An Unusual Name

[0:00] Tell us about the meaning of your family name. My name is Robert McIntyre from Belshill Baptist Church.

[0:11] The meaning of the family name is the son of the carpenter, reaching back through Scottish history to the kingdom of Dalriada, which was part of the old Strathclyde region.

[0:25] What is the most unusual name someone you know has? The most unusual name of someone I know, or perhaps uncommon, is Orenie, who is my daughter-in-law.

[0:42] Her name comes from the French and late Roman name Renatus, meaning born again, to which she is, and we give the Lord the glory.

[0:53] When you think about the names attributed to Jesus in Isaiah 9-6, which is your favourite and why?

[1:05] Out of the four names from Isaiah 9-6, wonderful counsellor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, my choice of name would be everlasting Father.

[1:23] Like an earthly child is a debtor to his parent, and owes him honour and obedience. I owe my heavenly, everlasting Father my life, for he died for me.

[1:38] Amen. Well, folks, let me pray and then open God's word. Heavenly Father, thank you for all that you do.

[1:54] Thank you that you've made yourself known to us through Jesus Christ. I pray that each and every one of us would know you by your word, that you've revealed yourself, you've spoken to us through your word, and that you've made yourself known to us through your Son, Jesus.

[2:16] And Lord, I pray that each and every one of us would see, not just in the birth of Jesus, but as he hung up on the cross, we would see the greatness of your love to us.

[2:36] That you were the one that reached down. That you were the one that came into our darkness. Even while we were enemies to you, while we did not know you, we didn't care to know you, you gave your Son out of love to free us from the darkness, to save us from our own sin and death, to offer us hope of forgiveness and eternal life in Jesus.

[3:10] And I thank you that many of us here know this, and experience this, and have this hope in the face of death, that we will rise again because of Christ, that we do not carry the burden of guilt.

[3:23] And we are not weighed down by darkness, but we live in the light. And I pray that we would all know that in Jesus. In his name we pray. Amen.

[3:34] Amen. Well, today we are looking at the most unusual name.

[3:48] Names are part of our identity, aren't they? You might ask, does your name determine who you are? Or does who you are determine your name?

[3:59] For instance, in the Bible, there was a man named Isaac. He had twins, Esau and Jacob. And Esau in Hebrew means hairy. What a shame, eh?

[4:11] Imagine being called hairy. It's the kind of school nickname that you didn't want, isn't it? So in that case, he determined his name because he was a hairy little fella.

[4:23] And Esau's younger twin brother was called Jacob because he came out grabbing Esau's heel. And Jacob in Hebrew comes from the word heel. And in that case, what he did determined his name.

[4:37] But in a sense, his name determined who he was. At various points in his life, he was a heel grabber, wasn't he? Trying to be the firstborn, later trying to grab the birthright from his big brother.

[4:51] Until God intervened, he lived up to his name. And most of us now, most of us get our names, or at least our surnames, from the occupations of our forefathers.

[5:02] But what does our name say of us? Whether it's your first name or your second name, what does your name say about you? And do you let your name determine who you are?

[5:13] Or do you determine what you're called? Names are part of our identity. They can reflect a characteristic or mark an event or an occupation.

[5:24] And often in the Bible, they reveal some part of God's plan. Abraham was named such because he would become the father of nations. Isaiah, the prophet that we're in today, his son was named Sheer-Jeshub because that name means a remnant shall return.

[5:45] Samuel, the prophet, was named such because his mother prayed to God for a son. And his name comes from the term God hears.

[5:57] Shema El. So, that's relating to God here in her petition. And that's where his name comes from, Samuel.

[6:08] And Jesus, Jesus was named Jesus because his name means deliverer or rescuer. And as the angel said, he shall be called Jesus for he will save us from our sins.

[6:21] He will save people from their sins. But some names nowadays, some names are very odd and unusual, aren't they? Frank Zappa named his child Moon Unit.

[6:33] I don't know why. Chris Martin of Coldplay named his child Apple. George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, he named his child Everest.

[6:46] Imagine that in the delivery room. What does a child weigh? What does Everest weigh? Imagine giving birth to Everest. Well, ironically, perhaps that's why the child was born of a surrogate.

[7:01] But perhaps the most ridiculous name of all back in March and I kid you not, a couple in India had twins and they named them COVID and Corona.

[7:17] COVID and Corona. Seriously. Another couple in India called their child Sanitiser. You know, but there are reasons.

[7:28] They said this because it marked this great event and they said that they named their child Sanitiser because Sanitisers are saving lives or something. I don't think Sanitisers saving people from their sins though.

[7:44] Well, today we're in a passage that is a famous Advent passage, Isaiah 9-6. And much ink has been spilled over this, much debate over who this is talking about and what it's saying.

[7:57] An important thing to consider as well is that this verse doesn't come in isolation. sorry, say that again.

[8:13] Come up a bit closer, can you? Yeah, absolutely. So she asked if anything in the Bible has been proven so far. Absolutely. and I'd be delighted to send you some stuff or talk to you later.

[8:27] But we can absolutely trust the Bible whether it's the places, the names, the people, the events. There's more, someone said there's an embarrassment of riches when it comes to the evidence, the historical evidence for the things that happened both in the Old Testament and the New Testament.

[8:47] And it's really, it's a good question, you know, because we want to know can we trust this? There's all these voices, you know, the government, can we trust anything the government are saying? Can we trust people?

[9:00] It's a good question. That's right, that's right, it's like a conspiracy. It's like a rabbit hole, you know, people go down. And we really want to know, can we trust this?

[9:12] Otherwise, the words are meaningless. And I'd love to share more with you if you want to ask more questions later or whatever. We can really, really trust the Bible, really, really trust it.

[9:24] And I'm not just saying that as a Christian, many, many people have tested this and put it to the test. Over 2,000 years, many people have debated over it. We can trust the Bible.

[9:35] And I'd love to talk more about that another time. So, we're in the Bible, we're in the Old Testament, Isaiah 9, 6. The verse has a context, it's part of a much larger prophetic body.

[9:48] This came around 700 years before Jesus was born. And this prophet was preaching in Judah and Israel. And he's in this situation where there's this other nation trying to overrun.

[10:01] So, let us read Isaiah 9, 6, and then we'll see how it fits into the bigger historical picture of what was going on. Isaiah 9, 6 says, For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulders, and he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

[10:28] Now, when Isaiah says unto us, the us in question, first is the people of Judah. It's the people of this nation, Judah, that this child is born for.

[10:42] The prophets were led by the Spirit of God to speak the Word of God, and specifically to speak the Word of God, considering his promises that he'd already made.

[10:53] See, God had made promises long and long ago to the forefathers like Abraham, Moses, David. God had made promises to give Abraham a land, to make for Abraham a great nation and a great name, and that happened.

[11:11] He promised that this nation as it was grown would be enslaved by Egypt, which it was, but God raised up Moses to rescue them, and God made a covenant, he made a promise with the people, but no sooner had he made that promise than the people broke it.

[11:26] So Moses begged God to forgive them. God so angry, even offered to give Moses a great nation, but God relented, forgave the people, and he stuck to his promise because God is faithful to his promises.

[11:41] Then God chose David out of this nation to be the king. He was the chosen king to rule over this nation, and God made a promise and a covenant with David that David, his throne would be established forever, his kingdom would be established forever.

[11:58] forever. And by the time the prophets come on the scene, the nation has been divided, it's been split up, shot to bits, and they are coming to bring the people and the kings back to God and back to the promises and back to the covenant.

[12:13] See, the prophets aren't just people that make predictions, they're speaking God's word concerning the promises that he made in the past. They're trying to draw people back to the covenant, and they're trying to show, nevertheless, that God always fulfills his covenants and his promises.

[12:29] And by the time we get to Isaiah, 700 years before Jesus, there's this empire in the north, the Assyrian empire, and they're coming down and putting pressure and they're going to overrun Syria and Israel.

[12:42] So Syria and Israel team up for protection and they try and put pressure on Judah to join them against Assyria. But Judah is not for having it. See, God made a promise to David of an everlasting throne and kingdom and that it would be through Judah.

[13:00] So Judah should trust God and not fear this coming empire. But the king of Judah at the time was a man named Ahaz.

[13:11] Now, Ahaz is not a good egg. He was not a good king. And this is who Isaiah is preaching to. Now, Ahaz is afraid of Israel and Syria. These two northern nations they're putting pressure on and they're saying, if you don't join us, we're going to destroy you.

[13:27] And Ahaz is terrified. He should be trusting in God, but what he does instead, he strips the temple of the gold and silver and he sends it to the king of Assyria for protection.

[13:39] See, he's not going to collude with these for protection over Assyria, but he's not going to trust God either. He's going to go to Assyria and give them the riches of the temple for protection. And back in Isaiah 7, the virgin birth, Isaiah said that a sign would be given that a boy would be born and that before he was old enough to tell right from wrong, Israel and Syria would be swallowed up.

[14:04] But Ahaz didn't trust God. He would rather trust an Assyrian empire. because in Isaiah's day, although Ahaz is the king of Judah, the line of David, it's obvious by now to the people of Judah, this Ahaz is not the guy.

[14:21] So God promised that this king would come, the people know it's not Ahaz because he's a bad egg. So when Isaiah says, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, it's a hope.

[14:37] it's a hope to the people for a better king than they already have. Not the current one. It's like when the wise men came to Herod and said, where is this king of the Jews that's born?

[14:52] And Herod's like, wait a minute, I thought I was the king. No, there's a better king, there's a new king coming. And that's what this, unto us a child is born and a son is given, that's what it means to the people.

[15:03] Ahaz is not the guy, a son's been born, child's been born and a son is given, a son of David, a better king. God is keeping his promise and it's not through Ahaz, it's through this one.

[15:16] So the big question is, who is this one? And isn't that what we want to hear? See, we need a word of hope when things are going wrong, when the kingdom's not been run right, when there's no justice in the world.

[15:31] A miracle happened. When the government is not doing what you would hope it would do, we need a new ruler. We need hope, hope of a better world, hope of a better kingdom.

[15:46] A child is born. See, this is what we want to hear, whether it's like the elections in America, we grow weary of the failures of our own kingdom and government.

[16:00] And Isaiah is saying, this is him. You're not stuck with Ahaz. God remembers his promises. Don't worry about the failures of this one because a child is born, a better king is coming. Not Ahaz, another.

[16:13] Not the current king, a better one. The virgin-born son, that's the one who's given. And some say that Ahaz had a son called Hezekiah. And some say that the prophecy is talking about him.

[16:27] And let me tell you, Hezekiah was a brilliant king. He was a great king. Hezekiah took over from Ahaz and he did the will of God.

[16:40] He did not fear other nations. He trusted God. He took away the idol worship. He ruled with justice. The kingdom was great in Hezekiah's day. His courage in the face of crisis to trust God, pray to God to keep them safe was well noted.

[16:58] And when Assyria swallowed up Israel, later tried to invade Judah, Hezekiah prayed to God. He listened to Isaiah and he basically gave the nation a battle cry.

[17:12] Do any of you know what the battle cry of Hezekiah was? Emmanuel. That's what it was. He says, do not fear for God is with us.

[17:23] That's what he said. And God was. And Assyria gets sent home packing. And the king of Assyria get killed by his own two sons. They did not win because God was with them.

[17:36] Hezekiah was a great king. He really looked like he was the one, the true king of David. The child in Isaiah 9. But there are some problems in the passage that we're in.

[17:48] See, it's not just one prophecy, it's many prophecies building a bigger picture of who the Messiah, who the Christ, who the chosen king would be. even in this verse there are things that cannot be applied to Hezekiah.

[18:02] See, can he really be called mighty God? Can he really be called everlasting father and prince of peace? can we say of his government that there would be no end or his peace that there would be no end or that he will establish his kingdom and uphold it from this time forevermore?

[18:21] That didn't happen. Hezekiah died. He was neither mighty God nor did his reign or peace or kingdom last. He died and another king came and filled the nation up with sin again.

[18:34] See, Isaiah would go on to say that the promised one would be a shoot coming out of the stump of Jesse. But Judah hadn't been cut down yet. The promised one would come out of a stump like a shoot.

[18:47] And further on, Isaiah says that the promised one would be pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities. That the promised one would bear the sins of many and make an offering for guilt.

[19:01] Did Hezekiah do that? No. Now I do think various aspects were partially fulfilled in Hezekiah but clearly he's not the one. He's not the one.

[19:13] He's not the child of this prophecy. So when Judah was eventually taken into Israel, exile, Judah was cut down. It was taken captive by the Babylonians.

[19:24] It was cut down like a stump. And God's promise to establish the house of David with one of his offspring looked like it had been cut down. It looks cut off and dead now.

[19:36] So here's the question. How do we know that Jesus is the child in Isaiah 9? Because Matthew places him here. Well, because he's the child in Isaiah 7, born of a virgin.

[19:52] Because when the line of David seemed like a dead stump, he was the shoot that rose up out of the line of David. See, Matthew says he is the light that walked in Galilee.

[20:03] He's the light that dawned in Galilee in Isaiah 9, 1 and 2. He's the servant in Isaiah 53 whose death is an offering for guilt. He's the one who is crushed for the sins of others and whose righteousness is accounted to many.

[20:20] No one else but Jesus fills that. And unlike any of the other kings or men of the line of David, he is the one who can carry the title of wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father and prince of peace, because he is God incarnate.

[20:36] He is Emmanuel, God with us. He's the very eternal son of God and the word made flesh. See, the term wonderful counselor means wonder, not just something nice but something absolutely extraordinary like the wonders of the world.

[20:53] His counsel is like no other, completely unusual. I don't know if you remember in his life, this is what people said of him in John 7. See, the supposed experts in the scriptures, the Pharisees and chief priests, they sent officers to arrest Jesus but they came back and said, never has a man spoken like this man.

[21:16] Never. Never ever has a man spoken like this man Jesus. He's not like any other man. Now, the officers are not saying that to some random people.

[21:27] They're saying it to the experts, the very best Hebrew speakers, and yet they're saying no one has ever spoken like this man. No, not even you. Jesus is like no other.

[21:38] He's mighty God, controlling the wind and the waves, creating food for thousands and raising the dead. He does things that no mere man can do, only that of a mighty God.

[21:51] Is there anything today that is too great for Jesus to do? He's changing lives. Left, right, and center his word and his name is proclaimed in all the earth. This Jewish man, he's the mighty God.

[22:05] Remember Jesus said to Philip, you want to see the father? You want to see El Gabor, the mighty God? Look at me. Look at me. Who else can be the everlasting father?

[22:16] See, he's the one that's preeminent in all creation, just as he's the firstborn of the dead. He rose from the dead. He's the first of the new creation of those resurrected to the kingdom of Jesus.

[22:28] They will be governed by and cared for by their king Jesus. No longer are we in our father Adam, but for those who trust in Jesus, they are not destined to the same fate that Adam was in his race.

[22:43] They are destined to the same fate that Jesus was, and that is a fate of being resurrected to eternal life. We are in our Lord. God. And who else can be called the prince of peace except the one who brings peace between man and God?

[23:02] No one else has brought that. Look at all the other religions. All you need to do is just keep trying harder. You'll never succeed. You will never do it.

[23:13] You will never please God by your good works. We're never going to be good enough. Not me, not you, not anyone, but Jesus. He brings peace between man and God because He died in our place and has forgiven our sins, those that trust in Him.

[23:30] We can have peace with God, not because we earned it, but because Jesus gave us it by His death, by His blood. Who else can be called? One of the great things about our time spent in Acts is that we see that Jesus' name is completely unique, unusual, one of a kind.

[23:52] Not that there are not other people in the world called Jesus, but that Jesus, the Lord, the Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, His name alone is the name above all other names.

[24:04] Remember God promised to give Abraham a great name? It's also true in God's covenant that He promised to give David a great name. Well, one of David's seed, one of Abraham's offspring, was given the name above all names.

[24:19] Jesus is the fulfillment of all the promises, every promise and prophecy, Jesus is the fulfillment of. Is it any wonder that unlike any other human ever, Jesus is given the name above every other name, a greater name than anyone?

[24:38] No other name is given by which men must be saved except Jesus. Jesus' name is the one to be carried before all people to the ends of the earth. And no other name can we be forgiven.

[24:50] No one else can forgive you except Jesus. No one else can justify you before God except Jesus. Jesus' name, Philippians 2, is the name exalted above every other name.

[25:04] In Jesus' name, whether we believe it now or not, at the end of time, all tongues will confess that Jesus is Lord. Every knee will bow to Jesus as Lord, because that is who he is.

[25:19] One day everyone will see, every eye will see, every tongue confess. Good day to you.

[25:35] What other human in history has had a name that even angels bow down to? That's what the scriptures say in Philippians chapter 2, Paul says, every knee shall bow in heaven and earth.

[25:53] But no other name, no other person in history has the honor or is worthy of an angel bowing down to them. And that tells us something about Jesus.

[26:05] Jesus isn't just merely human. He is the mighty God. God, see, a son, a son has been given, a child has been born, a son of David.

[26:20] He's the promised king. king. He's the son of God. He's the wonderful counselor, the mighty God, everlasting father and the prince of peace.

[26:35] He will reign forever. And because of his work, his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, by faith we can be welcomed into his kingdom.

[26:47] And this is the good news of this season. glad tidings of great joy for all the people. That me and you can have light dawned upon our hearts.

[26:59] That we don't need to any longer walk in darkness. But that we can be a part of his kingdom of light. It's the great news. His name is like no other.

[27:14] Amen. Well, let me encourage you to keep your faith. We're going to see over the weeks, and as I know that many and most of you do, keep trusting in Jesus.

[27:31] Not everyone believes this, but we see over and over again that he is the one that he said he was. We trust the testimony of the apostles. So just now I'm going to sing a little song that I wrote for for today.

[27:47] Bear with me. You can all run out. I thought it would be appropriate to write a song based on Isaiah 9-6 relating to Jesus. And I just wanted to bring it to you to encourage you.

[28:01] So I'm going to sing that now, and then I'll say a prayer, and then we'll end our service. But bless each one of you. It's good to be here in Jesus' name.

[28:15] There is a king born to us, a son who is given.

[28:36] on his shoulders, shoulders, upholding his kingdom.

[28:52] The government is his to bear with justice and mercy.

[29:02] for he has bore the cross for us, bringing peace everlasting.

[29:17] Unto us, child is born. Oh, unto us, a son is given.

[29:29] His name is Jesus Christ the Lord, the Son of God, the man of heaven.

[29:43] And his name shall be, his name shall be, his name shall be.

[29:54] Wonderful El Gabor Adiad Sa Shalom Peleowets El Gabor Adiad Sa Shalom Wonderful Counselor Mighty God He is Everlasting Father Prince Of Peace He is Peleowets El Gabor Adiad

[30:54] Sar Shalom Peleowets El Gabor Adiad Sar Shalom Sar Shalom Sar Shalom O unto us A child is born Unto us A son is given His name is Jesus Christ the Lord The Son of God The man of heaven Well may we all go in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ

[32:00] Who is our mighty God and our Prince of Peace May we go in the everlasting love of God our Father And may we go in the fullness of the Holy Spirit Now and forevermore Amen There Are Check Hyo Hio