Isaiah 9:6

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and justice. From henceforth, even forever, the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

The one whose birth marks the turning point of history was foretold in unmistakable detail centuries before He came.

A Man Foretold Before He Was Born

Scores of books have been written about great historic figures—Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther, Julius Caesar. But all of them were written after those men had passed, to preserve a record of their accomplishments. The one whose birth marks the pivotal point of all human history was foretold by dozens of authors hundreds of years before He was born. Of all who ever lived or ever will live, there is only one of whom explicit details were written about His birth, His life, His death, and even His resurrection.

Centuries before He came, one writer asked: who could draw a picture of a man not yet born? No one knew 500 years ago that Shakespeare would be born, or 250 years ago that Napoleon would be born. Yet here in the Bible we have the most striking and unmistakable likeness of a man, portrayed not by one but by twenty or twenty-five artists, none of whom had ever seen the man they were painting.

The Bible Given by Inspiration

The Bible prefigures the advent of the Messiah with unparalleled clarity because, unlike every other book ever written, it was given by inspiration of God. Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3 that all Scripture is God-breathed. These predictive writings prove the miracle to be fact. Nothing but divine prescience could have foreseen the coming of the Messiah, and nothing but divine power could have accomplished it.

Peter wrote in 2 Peter 1 that holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. The prophets themselves may not have fully understood the import of the predictions they gave, yet the language they used could refer to no one else in history but Jesus. God told Jeremiah, "I watch over my word to perform it." And Isaiah 9:7 declares that "the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this"—that unto us a child would be born, a son given, the government upon His shoulder.

The First Messianic Prophecy

In Genesis 3 we read the first of hundreds of messianic prophecies. Adam and Eve had sinned, and as the curse was being given, God addressed the serpent:

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; and he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15)

Here, thousands of years before He came, we are given four points about the Messiah: He would come by the seed of a woman; He would be a man; He would destroy the tempter and his work; and He would be wounded while doing so. This forecast is shown fulfilled in Matthew 1:18, where Mary "was found with child by the Holy Spirit." In Galatians 3 Paul tells us this seed is Christ, the promise that would come.

The Line of Abraham and David

The prophecy develops further. Genesis 12 reveals the Messiah would come by the line of Abraham. Paul writes in Galatians 3:16, "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made... and to thy seed, which is Christ." Then in 2 Samuel 7 God promises David that the Messiah would come through his seed. Paul confirms this in Romans 1:3, speaking of God's Son "which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh."

So Jesus would come into humanity through the seed of a woman, into the family of Abraham, and in the line of David—all of it shown fulfilled in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Romans, and Galatians.

The Virgin Birth

The prophecy is further developed in Isaiah 7, a verse you may have seen on Christmas cards this season:

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

The phrase "her seed" in Genesis 3:15 is found nowhere else in the Bible. Everywhere else, seed in procreation is referenced to a man—but here it is uniquely her seed, a prediction of the virgin birth spoken of in Isaiah 7.

Some liberal theologians have argued that the Hebrew word for virgin in Isaiah 7:14, almah, simply means "young maiden." But the translators of the Hebrew into the Greek Septuagint used the word parthenos, which clearly means virgin. Why does the virgin birth matter? Had the Messiah been born by natural conception with a human father, He would not have been what He needed to be. Hebrews 7:26 says Jesus was "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners." I also believe God chose almah because the passage has a dual fulfillment—both a near fulfillment and the far fulfillment we read of in the Gospels.

Four More Things About the Messiah

Isaiah 7:14 reveals four more truths. First, the Messiah's birth would be the work of God—"the Lord himself shall give you a sign." Second, He would be conceived in the womb of a virgin. Third, He would be a man—"shall bear a son." Fourth, He would be God—Emmanuel, which Matthew tells us means "God with us," God incarnate.

In Luke 1:31 the angel says, "thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus." When Mary asks how this can be, seeing she has not known a man, the angel answers, "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee... therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." Matthew 1 confirms she "was found with child of the Holy Spirit," fulfilling the prophecy that a virgin would bring forth a son called Emmanuel.

It is further striking that whenever the Old Testament speaks prophetically of the Messiah's birth, reference is always made to His mother or the womb, but never to a human father—because Jesus had no biological human father. Isaiah 49:1 says, "The Lord hath called me from the womb... from the bowels of my mother." Jeremiah 31:22 says, "a woman shall compass a man." And Psalm 22:9 says, "thou art he that took me out of the womb." Always the mother, never the father.

His Name Is Salvation

There is so much more in the Old Testament, and one of the most awesome things is that the Bible repeatedly gives us His name. A name in Scripture is synonymous with a person's character and nature. The primary name we know Him by appears 522 times in the New Testament—the very first verse, Matthew 1:1, and the very last verse, Revelation 22:21: the name Jesus.

The name Jesus is often defined "Jehovah is salvation," but when Mary and Joseph were told to name their son, they were literally told to name Him Yeshua—Salvation. Salvation is not just a thing or an object God offers to mankind. Salvation is not something but Someone. Jesus does not save people because He likes to or because He is good at it; He saves people because He is the Savior. That is His nature.

Hidden in the Old Testament 77 Times

The name Yeshua is actually hidden in the Old Testament nearly a hundred times. Arthur E. Glass observed that every time the Old Testament uses the word "salvation," especially with the Hebrew suffix meaning my, thy, or his, with very few exceptions it is identically the same word as Yeshua, or Jesus. It is what the angel said to Joseph: "You shall call his name salvation."

Searching the Scriptures, Yeshua appears 77 times from Genesis to Habakkuk—I don't think that number is an accident. Because the word "salvation" is the Hebrew Yeshua, we can put "Jesus" in its place. Look at Isaiah 12:

Behold, God is my Jesus; I will trust, and not be afraid... Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of Jesus. (Isaiah 12:2-3)

Consider this in light of John 7, where Jesus stood on the temple mount on the great day of the feast and cried out, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me." Isaiah said we draw water out of the wells of Yeshua—the wells of Jesus.

Waiting for Yeshua

The first use of Yeshua in Scripture is Genesis 49:18: "I have waited for thy Jesus, O Lord." There is nothing greater to wait on than Jesus. Exodus 15:2 says, "He has become my Jesus." In 1 Samuel 2:1, Hannah prayed, "I rejoice in thy Jesus."

The Psalms are full of it. David in Psalm 9:14: "I will rejoice in thy Jesus." Psalm 13:5: "My heart shall rejoice in thy Jesus." Psalm 14:7: "Oh that Jesus of Israel were come out of Zion." Psalm 35:9: "my soul... shall rejoice in his Jesus." Psalm 62:2 and 6: "He only is my rock and my Jesus." If Jesus is your rock and your defense, you will not be moved.

Psalm 69:29 says, "let thy Jesus, O God, set me up on high." In a crowd this large, many are sorrowful and downcast. The world looks to so many things to lift the countenance—mirth, partying, alcohol, drugs—but all of those are temporary. Only Jesus can set us up on high. And Isaiah 25:9: "Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him... we will be glad and rejoice in his Jesus." Every one of these verses speaks of how great Yeshua, our salvation, is.

Christ, Lord, and Emmanuel

He is not only called Jesus. In the Old Testament He is the Messiah, from the Hebrew Mashiach; in the New Testament He is Christos, the Christ—the Anointed One, prophesied and promised in Genesis. When we gather as a church or as families in December, we recognize Jesus was not actually born on December 25th, but we take time to remember and celebrate that the word of the Lord was fulfilled when He came.

Second only to Jesus, the most-used title in the New Testament is Lord—over 140 times. He is Lord, master, ruler. In Acts we read that God made Him both Christ and Lord. He can only be your salvation if you recognize Him as Lord. He is able to give salvation to all who have ever lived, but He is the confidence only of those who make Him their Lord and follow Him as master. And Isaiah 7 tells us He is Emmanuel—God with us, God come down, the Mighty God become a man.

King and Governor

The Scriptures foretell He would be born King. In Luke, the angel told the shepherds, "Unto you this day Christ the King is born." He did not become King; He was born King. Most in a royal line are born princes and ascend the throne only when the king dies. But Jesus was born as King. This infuriated Herod, for when the wise men of the East asked, "Where is he that is born King of the Jews?" Herod was upset—because in Bethlehem was born the King of kings and Lord of lords.

He is also called Governor. Isaiah 9 says "of the increase of his government there shall be no end." Every human government has an end; every great civilization has fallen. Our earthly kingdom in the United States is not eternal—one day it will fall. But of the increase of His government there shall be no end. If you are a follower of Christ, you are under His government, and you follow what He says over what any human government says.

Son of Man and Son of God

The Scriptures foretell He is Son: "unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given." When we read that Jesus is the Son of God, especially in John's Gospel, it does not mean He is the procreation of God. He is Son of Man and Son of God—He has the nature, character, and attributes of a man, true humanity, and He also has the nature of God. No other has that but Jesus.

Within the next ten days or so my wife will give birth—we believe to a girl. When she is born she will have the nature of humanity, the daughter of man, because everything reproduces after its kind. But Jesus came as the Son of Man and the Son of God, one man with two natures.

Wonderful, the Counselor

Isaiah 9:6 tells us His name shall be called Wonderful. In the book of Judges, the parents of Samson could not have children, yet God promised them a son who would be a Nazarite from birth. When they asked the angelic being His name before He brought fire from heaven to consume their offering and departed, He said, "Why askest thou after my name, seeing it is wonderful?" Who were they speaking to? The pre-incarnate Christ. He is Wonderful—He is full of wonder, and that is why He causes worship.

When we gather and music is played, music itself is not worship, but God created it to move us at the soul level and to stir emotion. I've watched this in my fourteen-month-old—I never taught him to dance, yet every time a song comes on he comes running with a big grin and some moves much better than his dad's. The lyrics matter most, because as they declare the attributes and character of God, the music wells up emotion and the words remind us how great our God is, bringing our hearts to worship the One who is truly full of wonder.

He is also the wonderful Counselor. Who do you turn to for counsel—Dr. Phil, Dr. Laura, your great Aunt Sally? Who do you turn to and hope they're available, not busy, willing to listen, able to give wise counsel? Jesus is the wonderful Counselor, available at every time, who desires that we come to Him because He has all wisdom. Isaiah 11 tells us He has the Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of counsel. It is not just what He does—He is Counselor.

Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace

He is also Mighty God—God Himself, the Creator of all things seen and unseen, who came and dwelt in the midst of man and desires that we fellowship with Him. He is called the Everlasting Father. Some struggle here, immediately thinking of the Trinity, of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as distinct beings who are all God, and our brains start to spin. But Jesus is God. He was there at creation when God said, "Let there be light," for all things were created by Him and for Him. He was there before creation; He is eternal, and so He is rightly the Everlasting Father.

He is also the Prince of Peace. He needs no medallion declaring it—He is the Prince of Peace. People give peace awards and sign peace treaties, but there will never be true peace until Jesus comes the second time. The first time He came and made peace available between God and man; the second time He will establish an enduring peace. That is why Isaiah 9:7 says, "of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end."

Born at the Right Time and Place

He came of the seed of a woman, as a man, to destroy the tempter and his work, by a virgin birth that was the work of God. He came at the right time and place. Daniel prophesied that the Messiah would come 483 years after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem, and He had to come before the second temple was destroyed in 70 AD—a window of about thirty-five years.

Micah 5:2 says the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. Mary lived in Nazareth, eighty miles to the north. There was no reason for her to go to Bethlehem except that Joseph, like all the Jews, was decreed to return to his city of birth for the census. So he placed his nine-months-pregnant wife on a donkey and rode eighty miles. When they arrived, she went into labor and gave birth to Christ in Bethlehem, as it was foretold.

The Old Testament also said He would be called out of Egypt. When Herod sought to kill the children of Bethlehem, Joseph was warned in a dream and took his family to Egypt, then back. Isaiah 9 said most of His ministry would be in Galilee of the Gentiles, and the Scriptures foretold He would be called a Nazarene; so the family returned to Nazareth, where He did the bulk of His ministry, while also ministering in the temple. Isaiah 40 and Malachi foretold a forerunner to make straight the way—fulfilled in John the Baptist.

The True Reason for the Season

We see His names throughout the Old Testament, even His name Jesus—salvation—mentioned 77 times from Genesis to Habakkuk. The purpose of His coming is clearly spoken in Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53: that He would be the sin-bearing, suffering Servant who would bear our iniquity on the cross, so that by His stripes we would be healed. All of it was fulfilled in Him.

When we gather each year, this season is not about Christmas trees, St. Nick, presents, debt, or credit cards, or year-end market values. It is about Jesus—the Christ, the Lord, Emmanuel—the greatest gift ever given. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

No other in history has been foretold in such detail, power, accuracy, and clarity, because He is not a mere man, and history points to His life and death as the pivotal turning point of humanity. May we be bold to say so, even though that truth has become politically incorrect in our day—for isn't that exactly how the tempter works? Don't be discouraged, don't be dissuaded, don't back down. It would not be a Merry Christmas if it were not for Christ.

Closing Prayer

Father, I thank You for Your word. Give us boldness as Your body, the body of Christ, to speak with unbridled lips, to share the truth of Your word and of Your coming. Jesus, I thank You that You came and You will come again. We look forward to that day when You'll call us home. Come, Lord Jesus, quickly, we pray. In Jesus' name, Amen.