Amen.
So I understand you guys have been camping out
in Matthew's gospel, and in Matthew four, verse 12,
as you probably heard last week, we hear the following.
Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested,
he withdrew into Galilee, and leaving Nazareth,
he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea,
in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali.
Why did Jesus end up living in Capernaum by the sea?
Why do we find him in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali?
Well, Matthew tells us, and this is where our chapter
from Isaiah comes into the fore.
He tells us in Matthew four, verse 14,
so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah
might be fulfilled.
The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali,
the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles, the people dwelling in darkness
have seen a great light.
And for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death
on them, a light has dawned.
Why is Jesus in Galilee?
Because there's darkness there, thick, black darkness.
When does the light come into this world?
He comes into this world where things are at their blackest.
What was this darkness?
It was a blindness and ignorance of the peoples.
It was a despondency, it was a wickedness.
It was a culture that would take a man who had done no wrong
and crucify him horrendously.
We have heard this story told,
perhaps numerous times in our lives.
What does this story speak to the darkness
of the people who lived back then?
That public crucifixions were the norm.
Slavery was the norm.
There was no human rights.
This was a wicked and corrupt and brutal and bloody people.
That the very leaders of the so-called church back then,
the very leaders, the high priests themselves
would take Jesus, they would abduct him at night,
they would take a lynch mob of soldiers,
conduct a kangaroo trial, have him strip naked,
flogged, mocked, and hung up on a cross to die.
This was a time of great darkness.
And this is when the light comes
and the light goes to this darkness.
And this light will change the darkness.
This is the Christ who comes into this world
as the savior of this world.
He is the one spoken of by Isaiah in Isaiah nine.
So that when we find him in Matthew four,
we need to know what's going on.
Who is this person who's preaching this gospel?
Telling everyone everywhere,
repent the kingdom of God is here.
You see, he is the great light that wipes out the darkness.
He is the life that swallows up the shadow of death.
To those who live in darkness, light has come.
The king of the kingdom has arrived.
And there's a lot to unpack in Isaiah nine,
in these seven verses.
We're gonna just look at one of those this morning.
We're gonna look at verse six.
And we're just gonna think a little bit about verse six
and what it tells us about this great light.
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.
Let's look at each one of these in turn.
What does it mean for him to be called Wonderful Counselor?
What kind of a king has a counselor, a wise king?
In fact, all the great kings of history
have had great counselors.
Those kings who do not have great counselors do not succeed.
We look at a great king like King David.
And what are we told?
He had a counselor called Ahithophel.
2 Samuel 16 verse 23.
Now in those days the counsel of Ahithophel,
the counsel that Ahithophel gave
was as if one consulted the word of God.
So was all the counsel of Ahithophel esteemed,
both by David and by Absalom.
Why?
Because as Proverbs tells us, Proverbs 11,
where there is no guidance, the people falls.
But in an abundance of counselors, there is safety.
Again in Proverbs 15 verse 22,
without counsel plans fail,
but with many advisors they succeed.
We live in a time where we've got lots of kings,
princes, presidents who don't have good counselors.
And so we find ourselves in a world
that by and large is losing the plot.
Some of the things just 10 years ago
that would be considered absolutely mad
are being promulgated through legislation
in countries around our world today.
In the first world.
We live in a time where kings do not have great counselors.
A counselor is needed, a man of wisdom and intelligence.
And here's the amazing thing about Jesus Christ.
He is not a king who needs a counselor.
Of all the kings that need counselors, he doesn't need one.
Why?
Because he is a wonderful counselor himself.
And to see the fulfillment of Isaiah nine
in the New Testament, we only have to look in a few places
to discover the wisdom, the incredible wisdom
of Jesus Christ.
So here are just a few.
Matthew seven verse 28.
When Jesus finished saying these things,
the crowd were astonished at his teaching.
They were astonished.
For he was teaching them as one who had authority
and not as their scribes.
Again in Matthew 22 verse 33.
And when the crowd heard it,
they were astonished at his teaching.
There's a funny incident that takes place in John's gospel.
John seven verse 32.
The Pharisees heard the crowd
muttering these things about him.
And the chief priests and the Pharisees
sent officers to arrest Jesus.
As I said before, these men were wicked.
They were jealous, envious of the success
of Jesus' ministry.
Everyone was going out to hear this man preach and teach.
And so they sent their officers to go and arrest Jesus.
Well, how did that go?
Verse 44 of John seven.
Some of them wanted to arrest him,
but no one laid hands on him.
The officers then came to the chief priests and Pharisees
who said to them, why did you not bring him?
The officers answered, no one ever spoke like this man.
Isn't that amazing?
When they heard the words that were coming out of his mouth,
they were so gobsmacked, they didn't even touch him.
They left empty handed.
This man is a wonderful counselor.
We have never ever heard someone as wise and intelligent
as this man when he speaks.
How can we estimate the wisdom of Jesus?
We cannot.
But I thought I would provide you with perhaps
a small illustration.
I have before me here a commentary
on the first epistle to the Corinthian church.
It is 880 pages long, written by Gordon Fee.
I have not read this commentary.
I've read parts of it.
You know what he says in the introduction to this commentary,
this 880 page volume on one Corinthians?
He says in his introduction, if anyone,
and this is way back in 1953,
so it's a fairly, it's not a new commentary.
Back then, he says, if you want to write
a commentary on one Corinthians,
you need to read at least 2,000 books.
That's what it takes to be able to properly ascertain
what has been written on this book.
Now we say to ourselves, that's a commentary,
that's an 880 page commentary on one Corinthians.
What is one Corinthians?
One Corinthians is one book out of 27 books
in the New Testament.
Paul wrote it.
What's Paul doing in one Corinthians?
Do you know what he's doing?
Paul is trying to help us understand Jesus.
Paul is taking some of the things that Jesus said,
some of the things that Jesus did,
and he's trying to explain to us Jesus.
In other words, one Corinthians is a commentary on Jesus.
How many commentaries like this one have been written
on a commentary on Jesus?
That's one book of the Bible.
We have libraries filled with books
that have been inspired by what Jesus said and did,
and here's the astounding thing.
Did Jesus ever write a book?
No.
And yet his sayings and his life have,
of all the things in this world,
stimulated the most literature ever.
How do we know that this man was profound?
How do we know that he was wise?
How do we know that he was intelligent?
How do we know that he was the most wonderful counselor ever?
We have demonstrable empirical evidence
standing in libraries all over the world.
And you know what?
Guys haven't finished writing commentaries
in the New Testament.
Thousands of years from today,
if this universe is still sticking around,
we're gonna have bigger buildings needing to be built
to fit in all the books that are gonna be written.
This is how John's gospel ends.
Do you know how John's gospel ends?
Here's how John's gospel ends.
John 21 verse 25.
Now there are also many other things that Jesus did
that you and I are never gonna hear about in this life.
Where every one of them to be written says,
John, I suppose that the world itself
could not contain the books that would be written.
It should blow your mind.
Isaiah says, a wonderful counselor's coming.
Did we notice when he came?
Yes, we did.
This whole world testifies to the fact
that the most translated book, the best selling book,
the most book, the book that's produced
the most other books, all centered on that person
who lived way back in the first century.
Wonderful counselor, mighty God, mighty God.
If power without wisdom is chaos,
then wisdom without power is pointless.
Does he merely come into this world with great ideas?
Hey, I've got some suggestions for you people.
I'm wise, but can you fix anything, Jesus?
Look at our world.
Look at how dark it is.
Look at how sinful and broken it is.
Look how confused people are, how lost they are.
Can you fix this?
Yes, he is also mighty God.
So when Jesus comes, what do we see him doing?
Is he the one spoken of in Isaiah nine?
Well, we find he cures cancer by saying the word.
Skin diseases vanish at his touch,
lifeless limbs are mobilized,
paralysis flees at his command,
the winds obey him, the waves bow down to him,
and he walks on them.
A man with thousands of demons comes running up to Jesus
to kill him, to beat him up, no,
to fall down flat before Christ and cry out,
what will you do with me?
Have you come to destroy me?
The demons know who this person is when he comes.
He can read minds, he can predict the future,
he can raise the dead, he can make loaves of bread
and fish appear out of thin air.
He can make wine out of water.
On one occasion, a crowd tries to throw him off a cliff,
and what does he do?
He walks right through the middle of them
like a hot knife through butter.
They can't touch him.
Why?
Because that's not my time to die.
He tells his disciples, I lay down my life on my own terms
by my own will, according to my own timetable,
no one, no one takes it from me.
And when death meets Jesus, who dies?
Death dies.
John 19 verse 10, so Pilate said to Jesus,
you will not speak to me, do you not know
that I have authority to release you
and authority to crucify you?
How does Jesus answer that?
You would have no authority over me at all
unless it had been given to you from above.
Christ is not a victim.
He chooses the time he will die.
He chooses how he will die.
He chooses every single detail,
which is why, again, in Isaiah, you have Isaiah 53,
outlining for us the manner in which Christ chose to die
when he came into this world.
He was pierced for our transgressions,
crushed for our iniquities.
Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace
and with his wounds we're healed.
This is a God who knows exactly what he's doing
and is in full control every moment,
every second, every day.
At the cross, what does the centurion say?
Truly, this was the Son of God.
Here's a man who crucifies people for a living.
I don't know what you guys are good at.
What you do for a living?
This man kills people for a living and in a horrible way
and he stands at the cross and he's seen a lot of people die.
And when you get crucified, this is not an easy way to die.
This is not with palliative care.
This is horrendous.
And Jesus dies in such a way that the conclusion
this centurion comes to is that man's God.
How powerful do you have to be to convince people
you're God by the way you die?
Christ dies like a boss.
There's no other way of saying it.
We shouldn't be surprised when he walks out of the tomb.
Death doesn't hold him, he holds death.
It's his timetable.
He is, as he says to Mary and Martha,
I am the resurrection and the life. He came, he saw, he conquered.
Here we are, 2,000 years later.
That child spoken of in Isaiah nine has transformed the world.
Objectively, 2.4 billion Christians today
bear the name of that child as their identity.
2.4 billion people in this world call themselves Christians.
I'm not saying all of them are genuine believers
because there's a lot of confusion out there,
but these are people who have chosen Christ as their identity.
2.4 billion.
A further 1.9 billion Muslims acknowledge Jesus
as a central figure, born of a virgin,
and a prolific miracle worker.
In other words, more than half of everyone alive on this planet
today recognizes Jesus Christ either as God or superhuman.
Why?
Because this child in Isaiah nine is mighty God.
So what are your expectations of this child?
Because in verse seven, we're told of the increase of his government,
the greatness of his government and of peace,
there will be no end on the throne of David
and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice
and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.
Jesus Christ changed this world and is changing this world.
He's not called the savior of this world for no reason.
The darkness is going away.
This light will not be quenched.
And if you just look over history
and you think of where we've come from,
and you think of the impact that that one person had,
you have to acknowledge the prophecy is true.
Isaiah is not lying to us.
And Isaiah is not lying to us because these are not just Isaiah's words to us.
These are the words of Jesus Christ himself speaking
by the power of the Holy Spirit.
More than 700 years before the first century.
So we have wonderful counselor, mighty God.
What about everlasting father?
Everlasting father.
And I want you to know it's been Christmas a while back,
but I want you to picture the Christmas scene.
We're in Bethlehem.
And I don't want you to be deceived.
As you look at that child in the manger,
he's older than the universe.
That child isn't born that we might father him.
He's born that he might father us.
God does not entrust us with an orphan.
He gives us a son who is an everlasting father
to the widow and the orphan.
In that manger lies the author of life.
He created everything.
He is the father of everything, the father of this universe.
And what are we in his hands?
Again, Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 64, we're just clay.
You and I are just clay.
But now, oh Lord, you are our father and we are the clay.
You are our potter.
We are all the work of your hands.
What does it mean for the son to be the everlasting father?
It means that when we approach this child in Bethlehem,
we must recognize that the real children in the picture
are those who are standing around the manger.
When Jesus speaks to his disciples
on the night before his death, how does he speak to them?
What does he call them?
John 13, 33, he says to them, little children.
That's how Jesus speaks to his disciples.
Why?
Because he is the everlasting father.
Everyone in relation to Jesus Christ, a child.
And what does Jesus Christ's fatherhood convey to us?
It tells us of his exquisite love.
In John 15, verse nine, Jesus prays,
as the father has loved me, so I loved you.
Abide in my love.
How much does the father love the son?
How long has that relationship been for?
Well, there has always been a father
and there's always been a son.
That is an eternal relationship.
It's an eternal, perfect relationship.
In this room, we have relationships represented.
Some of us are wives and husbands.
Some of us are fathers and sons,
mothers and daughters,
and all the combinations that come from the idea of family
that God gave us and we've enjoyed these relationships,
but they have a beginning in time and space.
Think of those whom you love most in this world.
How long have you known them for?
How long have you been married for?
What does that love mean to you?
The father has known the son forever and ever and ever
and ever and ever and ever.
You can't compare that with any relationship in this world.
And what does Christ say?
As the father has loved me, so have I loved you.
I loved you.
He's an everlasting father.
He loves you.
I don't know what kind of father you had
in this world growing up.
Some of us had good fathers,
some of us have had bad fathers, disappointing fathers.
He is the everlasting father, the father of all fathers.
And he doesn't just speak about love.
He's not like all these other fake gods
that people worship in temples across this planet.
He is a real God who loves in a real, tangible way.
He comes into this world and bleeds to show that he loves.
He's not full of empty words.
His love cost.
Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father,
and finally, Prince of peace.
Why is the son given?
Why is the child born?
When he comes, we listen to the angels as they sing.
On the eve of his birth, what are they saying in Luke 14?
Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace.
On earth, peace, goodwill toward men.
He comes to give us peace.
What kind of peace?
Well, the most important kind.
The kind of peace that will require a cross.
Colossians 1.19, for in him all the fullness of God
was pleased to dwell and through him
to reconcile to himself all things,
making peace by the blood of his cross.
When we call Jesus the Prince of peace,
what do we mean by that?
We mean that there is no one who takes peace
as seriously as Jesus Christ.
There's no one who is a peacemaker like Jesus Christ.
In all the conflicts you've had in life,
have you or anyone else gone to the lengths
that God has gone to to make reconciliation?
He finds us, this is the pattern
right from the Garden of Eden.
Do Adam and Eve run to God when they've sinned against him?
They've done that very thing,
that only thing they weren't supposed to do.
No, they're hiding, they're not interested.
And God comes looking for them.
The everlasting father goes looking for them.
We didn't send an invitation to heaven saying,
God, please help us.
We didn't go looking for him, we didn't seek him out.
We didn't have suggestions on how to fix this world.
We were gone, gone, lost, off the charts.
And God came.
He came to make reconciliation.
He came to make peace.
Not sweep it under a rug, forget about it, start over.
No, this is peace that cost him his son.
The cross, that's what it cost.
When Jesus hangs on that cross,
from every second to every next second
knowing he could decide to stop it all at any moment.
He could turn it off.
And he doesn't, why?
Because he's serious about peace.
He's serious about reconciliation
that we might be made right with him.
Friends, Easter is an invitation
to embrace the Prince of Peace, to find peace with God.
Are you reconciled with your creator?
He has moved everything to come to you.
Will you be reconciled to him?
What will you do with the blood of Jesus Christ?
Will you thank him?
Will you worship him?
Will you embrace him or will you turn away
from the greatest gift ever given?
As I said not long ago, we celebrated Christmas.
Why is Christmas a big deal?
Christmas is a big deal because a child is born.
A son is given.
And the government of nations, kingdoms, empires,
visible and invisible, thrones, dominions,
the government of planets and stars and comets and galaxies,
the government of all things is upon his shoulder.
And this is good news because he is no ordinary counselor.
He is wonderful.
He is no impotent manmade deity or idol.
He is mighty God.
He is compassionate and kind and loving,
a father to all forever and ever and ever.
He is the one and only Prince of Peace.
For 4,000 years, think about this,
for 4,000 years time was measured
from the birth of this universe.
The calendar stretched all the way back
to Adam in the garden.
But 2,000 years ago, someone more important
than the universe was born.
So significant we started the clock from zero again.
Everything that ever lived and will live
is now in relation to the birth of this child,
A.D. or B.C.
Isn't that incredible?
We reset the clock when Christ came.
What will you do with Jesus Christ?
He is not your moon.
He didn't come to fit into your life
and to revolve around you, he is the son.
He comes to be your life.
He didn't come to be ogled at or pitied or fawned over
by patronizing philosophers and poets.
He came to be worshiped.
What would the shepherds in Magi tell you?
They say when you approach the feeding trough,
remember to take off your sandals and get on your knees.
What lies in there is bigger than the universe,
more precious than life itself,
more glorious than you and I will ever grasp.
The son of God given to us, and for what reason?
To die, to hang on a cross,
to bleed the most precious blood ever spilt.
Not as a victim, not as a symbol of weakness or failure.
The cross of Christ is not the tragic ending
of a pointless drama.
No, it is the beginning of the greatest victory
ever forged in time and space.
Easter tells us the story of how this wonderful counselor,
this mighty God, this everlasting father,
this prince of peace broke the chains of darkness,
crushed Satan, killed death, and cast our sins
into the depths of the sea.
Just as he cast aside the stone
that had been rolled against his tomb,
Easter proves that Christ is King
and that this world has a savior.
And all of these things should be before us
when we meet him in Matthew's gospel.
And Matthew reminds us why is Jesus
in these places of darkness?
Because Isaiah told us, hundreds of years before,
this is exactly what he came for.
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you for your incredible love
that you would send us your precious son.
What will we do with your son?
Help us to worship him,
that he may be the center of our lives
as he is the center of all reality,
the truth, the way, the life.
Father, I pray for this community,
this church here in Armidale,
that you would reveal yourself profoundly and powerfully
to these people this Easter,
that they would behold you as a great God,
a wonderful counselor, an everlasting father,
and a prince of peace.
Amen.
Thanks folks.