Week 27 Isaiah 9
It was 27-degrees Celsius & sunny in the Hat yesterday and I thought about Christmas.
I thought about Christmas because Handel wrote Handel’s Messiah and part of that included Isaiah 9. Every Christmas I hear The Messiah sung: for unto us a child is born…unto us…a son is given…unto us…a son is given. Every Christmas. Handel. Isaiah 9.
I’m pretty sure Handel thought that Isaiah 9 referred to Jesus.
By contrast I’m not sure what Isaiah thought when he wrote it. What kind of idea did he have about who the son was?
I look at the titles/names Isaiah gave the son:
Wonderful Counselor
Mighty God
Everlasting Father
Prince of Peace
I guess that within his own framework Isaiah could have imagined a future Wonderful-Counselor & Prince-of-Peace. With titles like that the son would have to be an exceptionally talented guy. But he’d still be in the Talented Guy category.
The other two titles wouldn’t be so manageable. What to do with Mighty-God & Everlasting-Father? If an exceptionally-talented-guy’s resume also included being Mighty-God & Everlasting-Father then he wouldn’t exactly fit the Talented Guy category. A Talented Guy – no matter how qualified – is still a guy. Isaiah’s ‘son-who-is-given’ is a Talented Guy (with a lot of natural talent) but he also has those added remarkable talents & competencies.
According to Isaiah he’s still a son. Still a Talented Guy. But a guy who also has inordinate & extra-dimensional potentialities.
Note: quote from Isaiah 9:6 (KJV)