The Christ of Isaiah Part 3

The Christ of Isaiah

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

Introduction:

As we continue our study on the Christ of Isaiah, we have already looked at the History of Christ,and we have looked at the characteristics of Christ. Today we will begin with the titles of Christ. Now we are only including the titles that we find here in the book of Isaiah. If we included the other books of the Bible and especially the New Testament books, we would see many many more titles than this. More than some 150 titles are given to Him throughout scripture. And there may be more than that. One of my favorite being the Lamb of God.

So just what is a title? Webster defines it like this: An appellation of dignity, distinction, or preëminence (hereditary or acquired), given to persons, such as duke marquis, honorable, esquire, etc. Even Dr. or Rev. or son, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, father, etc.

Now, what a title is not, it is not just a nickname. Thomas Paine, one of the founding fathers of the United States and philosopher once said, “Titles are but nicknames, and every nickname is a title.” The statement is only half true. I would agree that every nickname is a form of a title. But every title is not but a nickname.

If I say to you the nickname “shorty”, you really don’t know what I might be saying. There are many who are short that get the nickname “shorty”, but there are also many who are tall that get the nickname “shorty”. A nickname does not always explain or designate the character or role of that title.

But if I say to you, “Husband”, you know exactly what I am talking about because the title explains the role. It is what I am, in that role. Same with “uncle” or “aunt”, you know the role I am talking about.

Well here are some titles, not mere nicknames, found in Isaiah of our Lord Jesus Christ. The title explains the role in which He plays within that given title.

Titles

--Immanuel

Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, And shall call his name Immanuel.

I wish we had the time to go into the backdrop of this prophecy and explain exactly what was going on during the time of Ahaz, king of Judah, that brought this prophecy about. Maybe someday we will be able to do that. But for now we are just interested in the title “Immanuel”.

Immanuel means, God with us. And we know that this prophecy, although it had some real implications in the day of Ahaz, it was a future prophecy of the coming Davidic Messiah.

We read in Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

We get one of our great fundamental truths out of this text. Although not from this text only. That Jesus is God incarnate. God in the flesh. Not just the Son of God, although He is that, but co-equal with God and the Holy Spirit. Very God of very God. In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

His disciples said, Lord, show us the Father and it will suffice us. Jesus said, Have I been so long with you and yet hast thou not known me? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.

The book of Hebrews says, He is the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person.

He is truly God incarnate, Immanuel, God with us.

We just recently in our Wednesday night Bible studies finished up with the book of Joshua. Who throughout that book and also throughout 4 of the first 5 books of the Bible we read of Moses, who carried the title, the servant of the Lord. And then at the end of the book of Joshua we see that Joshua is given this great title, the servant of the Lord. Both of them were types of the Lord Jesus, but they were not the same as Jesus. Joshua’s name even, it means “God is salvation”.

Now not coincidentally Joshua is the Hebrew form of the same Greek name Iesous or in English, Jesus. That is Jesus’ name, God is salvation. But here, They shall call His name Emmanuel, He has the title, God with us.

Then in we have several titles within this one verse. —Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace

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, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

First, I’d like to make a short comment on the first statement of this verse. It says, For unto us a child is born, the Lord Jesus was born in the flesh, born of a woman, born in the likeness of man and born under the law. He was born unto us.

But then it says, unto us a son is given, notice that the Son was not born, but the Son was given. That is because the Son had no beginning , but He was eternally the Son. Therefore the Son could not be born, but He had to be given.

But here in this verse He is given the title Wonderful.

Now some see these first two titles, wonderful and counselor as one title, wonderful counselor. I have no problem with that. He most certainly is the wonderful counselor. And in the next titles within this verse they are each given with a descriptive for the noun that follows. ie. Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace… So I have no problem if that’s they way you interpret it.

But no doubt that He is in fact Wonderful…

He was wonderful in His birth. There is no other birth that is like it. It is full of wonder and amazement.

He was wonderful in His life. There is no other life that was lived in the way in which Christ lived His life. He was without sin. He did not disobey His parents. No doubt they would have said of Jesus, “He was a wonderful child.”

When He was older the leaders of Israel tried to trip Him up in His words, in His theology, in His doctrine. But they could not, and He caused great wonder among the people. They were amazed at His doctrine.

He was wonderful in His death. There was no other death like His. Yes there were others that were crucified on a cross as He was. But His was unique. First off the centurions broke protocol when they came to Jesus. They were told to go and brake the legs of those on the crosses so that it would be finished before the Sabbath day started. They broke the legs of the two thieves, but when they came to Jesus, they seen He was already dead and instead of braking His legs, the soldier thrust a spear in His side. Fulfilling two scriptures in one move. That not a bone of His body would be broken and that they would look upon Him whom they pierced. The soldiers could have easily been killed for disobeying a direct order.

It was unique in the fact that while He was on that cross the earth began to quake and the sun refused to shine for the space of three hours. I believe in fulfillment of Amos chapter 8 verse 9, where it says, And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord God, That I will cause the sun to go down at noon, And I will darken the earth in the clear day:

It was wonderful in the fact that in light of the things he saw, a centurion there declared, truly, this was the Son of God.

Now you might say but Joe, how was His death wonderful. It was wonderful in that His death was in place of yours, it was in the place of mine. He took our penalty of death upon Himself.

And then He was Wonderful in His resurrection. Oh, let me tell you, there was no other like it. You say, “Well, He raised Lazarus from the dead. And didn’t Elijah and Elisha raise people from the dead?” Yes they did, but every one of them that were raised all died again. Jesus is the firstfruits of those to be raised from the dead that shall never taste death again.

Oh, what a Wonderful Savior we have.

Then He is given the title Counseller:

And what a great Counselor He is. He is the true Counselor. His counsel is always right. His counsel is always just. His counsel is always exactly what you need.

When I was younger, I went into a bit of a depression. My mother brought me to a counselor. I can’t remember exactly how long I seen this counselor, but his job was to ask me questions and listen to me to try to get to the root of my problem so that he could give me sound counsel to help me. The only problem was that I thought I was smarter than everyone else, and I just told him whatever I thought he wanted to hear. Some of it truths and some of it lies. I think he may have needed counseling after counseling me. But I don’t believe he ever resolved my issues. How could he, he did not know me. Neither could I give myself counsel, because I didn’t even know myself.

But Jesus is not that counselor. He knows each one of us intimately. Better than we even know ourselves. And furthermore, He knows the root of our problem and the counsel that we need to help us.

Jesus said, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

says, Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom: I am understanding; I have strength.

This is a proverb of Solomon about wisdom. Which if you read Proverbs chapter 8, you will see that this wisdom that Solomon is talking about is a parallel to Christ.

Friend, you will get no better counsel anywhere than you will with the Word of God, which is Christ.

Next in the verse He is given the title The Mighty God:

As to make sure that you can not miss His deity, He is here called El in the Hebrew, God! And so you do not think that He is just some deity, a god, with a little g, He is here called El gibbor, Mighty God. He is the all powerful mighty God. He alone has the power to save. It is not enough to speak of His mighty power without also affirming His deity. When Jesus told Thomas behold, the prints of my hand and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side, Thomas said unto Him, My Lord and my God.

Now if Jesus were just a messenger sent from God, He would have rebuked Thomas right there just as many others had done when people tried to worship them and even the angels had done. But Jesus did not rebuke him. And if Jesus was just a god, little g, Just a deity, then God the Father is guilty of lying, because He said, I am the Lord: that is my name: And my glory will I not give to another…

He also said, Before me there was no God formed, Neither shall there be after me.

Here, O Israel, the LORD thy God is one LORD.

Then the title Everlasting Father:

He is the eternal Father, the Creator of all things, the very Word of God, one and the same with God. Therefore it is not blasphemy to call Him Father, He is one and the same with the Father. Again out of Jesus own mouth to His disciples, If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.

He is the brightness of the Father’s glory, and the express image of His person.

3  He is the sole expression of the glory of God [the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of [God's] nature…

I don’t know how to say it any plainer. Can I explain it? No! The Father is distinct from the Son and the Son is distinct from the Father, and yet they are one and the same. But, do I believe it? Yes! Why? Because God said it was so…

I and my Father are one!

Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I Am!

And they picked up stones to stone Him because they knew exactly what He was claiming, that He is the I Am, that talked with Moses, that He is the I Am, that had no beginning.

And last of all in this verse He is given the title Prince of Peace:

Oh, what a title this is. He is not only Peace, but He is the very Prince of Peace. He is the Author of Peace, He is Peace personified.

Throughout the eons there have been many men that tried to bring peace to this world. And they have all failed. And you might say, Jesus did not bring peace to this world. And you would be right in saying that. Jesus Himself said, Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.

See Jesus knew that His time was not yet. He came to send light into the darkness of this earth. That through Him, the world might see. But there are those that love darkness, because their deeds are of darkness. And they hate the light. That was true then when they hung The Light on the cross, and it is true today, when they try to extinguish His light that comes through His Church.

But friend, one day, in the Father’s timing, He is going to send Jesus to get His Church. God is going to pour out His wrath upon this earth, and thereby bring the nation of Israel back to Himself. Then that Prince of Peace is going to make His second coming to this earth. He shall set up His kingdom for a thousand years. And there will be a thousand years of true peace. Such as the earth has never experienced since the beginning before the fall.

And then after that thousand years, satan and his demons shall be cast into the lake of fire. And then there will be the great white throne judgement. Where death and hell will give up all those that are in them, those that were not saved. And they shall be judged according to their works, because they rejected the Son of God that came to take their place. Once that is finished death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. Along with all those whose names were not found written in the Book of Life.

And the old heavens and the old earth will be burned up, and a new heaven and a new earth created, where that Prince of Peace will forever be the light thereof.

And so He is the Wonderful Counselor.

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, Counseller, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

--Righteous King

Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, ...

--Divine Spirit

Behold my servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: He shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

--Arm of the Lord

Who hath believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

* --Anointed Preacher, Mighty Traveler

Who is this that cometh from Edom, With dyed garments from Bozrah? This that is glorious in his apparel, Travelling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save.

--Illuminator

The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

* --Judge

And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: And he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, Neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

* --Reprover

But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, And reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: And he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, And with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked.

* --Lawgiver

He shall not fail nor be discouraged, Till he have set judgment in the earth: And the isles shall wait for his law.

--Liberator

To open the blind eyes, To bring out the prisoners from the prison, And them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

--Burden-bearer

Surely he hath borne our griefs, And carried our sorrows: Yet we did esteem him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted.

--Sin-bearer

All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned every one to his own way; And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

--Intercessor

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, And he shall divide the spoil with the strong; Because he hath poured out his soul unto death: And he was numbered with the transgressors; And he bare the sin of many, And made intercession for the transgressors.

--Only Savior

But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: The chastisement of our peace was upon him; And with his stripes we are healed.