:18, 20.

Isa. 7:14  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.

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

John 1:14  And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

Luke 1:35  And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the holy thing which is born will be called the Son of God.

Matt. 1:18  Now the origin of Jesus Christ was in this way: His mother, Mary, after she had been engaged to Joseph, before they came together, was found to be with child of the Holy Spirit.

Matt. 1:20  But while he pondered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife, for that which has been begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.

                II.    In Isaiah 7:14 we have the sign of Christ¡¯s incarnation:

Isa. 7:14  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.

                           A.    Jehovah wanted Ahaz, king of Judah, to ask for a sign (vv. 10-25); this sign is related to the ushering in of Christ, who was born of a virgin.

Isa. 7:10-25  Then Jehovah spoke further to Ahaz, saying, 11Ask for a sign from Jehovah your God; make it as deep as Sheol, or make it as high as high can go. 12And Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not try Jehovah. 13And he said, Hear now, O house of David, is it too small a thing for you to exhaust the patience of men that you will exhaust the patience of my God as well? 14Therefore 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. 15He will eat curds and honey until he knows how to refuse evil and choose good. 16For before this boy knows how to refuse evil and choose good, the land whose two kings you dread will be abandoned. 17Jehovah will bring upon you and your people and the house of your father such days as have not been since the days when Ephraim turned away from Judah; He will bring upon you the king of Assyria. 18And in that day Jehovah will whistle for the flies which are at the ends of the rivers of Egypt and for the bees which are in the land of Assyria. 19And they will all come and settle in the steep ravines and the clefts of the cliffs and on all the thornbushes and on all watering places. 20In that day the Lord will shave with the razor hired from beyond the River, with the king of Assyria, the head and the hair of the legs; and it will take away the beard as well. 21And in that day each man will keep alive only a milk cow and two females of the flock. 22And because of the abundance of milk produced, he will eat curds; for everyone left behind in the midst of the land will eat curds and honey. 23And in that day every place where there could be a thousand vines, worth a thousand shekels of silver, will become thorns and thistles. 24Men will come there with arrows and bow, for all the land will be thorns and thistles. 25And to all the hills that once were hoed with the hoe you will not go for fear of thorns and thistles; but they will become a place for cattle to roam in and for sheep to trample.

                           B.    Isaiah prophesied that the very God of Israel would become a human child born of a virgin and that His name would be called Immanuel¡ªv. 14:

Isa. 7:14  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.

                                      1.    The sign of a virgin conceiving and bearing a son covers the entire Bible from Genesis 11 through Revelation 22.

                                      2.    The actual fulfillment of this sign was the birth of a son by Isaiah¡¯s wife; the ultimate fulfillment was the incarnation, in which Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary as a child of a dual nature, the divine nature and the human nature, issuing in Immanuel, ¡°God with us¡±¡ªIsa. 8:3; Matt. 1:23; Luke 1:35.

Isa. 8:3  And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. And Jehovah said to me, Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz,

Matt. 1:23  ¡°Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel¡± (which is translated, God with us).

Luke 1:35  And the angel answered and said to her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore also the holy thing which is born will be called the Son of God.

                           C.    The land of Immanuel (Isa. 8:8) is the land of Judah, the Holy Land, as the territory of Immanuel, God with us; this land, which was invaded by the army of Assyria, is the land that Christ will inherit to build up His millennial kingdom with His two elect peoples, the chosen Jews as His earthly people and the chosen believers as His heavenly people.

Isa. 8:8  It will sweep through Judah; it will overflow and rise / Until it reaches the neck; / And the spreading out of its wings / Will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.

                           D.    We should consider the sign of a virgin conceiving and bearing a son¡ªthe sign of Christ¡¯s incarnation¡ªin relation to Satan¡¯s use of Babylon to oppose God and God¡¯s economy¡ª13:1, 19; 14:4, 11-15; 21:9; 47:1; 48:20:

Isa. 13:1  The burden concerning Babylon, which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw:

Isa. 13:19  And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, / The glory of the Chaldeans¡¯ majesty, / Will be as when God overthrew / Sodom and Gomorrah:

Isa. 14:4  You will lift up this discourse concerning the king of Babylon and you will say: How the oppressor has ceased! / How the raging has ceased!

Isa. 14:11-15  Your majesty has been brought down to Sheol, / Even the sound of your harps. / Beneath you maggots are spread; / Worms are your covering. 12How you have fallen from heaven, / O Daystar, son of the dawn! / How you have been hewn down to earth, / You who made nations fall prostrate! 13But you, you said in your heart: / I will ascend to heaven; / Above the stars of God / I will exalt my throne. / And I will sit upon the mount of assembly / In the uttermost parts of the north. 14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; / I will make myself like the Most High. 15But you will be brought down to Sheol, / To the uttermost parts of the pit.

Isa. 21:9  And now there come / Riding men, / A team of horsemen. / And one answers and says, / Fallen, fallen is Babylon! / And all the idols of her gods / Has He shattered to the ground.

Isa. 47:1  Come down and sit in the dust, / O virgin daughter of Babylon; / Sit on the ground where there is no throne, / O daughter of the Chaldeans; / For you will no longer be called / Tender and delicate.

Isa. 48:20  Come out from Babylon; / Flee from the Chaldeans; / With a voice of shouting declare; / Let them hear this, / Send it out unto the end of the earth; / Say, Jehovah has redeemed / His servant Jacob.

                                      1.    In the Bible the result of Satan¡¯s work is Babylon; his opposition to God began with Babylon and will end with Babylon¡ªGen. 11:1-9; Rev. 17¡ª18.

Gen. 11:1-9  And the whole earth had one language and the same speech. 2And as they journeyed east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3And they said to one another, Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and they had tar for mortar. 4And they said, Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens; and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered over the surface of the whole earth. 5And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men had built. 6And Jehovah said, Behold, they are one people, and they all have one language; and this is only the beginning of what they will do; and now nothing which they purpose to do will be kept from them. 7Come, let Us go down and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another¡¯s speech. 8So Jehovah scattered them from there over the surface of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. 9Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Jehovah confounded the language of all the earth, and from there Jehovah scattered them over the surface of all the earth.

                                      2.    Babylon was the worst nation in offending God, and its king was one with Satan (Isa. 14:4, 11-15); therefore, Babylon is God¡¯s number one enemy, being both the beginning and the conclusion of human government, and it will be thoroughly judged, condemned, and punished by God¡ª21:9; Jer. 51:8-9; Rev. 14:8; 18:2.

Isa. 14:4  You will lift up this discourse concerning the king of Babylon and you will say: How the oppressor has ceased! / How the raging has ceased!

Isa. 14:11-15  Your majesty has been brought down to Sheol, / Even the sound of your harps. / Beneath you maggots are spread; / Worms are your covering. 12How you have fallen from heaven, / O Daystar, son of the dawn! / How you have been hewn down to earth, / You who made nations fall prostrate! 13But you, you said in your heart: / I will ascend to heaven; / Above the stars of God / I will exalt my throne. / And I will sit upon the mount of assembly / In the uttermost parts of the north. 14I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; / I will make myself like the Most High. 15But you will be brought down to Sheol, / To the uttermost parts of the pit.

Isa. 21:9  And now there come / Riding men, / A team of horsemen. / And one answers and says, / Fallen, fallen is Babylon! / And all the idols of her gods / Has He shattered to the ground.

Jer. 51:8  Suddenly Babylon has fallen and become broken; / Howl over her; / Take balm for her pain, / If perhaps she may be healed. 9We tried to heal Babylon, but she is not healed; / Forsake her, and let each one of us go to his own land; / For her judgment has reached to heaven / And has been lifted up to the clouds.

Rev. 14:8  And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the fury of her fornication!

Rev. 18:2  And He cried with a strong voice, saying, Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great! And she has become a dwelling place of demons and a hold of every unclean spirit and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird;

                                      3.    Even the termination of Babylon is included in the sign of a virgin bearing a son called Immanuel¡ªIsa. 7:14; 8:8.

Isa. 7:14  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.

Isa. 8:8  It will sweep through Judah; it will overflow and rise / Until it reaches the neck; / And the spreading out of its wings / Will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.

                           E.    The prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 concerning Immanuel can be seen in fulfillment in Matthew 1:20-23:

Isa. 7:14  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.

Matt. 1:20-23  But while he pondered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife, for that which has been begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21And she will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins. 22Now all this has happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, 23¡°Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel¡± (which is translated, God with us).

                                      1.    The child born of a human virgin is Emmanuel, God with man:

                                                a.    God was begotten in the virgin Mary of the Holy Spirit¡ªv. 20.

Matt. 1:20  But while he pondered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife, for that which has been begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit.

                                                b.    The child born of Mary was a ¡°God-man child¡±¡ªa divine human child.

                                      2.    God Himself came to be both God and man, the God-man, to be Jesus¡ªJehovah the Savior¡ªv. 21.

Matt. 1:21  And she will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.

                                      3.    Jesus was the name given by God, whereas Emmanuel was the name by which man called Him¡ªv. 23:

Matt. 1:23  ¡°Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel¡± (which is translated, God with us).

                                                a.    He was called by those who experienced Him Emmanuel¡ªGod with us.

                                                b.    The more we experience the Lord Jesus, the more we will know that He is Emmanuel.

                            F.    The practical Immanuel, the presence of the Triune God, is the Spirit of reality¡ªJohn 1:14; 14:16-20; 1 Cor. 15:45b:

John 1:14  And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

John 14:16-20  And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, 17Even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. 19Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live. 20In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

1 Cor. 15:45b  the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

                                      1.    He is with us in our gatherings and all our days¡ªMatt. 18:20; 28:20.

Matt. 18:20  For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.

Matt. 28:20  Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age.

                                      2.    He is with us in our spirit, which today is the land of Immanuel¡ª2 Tim. 4:22; Isa. 8:6-8.

2 Tim. 4:22  The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you.

Isa. 8:6-8  Because these people have rejected / The gently flowing waters of Shiloah, and exult / In Rezin and the son of Remaliah, 7Now therefore the Lord is bringing up upon them / The mighty and abundant waters of the Euphrates, / The king of Assyria and all his glory; / And it will overflow all its channels, / And go over all its banks. 8It will sweep through Judah; it will overflow and rise / Until it reaches the neck; / And the spreading out of its wings / Will fill the breadth of Your land, O Immanuel.

                           G.    Immanuel is all-inclusive¡ªPhil. 1:19:

Phil. 1:19  For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,

                                      1.    He is first our Savior (Luke 2:11), then our Redeemer (John 1:29; Rom. 3:24), then our Life-giver (1 Cor. 15:45b), and then the all-inclusive, indwelling Spirit (John 14:16-20; Rom. 8:9-11).

Luke 2:11  Because today a Savior has been born to you in David¡¯s city, who is Christ the Lord.

John 1:29  The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

Rom. 3:24  Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

1 Cor. 15:45b  the last Adam became a life-giving Spirit.

John 14:16-20  And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter, that He may be with you forever, 17Even the Spirit of reality, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not behold Him or know Him; but you know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. 19Yet a little while and the world beholds Me no longer, but you behold Me; because I live, you also shall live. 20In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.

Rom. 8:9-11  But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him. 10But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

                                      2.    Actually, the content of the entire New Testament is an Immanuel (Matt. 1:23; 18:20; 28:20; Rev. 21:3), and all the believers in Christ, as the members of Christ, are a part of this great Immanuel, the corporate Christ (1 Cor. 12:12; Col. 3:10-11).

Matt. 1:23  ¡°Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel¡± (which is translated, God with us).

Matt. 18:20  For where there are two or three gathered into My name, there am I in their midst.

Matt. 28:20  Teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age.

Rev. 21:3  And I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.

1 Cor. 12:12  For even as the body is one and has many members, yet all the members of the body, being many, are one body, so also is the Christ.

Col. 3:10-11  And have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 11Where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.

                                      3.    The sign of Immanuel consummates in the New Jerusalem, which will be the aggregate of Immanuel, the totality of God being with us¡ªRev. 21:2-3, 10.

Rev. 21:2-3  And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.

Rev. 21:10  And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

              III.    In Isaiah 9:6-7 we have the unveiling of Christ as the wonderful One:

Isa. 9:6-7  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace. 7To the increase of His government / And to His peace there is no end, / Upon the throne of David / And over His kingdom, / To establish it / And to uphold it / In justice and righteousness / From now to eternity. / The zeal of Jehovah of hosts / Will accomplish this.

                           A.    Christ is mentioned as a child born to us and as a Son given to us¡ªv. 6:

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

                                      1.    The words to us indicate that this is not a doctrine but an experience.

                                      2.    The repetition of to us indicates a strong emphasis, showing that whatever is revealed in this verse is to us in a very personal, subjective, and experiential way.

                                      3.    Christ as the child, the Son, the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Eternal Father, and the Prince of Peace is for our experience¡ªv. 6.

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

                           B.    The child born to us is both human and divine, and the Son given to us is divine:

                                      1.    The divine Son was given through the birth of the divine human child¡ªJohn 3:16:

John 3:16  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.

                                                a.    The word child in Isaiah 9:6 implies God, implies man, implies God becoming a man, and implies God and man mingled together as one.

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

                                                b.    This child of both the divine and human natures born of a human virgin is also the Son given in the divine nature by the Eternal Father.

                                                c.    The child born in verse 6 is the One born of a virgin and called Immanuel in 7:14.

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

Isa. 7:14  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.

                                      2.    The Eternal Father gave us a gift, and that gift was His Son, who became the God-man¡ªJohn 3:16; 4:10; Rom. 6:23; 1 John 5:11-12.

John 3:16  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.

John 4:10  Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you, Give Me a drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.

Rom. 6:23  For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

1 John 5:11-12  And this is the testimony, that God gave to us eternal life and this life is in His Son. 12He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

                           C.    Mighty God is the name of the child, and Eternal Father¡ªthe Father in the Godhead¡ªis the name of the Son¡ªIsa. 63:16; 64:8; John 5:43; 10:30; 14:10, 26.

Isa. 63:16  For You are our Father, / Since Abraham does not know us, / And Israel does not acknowledge us. / You, Jehovah, are our Father; / Our Redeemer from eternity is Your name.

Isa. 64:8  But now, Jehovah, You are our Father; / We are the clay; and You, our Potter; / And all of us are the work of Your hand.

John 5:43  I have come in the name of My Father, and you do not receive Me; if another comes in his own name, you will receive him.

John 10:30  I and the Father are one.

John 14:10  Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works.

John 14:26  But the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and remind you of all the things which I have said to you.

                           D.    Isaiah 9:6 reveals clearly that the child is the Mighty God and that the Son is the Eternal Father:

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

                                      1.    The Son in Isaiah 9:6 bears two main denotations:

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

                                                a.    One denotation is that He is the son of a human virgin who was born of her; the other denotation is that He is also the Son of the Most High¡ª7:14; Matt. 1:23; Luke 1:32.

Isa. 7:14  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.

Matt. 1:23  ¡°Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call His name Emmanuel¡± (which is translated, God with us).

Luke 1:32  He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of David His father,

                                                b.    The Son as the son of Mary with the human nature was born, and the Son as the Son of the Most High with the divine nature was given through the birth of the son of Mary¡ªvv. 31-33.

Luke 1:31-33  And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of David His father, 33And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.

                                                c.    This wonderful Son was born of the human source and given from the divine source; He is both human and divine¡ªJohn 3:16; Gal. 4:4.

John 3:16  For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that everyone who believes into Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.

Gal. 4:4  But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law,

                                      2.    According to Isaiah 9:6, the Son given to us is called the Eternal Father, the Father of eternity, the One who is self-existing and ever-existing:

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

                                                a.    The Father in the Godhead is the Father of eternity, and according to verse 6 the Son is also the Father of eternity, the Eternal Father.

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

                                                b.    There is only one Eternal Father, the Father who is self-existing and ever-existing.

                                      3.    Isaiah 9:6 is confirmed and strengthened by John 14:7-11:

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

John 14:7-11  If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and henceforth you know Him and have seen Him. 8Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father and it is sufficient for us. 9Jesus said to him, Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how is it that you say, Show us the Father? 10Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from Myself, but the Father who abides in Me does His works. 11Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; but if not, believe because of the works themselves.

                                                a.    In verse 9 the Lord said, ¡°He who has seen Me has seen the Father.¡±

John 14:9  Jesus said to him, Have I been so long a time with you, and you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how is it that you say, Show us the Father?

                                                b.    The Father and the Son are one; thus, if we confess the Son, we have the Father also¡ª10:30; 1 John 2:23.

John 10:30  I and the Father are one.

1 John 2:23  Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who confesses the Son has the Father also.

                                      4.    The prophet Isaiah uses 63:16 and 64:8 as a further development of what he prophesied concerning Christ as the Eternal Father in 9:6:

Isa. 63:16  For You are our Father, / Since Abraham does not know us, / And Israel does not acknowledge us. / You, Jehovah, are our Father; / Our Redeemer from eternity is Your name.

Isa. 64:8  But now, Jehovah, You are our Father; / We are the clay; and You, our Potter; / And all of us are the work of Your hand.

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

                                                a.    In 64:8 he says that the Eternal Father is our Creator, and in 63:16, that the Eternal Father is our Redeemer.

Isa. 64:8  But now, Jehovah, You are our Father; / We are the clay; and You, our Potter; / And all of us are the work of Your hand.

Isa. 63:16  For You are our Father, / Since Abraham does not know us, / And Israel does not acknowledge us. / You, Jehovah, are our Father; / Our Redeemer from eternity is Your name.

                                                b.    The Eternal Father being both our Creator and our Redeemer confirms and strengthens the understanding that the Redeemer, Christ, is the Eternal Father, the holy Father in the Godhead.

                                                c.    From the revelation in the entire book of Isaiah, we can conclude that Eternal Father in 9:6 refers to both Jehovah and Jesus; hence, although He is the Son, His name is called Eternal Father.

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

                           E.    For the government to be upon Christ¡¯s shoulder means that the divine administration is upon the shoulder of this child who is born and this Son who is given¡ªv. 6.

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

                            F.    Christ is the Wonderful Counselor; our Counselor is the Mighty God, who gives us counsel and is the power and strength to carry out this counsel¡ªv. 6.

Isa. 9:6  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace.

                           G.    The title Prince of Peace is related to government¡ªvv. 6-7:

Isa. 9:6-7  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace. 7To the increase of His government / And to His peace there is no end, / Upon the throne of David / And over His kingdom, / To establish it / And to uphold it / In justice and righteousness / From now to eternity. / The zeal of Jehovah of hosts / Will accomplish this.

                                      1.    When we have Christ as the Prince of Peace, we have His ruling, His government, and we enjoy His peace, which comes from His inner ruling¡ªEph. 2:14-15; 4:3; Col. 3:15.

Eph. 2:14-15  For He Himself is our peace, He who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition, the enmity, 15Abolishing in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man, so making peace,

Eph. 4:3  Being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace:

Col. 3:15  And let the peace of Christ arbitrate in your hearts, to which also you were called in one Body; and be thankful.

                                      2.    The government, which is upon His shoulder, will be increased with His peace without end¡ªIsa. 9:7.

Isa. 9:7  To the increase of His government / And to His peace there is no end, / Upon the throne of David / And over His kingdom, / To establish it / And to uphold it / In justice and righteousness / From now to eternity. / The zeal of Jehovah of hosts / Will accomplish this.

                                      3.    He will be upon the throne of David to rule over His kingdom and to establish His kingdom in justice and righteousness, first in the millennial kingdom and then in the new heaven and new earth unto eternity¡ªLuke 1:31-33.

Luke 1:31-33  And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of David His father, 33And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.

              IV.    In Isaiah 7:14 and 9:6-7 we have the high peak of the divine revelation:

Isa. 7:14  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.

Isa. 9:6-7  For a child is born to us, / A Son is given to us; / And the government / Is upon His shoulder; / And His name will be called / Wonderful Counselor, / Mighty God, / Eternal Father, / Prince of Peace. 7To the increase of His government / And to His peace there is no end, / Upon the throne of David / And over His kingdom, / To establish it / And to uphold it / In justice and righteousness / From now to eternity. / The zeal of Jehovah of hosts / Will accomplish this.

                           A.    God became man for the purpose of accomplishing His economy by making man God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension¡ªJohn 1:1, 14, 29; 3:14; 7:39; 12:24; 20:17, 22.

John 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

John 1:14  And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.

John 1:29  The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

John 3:14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,

John 7:39  But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

John 12:24  Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.

John 20:17  Jesus said to her, Do not touch Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brothers and say to them, I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.

John 20:22  And when He had said this, He breathed into them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.

                           B.    God became man to redeem man back to Himself and to make His redeemed people God in life and in nature but not in the Godhead so that He might have for eternity a universal, corporate expression of Himself¡ªRom. 8:3; 3:24; 1:3-4; 8:9-11, 29; 12:4-5; Rev. 1:5-6; 5:6, 10; 21:2, 10.

Rom. 8:3  For that which the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh,

Rom. 3:24  Being justified freely by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;

Rom. 1:3-4  Concerning His Son, who came out of the seed of David according to the flesh, 4Who was designated the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness out of the resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord;

Rom. 8:9-11  But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him. 10But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness. 11And if the Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

Rom. 8:29  Because those whom He foreknew, He also predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brothers;

Rom. 12:4-5  For just as in one body we have many members, and all the members do not have the same function, 5So we who are many are one Body in Christ, and individually members one of another.

Rev. 1:5-6  And from Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood 6And made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be the glory and the might forever and ever. Amen.

Rev. 5:6  And I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a Lamb standing as having just been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

Rev. 5:10  And have made them a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign on the earth.

Rev. 21:2  And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Rev. 21:10  And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,