THE TITLES AND GOVERNMENT OF CHRIST
Isaiah 9:6. For unto us a Child is born, &c.
I. The Incarnation and Government of Jesus Christ. Let us contemplate Him,
1. As the Incarnate One. “Unto us a child is born” (H. E. I. 846–853).
2. As a gift of Heaven to a fallen world. “Unto us a Son is given.”
3. As advanced to supreme rule and authority. “The government shall be upon His shoulder.
II. The names and characters by which He is distinguished. “His name,” &c.
III. The adaptation of these Qualities to the purposes of His spiritual reign.
1. We need wisdom, and He is the “Counsellor.”
2. We need reconciliation to God, and He is our “Peace.”
3. We need support under the calamities of life, and this He gives us, for He is the “Mighty God.”
4. We need comfort under the fears of death, and this He gives as “The Father of the Everlasting Age.”—George Smith, D.D.
THE GOVERNMENT OF CHRIST
Isaiah 9:6. The government shall be on His shoulder, &c.
Let me caution you against mistaking this government for that essential dominion which belongeth to our blessed Lord as God. To suppose that this had been given to our Lord would be to deny His essential Godhead. The government here spoken of is one that He receives: a delegated government as the Mediator of the covenant: that which we are told (1 Corinthians 15:24-28) He will hereafter deliver up to the Father. Three particulars we may point out, in which He exercises this dominion. I. He rules for His Church, as “The Lamb in the midst of the throne.” II. He rules in His Church, being its alone King and Lawgiver. The Church is never for one moment to assume the power of legislation; it belongs not to her, but to Him: she has the executive—nothing more—to obey His laws, to carry them out according to the mind of Him who framed them. III. There is a third power—that which He exercises in the souls of His true subjects, ruling in and over them by the power of His own blessed Spirit.—J. H. Evans, M.A.: Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. vii. p. 337.
In this verse we have a constellation of titles, all of which illustrate the essential dignity and mediatorial claims of Jesus, and tend to awaken the confidence of the Church. The very first declaration, His “name shall be called Wonderful,” fitly prepares us for all that is to follow, teaching us to expect something beyond the ordinary works of God. He is “wonderful” in His incarnation, in His government, in the counsels He originates, in the divinity of His nature, in the eternity of His existence, in the results of His mediatorial rule, for He is “the Prince of Peace,” swaying the sceptre of mercy over an apostate and disordered world. There is a beautiful consistency in all this; for if the government of earth and heaven, the sovereignty of the Church and of the world, is to be exercised by the Redeemer, it is necessary that He should be possessed of attributes equal to its immense responsibilities. But these attributes are His, and hence the command, “Rejoice, for the Lord reigneth!”
I. It is a cause of peculiar rejoicing to all good men that the government of the world is in the hands of Christ. Their interest and joy in this fact arise—
1. From the near and sacred relation in which Jesus stands to them.
2. From the glorious perfectness of His character, which guarantees the wisdom and blessedness of His sway.
3. From the changelessness, perpetuity, and destined universality of His rule.
II. The sovereignty of Christ affords great relief in contemplating the abject condition of the heathen world. The heathen have been given to Him for His inheritance, and He will certainly deliver them from the superstitions and miseries by which they are oppressed.
III. This fact gives us a deep interest in beholding the vast extent of the universe of God. Every part of it is but a province in Christ’s boundless empire.—Samuel Thodey.
HIS NAME … WONDERFUL
Isaiah 9:6. His name shall be called Wonderful, &c.
I. Christ is wonderful in His nature. He is wonderful,
1. in respect of His essential Godhead.
2. In respect of His perfect manhood. All excellences were combined in him as a man, unlike even His most eminent servants, who are distinguished for the possession of special graces, which too often are clouded by some opposite defect.
3. In respect of the union in Him of Deity and humanity (1 Timothy 3:16).
II. Christ is wonderful in His offices, at once Prophet, Priest, and King.
1. As a Prophet, what wonderful disclosures He has made to us of the Divine nature and will, and of human duty and destiny; with what wonderful authority He spoke; with what wonderful completeness and beauty He fulfilled all His own commandments!
2. As a Priest, how wonderfully He was at once sacrifice and offerer: how wonderfully He still carries on the work of reconciliation (Romans 8:34).
3. As a King, how wonderfully He rules, with omnipotent power, yet with lamblike gentleness.
III. Christ is wonderful in His relation to His people.
1. In the care He exercises over them (Ezekiel 34:11-16).
2. In the abundance of the grace which He ministers to them (2 Corinthians 12:9; John 1:16; H. E. I. 936).
3. In His condescending thoughtfulness for each one of them (John 10:3; John 10:14-15) [905]
4. In the perfectness of His sympathy with them. He identifies Himself so entirely with His people, that they have not a single care, trial, or temptation of any sort, but it is as much His as it is theirs (H. E. I. 952–961).—J. H. Evans, M.A.: Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. vii. pp. 336–348.
[905] Oh, how “wonderful” must He be, that suits Himself to the cares of all, as if He had but one! cares for each as much as He cares for all, and cares for each as if he were all! We are lost in this deep. I sometimes get some light from this thought:—Why, the sun can shine into the attic as well as into the Queen’s palace; it occasions no difficulty to the sun. Blessed Jesus! there is no difficulty for Thee to supply all our minutest wants; in Thee there is the abundance of power, and quite as great an abundance of love.—J. H. Evans, M.A.
We are continually struck with one marked contrast between the greatness that is human and the greatness that is Divine: human greatness the more it is examined the less wonderful it appears, but Divine productions, the more closely they are investigated the more brightly they shine. We shall see that Christ is wonderful, if we consider—I. The excellences that compose His mediatorial character. God and man! Nor is this a wonder to men only (1 Peter 1:12). II. The stupendous blessings He bestows on His friends. III. The reserves of glory which He waits to exhibit in now unseen and future worlds.
Behold Him, and
1. Never hesitate to acknowledge Him as your Saviour and Lord.
2. Yield a ready obedience to His authority.
3. Anticipate His coming in glory.—Samuel Thodey.
CHRIST OUR COUNSELLOR
Isaiah 9:6. His name shall be called … Counsellor, &c.
I. How Christ may be our Counsellor. Immediate, close, and confidential intercourse is involved in our idea of taking counsel. When we are in perplexity, we lay the whole matter before a friend in whose wisdom we trust. So we may spread our difficulties before Christ in prayer. Thus far, all is clear. But how can we receive from Christ the answer and guidance we seek? How does an earthly friend help us in such a case? By producing a certain impression on our mind. He may do it by spoken words, by letter, or even by a gesture. The manner is unimportant. So Christ guides us by producing impression on our mind; how, we know not, nor does it matter greatly. The well-instructed Christian seeks counsel from Christ in all things. He prays for daily guidance. Special difficulties he makes matter of special prayer. Then, upon the mind previously made calm and willing, there comes a sense of rectitude, and a feeling of resolution. One course, generally that which involves most self-denial and manifests least self-dependence, comes prominently forth in strong relief, as most to be preferred. Its advantages each moment look clearer and brighter; its consistency with his religious profession, conformity to the will of God, and true wisdom, are more and more strongly impressed upon his mind. He doubts no more. He has arrived at a decision. Christ’s counsel has prevailed. It is our privilege thus to be directed at every stage and in every vicissitude of life.
II. Why we should take Christ for our Counsellor. Because in Him are all the qualities that would cause us to value and seek the counsel of an earthly friend—tenderness, wisdom, and power. He can help us to carry out His counsels.
III. What will be the effects of making Christ the Man of our counsel?”
1. A general consistency of Christian conduct. Inconsistency arises from listening to contradictory advisers; sometimes going to Christ, and sometimes taking counsel with flesh and blood.
2. A conformity and likeness to Christ. You will learn to love what He loves, and to desire what He promises. In the man who constantly makes Christ his counsellor, there is begotten a spirituality of mind, a deadness to the world, a fixedness of purpose, a cheerfulness of temper, a self-possession and patience, which are scarcely conceivable and quite invaluable. A man is powerfully influenced by the company he keeps—whether it be refined and moral, or coarse and profligate.
What, then, must be the effect of habitual intercourse with the Lord of light and grace and glory?
3. A preparedness for Christ’s presence in heaven? What is the bliss of heaven? It is the vision of the Almighty; unclouded and uninterrupted intercourse with the Saviour and Lord of all. The more we have cultivated this here, the more fitted we shall be for it hereafter.—Josiah Bateman, M.A.: Sermons, pp. 1–18.
THE MIGHTY GOD
Isaiah 9:6. His name shall be called … The Mighty God.
Various devices to escape from the force of this declaration have been tried [908] But after a discussion prolonged through centuries, it is now conceded by the foremost Hebrew scholars of our time, that, whether we accept or reject it, Isaiah’s declaration is that the Person concerning whom he wrote should be called “The mighty God;” which is merely the Scriptural way of asserting that He should be “The mighty God,” for names divinely given represent realities. That the Person concerning whom this declaration was made is our Lord Jesus Christ is the conviction of the whole Christian Church. He is the “Child,” the “Son,” the “Mighty God,” concerning whom Isaiah wrote. Let us do more than give our assent to this statement: let us think about it.
[908] The following translations have been given by sceptical scholars, but have all been conclusively rejected by sound scholarship:—
“Mighty Hero.”—Gesenius.
“Counsellor of the Mighty God.”—Grotius.
“Counseller of God, Mighty.”—Carpenter.
“And He who is Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, calls His name the Prince of peace.”—Jarchi and Kimchi.
I. It is essential to soundness of creed, and to any full realisation of the Christian life, to hold firmly to the doctrine of the perfect humanity of our Lord Jesus Christ. He was a man in the same sense that this is true of any man here; whatever was essential to perfectness of manhood existed in Him. Unless we grasp this great truth intelligently and firmly,
1. His example can be of no considerable help to us (H. E. I. 898). The example of an angel, though it might excite our admiration, would also smite us with despair.
2. His sympathy with men, because of His identity with them in their experience, can never be to us, what it has been to millions, one of the most comforting and strengthening of all thoughts (Hebrews 2:17-18; Hebrews 4:15; H. E. I. 872, 954). II. It is equally necessary that we should hold firmly the doctrine of His Deity. That He is “the mighty God” is the testimony,
1. Of His works (Matthew 14:32-33, &c.).
2. Of His words (John 6:48; John 7:37; John 8:12, &c.; H. E. I. 836, 840–842). This doctrine pervades the New Testament (H. E. I. 835, 838.) The sum of its teaching concerning Him is, that in Him God was manifest, that He is the true God (1 Timothy 3:16; 1 John 5:20). It is not only one of the profoundest of all doctrines, it is the most practical. Let me doubt it, and how can Christ be to me a Saviour? How can He be more to me than any other eminently holy and wise man who died centuries ago, or yesterday?
1. What comfort can I derive from the declaration that He died for me? Could a man atone for the sins of the whole world, for my sins?
2. What comfort can I derive from the declaration that He now lives and is in heaven? If so, as a man, doubtless, He will sympathise with me, but how can I be assured that He hears the cries for help which in times of distress and danger I raise? or that, if He hears me, He is able to help?
1. This complex Christian life of ours can be sustained only by the complex and unfathomably mysterious doctrine of the Divine-human nature of Christ, just as our physical life can be sustained only by the compound yet simple atmosphere we breathe. To simplify the atmosphere by taking away, if it were possible, either of its main constituents would transform the earth into a sepulchre; and to “simplify” Christian doctrine by taking away the doctrine either of our Lord’s humanity or of His Deity is the destruction of spiritual life.
2. Let us, then, accept in all their fulness the declarations of Scripture concerning the Person of our Lord. Those declarations transcend our reason, but they do not contradict it (H. E. I. 851, 4809–4814), and they should be joyfully accepted by our faith.
3. Let us think much of Christ as the Son of man, that by His example we may be incited to strive after a noble manhood, and that by the assurance of His sympathy we may be sustained amid all the struggles and sorrows of life.
4. Let us think much of Him as “the mighty God,” that our faith may rejoice in His ability to accomplish for us a complete redemption; that our reason and conscience may be led to bow to the authority which must therefore belong to all His utterances; that our love for Him, while it is tender and ardent, may be also reverent; and that our soul may feel itself free to give expression to the feelings of adoration that rise up within us when we contemplate His perfections, His purposes, and the work which it is declared He has accomplished on our behalf.
THE EVERLASTING FATHER
Isaiah 9:6. The Everlasting Father.
We usually associate the name of father with the first “Person” of the adorable Godhead. But there is no manner of doubt that the title here belongs to our Lord Jesus Christ—to the very same Person who, in human nature, was a Child born, and a Son given up for the salvation of men. But there is this difference: the title given to the Son born is not merely “the Father,” but “the everlasting Father. The title is not “Father,” but the entire phrase. Read more exactly in accordance with the original words, the phrase is this: “the father of perpetuity, the father of eternity, the father of the for ever.” “Father” means here simply possessor or author. To be the father of eternity” is to have eternity, and to rule in eternity—to be the Lord of eternity. Christ Jesus, who hath the government upon His shoulders, hath it on His shoulders for ever; He is King of kings and Lord of lords throughout eternity. The eternity here spoken of is not the eternity that is bygone—if we may so speak of eternity; it is the ongoing and unending duration that lies before us, and Christ Jesus is Lord and Ruler of it all. No doubt He who can hold the future eternity in His hand, and who can rule all its affairs, must have been Himself the Unbeginning and Eternal One; and the Scriptures leave no doubts about that being the attribute of our Lord Jesus Christ (John 8:58; Colossians 1:17; John 1:3). But it is that for ever which lies before us which Christ is here said to be the Father of. He is so as its Possessor—He has it; as its Originator—He makes it what it is; as its Controller—He rules in it.
I. Jesus Christ is the father of the eternity that lies before us, the father of the for ever, because He Himself lives for ever. He has it. Observe, this is true of the Second Person of the Godhead in human nature. The connection of the text will not permit us to forget that. It is the Child born and the Son given who is said to live for ever. That is a great thought; the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ in humanity is to live for ever is a stupendous expectation and belief. Sometimes it has seemed to me as it were more wonderful even than the Incarnation. It seems as if it would have been less strange for the Son of God, for some great purpose, to have clothed Himself with a creature’s nature, and then, having accomplished that purpose, to have laid down that nature as a thing too far down from the Infinite to be worn for ever. But now the wonder is, that having made Himself our kinsman, He is to be our Head for ever, and is never to cease to wear the human nature in which He died on Calvary. That this is an important thought appears from two considerations.
1. It is part of the Divine promise of the Father to our Lord, and it is a thing for which our Lord prayed as part of His Father’s promise (compare Isaiah 53:10, Psalms 72:15; Psalms 21:4).
2. It implies that His work was finished to His Father’s satisfaction. It is clearly spoken of as a reward for work well done. Hence this title “Father of eternity”—hath in germ within it the great facts of Christ’s death, resurrection, ascension, and session in glory (comp. Revelation 1:18). From this fact two inferences can be drawn, both of a most consolatory and joyful character.
1. To God’s people. What a Saviour they have! They need never fear that they will be without His care. They could not find a world in all the universe where He is not with them, and they cannot live on to any age when He shall cease to be their light and King
2. The same thing brings comfort to every sinner (Hebrews 7:25). Do not lose yourselves in a great general thought of Christ living for ever; rather narrow the broad and grand conception, and fasten it down upon the present fleeting moment. Christ lives now, and lives here—lives here and now to save the sinner and bless the saint. Apply to Him, and rejoice in Him that liveth now and for ever and ever.
II. He originated this age that is spoken of. As by His death He secured His own immortality on the basis of the faithful covenant, and received life for ever because He had done the Father’s will; so by the same completion of His mediatorial work on earth He purchased this immortality for His people. All that is valuable in the prospect of unending existence to any human being he owes to our Lord Jesus Christ. He is the father of the eternal age; it could not have been without Him.
III. As Jesus Christ, personally and in humanity, lives through this eternal age, and as He introduced it and gave it its grand characteristics, so the administration of its whole affairs is in His hands. The Author of our Faith is the ruler of its progress, and that not on earth alone, but in heaven (Matthew 28:18). What follows from that?
1. What a terrible and what a hopeless thing it must be to resist Christ! To resist Him effectually, we would require to be able to do one or other of two things: We should need either to go beyond infinite distance and get away from Him that way, or live longer than for ever, which is equally impossible. The only question is this, “Am I in Christ’s hands to be slain by Him, or to be saved by Him?” and that turns on my submission to His will. “Am I to sit on the throne beside Him? or take the other alternative and be made His footstool?”
2. What a good thought it is for the Christian, that he can never go away from Christ’s care, that He can never be for a moment without his Friend watching over him, and never in any place in which he does not hear the music of those precious words, “Lo, I am with you alway!”—J. Edmond, D.D.: Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix. pp. 145–148.
THE PRINCE OF PEACE
Isaiah 9:6. The Prince of Peace.
How peaceful was the scene when the first Sabbath shone upon this world! How reversed was the scene when sin entered to revolutionise it! Think of the widespread and woful war which sin has entailed on this world, and see the need of such a Prince as our text reveals to restore the primitive peace. See, too, the magnitude of the work to which the Redeemer stands appointed when He is presented in the character of a pacificator who is to bring this strife to a happy conclusion for man.
I. THE QUALIFICATIONS OF CHRIST FOR ACTING AS “THE PRINCE OF PEACE.” We find these,
1. In His original personal excellence as the only begotten of the Father.
2. In His Father’s ordination of Him to the office.
3. In the meritoriousness of the work He accomplished as the substitute for sinners.
4. In the station to which He has been exalted, and the executive power which has been lodged in His hands. First of all, He has been appointed Intercessor, to plead the cause of His people on the foundation of the work He has done for them; and, secondly, He has been anointed a King with all the influence and energy of the Almighty Spirit placed at His disposal to carry into execution all the favourable purposes of the Divine government on behalf of those whose cause He has won by His intercession.
5. In the fervency with which His heart is dedicated to the attainment of His object.
II. THE PRINCIPAL ARTICLES OF THAT PEACE OF WHICH CHRIST IS, OR SHALL YET BE, THE MINISTERING PRINCE TO ALL WHO BELIEVE ON HIM.
1. He hath effected reconciliation between God and man.
2. In Christ we cease to war against ourselves.
3. Our Prince hath reconciled us to the angels.
4. Reconciliation is effected between Jew and Gentile (Ephesians 2:14-16).
5. The general reconciliation of man to man, the destruction of selfishness, and the diffusion of benevolence. Christ came, by His dying for all, to teach that all were as brethren, and ought to regard one another with fraternal affection. How much the world required this lesson! How imperfectly it has been learned! H. E. I., 884).—William Anderson, L.L.D.: Christian World Pulpit, vol. x. pp. 392–394.
I. The character of Christ: “the Prince of Peace.” How wonderful and glorious is this character when viewed in connection with this title! Infinite wisdom and almighty power employed not for purposes of war, but of peace! (Isaiah 55:8-9).
1. He procures peace.
2. He proclaims peace.
3. He imparts peace.
4. He maintains peace.
5. He perfects peace.
II. The character of His religion. It is a religion of peace. True, at its first introduction, it leads to conflicts (Matthew 10:34); but in the end it secures a permanent peace (James 3:17). It will give peace, but only on its terms.
III. Character of the followers of Christ. They are the sons of peace.
1. They seek peace with God through the mediation of Christ.
2. They exemplify a spirit like His own, and thus help to heal the wounds of a bleeding world.
3. They extend through the world the gospel of peace.
4. They anticipate in heaven the reign of unbroken peace.—Samuel Thodey.