THE WAY IT WAS
First-Person Sermons by the Rev. Carl W. Berner, Jr.
1. THE OLD TESTAMENT'S EVANGELIST – the Testimony of Isaiah the Prophet
A prophecy heavy with mystery and meaning
– the historical setting
– Matthew's inspired application
- "A Child is born, a Son is given" – Immanuel!
Isaiah's call and empowering
The Child with Four Names
– Wonderful Counselor
- a Redeemer, not just an Advisor
– Mighty God
- humble to become one of us
- mighty in victory for us
– Everlasting Father
- in love he made us his children
– Prince of Peace
- a unique gift from a unique Prince
The timeless power of Christmas and its Christ
Some 800 years B.C. – that is, Before Christmas, Before Christ – inspired by the Holy Spirit I brought a prophetic message to my king. It was a message weighty with mystery and meaning. It spoke to the king's need – but even then I sensed that it had a greater significance.
At that time, my people of Judah were threatened by enemies from the north. The kings of Syria and Israel had boasted that they would invade Judah, tear it apart, and divide it between them. But the Lord sent me to Ahaz, king of Judah, with assurance that this would not happen, and with encouragement for him to stand firm in faith. Through me the Lord invited Ahaz to ask him for a sign to validate his promise – but King Ahaz, in false humility, said he would not put the Lord to the test. The Spirit of God stirred within me and led me to say, "Then the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."
By the way, let me introduce myself. I am Isaiah of Jerusalem, prophet of the Lord from 800 years before Christ. I served as God's spokesman during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Because the Lord blessed me with wonderful prophecies about the promised Messiah and his Messianic Kingdom I am often called The Old Testament's Evangelist.
The words the Holy Spirit spoke to King Ahaz through me were to assure him that the threat against his kingdom would pass away, for he continued, "Before the boy known enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste by the king of Assyria." Centuries later, however, the disciple of Jesus named Levi or Matthew, in that document you have come to know as The Gospel according to St. Matthew, picked up on my prophecy and pointed to its deeper, ultimate meaning – a meaning that involved not just the rescue of Judah but of all humanity.
Matthew was telling about the birth of Jesus Christ, and about the consternation of Joseph when he learned that his betrothed, Mary, was pregnant. The Christmas angel came to assure him that Mary had not been unfaithful to him – but what was conceived in her was from the Holy Spirit. She would give birth to a son, and Joseph was to give him the name JESUS because he would save his people from their sins. Then Matthew keyed in on my prophecy to write: "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: 'The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel' – which, as Matthew explained, means 'God with us.'"
Matthew saw that my prophetic words really were a prophecy of Christmas! And he was right on! Matthew was pointing to the One about whom I had prophesied when the Spirit led me to proclaim: "To us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this."
I believe it is fair and honest and accurate to say that everything that followed in Matthew's Gospel – the miraculous Virgin Birth of Jesus, his life of perfect love and obedience, his mighty miracles, his matchless sermons, his deeds of love and mercy, and especially his sacrificial death on the cross, followed by his death-smashing victory on Easter morning – can be called the story of Immanuel. This Jesus is God with us! He's God for us, God one of us, God living within us. He's God under us, God supporting us, God loving us, God standing with us. He's God holding our hands, God healing us, God saving us, God rescuing, redeeming, and restoring us, God joining us to his Father as dear children.
I believe that, in his wisdom and power, God came down in Christ Jesus to be Immanuel for people of every time and place. I experienced him in a heavenly vision while I was worshiping in the temple. I saw the Lord on his throne, surrounded by his holy angels. I heard their song of praise: "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." The vision immediately made me realize my phoniness, my sinfulness, my total unworthiness. My first response was: "Woe to me! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty." But in his grace our great God had an angel take a coal of hot fire from the altar and touch my lips with it. It didn't hurt. I wasn't burned. By grace my lips were purified. I was empowered by the Spirit of God to proclaim the Lord's mighty Word. Over the years the Lord granted me visions that wonderfully portrayed the ministry of the Messiah, the Christ, eight centuries before Christmas ever happened. Some of your Bible teachers have said that it is as though I was actually there in person – in Bethlehem when he was born, at Calvary's cross when he died, at the tomb on Easter Sunday when he arose from the dead.
For example, the Holy Spirit proclaimed through me that the promised Child would have "the government on his shoulder." That surely means that all of God's ruling authority would be his – and it surely indicates that his would be very broad, very strong , shoulders indeed. I hope you take this truth very personally, so you can say that the governing power in your own life now rests on his shoulder. That's what you pray for when you say, "Thy kingdom come." Build your life on anyone else's shoulders and you will find that they are soft shoulders that will let you down. But the divine authority and power of the Christ are a sure foundation on which to build now and forever.
The Holy Spirit gave me four interesting names for the Christ: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Jesus Christ lived up to every one of them.
As Wonderful Counselor he is like no other counselor in the whole world. He didn't just give us advice. He willingly took on himself our problems, our shame, our guilt, our sickness, our sin, our rottenness. And, as God laid on him the iniquity of us all, just as I prophesied, he took also our punishment. In the Spirit, I wrote: "He was wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities." I happily proclaimed the Good News: "With his stripes we are healed." He lovingly accepted all our worst and, in exchange, gives us all his best: his righteousness, his holiness, his perfection, his love. Hundreds of years later Dr. Martin Luther called our Lord's unique counseling The Blessed Exchange.
He is Wonderful Counselor. No one else knows you as he knows you. No one else loves you as he loves you. No one else forgives you as he forgives you. No one else can restore you as he restores your soul. Yes, by God's grace, I was right on target – a bull's-eye from 800 years away!
The Christ is also Mighty God. This involves concepts far beyond our ability to father. Think of it: Mighty God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the One who placed the stars in space, in his coming at Christmas clutched the straw of the manger with a tiny baby hand. As the Psalmist wrote, "Such things are too wonderful for us; it is high; we cannot attain it."
Mighty God, the meek Child of Christmas, grew up to be mighty in battle as for us he took on all the enemies of God and man and, as Paul put it in Colossians, "made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross." Because Mighty God won the victory for us we may see him as Mighty in mercy, Mighty in love, Mighty in Word, Mighty in deed, Mighty in victory – Mighty in every way. Nothing in the world is too hard for him; nothing is impossible for him. He is perfectly qualified and able to be your Savior from sin, your Helper in every one of your need.
His name is also Everlasting Father. This was a very special insight which the Holy Spirit gave to me. I am the only one in the entire Old Testament to call the Lord "Father". No one else of that era dared to, for we believed that we could not get that close to him. We were afraid even to speak his name, Yahweh, so we would refer to him as Adonai, the Lord. Really, it is only through Jesus Christ's being Everlasting Father as our Savior that you are now able to call God "Father."
Jesus, as you know, was always talking about his Father – his Father this, his Father that, his Father's house, his Father's business. When he went to the cross he prayed, "Father, forgive them." When he arose from the dead he told his disciples, "I am going now to my Father and to your Father." When he taught us to pray he invited us to say "Our Father." All of his saving work could be describes as his bringing us to his heavenly Father, making us members of his own family.
In the last book of your Bible Jesus is called "A Faithful Witness." A witness is one who mirrors the truth. And so closely did Jesus reflect his Father that he could say, "I and my Father are one," and could tell Philip, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father." So also in this the Holy Spirit had me right on target.
Finally, he is also Prince of Peace. Jesus gives a unique and special kind of peace, a peace which only he can give. We look in vain if we look for true peace in the temporary possessions and associations this world offers. Paul described it: "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." He called it "the peace of God which transcends all human understanding." And I suppose you might add that it goes way beyond all misunderstanding. As you look ahead to Christmas I urge you to think of Bethlehem as "God's Peace Palace." Look there, in the manger in the stable, for the Prince of Peace.
That's what Christmas is all about. There is a timeless power in Christmas for God's people. You see, Christmas meant as much to us who lived and believed God's promises some 800 years before Christ as it does to you who live almost 2000 years after the promise was fulfilled. The straw of the manger and the beams of the cross and the emptiness of the tomb are found in my prophetic writings. Indeed, they reached all the way back to Adam – and they reach ahead to the last person who will be born on this earth. They reach to the east, the west, the north, the south. They reach all the way from heaven above to the earth below. They are reaching out right now also to you. They break down every barrier that separates people from God and people from other people. Sin, death, hell, all evil and prejudice and hatred and fear and selfishness – all must flee before him who is Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
As the Old Testament's Evangelist I prophesied the Good News of salvation in Christ centuries before it found its fulfillment in his coming. I lived by faith in what lay ahead. You live in a time when the Good News I foretold has become "the old, old story of Jesus and his love." Don't be mistaken, though. The Christ of Christmas truly is the Contemporary of every generation. Receive him again in your time, your place, your heart and home – and your celebration of Christmas will be your best ever.
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