Gleanings for December 7

The Messiah Becoming a Man

 

              Isaiah 9: 6 NKJV “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.  And His name will be called WONDERFUL, COUNCELOR, MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER, PRINCE OF PEACE.”

              Verse 7a “Of the increase of His government and peace there will be NO END.”

 

            The comments that follow, which are in quotation marks, (other than the dictionary definition) will be quotations from the writing of Dr. Jack Hayford III. (See December 5 Gleanings for information about him). His comments are taken from the Spirit Filled Life Bible; Kingdom Dynamics.

 

             “Isaiah 9: 6 contains reference to one of the greatest incomprehensible truths in the Bible:  the INCARNATION”.  According to Webster’s Dictionary “incarnate” means having a bodily nature and form; embodied in human form, personified.       “Incarnation” means “The act of incarnating or state of being incarnated.  JESUS is the embodiment of God in a human form.”

 

               “Along with that truth, Isaiah 9: 6 brings out one of the most beautifully poetic promises of the Messiah’s coming reign.  Yearly we recite the verse and hear it sung as we celebrate Christmas.  A Child is born…a Son is given.  God would become a man.  A newborn baby would be called MIGHTY GOD, EVERLASTING FATHER.

 

             “We can grasp that truth by faith, but we cannot fully grasp what it meant for the Second Person of the Godhead to shed His eternal state (that of being with His Father in Heaven) and to put on flesh.

 

             Philippians 2:7, 9 But He (Jesus) emptied Himself of His privileges, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and coming in the likeness of men.  Therefore God also has highly exalted him and given Him a Name which is above all names.”

 

              As WONDERFUL COUNSELOR, He has “inexhaustible wisdom”.

              As MIGHTY GOD, He is the “omnipotent One”.

              As EVERLASTING FATHER, He is “everywhere present”.

              As PRINCE OF PEACE, His reign will be characterized by “SHALOM, (which includes), health, well being, prosperity, happiness, and cessation of enmity.”

 

             Are you grasping the truth that the promised Messiah would be everything that anyone could want or ever need?  He IS the ALL-SUFFICIENT ONE, He is ALMIGHTY GOD!!  That calls for a loud HALLELUJAH!!  PRAISE THE LORD!!   

 Do I sound excited?? (Can it come through on the printed page?)  I trust it will!!

 

JESUS IS THE JOY of LIVING and it is HIS JOY THAT GIVES ME STRENGTH!!