Who is the Child of Christmas?

"For unto us a Child is born,

Unto us a Son is given;

And the government will be on His shoulder.

And His name will be called

Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

My regular readers have probably figured out long ago that this is my favorite verse regarding Christmas. This is my third year in a row, and my fifth year overall, that I am writing about this verse. 

In my previous posts regarding this verse I focused on the fact that Jesus came to earth in order to establish a new Kingdom, a Kingdom that is backwards to the world's ways of doing things. This year I would like to address what this verse means to each of us personally. This post is inspired by a short message given by Pastor Jeff Amsbaugh at Heritage Baptist Church during the School Christmas program. 

This verse identifies several names for Jesus, several roles that Jesus has promised to take in our lives. 

Wonderful: First it identifies that Jesus would be called wonderful. There are times in our lives where we can get bogged down by the monotonous of life and we can forget the wonders that Jesus has done for us. I am sure that each one of us, if we take the time, can identify several wonderous things that Jesus has done. This Christmas season start there. Calm yourself down from the busyness of life and think back over the wonders performed in your life. 

Were you delivered from an addiction or a nagging sin?

Has God blessed you with a wonderful family?

Have you been miraculously healed from sickness or disease?

Have you seen God bring you out of financial difficulties?

Counselor: In today's society we are hearing more and more about mental illness. Suicide and homicide seem to be on the rise and more and more people seem to be diagnosed with depression, bipolar, and other mental illnesses. In addition, we continue to see a large percentage of marriages ending in divorce. I am thankful for human counselors and, having worked in the mental health field, I have seen the tremendous benefit of psychiatric medications when properly prescribed. However, it is important for us as Christians to remember that Jesus is the ultimate Counselor. He should be the one we go to first with our issues. He should be the one that we are allowing to council us each and every day as we approach various decisions and problems. 

Jesus is our marriage counselor.

Jesus is our career counselor.

Jesus is our psychiatric counselor.

Jesus is our financial counselor.

Jesus is our legal counselor. 

Mighty God: Jesus is our Mighty God! 1 John 4:4 tells us; "You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world." It is important to remember that we do have an enemy in this world, but it is even more important to remember that our God is greater, mightier than that enemy! Jesus came down to earth as a baby, fully human, but He also came down at the Mighty God, fully divine. He conquered death, hell and the grave and took all authority in heaven and earth. He then gave us the ability to walk in that authority. When discussing how Jesus is Wonderful, I suggested looking back at the wonderous things He has done in your life. When discussing Him as Mighty God it is time to recognize those things that are not as they should be and put your faith in Him to make them right!

Are you or a family member fighting illness? - He is your healer.

Are you lacking the resources to do what God has called you to do? - He is your provider.

Are you fighting addiction or sin? - He is your deliverer, your victor. 

Are you experiencing attacks on your family? - He is your protector.

He is Mighty God!

Everlasting Father: You may or may not know what it is like to have a loving, earthly father. A good father is a protector, a comforter, a guide, and one who brings teaching and even discipline. On the other hand, there are few people who can bring more pain to a child than a bad father, whether that father is absent, abusive, or simply complacent. If you have a difficult experience with your earthly father then God is present to heal you from that experience and to show you what a true father is supposed to be. Still, if you had a great father, and I hope you did, we all know that our earthly father will not be around forever. I try to be the best father I can be to my daughter but I have to recognize that there will be a point where I will not be able to be there for her. God is our Everlasting Father. He is the only father who can always be there and will be there for eternity. 

Prince of Peace: Lastly, Isaiah identifies the coming Child as the Prince of Peace. There is a lot of turmoil in our society. Despite the continual promise and recognition that Jesus has overcome the world as Mighty God, there is also recognition that as long as we are on this earth we will experience trials and difficulties. The early church definitely experienced this going through significant persecution, first from the Jewish leaders, and then from the Roman leaders. There is no promise that our life will be perfect or that we will not have difficult times, but there is a promise that Jesus is our Prince of Peace. Through Him we can have peace even in the most difficult of times. Paul mentions that the peace of God "passes all understanding". In other words, God's peace will allow us to be in rest when our circumstances seem anything but peaceful. Through Jesus we can be like He was, asleep in the boat in the midst of the storm (Mark 4:38). 

This Christmas, take some time to remember who He is to you. Yes, we are celebrating the day that Jesus was born as a baby but we are celebrating that day because He came as much more than a baby. 

If you would like to read some of my previous posts about this verse here are the links:

Christmas and Politics from 2018

The True Meaning of Christmas from 2017

For unto us a Child is born... from 2014

The Truth About Christmas from 2013

Christmas Message from 2010.

What is your impossible?

Question #1: What is your impossible? 

Do you have overwhelming debt? A horrible health diagnoses? An eviction notice? A calling that you know God has given you but it seems it will never come to pass? 

Question #2: How does your impossible compare to Mary's? 

Mary was a teenage virgin with no special influence or position and she was told by an angel that she would become pregnant with the Messiah! 

In our Christian society we talk about the virgin birth regularly enough that it has become normal. A virgin giving birth is scientifically impossible. Mary's cousin Elizabeth was old and barren and miraculously became pregnant but at least in that case science could try and explain it away. But a virgin giving birth, that can't be explained away. The only argument people can make is to argue the veracity of her virginity.

I can only imagine what must have gone through Mary's head when the angel gave her the news. 

"Is this really happening?"

"How can this be?"

"How will I explain this to Joseph?" 

But in the end she says, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." (Luke 1:37)

Despite the seemingly impossible situation Mary believed and agreed to go through whatever ridicule she would have to go through in order to fulfill the Lord's purpose.

So for this Christmas season, I ask again: What is our impossible? 

Take some time to meditate on the angel's words to Mary:

"For nothing will be impossible with God."

A Time of Waiting

"Then the Lord answered me and said: 
'Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, 
That he may run who reads it. 
For the vision is yet for an appointed time; 
But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie.
Though it tarries, wait for it;
For it will surely come,
It will not tarry.
Behold the proud,
His soul is not upright in him;
But the just shall live by faith.'"
Habakkuk 2:2-4 (emphasis added)

Last month I wrote a post about Taking a Leap of Faith. In that post I reference that there are four places in the Bible in which the phrase is repeated, "the just shall live by faith". Recently I took a closer look at the first of those verses in Habakkuk 2:4. The interesting thing about Habakkuk 2:4 is that it is not referencing taking a leap of faith at all, it is actually referencing waiting on God.

Sometimes it takes more faith to stay still, do nothing, and wait on God.

This is especially true when God has given us a vision and we want it to come to pass right away. A common example of someone who had to wait a long time on God's vision to come to pass was Joseph. If you read Genesis you find that Joseph had two very clear dreams from God in which his parents and brothers all bowed down to him. This was probably an intriguing and exciting dream and I am sure he was eager to see it come to pass. However, things took a very different turn for him when he was thrown in a pit and then sold by his brothers to a slave trader. When he got into Potiphor's house things seemed to start to get better as he became head of everything in the household when he again was treated unfairly and thrown in jail for something he didn't do. 

During his time as a slave and as a prisoner it required a lot of faith for him to hold onto the dream God had given him.

It would have been easy for him to give up on God but He knew that God was faithful. Eventually God brought him to a place of being second only to Pharaoh, in the most powerful country of the time, and used him to save millions of people during the famine. Even then Joseph held on to grace and mercy and told his brothers, "what you meant for evil God used for good". 

So what do you need to do when you find yourself in a time of waiting? 

1. Write the vision down - like God told Habakkuk, write down the vision or dream that God has given you and put it somewhere that you will see it every day. Keep it before your eyes so that you can continue to build your faith and know that it will come to pass. 

2. Stay faithful to what God has given you - Joseph was faithful everywhere he landed and this allowed God to use him even when He was still waiting for the ultimate vision. "There comes a time for every person where faith requires faithfulness. If you are faithful in what you have said you were going to do, God will make it happen." - Pastor Sherwood Vegsund

3. Develop your gifts - "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them..." - Romans 12:6. Even though you are in a time of waiting it is important that you use the opportunities you have to develop your gifts. This is true even if there is no one else benefiting from those gifts at this time. 

4. Trust God to complete His work - "being confident of this one thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." - Philippians 1:6 Trust that God will bring the vision to pass that He has given you. No matter how long the waiting period is God's promises will come to pass as long as you are faithful.