This morning, as we enter into the Christmas season, we’re continuing our message series entitled, “He Shall Be Called”. Together, we’ll recall and dive deeper into that awesome prophetic word from Isaiah regarding the birth of Jesus.
Within this prophecy, Isaiah assigns four names to Jesus. We started last week with the first name: Wonderful Counselor and what a wonderful Counselor Jesus truly is!
Isaiah 9:2-3;6-7
2 The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
a light has dawned.
3 You have enlarged the nation
and increased their joy;
they rejoice before you
as people rejoice at the harvest,
as warriors rejoice
when dividing the plunder.
6 For unto us a child is born,
unto 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.
7 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.
This morning, we are encouraged as we recall that Jesus is: Mighty God!
This is probably the understatement of a lifetime! Mighty barely scratches the surface of describing the raw power and might of Jesus. With a simple word, He created all that is seen, calmed raging storms, raised the dead, cast out demons; all of creation is under His power and authority!
Don’t be mistaken, there is no power struggle happening between Jesus and the devil. When he and a third of the angels rose up against Him, they were cast to the earth like lightning. Now, God permits them to continue to act to test, prove, and strengthen our faith. There is soon coming a day when he and the demons will be cast into the pit of fire never to torment God’s people again! Consider the account of Job, satan couldn’t lay a finger on Job without the permission of God.
God’s word uses this same Hebrew word for mighty to describe hunters, heroes, soldiers, warriors, kings, military leaders, abilities, and wealth. Indeed, Jesus is all of these things, possesses all of these things, and more – He is the Mighty God!
King Herod couldn’t kill Him as an infant, all of those offended by Him couldn’t trip Him up by their smug questioning and snide gossip Not even death could stop Mighty Jesus!
Just like the old song proclaims: Our God is so big, so strong and so mighty, there’s nothing our God cannot do; for you!
Nothing could stop Jesus even while He was wrapped in the weakness of our flesh. Undoubtedly, there is nothing can stop Him now that He has been glorified once again!
This gives us hope. Jesus is the Mighty God. Our current circumstances are not our destiny. Our current struggles are defeatable. Our current weakness can become our greatest strengths. Our current inabilities can be our greatest achievements. All of this is possible not on our own, but through Christ alone!
There is nothing that you have done in your past that can stop His ability to forgive you. There is nothing that anyone can ever speak against Him that will change who He truly is. There is nothing that can ever rise up against you that God cannot handle. There is no darkness that can ever even begin to cast a shadow against the light of His glory! He even rhetorically asks:
Jeremiah 32:27
I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything too hard for me?
Jesus is the mighty God, but when things get tough, when life gets difficult, when darkness begins to overwhelm us, will we trust Him? I read a quote recently from Corrie Ten Boom that said, “When a train goes through a tunnel and it gets dark, you don’t throw away the ticket and jump off. You sit still and trust the engineer.”
What do our boasts and praises declare? The greatness of our Mighty God or our problems and challenges?
Literally, physically standing on the edge of God’s promises, God’s people gathered. They sent 12 people in.
Numbers 13:27-28;31-32
27 They gave this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored.
Numbers 14:6-9
6 Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had explored the land, tore their clothes 7 and said to the entire Israelite assembly, “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. 8 If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us. 9 Only do not rebel against the Lord. And do not be afraid of the people of the land, because we will devour them. Their protection is gone, but the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them.”
Ten boasted in the problems, two boasted in their Mighty God. Who did the people side with? They grumbled and complained and received exactly what God heard them murmur.
Numbers 14:27-28
“How long will this wicked community grumble against me? I have heard the complaints of these grumbling people. So tell them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very thing I heard you say'”
Which side are we going to take? What will we choose to boast in and praise? Our problems or our God? Our challenges or our Jesus? Our impossibilities or the One who declares that all things are possible if we only believe?
Jesus is the Mighty God. He literally, physically embodied the raw power of God wrapped in weak flesh. You and I now do the same. Us, these broken, feeble jars of clay who embody the very Spirit of the Living God. With this reality in mind, how do we respond to life? How should we respond to the ups and downs of living life in this broken, darkening world?
Deuteronomy 10:12-22
12 And now, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?
14 To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. 15 Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. 16 Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. 17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. 18 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner residing among you, giving them food and clothing. 19 And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt. 20 Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. 21 He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. 22 Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Jesus is the Mighty God. Whatever comes your way, you can face it, walk through it, and overcome it with Him! Sure, acknowledge your struggles and challenges. However, don’t give them any more power or authority than they deserve. Glorify and exalt not the problems, but the God who reigns mighty over them! Boast not in your troubles, but in the God who will deliver you from them all.
Like Christmas presents under the tree, keep God’s promises always in sight. Eagerly look forward to receiving them knowing that the day is drawing nearer when they will be possessed by you. Indeed, they are yours already, so don’t lose heart and don’t give up. The Mighty God who presented them to you is faithful to fulfill every one of His promises! He shall be called Mighty God!