AND HIS NAME SHALL BE CALLED WONDERFUL
Text: ISAIAH 9:6, 7
INTRODUCTION:
1. My text
tonight is found in Isaiah 9:6, 7 – “and his name shall be called
Wonderful.”
2. Some one
said:
“Isaiah calls Him ‘Wonderful,’
How well this prophet knew
His person and the works of love
That He on earth would do” – Marie C.
Turk.
3. We use the
word “wonderful” often, especially around this time of year. We hear songs about a “Winter
Wonderland.” (But we preachers do
not find it so wonderful when it snows on Sunday and people stay home from
church!)
4. Isaiah 9:6, 7 is a very
important Messianic prophecy. Jesus is a child born – this has reference to His
human nature. He was born of a virgin.
“For unto us a child is born” (Isa. 9:6).
5. “Unto us a son is given”
(9:6). This has reference to our Lord’s divine nature – His eternal co-existence
with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit; His pre-existence; and His
incarnation. He was given
and He was born.
6. Rather than expound upon the
entire passage, tonight I would like for us to focus on, “And his name shall be
called Wonderful.”
I. CHRIST IS WONDERFUL IN HIS
BIRTH
1. The Lord Jesus Christ was
wonderful in His birth – conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin
Mary, worshipped by the heavenly host, humble shepherds, and wise men from the
east.
2. Billy Sunday said, “Mark how
He might have come – in all the pomp and glory of the upper world. It would have been a condescension had
He been born in a palace and rocked in a golden cradle with angels for nurses;
yet He gave up all that glory, was born of a poor woman and cradled in a
manger. Think about what He came to
do! To bless, not to curse; to lift
up, not to drag anyone down; to save drunkards, thieves, blasphemers; to dry the
tears, bind up the wounds; to give rest for the weary; and yet there was no room
for Him at the inn.”
II. CHRIST IS WONDERFUL IN HIS
LIFE
1. The Lord was wonderful in
His life – “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made
higher than the heavens” (Heb. 7:26).
2. Think of the compassion of
Jesus! Weeping over the city
of Jerusalem, and crying at the tomb of Lazarus.
3. This is why His followers
have gone all over this world building churches, schools, and
hospitals.
4. The Lord was wonderful in
His works – He healed the sick, gave eyesight to the blind, cleansed the
lepers, raised the dead, cast out devils, rebuked the religious hypocrites,
calmed the raging storm, comforted the poor and broken-hearted, and forgave
sin.
3. Jesus was wonderful in His
words – The officers said to the Pharisees, “Never man spake like this
man” (John 7:46).
4. The woman at the well told
the men in her city, “Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did:
is not this the Christ?” (John 4:29).
5. Our Lord said to the
religious hypocrites of His day, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham
was, I am” (John 8:58).
6. “Then took they up stones to
cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through
the midst of them, and so passed by” (John 8:59). That is wonderful!
III. CHRIST IS WONDERFUL IN HIS
DEATH
1. Christ was wonderful in His
death – He died on the cross for our sins, “the just for the
unjust.” Peter, quoting Isaiah
53:5, wrote: “Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that
we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were
healed” (I Peter 2:24).
2. The hymn-writer put it this
way:
Christ has for sin atonement
made,
What a wonderful Saviour!
We are redeemed, the price is paid!
What a wonderful Saviour!
3. Our Lord predicted His own
death and resurrection. In fact He
predicted His betrayal, and His trial too.
Only the sinless Son of God could do that.
4. Our Lord was wonderful in
His death. He prayed from the
cross, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke
23:34).
5. This was a fulfillment of
Isaiah 53:12, “and he was numbered with the transgressors,” and “he…made
intercession for the transgressors.”
6. Christ fulfilled many OT
prophecies. That too is
wonderful.
IV. CHRIST IS WONDERFUL IN HIS
RESURRECTION
1.
Christ was wonderful in His
resurrection – and because He rose from the dead, we too shall
rise.
2.
The
apostle Paul wrote, “And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and
your faith is also vain” (I Cor. 15:14).
3.
He
was wonderful in His ascension into heaven, wonderful in His present
ministry as our great High Priest, interceding for us right now, and He will
be wonderful when He returns to earth for His bride.
4.
This
brings me to my final point.
V. CHRIST WILL BE WONDERFUL WHEN HE
RETURNS
1. Our Lord
said, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in
me. In my Father's house are many
mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a
place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am,
there ye may be also” (John 14:1-3).
2. Isn’t that
wonderful?
3. The Bible says, “the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel,
and with the trump of God” (I Thess. 4:16).
4. The Bible says, “Then we
which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,
to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (I Thess.
4:17).
5. There were many prophecies
fulfilled when Christ came the first time – He was born in Bethlehem, He was
born to a virgin, He was from the tribe of Judah, and descended from King
David.
6. He died on the cross for our
sins and He rose from the dead. All
of these OT prophecies were literally fulfilled.
7. Therefore we can be certain
all of the OT prophecies concerning His second coming will likewise be
literally fulfilled.
8. Jesus is coming
again.
9. Are you
ready?
CONCLUSION:
1. I never
thought I’d live to see the day when it would be controversial or unacceptable
to say, “Merry Christmas” here in America.
2. I’m glad we
can still say it freely around here: “MERRY CHRISTMAS!”
3. Christmas is
a very special time of the year. But in my opinion, Christmas becomes much more
special when you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.
4. Then
Christmas becomes very wonderful indeed.
