His Name shall be called the Prince of Peace

I said earlier that this verse (Isaiah 9:6), contains a reference to Christ's second coming. In the Hebrew Scriptures, there are two pictures of the coming Messiah. The first is that of the suffering servant (Isaiah 53 for example), the second the conquering Messiah (“You are My Son .... I will give You the nations for Your inheritance ... You shall break them with a rod of iron” Psalm 2:7-9). The two advents together are “to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness” (Daniel 9:24). In the coming Kingdom there will be peace, even to the lion lying down with the lamb (see Isaiah 11:6). In the Hebrew Scriptures, the two advents are often seen together and, without 20/20 hindsight are difficult to separate. It is clear that “Unto us a child is born, is talking about His first advent. But we see it is also about His second in the earlier part of the verse where “the government shall be upon His shoulders, ” and in context (verse 7) “Of the increase of His government and peace, there will be no end.”

To confirm that this latter description is not about His fist coming (if it's not already obvious) we could quote “They dress the wound of my people lightly saying 'Peace, peace,' when there is no peace.” It feels very much like a description of here and now! But at the start of His ministry, Jesus announced “The Kingdom is at hand” (Mark 1:15). He is saying that the Kingdom is both here, and not yet here,  in it's fullness. The Prince of peace comes to bring peace,  peace with God (Romans 5:1), and the peace of God (Philippians 4:7). It starts with those of us who know Him. We receive the peace of God when we come to Him in full surrender (Matthew 11:28, 29; John 14:27). And it is intended to spread from us like yeast “through the whole lump (Matthew 13:13). The peace we carry is part of the fruit of the indwelling Spirit (Galatians 5:22), and when we fully live it, it is infectious. Have you ever seen the Lord work through Your peace to bring peace to another as without speech  you simply sat with them them, perhaps  holding their hand?

But will this peace ever infiltrate the whole World? Well no, the wheat and the weeds will grow together until the harvest (Matthew 13:30). In the meantime we are to be Ambassadors of the Prince of peace imploring others on Christ’s behalf, to be reconciled to God (2 Corinthians 5:20), imploring them to receive both peace with God, and the peace of God. And as we pass from the old year to the new, let us renew our confidence in Him receiving His hope and peace and joy and love morning by morning through out the coming year.

Father I want to thank You that You have made our lives significant, in that as we fully engage in the type of discipleship we have been discussing, we actually hasten the day of the Lord (2 Peter 3:11, 12). Lord Jesus, teach us to be lovers of Your appearing (2 Timothy 4:8). Equip us Lord with zeal according to knowledge, and spend us Lord, like a penny in Your pocket that we may bring You honour and glory and praise in the coming year in Your precious and Holy Name we pray Amen

His Name shall be called the "Everlasting Father"

Father God tends to get a bad rap. I hear people say Jesus is okay, Holy Spirit is okay, but you have to watch out for Father God. But in the mystery of Trinity one of the Names of the child born, of Messiah, of Jesus, is the Everlasting Father. And it is easy at this point to fall into heresy. I mean to call God One, but not three! If Jesus is the Father and nothing more and nothing less, how come He prays to Him, and how come Jesus does only those things which He sees the Father doing (John 14:16; 5:19, 20)? I am not saying I can get my head round this, and as I have said before, if we can understand God we would be God! Having said that part of what it must mean that the Name of the Son is Everlasting Father, is that the Father and the Son have the same character, the same DNA. In particular, Philip asks Jesus to show him the Father and Jesus replies “He who has seen me, has seen the Father (John 14:9).

There is another misunderstanding here that I believe Trinity can help us come to terms with, if not fully understand. I mean the Father sent the Son to die in my place, and your place. I hear people saying, that that's barbaric, and that they would not ask their son to die for anyone! Well neither would I! But Jesus and the Father are One and, in danger of being overly repetitious, one of the Names of the Son is the “Everlasting Father.” We don't know exactly what that means, but it has to mean that the relationship between Trinity is different from our earthly relationships. And also that because of Trinity, when the Father sent the Son He was, in a real sense, sending Himself. Yes I know it sounds like foolishness, but then the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and was not the wisdom of the cross foolishness to us when we were perishing (1 Corinthians 1: 25, 18)? See 1 Corinthians 8:2!

The final thing that I want to say this morning, and it is part of why Father God gets a bad rap, is that we tend to confuse the character of Father God with that of our earthly fathers. In my own case I knew my dad loved me, but only from a distance. Being a workaholic he had little time for me. And this is how I thought about God for the longest time. If your father was abusive, it is likely even worse, but the Lord wants to restore the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to the fathers (Malachi 4:6). And He wants to restore His relationship with you, and for that you need to stop believing the lies the Evil one tells you about Father God, and to start believing that He is just like Jesus, and that He loves You with an everlasting love (Jeremiah 31:3).

Father, there are so many things I do not understand, help me not to lean on my own understanding (Proverbs 3:5). Please help me to be child like, and teachable. Forgive us Lord for the lies we have believed about You, and show us what we are still believing that's not true. Thank You that You have told us that if we draw near to You, You will draw near to us (James 4:8) in Jesus Name Amen

His Name shall be called "Mighty God"

 Continuing with Isaiah 9:6, one of the Names of the child born,  the son given is “Mighty God.” The verse also contains the mystery that Christ is both God and man. I mean not only is He God, He is “Mighty God.” That He is man is seen in that He comes through natural birth, as a little baby, and that He grows in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man (Luke 2:52). We can get this wrong in two ways, either denying His deity, and this is exactly what the cults, and a large part of the World does. We can also deny that Christ is man (1 John 4:2). And unknowingly (I suspect) many Christians do exactly this when they say, for example, that Jesus could do miracles, because He is God.


Think about it, Jesus told the disciples to heal the sick, raise the dead etc, and they did (Matthew 10:8; Acts 9:36-42). Does this mean,  for example, that Peter is God? If Jesus did the things He did on earth because He is God, then we can applaud Him, but we can never be like Him. But if He did these things as a Spirit fulled man, then He can (and does) expect us to do these things too (John 14:12). And when we don't tap into this, we are falling short of our calling! But did Jesus cease to be God, when He came to earth? Well no, Scripture tells us that He emptied Himself of His divine attributes (Philippians 2:7). In other words He remained God, but did not use His power as God. Rather He did the things He did as a Spirit fulled man, and then calls us to do the same, and this is what the early Church did (1 Thessalonians 1:5). 


The reason it was necessary for Christ to be both God and man, is related to the nature of covenant. Covenants were sealed by blood sacrifice. Typically an animal was cut in two, and both parties would walk through between the pieces (see Genesis 15:12-18). What was being agreed,  is that if one side did not uphold his side of the bargain, then what had happened to the animal, would need to happen to him. Only by the death of one of the parties could the covenant be annulled. And God had made a covenant with man, specifically the ten commandments. And man broke the covenant (Romans 3:23), so man had to die (Romans 6:23). But the sacrificial system of the Old Testament is the foreshadowing of  another way,  through the substitutionary sacrifice of lamb without blemish.  It was a only foreshadowing however, for clearly the blood of an animal was insufficient to atone for the sins of men (Hebrews 10:4). There would need to be the sacrifice of a perfect spotless human being. And  indeed the man Christ Jesus who was indeed without sin (Hebrews 4:15),  is the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the World, for  as many as will receive Him (John 1:25, 12).

Lord Jesus, without Your incredible sacrifice You could have been merciful but not just, or just but not merciful, but either of  these things would have violated Your character. Thank You for finding a way for righteous and mercy to kiss (Psalm 85:10), and for mankind to be redeemed. No wonder we will be singing Your praises for all eternity. We bless you this morning Lord,  in Your precious Name Amen

His Name shall be called Councillor

Whether we should read Wonderful and Counsellor as separate names, or Wonderful Counsellor as a single name, it is clear that His counsel is wonderful. Paul could declare “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out” (Romans 11:33)! This does not mean however, that we do not have access to these things, to His council. Indeed He has promised to give us wisdom (council) when we can admit that we need it, and then ask Him for it in faith (James 1:5, 6). It does mean that we can never arrive at the place where we no longer need His wisdom and council. Indeed, we will always be influenced by someone's council be it our own, or the World's or His. And in regard to these things, He warns “Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me” (Isaiah 30:1).

Our need of Him, our dependence on Him goes so contrary to the spirit of rugged North American individualism. But it is consistent with the fact that unless we humble ourselves and become as a little child, we cannot enter the Kingdom (Matthew 18:3,4). A little child knows he has not arrived, knows he does not have all the answers, does not go round saying “I am right and everyone else is wrong.” The World tends to do this, calling everyone intolerant who does not agree with them, not realizing that this stance is intolerant in and of itself. Unfortunately the Church does something very similar, and this breeds an “us and them” mentality,  separates us from each other and the very people we say we are trying to reach. Paul tells us “If anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know” (1 Corinthians 8:1).

One of the things of whose depths we will never plummet, is the concept of what, for want of a better name, we are pleased to call Trinity. The verse we are alluding to this morning (Isaiah 9:6) is one of the clearer part of Old Testament Trinitarian theology. In particular, the name of the Son given, is Councillor (Wonderful Councillor), a Name Given to Holy Spirit. Indeed “The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, The Spirit of wisdom and understanding, The Spirit of counsel and might” (Isaiah11:2). All this is part of the mystery of it all, part of knowing we know nothing yet as we aught to know. However this does not mean that there are not things about which we need to be sure. The writer to the Hebrews list as elementary principle such things as repentance from dead works, faith toward God, the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment (Hebrews 6:1,2). In regard to these things we must not be ever learning but never arriving at the truth (2 Timothy 3:7).

Father, certainly the mystery of it all is past finding out. Paul asks“who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But then goes on to say that we have the mind of Christ, and that You have revealed the wisdom of God in mystery by Your Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:16, 7, 10). Thank You Father that You have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children (Matthew 11:25), so teach us to be child like Lord, in Jesus Name Amen.

His Name shall be called Wonderful

Scholars are divided as to whether “Wonderful” in the quote from Isaiah 9:6 is an adjective describing His Name “Counsellor,” or it is is one of Christs many Names. It is an important question, since of names in the Hebrew culture have great significance. To the Hebrews,  a name was not just a label,  something sounding nice, or a way for us to know who we were speaking to or about. To the Hebrews a person's name was thought of as being equivalent to the person himself,  and among other things,  also signified their worth, character, reputation and authority. We see for example the Holy Spirit saying “You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments” (Revelation 3:4). The NIV translates “Name” in Greek as “persons, ” but literally  it is “name.” In regard to God, we sing praises to His Name (Psalm 18:49). Since “those who know their God will do exploits (Daniel 11:32), then we need to get to know the Names of our God!

The Hebrew word translated here as “wonderful,” also has the sense of incomprehensible, remarkable and secret (see Judges 13:18).  And certainly Jesus is all of these things. The word “wonderful” means of a sort that causes,  or arouses wonder, amazement and astonishment. But along with the loss of a love of learning we have lost our sense of wonder, and we rejected anything that smacks of mystery. I hear people say that they don't believe in Trinity, because the don't understand it. But if you understood God, you would be God! It is all part of the enemy's plan in the West to hoodwink us into believing that the material is all there is. Of course his other tactic, if that does not work, is to persuade us he exists and has more power than he does. But reality is not a duality, the devil is not equal and opposite to God. And the only power he has, is that which we have given him. But enough about him!

I have a book that one day I might get round to reading (I have more books that I have not read ...). It's called “The evidential power of beauty,” by Thomas Dubay. His contention is that beauty is the place where Science and theology meet. Some have tried to explain beauty in terms of evolution as "the survival of the prettiest,” but what about the beauty of creation, of a sunset, or of music, or great literature, or the ability to inspire to greatness?  What is the survival utility of these things? Dubay's thesis is confirmed by Scripture that tells us  “the heavens declare the Glory of God” (Psalm 19:1). And who created all these things? It is the Lord of Glory,  the Lord of wonder, and truly is His Name and character and persona are wonderful. And this does not even start to mention His work in salvation. But you may ask “Isn't nature terrible too, red in tooth and claw? And I answer yes nature is both wonderful and terrible, just like our God who is also a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29).

Lord Jesus, great and marvelous are your works, and just and true are Your ways. Who will not fear You, our awesome and terrible God (Nehemiah 9:32)? But perfect love casts out all fear, and  so we have confidence in the day of Your coming (1 John 2:28). Lord please restore our appreciation of the wonder of who You are,  in Your precious Name Amen

Boxing day aftermath. How shall we then live?

“It's all over bar the shouting!” I don't know the origin of the phrase, but it was well known in the circles I moved in, and it expressed the disappointment of “the morning after.” After all the hype of Christmas, the over indulgence and the consequence thereof, my friend was expressing anticlimax and disappointment, if not a tinge of regret. It is Boxing day, and the commercial hype continues with Boxing day sales, or is it Boxing week, or Boxing year sales? The name “Boxing day” is said to originate in Britain where “Christmas boxes” (presents) are said to have been given to the servants. Another suggestion is that it was a reference to charity drives. Several years ago now, Mother suggested, instead of the adults giving each other presents (with some of us notoriously difficult to buy for), that we give gifts to charity in each other's name. It leaves a much better taste in our mouths, than receiving a matching pen and pencil that we neither needed, nor wanted. And this way we likely did not spend more than we could afford. I am, of course, talking about the (relatively) affluent West.

I say “relatively affluent,” since I am well aware that many in Canada live below the Canadian poverty level. And I am grateful for the programs like “angel tree,” that provides Christmas presents for children whose parents are interned in prison. I am grateful for the various food banks, and charities like Salvation Army that feed and cloth the Canadian poor. I am grateful too for Samaritan's purse's “Operation Christmas child,” that sends shoe box size presents to children in underdeveloped countries. Many of these kids have never received a Christmas gift ever. Watching videos of them opening their boxes that contain things like school supplies, as well as other things, is heartwarming. But I am also aware that in wanting to “give our children what we never had,” we may unintentionally have taught them to feel entitled.

Researcher Paul Piff concludes that “As people get richer, they are more likely to feel entitled, to exploit others, and to cheat.” But the welfare system, where the government provides everything, can produce the same attitudes. The so called “Protestant work ethic” which attached value to responsibility, hard work, thrift, and efficiency, is in danger of going out the window. It is however, largely responsible for the success of Capitalism. Someone has said that Capitalism is bad, except that everything else is worse. If history teaches us anything, it seems to be true that those countries, where the government is expected to provide everything for everyone, inevitably go bankrupt. So how shall we then live? Paul sums it up this way “The love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died; and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14, 15). This seems to me to be the very opposite of entitlement.

Father, forgive us Lord for any part we have played in teaching others to feel entitled, and for our own wrong attitudes. Please give us Your wisdom Lord, and the Grace we need to live for You, and not for ourselves. We want be Your Ambassador disciples Lord, and to display Your Character to this wicked and hurting World, so that many may see and fear and be saved, in Your precious Name we pray Amen

Unto us a child is born, a son is given

This morning we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the messiah, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, the one who burst into space and time as a little helpless baby. We spend a long time preparing for Christmas, the Lord spent much longer. Isaiah, who lived eight centuries before Christ, was not the first to prophecy of His coming, but is perhaps the most startling, and if I dare say it, the most Evangelical, Christian and Trinitarian in the theology of His prophetic words. Through him we hear prophecies of the virgin birth (7:14); of the gospel, including the universal sinfulness of mankind (53:6a, b), of Christ's substitutionary death (53:6c, 8c, 10c, 12e); His subsequent resurrection (11a, which follows 8c); the doctrine of justification (11b); and that He ever lives to make intercession for us (12f; Hebrews 7:25). And in case anyone is left in doubt that this prophecy is about Jesus, we read “Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture, preached Jesus to him” (Isaiah 53; Acts 8:26-33; 34, 35).

Isaiah 53 points us to the finished work of the perfect son of man (Isaiah 53:9c.d; 11b). The verse indicated in the title is given  in the very midst of the monotheistic Scriptures of Judaism. It is perhaps the clearest Old Testament expression of the doctrine of the Trinity, of Christ's deity, and with 20/20 hindsight, of the second coming. The verse reads “For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). The verse is universally acknowledged to be messianic, and we note concerning Messiah's deity, that one of His Names is “Mighty God.” As to the mystery of the Trinity, one of the Names of the Son given is the “Everlasting Father,” another “Wonderful Counsellor,” a reference to Holy Spirit (see 11:2).

The Scriptures speak of all this and more, as mystery, and that to believers “it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God” (Mark 4:11). However, since Satan has blinded the eyes of those who do not believe, these mysteries are hidden from the eyes of unbelievers (verse 11; 1 Corinthians 2:7; 2 Corinthians 4:3, 4). And in their blindness, and their world without true hope they, knowingly or unknowingly, fight against the Lord and His anointed. The opposition can be fierce as with Herod's determination to eliminate the Christ child (Matthew 2:16). And thinking on these things this morning, I am reminded that we are in a war to the death with the enemy of our souls. So how shall we then live (2 Peter 3:11)?

Father, we intercede this morning for ourselves, in the battle for our loved ones who do not yet know You, and for all those for whom Christmas is such a difficult time. Thank You Father for the infinite care You took to prepare the World for the coming of Jesus, and that through Your Word, we can be sure of the things of which we have believed. Help us by Your Grace to us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with perseverance the race you have set before us looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith (Hebrews 11:1 NET; 12:1,2). Bring each one to hope, peace, love and joy Lord, even in the midst of the battle in Jesus Name Amen