Mensa Otabil - Unto Us a Son Is Given
- Watch
- Donate
We’re still looking at the prophecies about the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, and this is prophecy number six: Isaiah chapter 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 will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.» This is one of the most quoted prophecies concerning the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.
A couple of chapters earlier, Isaiah had prophesied that a virgin shall conceive and that the child will be called Emmanuel. Here, Isaiah the prophet speaks further about this coming Messiah, and there are a couple of things we want to draw our attention to. The first is the humanity of Jesus Christ as spoken about in this passage: a child is born unto us. A child is born. This refers to the human birth of Jesus Christ. The key word here is «born.» Jesus will be born; he wouldn’t just be manifested, nor would he just appear and show up; he had to be born. He would go through the natural birth process, so that’s the first thing: the humanity of Christ.
The second is the divinity of Christ: a son is given. They didn’t say a son is born; a son is given. So, if you look at it, he is going to be born as a human being, but he will also be a son because he’s given to us as the Son of God—not born, but given to us as the Son of God. The word «given» there means specially appointed or specially anointed. The giving of the Son is an act of God; the birth of the child is the mother’s work. So, God and man work together to bring about his purposes, and the Son that will be born will be both the Son of Man and the Son of God. That’s how Jesus is known to us.
Then the passage says a few things about the nature of Jesus: that he would be the source of our wisdom. He’ll be our Wonderful Counselor. He’s going to be the person whose counsel or whose wisdom is superior. I don’t know about you, but if I’m going for counseling, I would wish that Jesus would be my counselor. What if Jesus was your business counselor, your marriage counselor, your spiritual advisor? But he is! His Holy Spirit still counsels us and leads us. Jesus is going to be a Wonderful Counselor—may he counsel you, may he order your steps, may he direct you, may he show you what to do.
The other thing the passage says is that Jesus will be our source of power. He’ll be the Mighty God, and we saw it in the life of Jesus as he demonstrated the power of God in miracles and signs. He could stop the elements; he controlled so many forces of nature. The word «mighty» as used in this verse is associated with warfare. In other words, he’s going to be one who wins battles, and when Jesus Christ is yours, he’s not just your Wonderful Counselor; he’s your Mighty God. He takes you into battle and brings you out victoriously; he crushes the head of the enemy and causes you to triumph in everything. I pray that the victory of Christ will embrace you and that you will experience his supernatural power in every area of our lives. He’s the Son of Man, he’s the Son of God, he’s our Wonderful Counselor, and he’s our Mighty God—the Lord, mighty in battle. May he fight on your behalf.
Let’s pray together. Say with me: Heavenly Father, I receive wisdom and power from you today in Jesus' name. Amen and amen. I’ll be with you again tomorrow. I’m Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom, peace, and life to you.