Wednesday December 14 – Jerusalem

Throughout my life, traveling around Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, and New Mexico I have seen a lot of “The One and Only” things advertised. You see a lot of them especially along what is still drivable from the old Route 66. Route 66 was that cross-country highway that connected Chicago to Los Angeles and shot down southwest from Chicago through Illinois, Missouri, and down to central Oklahoma before launching due west there. Along the way you can see some of the tourist lures that were built to draw you in off of the Mother Road.

I have seen The Big Texan steak house in Amarillo, TX. I have seen Pops and the Round Red Barn in Arcadia, OK. I’ve seen the Blue Whale in Catoosa, OK. I have driven through the Painted Desert and seen unique sites in places like Tucumcari, Barstow, Kingman, Claremore, and Elk City. I have even once stood on a corner in Winslow, Arizona. You cannot count how many “One and Only” designations things carry. People were drawn to unique things. We are still curious to investigate and engage with things that are unlike anything else, to see something that is un-seeable anywhere else.

Isaiah shares a prophecy about a One-of-a-kind child that will be born. This child will be completely different, unique. Isaiah reveals the unique resume of titles and identity that this child will have.

Looking Ahead In Jerusalem: The Messiah would be the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace

Isaiah 9:6-7 For a child will be born for us, a son will given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The dominion will be vast and its prosperity will never end. He will reign on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish and sustain it with justice and righteousness from now on and forever. The zeal of the Lord of Armies will accomplish this.

Over the course of three chapters in Isaiah, the birth of a child plays a central part of the text. It culminates here in chapter 9. God has promised a victory in which He will defeat Judah’s enemies. His people will then experience the joy and triumph of victory. The birth of a child answers the question, “How will God accomplish this great feat?”

Through the birth of a child, God will provide the victory. This means that God’s people will not have to look to trust in any other thing for that victory. In Isaiah’s time, Judah had turned to Assyria to deliver Judah from Syria. However, this trust was misplaced as Assyria would one day turn on Judah and cause them significant problems. It is clear that when we trust in something other than the Lord for our victory, that very thing often turns against us, overwhelming us in ways we simply didn’t expect.

Assyria was a powerful nation in the region. Assyria was more powerful than Syria, so Judah looked to them. But God showed how that misplaced trust would spell disaster for Judah. And out of that disaster, through the Messiah, God provides victory.

And this promised child cannot be simply a king. In fact, according to the titles that the child will hold, it cannot be any human. This child will be identified as “Mighty God.” The baby referred to here is certainly the promised Messiah, and He will reign over God’s people with a kind of justice and righteousness that no descendant of David could. This Messiah will provide a forever, eternal peace both in people and in the world.

These verses provide both the theological basis and the historical fact that establish the foundation upon which the world will experience “God With Us.”

Allowing Jesus to take over the “government” of lives will mean we experience the blessed benefits spoken of here in Isaiah 9. We will have the light, the honor, the joy, the abundance, and peace written on our hearts by the Lord. After reading this passage, we can clearly see that Jesus is the only way to see this happen. Trust in Him alone. There is nothing anywhere like Him.

“He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end.” Luke 1:32-33

Father, thank you for sending Jesus to us. Thank you for the benefit and blessing we can experience when we ask him into our hearts. Amen.