Are we having fun here at Compass Bible Church? I’ve got to tell you, I feel like we are having our best month we've ever had as a church right now. We went to this men's retreat. And I don't know what happened. Well, I guess I know what happened is that hearts started burning based on these prophecies that we've been studying, and men came home from this retreat, and now we've got like, multiple reports of men sharing the prophecies with other people, and other people coming to repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. And so, I want to share one of these prophecies with you right now from Isaiah 9:6, because this is a verse, and we’re going to throw it up here on the screen, this is a verse that you often see on a Christmas card. And it says, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” And that's usually about what we know. Like, I know that verse, but there's so much more Hebrew scroll than just that one verse. And so, the Scripture is more than a Christmas card. So, I want to take you into the real prophecy from Isaiah that is fulfilled by Jesus and invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to Isaiah chapter 8. So, everybody, if you've got a Bible, please turn there with me right now, and we're going to get into the real depths of what this passage is all about so that we can understand the prophecy of Jesus. Are you ready to study the Bible for a minute right now? It is so good to see all of you here. And I just want to start by reading Isaiah 8:1. And we're just going to go through it a little bit at a time. And if it starts to, “I'm not sure what's going on,” we'll try to get some clear meaning. And we'll see how, wow, this was written by Isaiah over seven hundred years before Christmas. It’s actually all about you today worshipping Jesus as king. So, this is Isaiah 8:1-4. “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Take a large tablet and write on it in common characters, ‘Belonging to Maher-shalal-hash-baz.’ And I will get reliable witnesses, Uriah the priest and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah, to attest for me.’ And I went to the prophetess, and she conceived and bore a son. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Call his name Maher-shalal-hash-baz; for before the boy knows how to cry ‘My father’ or ‘My mother,’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.’”
So, clearly whatever that phrase was, Maher-shalal-hash-baz, that's important, because we're putting it up like on a billboard on a sign for everybody to see. And then Isaiah and his wife are going to have a baby and we're naming our son that name. And it's like a sign for everybody, based on the current events that we learned about, if you were here last week, in Isaiah chapter 7. And I'll throw that map up here on the screen where we had the three nations … should be coming up here, I hope, yeah … we’ve got Syria and Israel, you can see up in the north, and they're going to come against Judah, down in the south. And so that's what it's getting to right there. Damascus. Well, that's the capital city of Syria; Samaria, that's the capital city of Israel. And the prophecy that we heard in Isaiah 7, the chapter that just leads right into this. Hey, before Syria and Israel can come down and get you guys down here in Judah and Jerusalem, before they can come and get you, a bigger fish a bigger nation, Assyria is going to come and get them. And that's the meaning behind this phrase. We'll throw the words here up on the screen. And if you're taking notes, you might want to jot this down, so you get what it's really saying. Because when they translated this into English, they decided not to actually translate it; they just gave us this Hebrew four words here Maher-shalal-hash-baz. And what it means is “quick to the spoil and haste to the prey” would be a way that you could translate it. It's like when Assyria comes in, they're going straight to the spoil. It's like a serious coming in as the aggressor, as the attacker. They're the predator and they're going straight to the prey. There's not going to be much of a chase. There's not going to be much of a fight. Assyria is a powerful nation at this time, and they're going to take Syria and Israel out. No problems. So, there's this ominous phrase, and people are probably talking about it. They're like, did you see that sign that Isaiah put out there? Did you hear what Isaiah named his son? He named his son, Maher-shalal-hash-baz, like people are probably saying, what does this mean? And it's a prophecy that Assyria will take your enemies out before your enemies can come and get you because God is trying to speak his word to his people. So, they would not live in fear, but would respond with faith.
In fact, the Lord speaks again. Look at Isaiah 8:5-8. “The Lord spoke to me again: ‘Because this people has refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently, and rejoice over Rezin and the son of Remaliah, therefore, behold, the Lord is bringing up against them the waters of the River, mighty and many, the king of Assyria and all his glory. And it will rise over all its channels and go over all its banks and it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass on, reaching even to the neck, “and its outspread wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.” And here's poetry. Verse 9, “Be broken, you peoples and be shattered, give ear, all you far countries; strap on your armor and be shattered; strap on your armor, and be shattered. Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.” So, we learned this, if you were here last week, maybe you know the famous prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 that “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel,” which means God with us. And clearly you can see here in Isaiah 8, that's still what we're talking about. So, all these chapters were meant to go together. This is supposed to be a story. You're not just supposed to know this part of the story right here. You're supposed to know the whole thing, going all the way back to the Hebrew. And God is saying that because these two northern nations on the map there, Syria and Israel, they have refused the waters of Shiloah that flow gently.
Now, that's the kind of thing, when I read the Bible … I've grown up reading the Bible my whole life. I've been blessed to know this library of ancient books that God wrote through men. And when I would read stuff like the waters of Shiloah, I would not know what it meant. And I wouldn't go try to look it up somewhere. I wouldn't go try to read like one of my dad's books about the Bible. I did what I'm guessing a lot of us do when you read some of the Bible, you have no clue what it means. You just keep on reading; you gloss right over it. Anybody else want to admit they've done that before? Right? I mean, these days, all you’ve got to do is a quick internet search, or maybe you know a good website about the Bible to go to, type in waters of Shiloah, and it would be very easy for you to see that that's the stream that brings water into Jerusalem. I mean, that's the water source for God's people in the city of Jerusalem, the city on a hill right there on Mount Moriah. Jerusalem is a great position to defend from all of your enemies because you're up on a high hill. The question about Jerusalem's defenses is their water supply. Will they be able to get enough water to outlast some kind of siege? And Syria and Israel have decided, no, we can take them. They don't think they're going to have enough water. And so, Rezin the king of Syria and mentions here, the son of Remaliah, who is the king of Israel, they're going to go up and we'll say, yeah, we'll try to take Jerusalem, we think we can stop them from getting their water. And guess what's going to happen to these two nations who doubt God being with his people in Jerusalem, a flood is going to take these two nations out. And the flood, the river here, the capital, our river, that's referring to Assyria over there by the Tigris River, the Euphrates River, these massive rivers. Well, there's going to be a flood, and it's going up to your neck and this flood of Assyria, they're going to take out Syria, they're going to take out Israel, they're even going to come down and try to get God's people in Judah themselves, because they're way more powerful than these other nations. And so, one prophecy here, continuing on with the idea that Assyria is going to wipe out their enemies. But then it gets a little bit scary in verse 8, because this flood is going to sweep on into Judah. And it's going to come up to your neck like, you're going to be wondering, is Assyria going to take us out too? And then the people cry out, O Immanuel, the people cry out to God.
And then you get this poem in Isaiah 8:9-10. And even in our English translation, you can see by the way that it's put there, this is his poetry, and this is like, hey, yeah, okay, Assyria is going to come against us. Well, let's just say to all the nations anybody you want to come after us all you far, far countries, you want to come after us, go ahead and put on your armor. And it's going to be like when my son gives me one of his Lego shows. And when one of those guys gets wiped out, boom, they just end up flying across the room. You know what I mean? Put your armor on and be shattered. You want to come against us? Go ahead because God is with us. That's the poetry. So yeah, Assyria is powerful. They'll take out Syria, they'll take out Israel, but when they come against Judah, we're going to call on Immanuel and God's going to show that he is with us. Because if God is for us, who can stand against us? That's what they're saying. So, this is even a prophecy that you can read in Isaiah, if you kept reading, you'd see a Syria comes against them, and God does protect his people. And this should be an encouragement to all of us, if we know that God is for us, and then we shouldn't be afraid of anybody else. And that's right where this goes, that it goes right into this thought of how should you respond to knowing that God is with us? Look at verse 11. It says, “For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me.” So now Isaiah, he's going to keep speaking. And it's like, he feels the hand of God on him as he's speaking. And I'm pretty sure that this is the same passage right there, Isaiah 8:11 that Peter is referring to in 1 Peter 5:6, when he says, humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, that he may lift you up at the proper time, casting all your cares upon him, because he cares for you. And so, Isaiah is like, hey, I'm giving prophecies, I'm naming my son something. I'm speaking to you about different waters as a picture of what's going to happen with the nations. But now the hand of God is on me. And I want to say this. Look at Isaiah 8:11-15. “For the Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. They shall fall and be broken; they shall be snared and taken.”
So, the word from the Lord that Isaiah wants everybody to be warned about with the hand of God upon them is, don't be afraid like everybody else is afraid. Don't call conspiracy what everybody else is calling conspiracy. You need to in your heart set apart God as the Lord, and you should not be afraid of all the things in this world. You should fear God. Okay. So now he's speaking not just about Israel and Judah back in the day, seven hundred years before Christmas, he's now talking about all of us. And he said, there's two sides to this, you're either going to freak out like everybody else freaks out, because that's what people do; people are afraid of death and all the things that lead to it; or you're going to fear God and know that he's the one who holds your life in his hands. He's the one who will decide when you live and when you die. He's the one who's going to judge you according to what you have done. So, fear the Lord and let that be for you the beginning of wisdom. Who do you fear? Do you fear what everybody else fears? Or do you fear God? That's what he's throwing out. And this is not about you, okay? This is not just about you as a person, and what you're afraid of, or what your personal anxieties would be. See, sometimes we like to hear Scripture, and we like to make it immediately about us. And we all have different things we're afraid of, we all have different burdens that we need to cast our cares up to the Lord. If we shared our phobias, some of us would be afraid of things, and other people would laugh. They'd be like, what? You're afraid of that? And then you would share what you're afraid of, and somebody else would laugh at you. Right? I mean, people have different things they're afraid of. I mean, even in life, we have different trials that we go through. We have different temptations that we face, everybody here we might be tempted to be afraid of this or be anxious about that. But this is beyond you and your personal fears. This is like the world is full of fear. And either you're going to go the way of the world, which is fear and conspiracy, or you're going to go the way of God. And when you fear him, you don't fear anything else. Which way are you going to go? That's what this is all about. We saw last time in chapter 7, king Ahaz was shaking like a tree in the wind when he heard what was happening. But see, this is beyond just one person. And what we're afraid of this is like the world is always going to be a place of fear. Are you caught up in the fear that's all around us? Or are you able to get away from that because you've got the Lord set apart in your heart and you fear him? Which one are you? And I love how it says here, verse 12, do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy. I mean, conspiracy theories are not strange anymore. They are standard operating procedure around here. Right? So, I mean, there's so much conspiracy and the Hebrew word here for conspiracy really means treason. Like people are out to get me, is really the idea. Other nations are out to get us, even maybe our own government is out to get us, another political party is out to get us, this group over here, this company over here, these people over here, they're all out to get us, and it's this fear, it's this conspiracy. And it's saying here, don't fear like that; don't dread like that. Don't get caught up in all of that. So that's the fear. I mean, we have all seen this over the last two years, as we come to the end of 2021. The fever and the fear have been here. And he's saying, hey, do you fear God? Are you apart from all of that? Like, you don't need to fear what everybody in the world is fearing, and for them because they're apart from God, even the whole message here, it becomes a way that they stumble and fall because they're not thinking about life rightly. They're living under the fear of death, and all the other fears that lead up to it.
And so, then he goes and says, let me tell you what the other option is in Isaiah 8:16. He says, “Bind up the testimony; seal the teaching among my disciples.” Two key words, write their testimony and teaching. That's where you need to go if you don't want to live in fear. Isaiah 8:17, “I will wait for the Lord, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob ,and I will hope in him.” I'm going to trusting God based on what he has testified in his Word, based on what he's taught us through the prophets and the apostles. Like I'm going to trust what God says even if I can't see it, even if I can't see what he's doing in Israel. I'm going to hope in him. I'm going to wait for him. And here's Isaiah 8:18, “Behold, I and the children,” the son that he just named, the son Shear-jashub from chapter seven, the sons that have become prophecies in themselves. Isaiah 8:18-22 says, “Behold, I and the children whom the Lord has given me are signs and portents in Israel from the Lord of hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion. And when they say to you, ‘inquire of the mediums and the necromancers who chirp and mutter,’ should not a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living? To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.”
If you want to get out of the fear that's all around us here in the world, you’ve got to go… and notice how he said it there in Isaiah 8:20 with an exclamation point to the testimony and to the teaching. You’ve got to go to the Word of God. That's what's going to give you faith instead of fear. So, if you're taking notes, let's put it down like this, these your options: You've got fear in the world, or you've got faith in the Word. Which one are you looking to? Okay? Which one are you looking to? If you go to the teaching in God's word, if you go to the testimony of God and how he's spoken to us, you will find a faith. You should go and inquire of the Lord. Don't go and inquire of mediums and necromancers, asking the dead what the living should do. See there's some mockery here in this text. It's like, why would you go and ask the dead about what the living should do? They're already dead, why would you take advice from them? is basically the idea. Like you should be inquiring of the Lord if life feels overwhelming. If you're not sure what's going to happen, if you think people are out there with treasonous thoughts against you, and they're out there for your evil, then you should turn to the one who can work all things together for good. Can I get an Amen from anybody on this? I mean, the legacy of COVID is going to be that many people all over the world lived through unprecedented times, and they did not turn to God when they had an opportunity. That's the real problem. The real problem is not what's happening, the real problem is our response. Because we could go and find faith in God to see us through, we could go and we could say, wow, what are we even live in for? What is life all about? Wow, we're so afraid. Let's go back and find out what life is about, how it really all began, how God really designed it, how he really says we should live. Let's go back to the teaching and to the testimony. But that's not what we're doing. We're going to the experts, we're going over here to these authorities on earth, where in fact, the fear is just being fed. It seems like the fear just continues to roll on. And it's increasing. And it's like, we're going to go to people like mediums and necromancers. Like they're going to help us figure life out. I sure hope you aren't giving any gift cards out this Christmas to like the local psychic down the street, everybody. All right? I hope you're not like, well, let's see what the Bible has to say, and then later on, let's go hit up a medium and see what they have to say, too. And then we'll be ready for 2021. No.
When life is overwhelming down here on planet earth, there's only one place that we should be turning to, and it is the Word of God. We should inquire of the Lord, because he's the creator of heaven and earth, and he has the answers for our problems. Can I get an Amen from anybody on this? Can you imagine if we were seeing a massive revival right now because people are realizing we shouldn't be trusting what other people think; we can't be living for this anymore? We need to turn to God. That's what Isaiah is saying, with the strong hand of God upon him. He's saying, are you getting caught up in the fear and the conspiracy of this world? Or are you inquiring of the Lord, because let me tell you what's going to happen to people who go down the path of fear, they're going to end up in the dark, they're going to end up in anguish, and you know what they're going to end up doing, they're going to end up … when they're hungry, and they're distressed, they're going to speak contemptuously about God. Instead of turning to God and inquiring of him for the solutions in life, They're going to start blaming God for their problems in life. They are going to lift up their face upwards, they're going to say negative things about God, when they could turn to him and find life. They're going to not find life and then blame God for it. And the prophecy here is thick darkness, a gloom and anguish, are going to go over the land of Israel, because Israel is not putting their trust in the Lord. Because apparently at this time in Israel, they were actually looking at mediums and necromancers, which the law of Moses told them not to do, but they were doing it, looking for wisdom and they weren't turning to God, well, then you're going to end up in the dark. That's the prophecy here. It's a very disturbing prophecy that Israel is going to go through a time of thick darkness
And then you get to Isaiah 9:1, and the light shines in and there is a ray of hope here in Isaiah 9:1-3, “But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone. You have multiplied the nation; you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as they are glad when they divide the spoil.” So, when the former time, in the near fulfilment, Israel, the northern kingdom here of Israel will be covered with darkness. But in the latter time, this area of Galilee, the northern part of Israel, the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, out of that darkness a light will shine. It will be so glorious, and these people who are distressed and anguished, they will have joy like when you're feasting, they will have joy like when you want a great victory, they will have joy like at a merry Christmas celebration, they will have a joy unlike any ever known, is the prophecy here. Prophecy of darkness to light, of anguish to joy.
Now turn with me to Matthew chapter 4, so I can show you the fulfillment of this prophecy. This prophecy is famous; it doesn't end up on the Christmas cards. But when Matthew wrote his gospel, Matthew, he used so many prophecies, he used the prophecies to prove to you that you should believe in Jesus as the Christ, that Jesus is the king. And if you read Matthew, chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4, it is amazing how much Scripture he is quoting from the Hebrew Bible, and how he's trying to show you that all that has already been written is now coming to pass in the life of Jesus Christ. And so, he's going to quote Isaiah 9:1-3 there, that whole idea that we just read, he now quotes that in Matthew chapter four. Pick it up with me in Matthew 4:12-14. And we're talking about Jesus. And it says, “Now when he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled.” Here it is, Isaiah 9:1 the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles or the nation's, the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death on them a light has dawned. Matthew is writing that when Jesus moved from the town he grew up in, Nazareth, to the town, he started ministering in Capernaum, he fulfilled the prophecy of the land of Zebulun and Naphtali. He was the light shining in the darkness of Israel. And here's a map of the twelve tribes of Israel up here on the screen, and we've zoomed in on the northern part. I don't know if you all are familiar with where the twelve tribes of Israel all settled on the map. I don't even know if you've ever heard of Zebulun and Naphtali, but they are two of the twelve tribes. You can see Zebulun, kind of there in the middle. And you know, what's right there in the middle of Zebulun, Nazareth. Can anything good come out of Nazareth, that town in the middle of nowhere in the middle of someplace you've never heard of before? We just brought it up here on the map. Zebulun, and then you can see Naphtali is right there by the Sea of Galilee. And so, you can see that Zebulun is literally in the middle of nowhere. It's not really nice and close by the Mediterranean Sea. It's not nice over here by the Sea of Galilee. And in the northern part there in Naphtali there were just a few fishing villages up there. Not anything impressive. Like this is the land that got wiped out by Assyria, this is the land that was thrust into darkness. And this is where Jesus came from.
And Jesus is the light of the world. Jesus is the one bringing joy to a place you maybe haven't even heard of, like that is the place that the light of the world has come to bring salvation to all mankind. And I'll never forget when I went with this tour guide Shafiq in Israel, and we went to Nazareth, and it made sense why we're going to Nazareth, you know, that's Jesus’ hometown. We go there, and then we start driving from Nazareth right there in the middle of Zebulun, and we're driving up towards Naphtali. And we're going up towards the Sea of Galilee where we're going to stay, and Capernaum is a city we're going to go look at. So, we're on this same path that it just says Jesus moved from Nazareth over there to Capernaum; we're on that same road, and we pull over and we park on the side of the road, and Shafiq gets up there on the microphone in the tour bus, and he says, “Everybody look around, do you know where we are?” And you look around, and it's just nothing as far as you can see everywhere you look, just a whole lot of nothing. And he says, “Does it look like we're in the middle of nowhere?” And then he reads to us this prophecy. He said, this is where it was prophesied, he would come from the land of darkness and anguish. Out of that comes the light and the joy, out of nothing comes light. That's Jesus Christ. And he said, this road that we're riding on a bus with air conditioning, pretty nice. This is the same road that Jesus walked from the middle of nowhere Nazareth out to these little fishing villages. And it was there in Capernaum, where he started doing his miracles. And he started calling those fishermen to follow him and he would make them fishers of men. And he started making miraculous catches of fish and multiplying fish and loaves to feed thousands. And all the sick started being brought, all of those with diseases came and Jesus healed all of them. And when he taught, thousands would gather, and they would all silence to listen to him because they've never heard anything like Jesus speak, because he spoke like he was speaking with the authority of God. And he says that was the light that showed, that was the fulfillment of all these prophecies that God's people would be covered in darkness and then later, they would see the light in Galilee, by a little sea in the middle of nowhere. That's where salvation would come from. And you’ve got to see this next verse. Look at Matthew 4:17, because now it'll make so much more sense. From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, repent, for the kingdom of what everybody? Hey, this kingdom that you've been waiting for, this kingdom that was like prophesied hundreds of years ago that God's people were going to be taken out, they were going to be covered in darkness, there was going to be gloom and anguish, and then eventually there would be a light, there would be a joy, and a king would be born, like someone would come to restore the glory of Israel. Someone would come to show everyone who God is, yeah, repent because that kingdom, it's right there, right now it's at hand, you could reach out and grab it. See, when you know the context of Isaiah chapter 9, and you fast-forward to see the prophecy fulfilled in Zebulun and Naphtali, and then Jesus says, repent, because the Kingdom is coming. See, now it makes a whole lot more sense. And he's saying, you can't keep living in the fear of the world anymore. You’ve got to change your mind; you’ve got to turn around. Like there is a kingdom coming, a kingdom coming from heaven, sometimes referred to as the kingdom of God, and this kingdom is coming. And you want to be in that kingdom, you don't want to be living for the nations of this world, you don't want to be following the kings down here. You don't want to be living for yourself and trying to establish your own kingdom, or something like that. You need to repent because the real kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, it's coming, and you could reach out and grab it and be a part of it right now. So, change your mind, stop living for this world and turn around, turn from all of that, and turn to God and get ready for the coming kingdom. That's the message and it's flowing right from Isaiah 7, 8, 9, where people started to realize they couldn't put their hope in the kingdoms of men, so they needed to trust in the kingdom of God.
Jesus shows up as the light of the world, and he says, yeah, the kingdom is near. And now's the time, repent. So, you've got six blanks there on your handout if you're taking notes, and let's get this down. We're going to ask you what you believe, and what you should do about it here today. So, number one, let's start it like this: Have you repented for the coming Kingdom? Have you heard what Jesus says here that you need to repent, you need to change your mind and turn from the way you naturally live in this world, to a new way of living in the kingdom of God? And when you make that turnaround, when you do that change of mind, see, then you'll be ready for the coming kingdom. So, has your life changed? Are you still caught up in this world and all the fear that comes along with it? Or have you found faith in the Word of God, and you have turned from this world to God, and now you're living for the Kingdom? Because we've already heard some prophecy. We've already seen it fulfilled by Jesus. And Jesus is saying, hey, this kingdom, you want to be a part of it. So repent, change your mind about what you're living for, and make sure you're ready for the kingdom to come.
Go back to Isaiah 9 now, because it's going to finish describing this kingdom. And you can see here in verse 4-5, it's going to say that when this kingdom comes when this future day of light and joy is ushered in out of Zebulun and Naphtali, and we really get to the kingdom, well the yoke of his burden... Do you see that there in Isaiah 9:4-5? “For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire.” So, what it's doing there in verse 4 it's recounting past victories, where God has done an amazing thing for Israel, like the yoke of the burden is going all the way back to Egypt when the Israelites were enslaved and God came and he delivered them out of Egypt, or the reference to Midian. Here is when Gideon won a great victory for God's people when the Midianites were over them in the book of Judges, and Gideon, he won a victory, and the people were freed from the Midianites. That's what it's going to be like when this kingdom comes. When the king really shows up. He is going to win a victory for his people. In fact, we'll take the boot, it's like our army boots that we would wear marching into battle, or the garments that still have bloodstains on them because they were our uniform. When we will go to battle, we're throwing our boots and our uniforms into the fire, because when this king comes, he's going to win such a victory, we won't ever need to fight again. That's what it's saying. And then Isaiah 9:6 says, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder.” Like a king is going to be born, or as it says here, and it's written from the perspective of future people who are now looking all of this back, and they're seeing it all as history. So, the prophecy is written in this really cool way, where it's like written from a future perspective, where everything now is historical fact that God is telling us the end from the beginning. And it's like when the king is born, and the king comes through, he will win such a victory, and he will establish such a kingdom, that there will never be war again, when our king comes rolling through. That's the prophecy here. And it's saying that this king is going to be born, this son is going to be given and when this son is born, like he is the one who will reign as king.
Look then at Isaiah 9:7, look at how it describes this kingdom of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no… What does it say, everybody? There will be no What? No end to peace and to this government.
Now, I’ve got to tell you, that sounds really nice right about now. Could you imagine waking up someday and know that everything in that day is going to be peace? Could you imagine that? Like you wake up, and when you wake up in the morning, the first sense that you have is that everything is right in the world, and as it should be. Could you imagine feeling like that? Like, look what it goes on to say here in Isaiah 9:7, “on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.” You ever heard somebody say that before? From this time forth? And forevermore? Did you realize they were quoting Isaiah 9:7 when they said that? Justice. I mean, this is what we want, we want things to be right. We want things to be the way that they are supposed to be. Why don't things work in this world like they're supposed to? Well, when the king comes, and he establishes his kingdom, there will be no end to peace, and everything will be just and right as it is supposed to be from that time forth, forever, under king Jesus. Like imagine waking up someday and feeling like everything is right, and knowing it'll be like that tomorrow, and the next day, and forever, because you know the king, and he's here, and his kingdom doesn’t end, and his peace doesn’t end.
So question number two: Do you believe a king has been born? Do you really believe that this is a prophecy of the baby in the manger, born to Joseph and Mary, born of a virgin, that God sent the Lord of hosts, the God of angel armies, he sent a multitude of the angels and they announced on that morning that Jesus was born, they announced to the shepherds, there has been born a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord? That was the announcement from the heavenly host, announcing that today. In the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, and he is the king. Do you believe that Jesus was born as king and when he establishes his kingdom, there will be no end? I'm asking you a question. Because see, this idea of a monarchy is hard for us to understand living in the United States of America, we don't really relate to having a king. We don't relate to one man or one family line that has the ultimate authority over all of us. That's not really how we think about it. We think that we get to decide who reigns over us, that government is by the people. And we think we've got well, we’ve got some presidents and some Congress and some judges and some courts, but we don't really think there's one man over us. Do you realize that, in the end, all of us will understand that we have a king, like all of us will believe in the monarchy? All of us will say this was always the best, none of those nations were ever going to work. We always needed Jesus. He's the only one who could pull off peace that doesn't end and real justice and righteousness. And not just we who will believe it, everyone will believe it. Everyone will know to be true, people in Heaven will proclaim it, people on earth will proclaim it, people under the earth, every single knee is going to bow. And every single tongue is going to say that one, that child, that son, that one, he's the king, he's the Lord Jesus, he has the government on his shoulders. Everyone will come to see, and you can believe it now by faith through the teaching and the testimony of the Word of God, or you will believe it later. But I promise you this, Jesus is king. That is the truth. And it is being told to us seven hundred years before Christmas, that hey, the answer to all of these problems of the warring of nations and the fears of the world, we're not going to find the answer through our normal human means. No, we're going to find it when this one son is born, when this one child, hey, when you hear about him, the one with the government on his shoulders, he's the one who will give us the peace we long for, and the justice that we cry out for.
Now we’ve got to really zero in now on verse 6. And I want to look at these four titles that it gives. And I want to hopefully, now that we've got the context of the Hebrew scroll, we can understand what's actually on the Christmas card. But the problem is, we usually only read it in English. And so, we can put some emphasis on the wrong syllables. If you know what I'm saying, right? Like, you’ve just got to understand that there are things that could be lost in translation. And one of the things that gets lost just in the way we read it, sometimes we read it like “For to US a child is born to us, to US a son is given. I've heard people read it that way. Maybe myself has read it that way before, I've heard people sing it that way. Like, look what has come to US. That's not the emphasis here. Remember, this is written like people in the future, even people from our perspective looking back on all of it, like all of history is his story. And it's finished. And they're telling us the story from the end. So, when you try to make it about US, that's not the point of these prophecies. These prophecies are not about you, the prophecies are about Jesus. The prophecies are like, can you see the child? Can you see the sun? Can you see him there? Look at his humility to be there in a manger. But really, the government is on his shoulder. And let me tell you who he really is. Like, you’ve got to be careful, because this week, you're going to want to make Christmas about you. And it's not about you. It's about Jesus. This shouldn't be like the week that we celebrate getting things for ourselves and our family. This should be the week that we think about Jesus all week long and worship him more than any other week of the year. Is it about us? Or is it about him? Because we're acting like oh, yeah, to US. Thank you. Thank you very much for all that you have given to me. No, it's not about me or you. It's about him. Look at him. Look what happened. He's born, God loved you so much, he gave his one and only son and that child is the God-man; he is God with us. Can you see Jesus this Christmas? Please, for your own good, for the good of your family, don't make this about you. These epic prophecies that span hundreds of years are way beyond us. They're about him. And the point here is that you would look less at yourself, and you would look up and you would see, and his name shall be called.
And then it gives four titles here. Like this is what we're seeing is those names in the Bible for Jesus. It's not just like how we think of each one of us having a name for Jesus, because he will save us from our sins. No, we've already learned one title, Immanuel, God with us. And now here's four more names, four more titles we want to give so that when you think of the name of Jesus, you'll think of all that he is. And you'll know so much about Jesus, like you've got many different thoughts you could meditate on all week long. So, you could really think about him all the way through to Saturday, and you might even have something so on your heart, so burning within you, that before we open up these gifts and make this about us, I want to say something about Jesus. And he gives you here this child, this son, let me tell you about him. The first one here, it says out of the four titles is Wonderful Counselor. And there's confusion about this, like is that one title? Or is it Wonderful comma Counselor because some translations have a comma, between Wonderful and Counselor and Handel, when they were singing it they go Wonderful, and then they hit a little violin and then they go Counselor. Right? So maybe that has even added to the confusion like is it Wonderful and then Counselor? No, in the Hebrew it is a title. There are four titles, each of them with two words Wonderful Counselor, and it's not what you think when you hear the word wonderful. Like, wonderful. When I hear that word, I feel good. You know what I mean? I like that, you know, it sounds pleasant. It sounds like something in which I find delight. Like, if I asked you, how's your day going? And you said, my day is wonderful. I'd be like, whoa, that just almost made it awkward. I don't hear people talk like that. You know what I mean? Like, how are you doing? Wonderful, right? See, when you just read in English, when you just read the Christmas card, like what this actually means, is full of wonder. It means like a profound sense of aha is what it means. Like if you searched up wonderful in the Hebrew language, and you saw where else is this Hebrew word used, you would end up in verses like Exodus 15:11, where it says, “Who is a God like you doing wonders,” like talking about the ten plagues that they just witnessed in Egypt, talking about where God did the Passover over the houses that had the blood of the Lamb; he spared their firstborn sons, but he judged the Egyptians and killed all their firstborn sons. And they were so horrified that they said to the Israelites, get out of here, we don't want you here anymore. Take some gold and silver with you, get out of here, please. And then when the Israelites left, they were like, oh no, we just lost our slaves. And so, then they sent the chariots with the riders, and they sent the Egyptian army, like, go get our slaves back. And they're chasing the Israelites down to the Red Sea, and God parts the Red Sea. Like, that's a wonder right there. And the Israelites walk across on dry ground, and then they turn back and look, and here comes the Egyptian army coming after him. And the waves coming crashing down upon them, the sea falls upon them, and the horse and the rider God throws into the sea, and they're saying, who's a God like you doing wonders. That's what this means. It means God's going to counsel you with things that are wondrous to behold, things that blow your mind, things that you're not going to hear from the experts down here, and things that go against the worldly wisdom, like you're going to hear things from out of this world. Supernatural revelation is going to be given to you by this king. He will be the very Word of God. And God will no longer speak to us through prophets like he did long ago. But no, in these days, he will speak to us through the son that he gave us, and his son is a Wonderful Counselor, if you believe in the king that has been born.
Let's get this down for number three: Then you believe he gives supernatural revelation. Supernatural revelation is what Wonderful Counselor should get us thinking, wow, in God's teaching, in the testimony of God's word, what amazing prophecies that are fulfilled by Jesus and then Jesus, when he fulfills the Law and the Prophets, he tells us so many things about God, he reveals God to us. That's what you should be thinking, wow, I am filled with awe and wonder at the things I am learning that Jesus teaches me in the Word. In fact, I remember when Peter said to Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” how Jesus immediately said to Peter, bless it, are you Simon, son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven revealed this to you, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Like Peter, you didn't figure that out from anybody around here? No, that was revealed to you in a wonderful, a supernatural, a way only God could do. That's how you got to see Jesus is God opened your eyes, because he is a Wonderful Counselor. Can I get an Amen from anybody on that? I mean, many people in this room can relate to the fact that I learned things in this book that blew my mind, changed my life. And I was transformed when I heard God speak to me through his wonderful counsel. That's what it means. It means when Jesus shows up, Jesus is the one who speaks on behalf of God, and you should listen to everything Jesus says, because in the words of Jesus, you will find wonderful counsel that will give you life, a life not of this world. Eternal life is what Jesus will give you. Where else could we go, Lord, you have the words of eternal life? That's another way to say that Jesus is the king who is a Wonderful Counselor.
And then it says the second title, Mighty God, and that gives you the picture of strength. But if you looked up the Hebrew word, Gibbor, and you started seeing how it's used in the Hebrew Scriptures, you would see that we're talking about a warrior is the idea. We're talking about a man of valor, we're talking about if you're going to battle, you want this Gibbor and the Hebrew phrase here is El Gibbor. Maybe you know, El is the Hebrew word for God. So it's basically like Warrior God or, or Mighty God is how it's translated. Like, if you're going into battle, you want the Gibbor right next to you, you want the warrior fighting on your side. If this guy's next to you, and you're going into battle, you're going to feel like you can win because you know that he is right there by your side. That's who God. The battle belongs to the Lord, he is going to win the victory.
So let's get that down for number four: If you believe in the king, then you believe he wins the victory. That is what you're believing. You're believing there will come a day when we'll burn our boots and burn our uniforms as soldiers because we're not going to need them anymore. Because our king has won such a decisive victory; there will be peace. And that's what you believe. Jesus is a warrior. And you need to understand that he's going to come riding out of heaven on a white horse with a robe dipped in blood, and he will be known as the King of Kings and the Lord of lords, and he will defeat all the nations that ally against him. That is what the Word of God says. We have a mighty God. If you read all the way to the end of the book, and somebody just gave me this sticker after the last service to put on my Bible, it says spoiler God wins. All right. Sorry if I ruined the ending for you, everybody. But when you get there, you will see an overwhelming decisive victory by king Jesus. That is what God has always been trying to tell us. I mean, the victory that was referred to back in verse 4, where it says you have broken as on the day of Midian. Do you remember the story of Gideon versus the Midianites, where God sent away all the soldiers were who were afraid? And then they even trimmed it down to just a few hundred men there with Gideon, and they didn't even have weapons, they had torches to look really powerful in the darkness. And they made a lot of noise. And they just sent the enemy into confusion. Like they didn't even fight because God was trying to make a point. Like I can just win the battle. You guys aren't even necessary. I mean, the whole story of David and Goliath. The point we're supposed to get from that story is that David, even though he was a young man fighting a really skilled giant, he knew the battle belongs to the Lord, and this guy was on the wrong side of God. Therefore, God's going to give me the victory. That's why David fought him. Because David understood that he had a mighty God El Gibbor.
See, it would be great if more Christian people today had faith that we have a king who's going to win the victory. And we don't need to be afraid. And we don't need to call conspiracy everything that people are calling conspiracy. We just need to pray for his kingdom to come. Because when our king rides through, nobody wants to mess with him. I promise you that. When the world sees Jesus by sight, they will wish they had heard a sermon like this; they will wish they had believed in him by faith, because when the world sees Jesus riding out of heaven, they will mourn because they know when they see Jesus, we're done. Because he is a mighty God.
Third one it says here is Everlasting Father, and this is about Jesus. Okay? This is about Jesus, because Jesus made it very clear in John chapter 10, that “I and the Father are” what? “One”; so Jesus has always been there in all of eternity in a perfect relationship between father and son. In fact, you can write down John 17:5, where he says, “Restore to me the glory that I had with you before the foundation of the world.” So, this is hard for us to think about. But you’ve just got to realize that this is outside of space and outside of time we're talking about. Okay? So, Jesus is the one who was and who is and who is to come. And in the beginning when Jesus was there with the Father, and they created and really it was Jesus speaking there, and they created in the beginning time, and they created the world matter, and where all of those things come from. Yeah, Jesus in the Father, they existed long before that. I and the Father, Jesus says, are one, and what you have been invited into, what it really means if you believe in Jesus, and you receive eternal life, eternal life is not going to heaven when you die. Eternal life, according to John 17:3 is knowing the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom he sent. Eternal life is you getting invited into the eternal relationship that the Father and the son have together. I mean, this is really a mind-blowing things here, this is hard for us to get our minds around because the Father has always perfectly loved his son, Jesus. And the son has always perfectly pleased his Father. Even when Jesus came down here, he didn't come down here to do his own will, he came to do the will of his Father because he and the Father they are so on the same page, you're talking about perfect love from the Father to son, perfect obedience from the son to the Father. And now you are in that same relationship where God loves you as much as he loved his one and only son Jesus. And when God looks at you, he doesn't see you, he now sees the perfect righteousness that he is pleased with in his son Jesus, and he is now perfectly pleased with you through your faith in his Son. So, this is what it means if you believe that Jesus is the king, then you believe in an eternal relationship that you now have with God. God, the Trinity three in one Father, Son, Holy Spirit, to the point where you could say even the king Jesus is the everlasting Father. And I love this idea, not just of this eternal relationship., but I love the idea of the fact that he is our Father.
Because I'm a father, and being a father is one of the great joys of life. Can I get an Amen from any of the dads here today? I mean, I would imagine the moms can say Amen to be having your own kids. I mean, there's just a love that you have for them, there's a care that you would give of yourself for them, you care more what happens to them than what happens to you. I mean, we had some young men, we've got some dads here, have some young men who got baptized here in this service. I know exactly what they felt like. Because last night, my son Tyler got baptized right here at our church. And as a father, there's just some kind of joy about that. And see my son when he's talking about God saving him, he's passionate about it. He's excited about it, comes walking in my room, he starts pacing around wearing out the carpet in my room. And he's like, Dad, I’ve got to tell you about something. And he's like so into it, like he just discovered it for the first time in the history of planet earth. Anybody else ever have a kid like this? Right? Your kid is going to come lecture you how the world works. Anybody ever been there, right? And you share the joy of your child, you just love hearing what your kid is saying. But you kind of also sit back and you smile for a minute, because you're like two steps ahead of them. You know what I mean? Like, you know what you're excited about. Now, you already see the problem, that's going to happen to them because of what they're excited about now, like, you already know how this all plays out. And you're just seeing them where they're at. And you're just smiling because you love them. But you kind of know what's coming. I'm here to promise you right now that your father, he knows what's two steps ahead for you.
And here's the thing, he's not just like a well-meaning dad like me, like, oh, I pray this for my son, right? Or wishes for my son. No, your Father actually controls heaven and earth in his hands. Like he can arrange what's going to happen two steps from now. He's making it happen. I guarantee you, whatever you're going through this Christmas, whatever's not putting the merry in Christmas for you, whatever is not putting the happy in holidays for you, I guarantee you God is already two steps ahead of that. And he is working it together for your good because he has a father who cares for you. He wants to give good gifts to his children. Like we're talking about the wisdom of eternity, we're talking about the one who knows how to create matter and time, we're talking about that one who's in control of all things and upholds the universe by the Word of his power. He's looking out for you. He is your everlasting Father. He knows right now how many hairs you have on your head. You go look at a flower. You go look at the birds flying around later today. He cares. They're alive because of him, and he cares for you so much more than any of that. Like there's one thing you can know this Christmas, December 2021, you have a dad who cares about you a whole lot. And he's smiling because he knows how it's going to work for good. You have an everlasting Father.
And the fourth one here is Prince of Peace. He is the Prince of Peace and I need everybody if you'll turn with me to Luke 2:14, because this is maybe the most famous Christmas verse of them all. Luke 2:14 And you're probably going to hear it misquoted this week. Maybe you don't want to misquote it right? But this is a verse people are going to take out of context. And a lot of times they don't even say the whole verse. And Luke 2:14, this is the birth announcement. The child has been born, the son has been given, the government is upon his shoulders, and the Lord of hosts, the God of angel armies, he clears out all of heaven and he sends all of the angels to make the announcement to some shepherds. And they say, there's been born a Savior, who was Christ the Lord and suddenly the sky is just filled with the glory of the Lord and all the angels are there. And they say that Luke 2:14, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace.” Is that what they say, everybody? Can you picture all the angels just throwing up the deuces and walking away back into the sky? Right? No, see, there's a certain kind of peace that is described here that doesn't always make it on the Christmas cards. “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” Peace for those who believe in Jesus. That's what kind of peace there is. See, Jesus made it very clear. I said, I have not come to bring peace in Matthew 10, I have come to bring a what? Because some people are going to believe in me, and some people are not. Some people are going to be afraid in the world, and some people are going to have faith in the Word. And so, the people who believe in me, they will have peace, and it's a vertical peace. It's a peace between them and God because when you trust in the son, the Father is pleased with you just like he's pleased with his son. And how awesome it is to know like, like Gloria was sharing with us, to know that you are right with God, to have that blessed assurance in your soul. To say, hey, I may be pretty crazy around here, and it seems like chaos, seems like we're spiraling out of control, but for some reason, it's something that surpasses understanding; my heart and mind is guarded, and I have peace in Christ Jesus because he's the Prince of Peace. So don't get it twisted. He didn't just say we're going to have world peace, not when he came the first time to save us from our sins. He's going to bring world peace when he comes the second time, but the kind of peace he brought the first time.
Let's get this down for number six. If you believe in the king, then you believe in heavenly peace. You believe in peace between you and God? That if you really trust that Jesus is the child born, Jesus is the son given, Jesus is the king, the long prophesied one who came on Christmas, and you put your trust in Jesus, you will find yourself having peace with God. You will be reconciled, a sinner like you, who should be separated from God. You will find yourself right with the Holy One. And you will know that God is pleased with you. And that's the kind of joy, see, that's a kind of light. That's the kind of victory that nothing in this world can take away. Can I get an Amen from anybody?
So, there's this really old song. And it was originally written in Latin, and it's been translated into English. And it's a famous Christmas song. It's called, O come O Come Immanuel. And sometimes we sing this song around Christmas time. And I don't even think we know what we're saying. But now that we've gone through Isaiah 7, 8, and 9, we know what Immanuel means, it means God with us. And we can relate to the people in Israel, people in darkness and gloom and anguish, and they're waiting. They're waiting for the prophecy to be fulfilled. They're waiting for the king to be born. They're waiting for him. So, we're going to sing together now. And we're going to worship God and we're going to pray and we're going to say, God, please send the king for us. We're praying for your kingdom. So please pray with me.
Father, this is our prayer that you would be with us, and I pray for all of those who don't really believe in Jesus, that you would open their eyes to see the child that's been born. And I pray for those of us who do believe that we will be ready for our King to return. We have those who have repented for the coming kingdom, that we will worship Jesus.