Advent 2018: Mighty God

Isaiah 9:6-7 For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Last week we started our Advent journey in the passage from Isaiah, focusing on the prophecy in chapter 9, verse 6. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Our focus last week was the first Name ascribed to Jesus: Wonderful Counselor. Jesus is our wonderful counselor, transforming us by the renewing of our minds. 

A counselor is important to help us overcome, to help us live into the potential God created in us. But Jesus is not only the Wonderful Counselor. Jesus is also Mighty God. 

I find it interesting that in the Gospels, even the people closest to Jesus often had difficulty in really knowing who he was. When he asked his disciples, they replied that “some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah or one of the Prophets.” In Matthew 7:28-29, following the Sermon on the Mount, we read that the crowds were amazed by his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. It’s obvious to us 2000 years later why he taught like this — because he was not simply the son of a carpenter from Nazareth. It was because he was not simply a prophet like those who had come before him. Jesus was truly the Mighty God. 

This past week I was reading a devotion with my son Andrew and the passage included the following, from John 21:24-29:

Now Thomas (also known as Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.” Now, this is where we get the nickname “Doubting Thomas” for him. He had to see proof that Jesus was resurrected. 

A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Did you notice what Thomas said to Jesus? How he addressed him? He called him “My Lord and my God.” Now, I want to pause for a moment. Just because someone calls Jesus something doesn’t make it true. After all, Thomas was just showing skepticism about what the disciples had reported. But notice that Jesus did not rebuke him. When Jesus had been explaining to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life, Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!” Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”

See, Jesus was not shy in rebuking his disciples, even calling Peter out. But he does not correct Thomas. Why not? Because of all the disciples, Thomas has correctly identified Jesus’ true identity. Jesus, while fully human, was also fully God. Jesus is the Mighty God!

Here are a couple of scriptures about this Mighty God. In Isaiah 45:12, God says, “It is I who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts.”

How about the LORD’s discourse to Job, starting in Job 38. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand, who marked off its dimensions? … Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place? … 

As we see in Isaiah 44:8, the Lord says, “You are my witnesses. Is there any God besides me? No, there is no other Rock; I know not one.”

There is only one God. This is Jehovah Jireh: The Lord is Our Provider.

This is Jehovah Raphah: The Lord who Heals

This is Jehovah Nissi: The Lord is Our Banner

This is Yehovah Shalom: The Lord is our Peace.

This is Jehovah Ra’ah: The Lord is the Way, my Shepherd.

But when Jesus was born, we can see another aspect of our Mighty God’s character. Let me read to you another prophecy from Isaiah, this time from Isaiah 7:14. Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. The name Immanuel means “God With Us.” Jesus is not only Mighty God, but he is Mighty God With Us. Our God is not a distant, aloof, God set apart from his creation. Our God did not simply create the world and leave us to our own devices. Our God makes himself one of us. 

In Isaiah 40:10-11 we see God described this wayL“See, the Sovereign Lord comes with power, and his arm rules for him. See his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him. He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young.

And in John 10:11, Jesus says this: “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

So our Mighty God comes out of heaven and becomes a human, and goes so far as to lay down his life for his flock. God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

This is the meaning of Christmas!