DAY TEN | Isaiah 9:6-7

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, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of His government and peace

There will be no end,

Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,

To order it and establish it with judgment and justice

From that time forward, even forever.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

His name shall be called…

Isaiah 9 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. The prophet’s promise of the coming of God’s government to the earth was enough to stoke the fires of the hearts of Israel for Messiah to come. For centuries, they would wait for the Anointed One to arise and lead them.

But the government that Isaiah spoke of would not come through the military strength of a mighty general, or due to a political alliance that would wrestle power away from their oppressors. The government of God would be released through the birth of a Child. His kingdom would come on the shoulders of the Son who came to display the express image of God on the earth.

That is one of the most astounding things to me about the incarnation of Jesus, the One who was there at the beginning, speaking the worlds into being, came to the created realm as an infant. The humility that Christ modeled in His coming is truly astonishing and sets an example for us of what it means to live a yielded life. He came unto us.

I find those words interesting. For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given… He left heaven and came to us. Purposefully, stepping away from the majesty of glory to become flesh for us, and be born of a virgin in Bethlehem. The angels that would announce the birth of Jesus to the shepherds in the field would declare that what Isaiah had prophesied had been fulfilled.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

The birth of the Christ-child Savior was not only heralded by the angels, but a star appeared to proclaim His birth that would fulfill hundreds of prophesies. Shepherds rejoiced. Wisemen traveled. A king panicked. Babies died. Families wept.

The birth of Jesus, the little babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and placed in a manger, had impacted the world around Him. There was simply no one else like Him. In fact, the way we record time in human history was split by His arrival.

Yet, with an entrance so out of the ordinary, we hear very little of the Promised One for the next thirty years. With only a brief glimpse at the twelve year old Messiah who made the teachers marvel in the temple, we know very little except that He was a carpenter from Galilee. Carpenter, how very ordinary.

His name shall be called… Carpenter?

His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

I wonder what Mary must have thought all of those years. Did the shepherds that had heard the announcement from the angels and then told everyone else about what they had seen ever question the validity of what had happened that night thirty years ago? When would the Savior of the world do something and realize His potential?

Living with great potential can create an extraordinary pressure to perform. When you add on the weight of prophetic words, or the expectations of others, the weight of destiny has forced many to perform in order to live up to what they should be. But somehow, Jesus was able to live without buckling to the demands of His destiny.

He was a Son, who lived life about His Father’s business. Whether it was as an adolescent in the temple, or as a carpenter working along side Joseph in Nazareth, Jesus lived His life as a Son, doing what He saw the Father doing. This is the example that He set for us, and the invitation He left for us.

We can follow Jesus into living this life in communion with our heavenly Father. We can follow Jesus into living out of our identity as sons and daughters of God. It is more than a Theological concept, it is a lifestyle made accessible by the body and blood of Jesus, and empowered by the Holy Spirit of Adoption that Jesus left with us, so we wouldn’t live as orphans.

He was the Messiah and we are not, but He came unto us in order to bring us into a real relationship with the Father. This relationship was not only intended to give us eternal life when we die, but to bring us that life now as we know Him and as we know the Father. This is the beauty of the gospel of the One that was came as a child. The Son, on whose shoulders the ever increasing government of God rests, came to empower us to live the impossible lifestyle of sonship.

His authority flowed from His identity as a son, and throughout His life, flowed through different expressions – Son, Savior, brother, Father and friend. Oh yeah, and carpenter. Don’t forget that the Messiah spent the majority of His life walking in the seemingly ordinary, doing what He saw the Father doing.

The increase of His government is without end. I pray that as you focus your eyes on our Humble King, that you would welcome the increase of His government in your hearts, and walk in the freedom that comes from following Him deeper into identity. This freedom is dangerous because it empowers to find and follow Christ in the midst of the ordinary, releasing the good news of His love and power to those around us.

JOURNALING QUESTIONS // LINK TO PLAYLIST

Examine – How would you describe what this passage reveals about the life of Jesus?

MindShift – Is there anything about what you read in this passage that challenges the way you think about what it means to follow Jesus?

Prayer Focus – Is there any prayer that you can pray to co-operate with Holy Spirit to see your mind renewed to become more like Jesus?