The Gospel According to Isaiah
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO
ISAIAH
Mighty God
ISAIAH 9:6
I find it very interesting that Isaiah was an Old Testament prophet who gave this Christ to be born several nicknames all throughout his writings. Isaiah prophesied and predicted Jesus most notably in 11 chapters in the book that bears his name. I believe these Names of Jesus are impactful and meaningful for our lives. It is going to be an Isaiah 9:6 Christmas!
Isaiah 9:6 New King James Version
6 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.
Last week we looked at “Wonderful Counselor” and we will get to the other names in coming weeks as we approach Christmas, but today we focus on “Mighty God.”
MIGHTY
The adjective that describes the word God in Isaiah 9:6 is a specific word that has great meaning for us. The Hebrew word that we translate as “mighty” (Gibbor) in Isaiah 9:6 means “a strong vigorous champion hero.”
“Mighty God” = El Gibbor (Hebrew):
• El = God
• Gibbor = strong, powerful, mighty, champion, hero, warrior
This is no small word. The word is big. The word is large. The word calls to our minds epic battles and fame and extraordinary deeds done for the protection of others. This is not the only place in the Bible where the word “mighty” is used and is a significant descriptive word to God.
We find in Deuteronomy 10 that God is mighty for many reasons. God set His heart to love the people of Israel and He keeps that love for them for all time. Deuteronomy 10 says that He is the Greatest and most Supreme Being. Great. Mighty. Awesome. Incorruptible. Just.
Deuteronomy 10:15-17 NKJV
15 The Lord delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day. 16 Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.
We find in Psalm 24 a bit of a rousing fight song. As I read the words I imagine pounding drums and people shouting at the top of their lungs about our Mighty God. Psalm 24 is a song written by David and focuses on our Mighty Creator God Who is holy and strong and Who blesses the generations and is found by those who seek Him.
Psalm 24:7-10 NLT
Open up, ancient gates!
Open up, ancient doors,
and let the King of glory enter.
8 Who is the King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty;
the Lord, invincible in battle.
9 Open up, ancient gates!
Open up, ancient doors,
and let the King of glory enter.
10 Who is the King of glory?
The Lord of Heaven’s Armies—
he is the King of glory. Interlude
Then we have Isaiah 42.
Isaiah 42:10-13 NLT
10 Sing a new song to the Lord!
Sing his praises from the ends of the earth!
Sing, all you who sail the seas,
all you who live in distant coastlands.
11 Join in the chorus, you desert towns;
let the villages of Kedar rejoice!
Let the people of Sela sing for joy;
shout praises from the mountaintops!
12 Let the whole world glorify the Lord;
let it sing his praise.
13 The Lord will march forth like a mighty hero;
he will come out like a warrior, full of fury.
He will shout his battle cry
and crush all his enemies.
In Isaiah 42, make no mistake that we have our God as a Warrior Who is victorious no matter where He goes. In the Old Testament days, it was thought that gods were powerful in certain areas. The gods of the mountains had power in the mountains. The gods of the desert had power over the sands. The god of love was powerful in matters of the heart. Isaiah 42 shares with us that our God is victorious in all places with all people and in all situations. Mighty. Zealous. Loud. Victorious. Everywhere.
The Mighty God who is a Warrior is not just found in Isaiah, but also in the Book of Jeremiah. The prophet Jeremiah believed with his whole heart that with God on your side, anyone who comes against you unfairly will meet with shame… and not just shame in this life, but shame in the life after this one!
Jeremiah 20:11-12 (ESV)
11 But the Lord stands beside me like a great warrior.
Before him my persecutors will stumble.
They cannot defeat me.
They will fail and be thoroughly humiliated.
Their dishonor will never be forgotten.
12 O Lord of Heaven’s Armies,
you test those who are righteous,
and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets.
Let me see your vengeance against them,
for I have committed my cause to you.
I think we sometimes think that God is only mercy and love and grace and kind and patient and forgiving. He is most definitely all of those things. We are thankful for all of those things. But our God is also The Dread Warrior. He is power and wrath and vengeance and zealous and holy and righteousness incarnate! He is not just God, but King of Kings and Lord of Lords and God of all beings everywhere. He is the Uncreated One who sees all and when you are on His side… there is no help for those who are in His way.
We also have Zephaniah 3 where in the midst of our weakness we are shown that we have the presence of the Mighty God among us who is mighty to save and mightily rejoices over us and is so powerful and strong and firm that His love can quiet us.
Zephaniah 3:16-17 (ESV)
16 On that day the announcement to Jerusalem will be,
“Cheer up, Zion! Don’t be afraid!
17 For the Lordyour God is living among you.
He is a mighty savior.
He will take delight in you with gladness.
With his love, he will calm all your fears.
He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”
SUMMARY
I do not know what picture is in your mind when you think of God. It could be that you have no picture at all because you aren’t sure about Him. Perhaps you think of Him as a Kindly Quiet Old Pushover in Heaven Who sits on fluffy clouds. Some of us may feel like He is a Divine Thumb that enjoys pushing us down and tripping us up for laughs. God might be to you a Loving Heavenly Father.
In all of the ways that you think about the God of Heaven, make sure that you do not miss the MIGHTY nature of the God we worship. Our God is a strong vigorous champion hero that never fails. He is no pushover, and His will is always done. He is no slouch, and He keeps all of His promises. Potent. Omnipotent. Indomitable. Stalwart. Strong. Great. Supreme. Awesome. Incorruptible. Just. Zealous. Loud. Victorious.
TRANSITION
Do you want to know something else?
Are you ready? This is important and worth the price of admission.
His Son is just like Him.
We should not forget that Isaiah 9:6 is not about God the Father! Isaiah 9:6 is a predictive prophecy about the Son of God Who would come and perfectly obey God and do the will of His Father. Everything that God the Father has the Son also has. Everything that God the Father is the Son also is. Everything that God the Father wills the Son also wills. Jesus Christ is God. That is why 700 years before the birth of Jesus the Prophet Isaiah could say about this Man that He is Almighty God.
HOW IS JESUS MIGHTY GOD?
Isaiah 9:6 focuses our attention that Jesus Christ is Mighty God.
#1 He Redeemed Mankind from Sin.
Sin is a pressing huge issue. The sinful nature messes up every single one of our lives and not only do we inherit the sinfulness of this world, but each of us participates in the mess.
QUOTE:
“In the mist significant rebellious act ever committed, man and woman stepped outside of God’s ordained plan. In a second, it all came crashing down. All of the amazing beauty of that world was deeply and permanently scarred. In an instant, fear, guilt, and shame became standard human experiences.”
Paul David Tripp in his book Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands says it this way:
ROMANS 5:8 (ESV)
But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
The Mighty God Jesus redeemed men and women from sin with His death. It is no small feat to take on every single sin that has ever been committed and every single sin that ever will be committed and receive the wrath of God for all of it. Jesus our Strong Vigorous Champion Hero stayed on the cross for us and submitted Himself to death that we might be redeemed.
Galatians 3:13 New King James Version
13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”),
#2 He Vanquished Death.
I am pretty sure that Satan thought that He had God backed into a corner when His Precious Son was wrongfully convicted and nailed to the cross to die. I am pretty sure that Satan thought that God had miscalculated when the Way of Salvation was killed by the Jews and Romans on the cross. I am pretty sure Satan peed his pants on Sunday morning when Jesus rose from the grave! Up from the grave He arose… with a mighty triumph over His foes. He brought victory to death. Jesus was the death of death.
1 CORINTHIANS 15:54-55 (ESV)
54 Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
Jesus our Strong Vigorous Champion Hero stayed in the tomb dead, but was not conquered by death. He arose and in rising He paved the way for us to have life with God forever when this life ends. Death is not unknown for the Christian. Death itself is not to be feared. Jesus our Mighty God vanquished death with an intake of breath on Easter Morning!
#3 He Triumphed Over Satan.
You may not realize it, but our world and our lives are marked by sin. Our world and lives are marked by the efforts of the Devil to draw people away from God on a regular basis. Satan is a liar. Satan is destruction. Satan wants us to put ourselves on the throne of our own lives and live how we want. Satan has plans. Satan has plans that will trap us and keep us from God on a permanent basis.
Jesus our Strong Vigorous Champion Hero triumphed over Satan every single time he stuck his head out to try and derail what God was doing. Satan tried to manipulate a king to kill Jesus at His birth and failed. Satan tempted Jesus like he does us and failed. Right after Jesus had a spiritual mountain top experience at His baptism and hearing the voice of God… Satan shows up himself to try and tempt Jesus to misuse His Godhood for His own gain. Jesus refused. Satan manipulated Jesus’ closest friends into discouraging Him from the cross. Jesus kept on track. Satan duped the disciples into faithless actions. Jesus remained faithful and obedient. Jesus triumphed over Satan every single time.
COLOSSIANS 2:14-15 NLT
14 He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. 15 In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.
Jesus the Mighty God, our Strong Vigorous Champion Hero, took Satan and all his plans to the woodshed and introduced him to the strong arm of God and paddled him into oblivion!
Satan threw His best shots at Jesus, but could never win:
He threw disease at Jesus…”by my strips you are healed”
He threw temptation…”not my will but my fathers will be done”
He threw fame…”you will worship God alone…”
He threw demon possessed…he said, “get out.”
He threw the depressed and hopeless and the addicted…”you are whole”
He threw hatred…”father forgive them…”
He threw messed up religion…I will build my church
He threw political muscle…”the government is upon my shoulder…”
He threw false accusations Against his character…”You’ll see, on the 3rd day…”
He threw storms…”peace be still”
He even threw death…”Lazarus, come forth…”
We serve a mighty God! He beat them all…
Jesus is the over comer. That means whatever Satan may have Jesus has more!
Jesus is victorious. Jesus is strongest. Jesus is the Triumphant One for the souls of men and women.
#4 He is the Selfless Holy Sacrifice.
PHILIPPIANS 2:5-9 NLT
5 You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
6 Though he was God,
he did not think of equality with God
as something to cling to.
7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges;
he took the humble position of a slave
and was born as a human being.
When he appeared in human form,
8 he humbled himself in obedience to God
and died a criminal’s death on a cross.
9 Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor
and gave him the name above all other names,
Jesus came to die. The whole purpose Jesus lived for was to bring salvation to us and He did that by being obedient to the plan of God which meant dying on the cross. It was selfless. It was holy. It was a sacrifice. I do not think any of us can ever know the amount of strength and fortitude and self-discipline it took for Jesus to stay on the cross and to suffer all the while people hurled insults at Him verbally jabbing Him to come down from the cross.
Jesus the Mighty God, our Strong Vigorous Champion Hero humbled Himself to the point of death and died not for Himself, but died for us. There is mighty in selflessness. There is might in holiness. There is might in a worthy sacrifice.
SUMMARY
The key words that we are talking about with Jesus Christ today are redeemed, vanquished, triumphed, and sacrifice.
Those words describe Jesus the Son of God Who is Mighty God. The prophet Isaiah looked forward in the power of the Holy Spirit and saw the promises that would come true in Jesus. He worshipped. He marveled. He was astonished that this was the plan of God to save people from sin. Sin is a ravaging enemy. It takes a Mighty God Who is a Strong Vigorous Champion Hero to rid our souls of sin and place us back into a right relationship with God.
What is our response? What is our response?
We ought to humbly bow and praise! Praise! Praise! Praise!
Praise Him for His redemption of us when we don’t even come close to deserving it.
Praise Him that at the end of our lives death has no hold on us and has no sting.
Praise Him because our enemy Satan has already lost the war and is on borrowed time.
Praise Him because He obeyed and sacrificed Himself for us.
Praising Him for Taking the most difficult thing and doing something amazing with it
Reversing the irreversible
Fixing the unfixable
Doing the undoable
Beating the unbeatable
Saving the unsavable
Changing the unchangeable
What is our response? What is our response? We ought to humbly bow and praise praise praise praise.
CONCLUSION IN PRAYER