Isaiah 9:6 KJV
“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.”
What a powerful prophetic text, and it speaks of things that have already happened and are yet to happen; this is a prophecy by Isaiah that was given to the Israeli people, speaking of the Messiah. The one who was to come that would overthrow oppression and would rule with righteousness and justice. The problem was that just like humans tend to do, when this blessing arrived, it didn’t appear as they expected it to, so many of them completely overlooked it, and some of them rejected it outright.
However, the same could be said of humanity today. Isaiah’s prophecy was explicitly given to Israel but generally to the whole world. Because this child that was born is the King of Kings, he is wonderful, he is the counselor, he is the Mighty God, and the Everlasting Father, most notably the Prince of Peace.
What was unexpected, though, is he didn’t come through the palace of a king, he didn’t come from human greatness, he went from the father, through the womb of his mother Mary, a virgin, And was born in a manger at a stable. He came from a low place, a humble place. He also, at some point, will rule physically overall a newly created heaven and earth, and HIs rule will never end, but when he came, and for now, his kingdom is in the heart of men. He desires to reveal himself to men, and if they believe, he will rule and reign in their hearts.
I wonder how often God has sent us an answer or given us a blessing, and we didn’t receive it because we didn’t like or understand its packaging. It didn’t fit our narrative or go along with our opinion, so we dismissed or rejected it out of hand.
It is unreal how we, as humans, put God in a box. We act as if he has to operate within the confines of our understanding or intellect. God is knowable, but let’s be honest; we are human. He is a deity, and there is a lot about him that is incomprehensible.
I have been a follower of Christ for over 30 years, and I still seek him to know Him. I pray as Paul did for the church, that I may have the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that I may know him more. I am always learning new things about God. I continually deepen my relationship with him due to his revelation of himself to me. He is multi-faceted, and the depth and breadth of who he is go well beyond our ability to know him, as it should be because he is infinite, and we are finite.
Our arrogance views God as someone we should fully understand, and often we act as if we can’t explain it; it doesn’t exist, and this assumes we are far more intelligent than we are. I find the issue encapsulated in a psalm.
Psalms 115:1 NIV
“Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.”
There is a desire in humans, because of our sinfulness and pride, to be the center of everything. We often feel like the world revolves around us, and this keeps us from being able to see the truth, and that is, we are sinful, and we need a savior. We fail to see that God is a being who is so immense that he has no reason to even care for us. We don’t deserve attention, let alone his grace and mercy, yet in his love for us, he has made way for us mere human beings to be in a relationship with him.
I encourage all of us this Christmas season to remember the gift of God. Remember who Christ is and what he has done personally for you and me, and thank God that in his greatness, he still loves us even in our smallness, and we are valuable to him.
So instead of arguing, resisting, or defying him, he will let us say like the psalmist said, “Not to us, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.”
