In Isa. 9:6,7 we have one of the most complete prophecies concerning our Lord that is to be found in the Old Testament. "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. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."

"Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given." In these two expressions we see the humanity and the deity of our Saviour. The child born refers to His humanity. He came into the world as the virgin’s Son, as seen earlier in this book (7:14). He was a true man, spirit, soul, and body, as born of Mary, but without a human father. He was also the eternal Son of the Father who had come from the glory that He had with the Father from all the past eternity, given in grace for our redemption. He linked His deity with our humanity apart from its sin, and thus was God and man in one blessed adorable person.

"The government shall be upon His shoulder." He is destined to exercise supreme rule over all the universe. It has often been noticed that when the Good Shepherd found the lost sheep He put it upon His shoulders (plural), whereas here the government of the entire world is said to rest upon His shoulder (singular). There is surely a beautiful suggestion in the use of the plural in Luke 15 of the security of those who have put their trust in Him.

"His name shall be called Wonderful." It may be that we should link together the two words "Wonderful" and "Counsellor," but if we separate them we may see in this first word a suggestion of the mystery of His Sonship which no man can apprehend, as He tells us in Matt. 11:27, and as we also learn from Rev. 19:12. Under this name "Wonderful" He appeared of old to the parents of Samson (Judg. 13:18 JND). As we read the divinely inspired records of His lowly birth, His sinless life, His vicarious death, and His glorious resurrection, we find our hearts exclaiming again and again, "Is He not wonderful!" He stands supreme, above all the sons of men, the blessed, adorable Son of God, His heart touched with the feeling of our infirmities. His grace is manifested in a thousand ways. His loving kindness reaches down to the utterly lost and depraved. His name is Wonderful because He Himself is wonderful and also because of the work which He accomplished.

He is also called "Counsellor." This is because He comes to us as the revealer of the Father’s will. That is what is implied in His divine title, "The Word." It is by the Word that God makes known His mind; and the Lord Jesus, who was with the Father from the beginning_that is, when everything that ever had beginning began_came into this scene to make God known. So in Him the Father has spoken out all that is in His heart. His words make known to us the path of life and show us the only safe way for a pilgrim people to travel through a world of sin. As the eternal Word He is the revealer of the mind and heart of God, come to earth not only to show us the way to the Father, but also to empower us that we may walk in a manner well pleasing to the One who has redeemed us.

He is "The mighty God." Some would seek to tone this down in order to make Him less than the words imply, but Christ is similarly referred to as "God" in Romans 9:5 and 1 John 5:20. Even when here on earth He was just as truly God as He was man, and as truly man as He was God. He could not have made atonement for sin otherwise. He had to be who He was in order to do what He did.

"The everlasting Father." A better rendering would be "The Father of Eternity," or as some have suggested, "The Father of the Coming Age." The Son is not to be confounded with the Father, though He and the Father are one (John 10:30). But He is the One in whom all the ages meet (Heb. 1:2, margin); therefore, He is rightfully designated, "The Father of the Ages," or "The Father of Eternity."

"The Prince of Peace." As such He was presented to the world and heralded by angels (Luke 2:14); but because of His rejection there can be no lasting peace for Israel or the nations until He comes again. Then He will be manifested as the One who will speak peace to all peoples (Isa. 32:1-18). Meantime, since He made peace by the blood of His cross, all who put their trust in Him have peace with God; and as we learn to commit to God in prayer all that would naturally trouble or distress, peace fills our hearts and controls our lives.

"Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David." God made a covenant with David that his Son should sit upon his throne and reign in righteousness forever (2 Sam. 7:12-16; Jer. 23:5,6). This has not yet been fulfilled. When the forerunner of our Lord was born, his father, Zacharias, declared that God had raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David (Luke 1:69). These prophetic declarations make clear that David’s throne was to be established forever, and that he should never be without a man to sit upon that throne. Our Lord, on His mother’s side, was from the line of David, and because of her marriage to Joseph, who was heir to the throne, the throne-rights passed to Jesus. But He has never taken His seat upon the throne of David:this awaits His second coming. He declared through His servant, John, "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne" (Rev. 3:21). He is sitting now at the right hand of the Majesty on high, on the throne of Deity. Soon He will return in glory and will take His own throne, which is really the throne of David, and will reign in righteousness over all the earth. This verse (Isa. 9:7) will have its fulfillment literally, for "the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."

(Reprinted from Expository Notes on the Prophet Isaiah.)