We are leading up to Christmas right now, so after finishing our last series, I felt we should talk about the incarnation of Jesus Christ. We are going to spend the next five days on this and look at various aspects of the incarnation. More specifically we will look at five important components of the incarnation.
The first one is the fact that the incarnation, God becoming man when Jesus Christ took on flesh, was prophesied in the Old Testament. This was no afterthought on the part of God. God did not come up with a plan because He had to or because things didn’t go well with His original plan, so He needed a plan B. We had known throughout all the revelation of Scripture that the Son of God was coming. More revelation was given as time went on and of course the fulfillment of that revelation is found in the New Testament.
Isaiah 9 really gives us great details about the prophecy of the coming of Jesus Christ, the incarnation. Isaiah 9:2 says, “The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land; The light will shine on them.” Isaiah starts this particular section of Scripture by pointing out that people in darkness need light. That is what everyone needs. They need light if they are in darkness. So, a great light is coming right in the heart of darkness. That light will shine on them. He gives details beginning in Isaiah 2:6. This is a familiar passage to us, especially around the Christmas season. It says, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders.” We find Isaiah prophesying that the Lord is going to come to set up a kingdom. The big picture is that Christ is coming to ultimately set up a kingdom even beyond the cross, redemption and our salvation, though all that is part and parcel of the whole thing, and it should not be minimized in any sense. He will set up a kingdom in which those who have been redeemed because of what Jesus Christ has done will rule and reign with Him and be His servants forever and ever. The Scriptures talk about that kingdom here and tell us several things about that kingdom that will be established by this coming of Jesus Christ.
Continuing with Isaiah 2:6, it says, “And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” We would look first at the words, “Mighty God.” He is “Mighty God,” so what we find out here is that the coming of Jesus Christ, this Messiah that the Jews anticipated and prophecy about here is God. There is no question about that. The Old Testament understood that and prophesied that. He is also “the Prince of Peace,” so this kingdom that He is establishing as Mighty God is also established by He who is the Prince of Peace . . .
