On the Road to Bethlehem #14: Mighty God

“For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

 and the government shall be upon His shoulder, 

and His name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

—Isaiah 9:6

There are many things in life that are mysterious to me—how a caterpillar turns into a butterfly, how a rainbow is formed, what makes snowflakes different, where dreams come from, how a child’s hug makes me feel loved, how the rain on a spring day makes me feel alive, and how my wife makes me feel whenever she walks into a room. I don’t pretend to know the mysteries of the universe, nor do I pretend to have all of the answers to each and every situation of life. One thing I do know is that God is real, intensely real. And I know that He is beyond my ability to understand Him completely. He is surprisingly elusive and beyond any and all definitions. And as soon as I think that I understand Him, that I have somehow managed to capture and corral this great big, infinite, mighty God, I discover that I have only been able to capture my idea of Him and not the real God. He is beyond capture. Like a boy trying to capture the wind in a jar, or the ocean in a glass, my pursuit is woefully deficient. God, as God, is beyond my ability to fathom (see Isaiah 55:8).

One of the greatest mysteries in the universe is found in the incarnation—God becoming man. Most religions teach that man can become a god, but in Christianity, God became man. The infinite partnered with the finite, and the unknowable and unlimited made Himself limited and knowable. God didn’t have to make Himself known; He chose to. He didn’t have to create us, didn’t have to love us, and didn’t have to give Himself to save us, but He did. He decided to send His Messiah—His anointed one to save us.

Hints of the Messiah, and specifically His being incarnate, are sprinkled throughout the Old Testament. One specific instance is found in Isaiah 9:6: “and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God.” The child—this son who would rule, would be a counselor par excellence, endowed with heavenly wisdom, and would be GOD! Such a mystery is unfathomable to the human finite mind—how could God in any way limit Himself? How could the eternal partner with the temporal? How could the one who knew everything be limited to brain functions of a human body? How could the one who is complete in and of Himself become human and grow in “wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man”—Luke 2:52? I don’t know, it’s one of the mysteries known only within the mind of the Triune God. In the mystery of the ages, God prophesied of a child given to the world who would rule in complete righteousness and justice, possessing a wisdom far beyond this world, but would also be God! He is the God who came near, the Creator who came to live among His creation! May we marvel at this majestic, loving God! Jesus was the God who came near. The eternal son of God is the one of whom Paul wrote,

“who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”—Philippians 2:6-8. 

 It was this same Jesus who has been “highly exalted” and “bestowed” with the

“name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”—Philippians 2:9-11.

Jesus is the “Mighty God” mentioned in Isaiah 9:6. He is the God who came near by humbling Himself, assuming flesh and dying on the cross. He is the one who gave Himself for our redemption so that we might be saved from our sins and live eternally with God in everlasting joy. May we celebrate and fall in adoration at Jesus, our Savior, Lord, and God! Amen.