Advent Day 15: Isaiah

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Luke 24:44

We have to constantly be breaking the mentality that the Old Testament is somehow separate from the New Testament. This is one story. What is crazy is that our time, 2023 (going on to 2024) is still in there also! When we read Scripture, we have to see that the Old Testament is pointing forward to someone who is coming. I hope if there was an underlying theme you’re catching so far that you see that the theme is someone who is coming to set things right. This would have been the mindset and hope of the Old Testament Israelites: this constant pointing forward to someone who is coming to make things right in a broken world, to rule properly over His people, and to crush His enemy under His feet.

When looking at the prophets, understanding where we are at in the context of Israelite history is very important (pre-exile, exile, etc.). However, for this part, we are just going to stick to what the text says in from of us and see how this is pointing us forward to One to come.

Isaiah’s Prophecy

Isaiah has many prophecies in his book, but here is one that points forward to the future King:

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given;
and the government shall be upon his shoulder,
    and his name shall be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
    there will be no end,
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.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Isaiah 9:6-7 ESV

What implications can we take from this?

1. Wonderful Counselor. We have someone there for us 24/7, 365 days per year. Non-stop. All of the time. What kind of friend do you have that can match that? We need someone constantly who is there in the trenches with us, talking to us, guiding us, comforting us, and pointing us back to Himself.
2. Mighty God. This One that is coming is God. One of the Beings of the Yahweh Trinity is coming (although three distinct Beings, they are One- see the article on the Trinity). So when we see these amazing Old Testament revelations of Yahweh (LORD in the Old Testament), we have to see that the same God is Jesus coming to us. In John’s Gospel, Jesus refers to Himself as ‘Ego Eimi’, meaning I AM. This is so incredibly important- Jesus is coming with the weight of the I AM of the Old Testament. He deserves the praise and honor of that. See the article where we discuss ‘Ego Eimi’ seen in the Gospel of John.
3. Everlasting Father. Not only is this ‘Mighty God’ that is coming is our counselor, but also our Everlasting Father. He is stable, and never changing. He existed before time began (John 1:1, amongst many others) and will always exist. This is the essence of what “I AM” entails- I exist, I am constant, and I never change. Has anyone felt unstable in the last couple of years? Does anyone have family issues, job issues, or security issues that seem so shaky and unstable? We have a constant, never-changing Father who is there for us.
4. Prince of Peace. He will make all things right. The chaos and insanity of this world will be brought into order and subjected to the King’s rule. Wrongs will be made right. There will be justice- true justice, not our shallow view of it. What is interesting is this King will rule forever and He is the Mighty God, yet also He is personable to us: He is our Father and our Counselor. This is amazing: as transcendent as this Person will be with ruling the Universe, He will also be so immanent and close to us.

When Jesus walks onto the scene, this is what is expected of the One that is to come. The issue was that the first-century Israelites would have had a preconceived notion that Jesus’ purpose was to overthrow Rome. What they failed to realize is that the real issue is not Rome, it’s sin and the ruler of darkness. Jesus will someday right all wrongs, but the mission for His earthly ministry was to establish His kingdom rule and to destroy the power of sin and Satan.

-Austin