The First Prophecy of the Savior Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

From this prophecy forward through time and history God’s promises get more specific as to who will be the “seed of women.”

When Jacob blessed his sons, part of his blessing was a prophecy about the lineage of Judah. Genesis 49:8–10 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh (Messiah) come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

This prophecy told us that the Messiah, the one who would rule with the sceptre would come from the tribe of Judah.

During the rule of David the King, there is a great reveal, to use a modern terminology, as to who that this coming one would be of the lineage and house of David. He would be the seed of woman and he would be a King of David’s bloodline.

2 Samuel 7:11-13 And as since the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel, and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies. Also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.  And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.

But it is Isaiah who God used to fully show us this extraordinary, amazing, incredible King of Israel’s future. First in Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. What an incredible revelation, The messiah would be born of a virgin and be named, “Emmanuel” God with us.

Of course we could go to Isaiah 53 which detail so much of how the Messiah would die, but I want to concentrate on his birth for the next two Sundays. There are over 300 messianic prophecies in the old Testament and most of them were fulfilled in Jesus’ birth, life and death. That is a supernatural confirmation of the authenticity, the veracity, the validity of the Word of God. No other writing has such proof of power.

The passage I want to deal with today is Isaiah 9:6. Among the scribes and scholars of Jesus’ day it was one of the most well know passages in the sacred writings of the coming Messiah.

It is especially in this passage that you hear the promise of God for a coming Messiah, a savior, a King. A promise of One who would come into this world, into the nation of Israel and into the lives of those who believe and trust Him. It describes not just his coming but also his character, his compassion. And in that description it speaks to us today. So let’s look at Isaiah 9:6 and the promise and the person that Israel looked for.

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called wonderful Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Setting the Stage

In a time of moral, spiritual and political sin, Isaiah wrote the passage we are studying today. Isaiah 8:21-22 sets the stage showing the darkness of sin and then Isaiah 9 shows us the light of hope.

Isaiah 8:21-22 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead (greatly distressed) and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.  

In chapter 9, God speaking through Isaiah gives His people hope in the midst of the darkness.

Isaiah 9:2 The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

Verse 6 gives us the reason for this hope of the light that has shined in the midst of their darkness.

Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called wonderful Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

Isaiah is telling the people of Galilee, the land of Zebulun and Naphtali, who were being invaded by the Assyrian army at this time, that one day out of the very land that is now so dark in despair, would come the promised child of light. About 750 years before Jesus was born, Isaiah in God’s power told us that the Messiah would be a Galilean.

I have a translation of the Bible written with emphasis on the Hebrew and especially the names of the Old Testament, in the Jerusalem Publication Society Translation this verse reads like this, Isaiah 9:6 JPS - “For a child is born unto us, a son is given unto us; and the government is upon his shoulder; and his name is called Pele-joez-el-gibbor-Abi-ad-sar-shalom;

That is, Wonderful in counsel is God the Mighty, the everlasting Father, the Ruler of peace. It is one powerful, descriptive title, filled with hope for those in terrible darkness.