Isaiah 9:6 - Homiletics

The significancy of the names of Christ.

Five names of the Redeemer are here declared by Isaiah, in addition to the name given him in Isaiah 7-8; viz. Immanuel. Names of Christ are always worthy of the deepest and most attentive consideration, for each reveals some portion of his nature, each exhibits some aspect of him, so to speak, which is distinct from other aspects; and it is only by meditating upon all, that we approximate to a full and complete conception of his manifold excellences. Very specially worthy of consideration are the five names here put forth, which may be viewed either separately or in their connection. And first separately—

I. THE NAME OF " WONDERFUL ."

1. Wonderful is the Son in his eternal relation to the Almighty Father, an unchanging relation of mutual love and tenderness, differenced by the fact of derivation, and the sense on the one hand of bestowal, and on the other of acceptance and dependence. Wonderful, wholly transcending our utmost reach of thought, is that eternity of pre-existence which he enjoyed with the Father and the Holy Spirit, not only before the world was, but before it had pleased the Divine Nature to bring into existence any other being besides itself.

2. Wonderful, again, is he in that repeated act of creation, so clearly assigned to him ( John 1:31 ; Hebrews 1:2 ), whereby he brought out of nothing ( Hebrews 11:3 ) the entire existing universe—angels and archangels, principalities and powers, cherubim and seraphim; matter arranged and unarranged; sun, moon, stars, planets, satellites, nebulae; man, animals;—all of them "the work of his hands," created by him out of non-existence.

3. Even more wonderful is he in his dealings with the children of men—in his patience with them, his regard for them, his mediatorial office towards them, his inward revelation of himself to them, his constant presence with them, his sacramental communication of himself to them, all unworthy as they are.

4. Wonderful is he in his life on earth, which even unbelievers cannot but admire; wonderful in his triumph over death and the grave; wonderful in his ascension into heaven in the sight of men; wonderful in his appearances to St. Paul and St. Stephen; wonderful in the might wherewith he still sustains his Church, so that even the very "gates of hell" cannot prevail against it.

II. THE NAME OF " COUNSELLOR " As the "Loges," or "Reason," no less than the "Word" of God, the Son was identified by the ancient Fathers with the "Wisdom" of the Book of Proverbs, of whom it is said, "I Wisdom dwell with prudence, and find out knowledge …. Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom; I am understanding …. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was when he appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by him, as one brought up with him; and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him" ( Proverbs 8:12-30 ). He was thus, in some sort, the Counselor of the Triune Synod which presided over the world and directed all its affairs. But, further, he was the Counselor of man. The Loges was "the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" ( John 1:9 ). Our natural reason and conscience come from him, for he has implanted them in us, to counsel us aright. All revealed light is also from him, for he is the Word and the Truth. He counsels us from within, by the inward monitor who tells us what is right; he counsels us from without, by his apostles, his evangelists, his Church, his living ministers. Do we lack wisdom generally? let us ask of him, and he will pour light into our souls. Do we need counsel on any special matter? Let us take it to him, and he will show us the wisest and best course.

III. THE NAME OF " MIGHTY GOD ." The Son of God is himself God, and if God, then certainly "mighty"—nay, "almighty." What the Messiah was to do, could be done by none less than God. He was to redeem mankind; he was to vanquish death and sin; he was to triumph over Satan; he was to be a meritorious Sacrifice. "God with us" had already been declared to be one of his names ( Isaiah 7:14 ). Now he is announced as "God the Mighty One." It is to the last degree uncritical to compare this assignment of so august a name, coming from the mouth of an intense theist, with the ascription of Divine titles to the Egyptian kings by themselves, or by their subjects, when both king and subjects were polytheists. Isaiah could not have intended to call a mere man "God;" he must have recognized, as David had done ( Psalms 45:6 ), that the Messiah would be more than man, would in some way or other be a partaker of the Divine nature. Jeremiah did the same when he announced the Messiah as "Jehovah our Righteousness." The prophets may not have been aware of the doctrine of the Trinity, but they could conceive an incarnation of God. The name of "Mighty God" in Isaiah's list must be accepted as a distinct announcement of the true Divinity of the Messiah, just as the words "child" and "son," which had been previously applied to him (verse 6), were announcements of his true humanity.

IV. THE NAME OF " EVERLASTING FATHER ." When the Messiah is called a "Father," we must understand the word as meaning primarily "Protector." So Job was a "father to the poor" ( Job 29:16 ), and Eliakim a "father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem" ( Isaiah 22:11 ). The idea of protection, however, implied in "Father" does not exhaust the connotation of the word. It contains also the notions of "Creator" and "Preserver, "of one whom we are bound to love, honor, and obey. "Have we not all one father?" says Malachi. "Hath not one God created us?" "If I be a Father," says Jehovah by his mouth, "where is my honor? " The Messiah was to be "Father" in all these senses. As the Second Person in the Holy Trinity, he created man; as "God with us," he preserves him; as the typical Man, the Head of the redeemed human race, he will ever keep and protect him. The prophet calls him "Everlasting Father," first, to show that he is no mere human protector, like Job or Eliakim; but also, further, to indicate by an additional phrase his Divinity, since God alone is "everlasting," or "eternal." His people are assured by the epithet that he will never cease to be their Protector, will never desert them, or weary of interposing for them. No; "he ever liveth to make intercession for us" ( Hebrews 7:25 ). He is "Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last" ( Revelation 1:8 ). He "will not fail us, nor forsake us" ( Deuteronomy 31:6 ).

V. THE NAME OF " PRINCE OF PEACE ." So long as there is evil, there must be war between good and evil. The Messiah is "Prince of Peace," "especially, because he comes to convert the world;" to "turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God;" to destroy sin, and "bring in everlasting righteousness" ( Daniel 9:24 ). When there is universal righteousness, there will be universal peace. Certainly, the time is not yet come. The Prince of a peaceful kingdom, whose servants may not seek to advance his kingdom by violence, has not annihilated evil, has not swept all the wicked from the world. And so the fight goes on; evil men still stir up wars and tumults, and good men are forced to resist them. But the "Prince of Peace" shows his power and justifies his name,

Taken in connection, the five names would seem to teach