Isaiah's Prophecy: Unto Us a Child Is Born | Advent Day 13

The prophet had seen the throne room of heaven. Seraphim hovered with six wings each. Two covered their faces, two their feet, two kept them aloft. They called in antiphonal chorus: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!" The foundations shook. Smoke filled the temple. Isaiah crumbled. "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" A seraph flew to him with a burning coal from the altar. It touched his lips. "Your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for." Then came the commission. "Whom shall I send?" Isaiah answered. "Here I am! Send me." What he saw in the throne room shaped everything he spoke thereafter. The holy God who filled heaven with glory would somehow enter human history as a child. Michelangelo painted this prophet on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Isaiah appears lost in thought while a child figure summons his attention from behind. The posture captures a mind wrestling with revelation beyond comprehension. How could the Holy One who shakes temple foundations be born as a child? More messianic prophecy appears in Isaiah than any other Old Testament writing. Christians have long called him the fifth evangelist. King Ahaz faced invasion. Syria and Israel had allied against Judah. Isaiah met him with God's message: "Ask a sign of the LORD your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven." Ahaz refused, hiding fear behind false piety. Isaiah's patience snapped. "Hear then, O house of David! Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." The sign exceeded what Ahaz refused to request. A virgin would conceive. The child would be called "God with us." Two chapters later, Isaiah expanded the vision: "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder." Notice the structure. Born and given. The child would be born as all children are born. But the son would be given, suggesting origin beyond ordinary generation. The dual language hints at dual nature. Then come the names. Four titles that strain the boundaries of what any human could bear. Wonderful Counselor. The Hebrew "pele" denotes the supernatural, that which exceeds human capacity. Mighty God. The Hebrew "el gibbor" appears again in Isaiah 10:21, clearly referring to YHWH Himself. Isaiah calls a child God. This is not metaphor. Everlasting Father. Literally "Father of Eternity." The child has no beginning. Time itself flows from Him. Prince of Peace. "Shalom" encompasses wholeness, completeness, human flourishing in every dimension. "Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end." Every empire falls. Assyria dominated Isaiah's world. Then Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome. Each rose and collapsed. The kingdoms that terrified Ahaz became footnotes in history. But this kingdom only increases. It never contracts. It never declines. "On the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it with justice and righteousness from this time forth and forevermore." How would this happen? "The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this." Not human effort. The passion of God Himself would bring this child to the throne. Seven centuries separated Isaiah's prophecy from its fulfillment. Seven hundred years of waiting. Empires rose and fell. The Temple was destroyed and rebuilt. Prophets fell silent. Then, in the fullness of time, a virgin conceived. A child was born in Bethlehem. Angels announced His arrival. The government of all creation rested on infant shoulders. Wonderful Counselor offers wisdom for your confusion. Mighty God provides strength for your weakness. Everlasting Father extends care without expiration. Prince of Peace brings wholeness to your fragmentation. The zeal of the LORD accomplished what Isaiah foretold. The Holy One whom seraphim covered their faces to behold became visible in a newborn's eyes. These titles describe your King. Wonderful Counselor speaks into your decisions today. Mighty God fights your battles now. Everlasting Father holds you through this season. Prince of Peace calms the chaos in your mind. The child born in Bethlehem carries titles that exceed all human categories. He is not one among many. He is the government upon whose shoulders everything rests. The increase of His kingdom includes you. This Advent, approach the throne with confidence. The one who terrified seraphim became approachable in swaddling cloths. The Holy One invites you near. The same child who bore these names bears your burdens. His kingdom expands every time someone bends the knee. Join the increase. Tomorrow Jeremiah promises a new covenant written on hearts. The prophets saw forward with increasing clarity. Bethlehem approaches.