Isaiah 9:6 - ‘Mighty God’

Immediate context: The Word to Judah - 7:1-9:7

7:1-11: The Moment of Opportunity

7:12: Rejection of the Word of Yahweh

7:13-25: The sign of the virgin and coming judgment

8:1-10: The second sign and word of coming judgment

8:11-22: A word to the believing remnant

9:1-7: The prophecy concerning Messiah

Introductory Example

Courtney Anderson writes of Adoniram Judson’s conversion story in his hallmark biography on the baptist missionary. Adoniram was raised by Congregational parents yet rejected the faith due to the influence of a Deist friend by the name of Jacob Eames. One night, Adoniram was rooming next to a sick man at an inn. This particular night Adoniram was wrestling with doubts about his newfound Deism and the fear of death. “How’s the sick man?” he asked the next morning. “He is dead,” the innkeeper replied. With some feelings of the previous night returning, Adoniram politely asked, “Do you know who he was?” “Oh yes,” the innkeeper replied, “a young man from the college in Providence. Name was Eames, Jacob Eames.”

Thesis/Main Idea:

Now that shock is similar to the effect this prophecy has. Yahweh through Isaiah is going to tell us his surprising announcement of grace, the advent of his Messiah, and the titles by which Messiah will be known. You need to heed this prophecy if you would partake of this grace, understand Messiah’s person, and pay homage as Messiah requires.

Introduction: Setting the Scene

Isaiah 9:1-7 is part of a larger section we might call a word to Judah beginning in 7:1 and ending in this passage. The northern kingdom of Israel and the kingdom of Syria had allied themselves in view of the approaching Assyrian army. They threatened to wage war on Judah if Ahaz did not join their coalition. Hence Ahaz and Co. ‘shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind’ (Isaiah 7:2b). Isaiah was sent by Yahweh to give a word of deliverance to the king if he would but trust and obey. Ahaz chose instead the works of the flesh via alliance with Assyria, and from that moment on the house of David deteriorated until it disappeared into the annals of history. Ahaz is a continual reminder of what Walter Kaiser Jr. once wrote: ‘The only way we can have God is by relying on him and using him.’ And while Yahweh always preserves a faithful remnant, he nevertheless was going to become ‘a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel, a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem’ (Isaiah 8:14). Indeed, chapter 8 ends with a terrifying note of the wrath of God: ‘And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness’ (verse 22).

A. The Surprising Announcement (vv.1-5)

Hence why you need to see, first, the complete surprise this prophecy is. Chapter 9 verse 1 is completely unexpected! But there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish. On the coat-tails of wrath comes the embrace of mercy.

A.1 A Reversal of Darkness (vv.1-2)

A.2 A Renewed People (v.3)

A.3 A Repeated Deliverance (vv.4-5)

B. Messiah’s Advent (vv.6-7)

B.1 His Ancestry (v.6a,7b)

B.2 His Future (v.6b,7ab)

B.3 His Motivation (v.7c)

C. Messiah’s Title (v.6c)

C.1 Mighty God (v.6c)

C.2 The Prophetic Puzzle

C.3 The Supreme Claim