Isaiah 9:6
~25 min read
TRANSCRIPT
Our text this morning will be from Isaiah 9:6. Let me read from Isaiah 9:1-6, “Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. 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.”
“Thou hast multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before thee according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. 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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”. Amen.
We stand at the brink of a new year. We look back at what has transpired in this year, 2023, and there have been some difficult times. We look forward to the year ahead, 2024, and we hope that things will be better. We hope that we can make some improvements. We hope that we will be better.
I think we quite commonly have this practice of making resolutions for the new year – things that we want to do, things that we want to accomplish, ways that we want to improve. But the future remains, humanly speaking, unpredictable. And just as we think of the upheavals that we have gone through in recent years, we know that things are unpredictable to us – we don't know what lies ahead.
And Israel, in the time of Isaiah, here in Isaiah 9, also was facing such a period – a time of upheaval, a time of great uncertainty, and a time of great fear. There was a threat of war, there was a threat of invasion, there was a threat of hostile takeover. The kingdom of Judah was under threat from the kingdom of Israel in the north and from the Syrians also. They had formed an alliance. They had formed a confederacy.
If we look back at Isaiah chapter 7:1, this message was given, “Rezin the king of Syria, and Pekah the son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up toward Jerusalem to war against it, but could not prevail against it” – there was this threat – “And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind” (Isaiah 7:1-2). They were afraid. They were very worried as they looked forward to the future.
There, in Isaiah 7, as we know, the nation – the house of David – was offered hope in this promise: the birth of a child born of a virgin. As we learned recently, this is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, born of the virgin Mary. This is, of course, the event that we remember at Christmas, towards the end of the year. This promise is fulfilled: the Lord has come. He has been born, He has lived a perfect life, He has died in our place as an atoning sacrifice, and He is risen and lives today. But it is important for us to see that what we remember at Christmas – the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ – has very deep implications for how we look ahead to the new year that is before us.
This promise to Israel was based on God's grand purpose for the nation and for the world. It is a sign not limited to that specific time and that specific crisis that the kingdom of Judah was experiencing there in the days of Isaiah. It is a sign extending back to the fall of man – the first gospel preached by God Himself – and extending forward to the Incarnation and beyond. It is a sign for us – a sign not limited to Israel only as a political entity. This is a sign, as it were, for the Israel of God, for all God's people. This child who is born is born for us – “unto us a son is given".
Even as we sit here this morning, if we are Christians, having trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, these things are given for us. Apart from Him – apart from the Lord – we have no hope, we have only a bleak future because of our sins; we have nothing to look forward to but judgment and condemnation. But in Him, in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have confidence, we have security, we have a joyful hope as we look to what lies ahead.
We want to see that this morning as we consider these names that are given by which this child, this “son”, is described. There are several names given here in this verse, Isaiah 9:6. We want to consider each one of these names briefly and see how, in each case, our view of Christ transforms our outlook so that we can really grasp the meaning of Christmas and see that what we remember there, the fact of the Incarnation, is something, not for us to leave behind, but something for us to carry with us as we go into the year ahead.
Christmas is not something that we just remember and then, “Oh, now it's New Year's,” and we forget all of that. It's something that we take with us. What we remember at Christmas helps us as we look to the year ahead. That's what we want to consider this morning.
I. Wonderful
So, let's look at these names: “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” – that's the first word that we see here, the first name: Wonderful. The word there means something to be wondered at, something marvellous – a wonder. It is used to describe the work of God. The work of God is described as wonderful.
We see this in Isaiah 29:14, God says, “Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid”. God's work is something wonderful. We see this also in the Psalms. In Psalm 78:12, “Marvellous things” – or wonderful things – “did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan”.
God's work is described as wonderful. The use of this term indicates that God's works, viewed as wonderful things – things that cause us to wonder – are meant to be pointers for us, to cause us to look to Him, to consider Him, and to contemplate Him. God's works declare Him to us. They reveal Him to us in His power, in His might, in His goodness, in His mercy, and in His sovereignty. As we see His wonderful works, we are drawn to see Him and to praise Him.
That's the point here in Psalm 78. The wonderful works of God are meant to declare Him to man. Psalm 78:4, “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done”. God's people speak of His wonderful works to others, to the next generation, to teach them: this is who God is. Look at the things that He has done. God is worthy of praise because of His marvellous, or wonderful, works. As we contemplate these wonderful things that God has done, we are drawn to praise Him, to obey Him, and to hope in Him.
The problem for Israel, again, as we see in this Psalm, is that they forgot God's wonders. Psalm 78:11, “And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them”. Marvellous things did He in the sight of their fathers – He divided the sea, and so on – but they forgot these things. Because they forgot His works, they forgot Him. They did not believe Him. They did not obey Him. They wandered away from God. Psalm 78:32, “For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works”.
So, this wonder in Scripture – the biblical usage of this term – is something that points us to God, reminds us of Him, and teaches us of Him. It is a window, if you like, into His transcendence. He is the transcendent God, infinitely high above us, but in His works we see Him, we know Him, we praise Him.
Here in Isaiah 9, this child, this Son that is born unto us, His name is Wonderful, He Himself is wonderful. His advent, His coming, is the most wonderful of all wonderful works, the greatest of all miracles. In Him, the transcendent wonder of God is made palpable, as it were.
You remember how the Apostle John describes it in 1 John, “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life” (1 John 1:1). John says, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you” (1 John 1:3). The wonderful work of God in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ – His name is Wonderful. In the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the Word made flesh for all to behold. In Him, we see God in all His fullness. In Him, all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. His name is Wonderful in the biblical sense of the word.
He is a picture, a pointer, a window to God, into a greater, higher, more blessed reality. His coming, his birth, is an invitation for us to participate in that blessed reality. We enter the kingdom of God through Him. We live, as it were, on a higher plane above the vanity of this world because now life has meaning and purpose. We know the One whose name is Wonderful, who has come to lift us out of this vain, meaningless, purposeless, and rebellious existence.
It is a revelation of God in transcendent majesty, come down to us in condescension and love, to lift us up to Himself, to be with Him for eternity in blessed and glorious fellowship. And that is this child, this son – unto us He is born; for our sakes. In this world full of darkness, we see this marvellous and great light – that this world is not all that there is, that our sin and our condemnation is not the end of the story. God has prepared for those who love Him, for those who come to Him in Christ, things more wonderful than we can imagine – great things. And all this we have through the Lord Jesus Christ.
And all this is in contrast to what we see around us in the world. The world is full of counterfeit wonders, things that draw us away from God, point us to the world, things that cause us to forget God, things that deceive. The world is full of things designed to distract us away from the true wonder, which is God, His will, His purpose, His plan of salvation, His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is what we find especially at this time of year. So quickly, the meaning of Christmas is forgotten. It's drowned out. So many, tonight, will be looking to the year ahead with no thought of the Lord Jesus Christ – counting down to what? They have forgotten the wonderful work of God. They have forgotten this child, this son, whose name is Wonderful. They don't think of Him anymore. The year ahead is devoid of meaning, devoid of purpose, devoid of true hope, devoid of true joy.
But for us who know the Lord, let us not forget: His name is Wonderful. The things that we see in the world are not truly wonderful. We must not let them distract us from the Lord Jesus. We must not let them turn us away from God. In this year ahead, we want to walk with Him, we want to walk in Him, we want Him to dwell in us, we want to abide in Him. As we look to the year ahead, let us look ahead in the recognition that we know the One whose name is Wonderful, who came to lift us out of this world.
Let us not spend our time in the year ahead distracted by the things of the world. Let us not spend our time setting our affection on the things that are on the earth. We know the One who is Wonderful. He must be our contemplation. He must be our focus in the year ahead.
II. Counsellor
Then, also here in Isaiah 9, “his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor”. The word “Counsellor” refers to the one who gives advice; it speaks of wisdom and understanding. This, of course, is necessary for the administration of the kingdom. This child, this son that is born, given – He comes to reign and to rule; the “government shall be upon his shoulder”. These names here describe His blessed rule and reign. They describe Him in His rule and reign.
The word “Counsellor” speaks of His wisdom in ruling and reigning. The government is upon His shoulder, and these are wise and perfect shoulders. He rules in wisdom, in understanding, in perfection, when He rules from the throne of David in Jerusalem.
This is what we read in Isaiah 11, “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 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: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth” (Isaiah 11:1-4).
This speaks of His wisdom and understanding, His righteousness in His rule and His reign. In Christ, in the Lord Jesus, are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And again, remember, this is for us, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” (Isaiah 9:6). The Lord Jesus is the revelation of God's wisdom. When we preach the gospel, the Apostle Paul reminds us, it is “Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24).
That is a reminder for us as we look ahead to the year ahead: that we have such a Counsellor. As we live under His rule, as we live in obedience to His will, as we serve Him and live under His direction, we are living according to His divine and perfect wisdom. We are walking in the best possible way when we live according to the law of God, when we live in obedience and service to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thus, just as the law of Moses given was Israel’s wisdom in the sight of all the nations – in Deuteronomy 4, this is what Israel was reminded, Deuteronomy 4:6, “Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people" – so, also for us, when we live under the lordship of Christ, seeking and obeying His will, we are living according to divine counsel. We are living according to true wisdom. The Lord Jesus gives us of His wisdom.
He gives us His Spirit to be our Counsellor, another Comforter, as He promised to His disciples, to abide with us forever. We have the Spirit of Christ with us, within us. That is our marvellous privilege as Christians. There is no more wandering through life lost and aimless and confused. We have divine counsel. We have a divine Counsellor. We are not wandering through life anymore. There is meaning and purpose. We seek His will, we do His will, we live according to His will. This is our encouragement and our responsibility: to abide in Him and to be guided and directed by Him, with His word abiding in us. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom” (Colossians 3:16), as we read in Scripture.
So let us look to the year ahead with this resolution: that we will not attempt to go our own way, but conscientiously, diligently, earnestly seek His will, live according to His counsel. He is the Counsellor. We do not counsel Him; He counsels us. He guides and directs us. We submit to Him and to His direction. We heed His voice as sheep heed the voice of the shepherd, and we obey Him. That is how we want to live in the year ahead. The Lord Jesus, whose birth we remember, is Counsellor. Let us seek His will and obey Him.
III. The Mighty God
Then also, the third name that we read here, “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God”. That, of course, is a reference to His deity. We’ve already seen in Isaiah 7:14, the virgin birth, God became man, the divine Word made flesh. He is Emmanuel, God with us.
We see this also in Isaiah 10:21, “The remnant shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the mighty God”. Israel will return to Him, Israel will embrace Him and live under His rule. This “son” – the Lord Jesus, the Messiah – who comes to reign, this child who is born, in other words, this son whose birth we remember at Christmas, is no mere Man. He is both God and Man. God incarnate, the Word made flesh.
There is an infinite distance between God and man. Man is the creature; God is the Creator. We are made in His image, but He is God, and we are not. He is utterly unique. There is none like unto Him, His ways are infinitely higher above our ways; His thoughts are infinitely higher above our thoughts. To fail to recognise this is to fall into our most primitive and deadly sin: to usurp God, to seek to be gods unto ourselves.
This gulf between God and man cannot be bridged by any mere man. We are sinful, we are fallen, we are unworthy. But the wonderful truth of the gospel, which we remember – the wonderful truth of God’s plan of salvation revealed to us in His Word, is that God came in the flesh, incarnate as a Man. The Second Person of the Trinity, the Mighty God, was made flesh to dwell among us – Emmanuel, God with us, to rescue and redeem us from our sins, to rule and reign over His blood-bought people.
This is the mightiest of mighty acts. It is not ‘might’ as we tend to think of it. We think of ‘might’ in terms of oppression, in terms of hardship, in terms of subjugation. But here, we see the King of kings, the Mighty God, who came to win His kingdom, not in the first place by trampling on His enemies, but by dying for them. That is the might that is displayed here: might united with mercy, great mercy. So, we look forward to what lies ahead, knowing that the mighty God is a merciful God who has shown mercy to us. We love Him; we want to serve Him and to live for Him.
He is the mighty God, but He has come so near to us in the Lord Jesus Christ, to bring us to be with Him. We have no right to demand these things. He is God, He is Creator; we are creatures. And yet, He, in condescension, in mercy, in love, has come to be with us, to bring us to be with Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what we remember when we see here that His name is “The mighty God”. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given… and his name shall be called... The mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6). How can those two things go together? Only in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That’s the wonderful thing that we remember in the gospel, and that’s what must guide us as we look ahead. The mighty God is in control of the future, and we know Him. We know Him intimately in the Lord Jesus Christ. He comes to be with us.
IV. The Everlasting Father
Then also, here in Isaiah 9:6, the next name, “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father”. This is perhaps, at first, a little bit difficult to understand, because we think of “Father” as a description of the First Person of the Trinity, God the Father. Here, we are speaking of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. How can the Lord Jesus be called Father?
I think we have to be careful to understand this description, this term, this name in context. God the Father is called Father inasmuch as He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our heavenly Father. We are adopted in Christ.
But the context here has to do with the rule and reign of Christ, “the government shall be upon his shoulder... and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father”. This name describes His rule and His reign. It describes what He is like in His rule and His reign; it describes His character as the King of kings; it describes the nature of His kingdom; it describes the experience of those who live under His rule and in submission to Him.
And it speaks of His wisdom in rule – He is the Counsellor, as we have seen already; He is not like a child, not immature. But it speaks also of his mercy and compassion in ruling His people – His benevolence. He is the everlasting Father in His rule over His people. It is a benevolent rule that He exercises, like the rule of a father, not the subjugation of a dictator. He doesn’t crush His people under His heel. He rules them wisely; He rules them benevolently. He cares for them; He loves them, and He rules them in love.
There is justice, there is righteousness, as we have seen already. Again, in Isaiah 11, for example, He will rebuke many people (reference to Isaiah 11:4). He rules in righteousness, but there is always that love, that mercy, that compassion. One commentator has compared this to the Lord’s description of Himself as the Good Shepherd. And I think there is a lot that is similar in the role of a shepherd and the role of a father. There is this wonderful, loving relationship between the Lord Jesus as the Good Shepherd and His sheep.
He laid down his life for His sheep, He loves His sheep, He gave Himself for them. His people – the Church, the body of Christ, the bride of Christ – He purchased with His own blood. So, His rule over us is truly a perfect rule. It’s not something for us to chafe against. It’s not something that we are reluctant to submit to. It’s not something like a heavy and burdensome yoke that we are eager to throw off. It’s something we submit to most willingly and most joyfully. He is our Good Shepherd. He is ruling and leading and guiding us like a father.
And His kingdom will be forever. He is the everlasting Father. It speaks of something that continues and endures perpetually. It’s the same word that is used in Isaiah 57:15, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,” – this is the same word as ‘everlasting’ – “whose name is Holy”. He is the everlasting Father. “Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end” (Isaiah 9:7). His kingdom is forever, and those who live under His rule will enjoy this blessed, wise, and benevolent rule forever and ever. There will be no end to the blessedness that we enjoy under the rule and reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we, as Christians, have the most wonderful privilege to be a part of this even now – to be in God’s kingdom now through the Lord Jesus Christ, and to experience this wise and benevolent rule as we seek and obey the will of the Lord Jesus.
V. The Prince of Peace
Then we have this final and beautiful name, “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”. This is something that surely resonates with us at this time. There are wars in many places around the world. Peace is something that everyone is talking about, everyone is longing for.
But peace, we know, must begin with a right relationship with God. There is no peace in the world because fallen and sinful man has no peace with God. Sin brings us into enmity with God. Sin brings us into conflict with one another. Sin causes our lives to be full of anxiety. We are cut off from God. It is because of sin that we have no peace. No peace in our hearts as we look to the year ahead, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ – we are worried, we are concerned, we are fearful. No peace because of sin. No peace among us. No peace. There is conflict, strife, division, discord. There is envy, there is anger. No peace in the world – wars and rumours of wars – because of sin.
But we see in the Word of God that true peace comes through the Lord Jesus Christ, only through Him – the Messiah, the Prince of Peace. And the peace that He brings is comprehensive: peace with God, peace within, peace with one another. Peace, because the very source of strife and conflict has been dealt with. Sin has been dealt with, forgiven, removed through the Lord Jesus, who gave Himself for our sins.
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1). This peace here speaks of that condition of wholeness, completeness, fulfilment, a satisfaction of all that we are meant to be. That is peace in this sense. It’s not just something subjective, temporary, or fleeting. Not something that comes and goes. It is a completion of who we are in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is all that we are meant to be in Him.
We have this peace. It is restored to us through the Messiah, through the Lord Jesus Christ. What was lost at the Fall is restored in fullness – the blessing of fellowship and communion with God. We can walk with God in the year ahead because we know the Prince of Peace, and in Him, we have peace with God.
Remember again, the context here in Isaiah is the context of war. Ephraim, the northern kingdom, and Syria coming against Judah – no peace in the land, no peace in the hearts of the people. Moved like the trees, moved by the wind. And this is not just war, but civil war – the northern kingdom and the southern kingdom, Ephraim and Judah. That’s human nature: civil war; friends, brothers at enmity with one another. But there is peace in the Prince of Peace. He holds the reins, as it were, bringing peace. He is the Prince of Peace. He establishes peace and reigns in peace. And under His rule, there will be peace in all the world – not until then, but then it will come.
Isaiah 2:2-4 is a familiar verse, a verse that even the world refers to. They only look at the second part, mostly, “and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isaiah 2:4b). And they just focus on that, and that is their hope – but that is a hope hanging on thin air, there is nothing to ground it. Who will bring this about? Not you, not me, not anyone on this earth. Who will do this? Only the Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 2:2-4a, “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD'S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people” – then there will be peace, when the Lord Jesus comes to establish His rule, His kingdom on earth. That’s a blessed hope for us.
Surely, as we look to the year ahead, there are tensions and hostilities in the world today and in our own lives that may seem completely intractable. There are knotty problems that it seems no one can solve. There are conflicts that have lasted for centuries and generations, and no one knows how to deal with it. Many solutions are proposed, but nothing can be done. The roots of the conflict go so deep. Who can solve these problems? Who can bring peace to a world like this?
And in our own lives, also, we experience this – conflict, distress. And it seems we can do nothing about it, everything we try just makes things worse. Peace seems like a dream, a phantom, something unattainable; until we look to the Prince of Peace, until we cling to Him, until we go to Him, trust in Him, and abide in Him, then we have peace. And then we can look to the year ahead in the genuine and grounded hope of peace because we know the Prince of Peace.
And really, as I think we have seen, the import of all these names is to draw us to live joyfully, willingly, in consecrated submission to Him – to the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him whose name is Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. These names, when we understand them, draw us to Him, to place our lives in His hands, to submit ourselves to Him, and to live under His rule.
We look forward to the time when the Lord Jesus will come and establish His rule and His reign on earth. We pray, “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). We look forward to that, but we must see that as Christians, we experience that even now. We have a foretaste. We have a token, something real that we experience now when He is Lord of our lives, when He rules and reigns in our hearts.
When we know the one who is Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace, when we know Him as our King, then we have all these blessings. “Unto us a child is born” – why will we reject Him? Why will we push Him away? Why will we not embrace Him as our Lord and our King, our Saviour and our Lord?
We look ahead to a future that lies in the hands of our sovereign God. All things will work out according to His purpose. We don’t know what lies ahead, but He knows. He has determined, He has ordained, and purposed all things according to His good, holy, wise, and sovereign purpose. The future is in His hands, and we look forward to a future that is held in the hands of a God who loves us, who has come to redeem us, who rules us and over rules all things for our good.
So, if we want to look forward to the year ahead with hope, with peace, with joy, we must look forward to the year with the Lord Jesus reigning in our hearts. That’s the only way for us to have confidence and hope in the year ahead. It is when the Lord Jesus reigns in our lives and our hearts.
Again, this is a description of the King of kings. This is a description of His kingdom. We must reflect that description if we belong to Him, if we live in His kingdom. That’s the Christian hope. That’s the Christian life. And that is what must characterise our lives as Christians now, and in the year ahead. As long as the Lord tarries, we must live under His rule and reign. The Lord Jesus comes to reign, and we live under His reign now. May the Lord help us to live faithfully, joyfully, submissively under the reign of the King of kings. Let us close with a word of prayer.
Our gracious Father in heaven, how we thank and praise You for our Lord Jesus Christ. “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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). And we know Him, our Lord Jesus Christ. We remember His birth, His life, His death, His resurrection.
We pray that You would help us to remember the Lord Jesus even as we look to the year ahead, that the Lord will reign in our hearts, the heart of each one here. Lord, we pray, if there are any who have not trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, any who are worried, concerned, fearful because of their sins that have not been dealt with, we pray that You would draw such souls to the Saviour to find salvation and life, forgiveness of sins through the Lord Jesus Christ.
For all of us, we pray that you would help us faithfully, joyfully, to submit to You, to submit to the Lord, submit to His rule and reign in our lives, and that You would help us to seek and to do Your will as we search the Scriptures. We pray You would help us to look ahead with the confidence that comes from knowing that we are Your servants, and we are doing Your will. We are seeking and obeying Your law and Your commands. We pray that You would help us in this and be merciful even to use us in the year ahead, that we may glorify Your name, that we may speak Your praise to all who are around us, that the world may see and know this is our wisdom in the sight of all the nations.
We live under the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ, who will one day reign from Jerusalem. We pray and long for that day, but until then, we pray You will help us to live under His rule even now as He reigns in our hearts. We commit all this into Your hands and seek Your blessing on each one of us, on this church, in the year ahead. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
THE BOOK OF ISAIAHWhat Lies AheadWhat Lies AheadIsaiah 9:6
The Man Of SorrowThe Man Of SorrowIsaiah 53:1-12
Man of SorrowsMan of SorrowsIsaiah 53:1-12
Righteousness of the RedeemedRighteousness of the RedeemedIsaiah 54:11-17
