Have you ever wondered why it is so hard to keep our passion for Christ burning brightly, why we are not more consumed by loyalty and faithfulness as we should be to the one who died for us? Author, Max Lucado, gives a thoughtful answer—we face an enemy of our soul called, the agent of familiarity. Lucado explains,
His commission from the dark throne room is clear, and fatal: “Take nothing from your victim; cause him only to take everything for granted…” His aim is deadly. His goal is nothing less than to take what is most precious to us and make it appear most common….He’s an expert at robbing the sparkle and replacing it with the drab. He invented the yawn and put the hum in humdrum. And his strategy is deceptive. He won’t steal your salvation. He’ll just make you forget what it was like to be lost. Worship will become common place and study optional. With the passing of time, he’ll infiltrate your heart with boredom and cover the cross with dust. Score one for the agent of familiarity (God Came Near.)
Has the poison of the ordinary dulled your excitement about walking with Jesus? If so, our hope is that understanding the titles of Messiah Jesus from Isaiah 9, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, will explode your view of just who this being is who called you by name to be his follower.
Why did the long-awaited Messiah of Israel have to be the MIGHTY GOD—and what does that title mean for our everyday walk with Jesus today?
THE ISAIAH 9:6 TEXT
The phrase, mighty god is constructed from the words EL for god and GIBBOR for mighty. Interestingly, the Hebrew word GIBBOR is often used to describe a powerful hero. This word use is not accidental. As OT scholars have pointed out the true hero of the OT is not Abraham, Moses, Joshua, or David, but GOD. The promised land was not Abraham’s land bequeathed to his descendants, but a land of milk and honey promised as God’s gift to God’s people. The “Ten Words” brought down from Sinai were not Moses’ laws but those of a God so holy that anyone who touched the mountain would die. The conquest of the promised land by Joshua was not accomplished by Joshua’s might, but because Yahweh fought for his people. The establishment of David’s throne in Jerusalem by defeating surrounding peoples like the Philistines was accomplished not by David’s military prowess but by God’s power—a truth David understood when he said to Goliath,
“You come to me with a sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand…that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hand,” (1 Sam 17:45-47).
Behind the truth that it is Yahweh who saves, (which is what the name Joshua and Jesus mean) was the truth throughout Israel’s history that their political oppression was always the result of their disobedience to Yahweh. A careful look at what the OT prophets proclaimed reveals that the cause of Israel’s military oppression was their sin—their disobedience to their covenant obligations. For example, in the very first chapter of Isaiah, we read,
Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged. Why will you still be struck down? Why will you continue to rebel?... Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence foreigners devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners….If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken (vs 4,5,7, 20).
The oppressors that the Messiah needed to overthrow never were the Assyrians, Babylonians or Edomites. The oppressor always was SIN. It was the sin of the Israelites that led God to allow their political enemies to oppress them. That is why the great lesson of the OT is that God’s people cannot save themselves. “The Law never succeeded in producing righteousness,” writes Paul. “The weakness was always human sin,” (Rom 8:1-3). The promised Messiah would (eventually) overthrow the political oppression Israel experienced—but only because the Messiah would overthrow the real cause of Israel’s military occupation—their SIN. And God, himself, would be the only one powerful enough to break the human shackles of sin. The Messiah would be the MIGHTY GOD—God himself, and the only being powerful enough to overthrow evil. Isaiah goes on to tell us that this Messiah, alone, who is the MIGHTY GOD has the power to ABSORB EVIL and OVERTHROW EVIL. In chapter 53 of Isaiah, the Messiah ABSORBS EVIL: Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows…he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.
Isaiah goes on to tell us that God is displeased with human sin but sees no human who can solve the problem and overthrow evil. Only the MIGHTY GOD, himself, is powerful enough to defeat it. So, God will clothe himself in righteous and fight this spiritual battle.
Justice is turned back, and righteousness stands far away; for truth has stumbled in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter. Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation… He put on righteousness as a breastplate and a helmet of salvation on his head (59:15ff).
Sin is so powerful that only the MIGHTY GOD, Messiah Jesus, could overthrow it.
THE AWFUL POWER OF SIN to CORRUPT and DESTROY
The message of the OT could be summed up: No human has the moral power to keep God’s Covenant Law—to be righteous. Thus, no man can experience the presence of God. Were sinful man to see the face of God he would instantly perish—the reason that God, in grace, expelled fallen Adam and Eve from the Garden. In Paul’s words to the Romans, By works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law… the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe, (3:20-22).
The awful power of sin to corrupt is revealed in the moral failure of OT fathers to fulfill their task as the heads of their families, following the covenant pattern of Abraham, about whom God said, “For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him,” (Gen 18:19). Sin’s awful power had so corrupted the Israelites, that almost no fathers fulfilled this obligation, causing the OT to end with the prophecy in the very last verse, that finally one would come who would turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers. 400 hundred years later, John the Baptist announced the coming of the New Covenant Messianic era—the turning the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared,” (Lk 1:17).
This awful power of sin to corrupt and destroy is nowhere seen more clearly than in the clergy of Israel—the priests, scribes, and Pharisees—the one group who had been given the OT Scriptures. Notice the irony from John 9 abut who actually is blind. After Jesus had healed a blind man, the Jewish leaders verified his blindness from birth with his parents. We pick up the story in vs 24:
So, for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
SIN causes humans to suppress the truth in unrighteousness. It is too powerful for humans to defeat. Our only hope is a messiah who is the MIGHTY GOD. Our need is one MIGHTY enough to win a battle that is cosmic in scope.
THE COSMIC SCOPE OF EVIL
- And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed (John 3:19-20).
- We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places (Eph 6:12).
We need a messiah who is the MIGHTY GOD because we CANNOT STAND against evil, ourselves. We must never ever underestimate the power of sin. As Christians, we’ve been set free from slavery to sin; if we hadn’t been, we never would have come to faith in Christ! But sin is still present with us, lurking in the throne room of our hearts awaiting an opportunity to seize control any moment. Last week I saw this about my own heart. Every parent has taught a child that when he breaks something belonging to someone else, he must own up to it; that is elementary. Yet last week, when I scraped a car in a parking lot, my rationalizing heart said, it wasn’t that bad. Nevertheless, I am ashamed to say, I moved my car to another parking place so I wouldn’t be caught—until God’s Spirit won control of my conscience. I would think, as a grandparent, I might be well-beyond such a heart reaction. But God warns, Let the one who thinks he stands watch out that he does not fall (1 Cor 10:12). Sin, still lurking in my heart until I die, reminds me also of Archibald Harts description of the male sex drive. “For many men the sex drive feels like a volcano. Explosive and unpredictable… when it erupts it can lay waste to everything in its path including honor, reputation, families, virginity, fidelity, chastity, good intentions, life-long promises, and spiritual commitments,” (The Sexual Man). Sin is too powerful for us to defeat alone for very long. We need the help of our Messiah, the MIGHTY GOD.
APPROPRIATING the MIGHTY GOD’S POWER for OUR SPIRITUAL BATTLES
Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might (Eph 6:12)
A. Gain strength from your brotherhood connections. The Reformers spoke of two means of grace, the Word and the Sacraments. I personally believe they missed one—the Body of Christ. Paul taught clearly in Ephesians 4 that it is by truth- speaking relationships that the Body is built up into Christ the Head. Honestly, if a man is not making an effort to build relationships with some brothers for strength and accountability, I find it hard to believe that he is taking seriously enough the sin lurking in his heart that can easily take him down!
B. Build the habit of putting on the armor of God. Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil (Eph 6:10-11). I did a fuller study of using the armor of God in the earlier series, Winning Spiritual Battles Because We Use Our Spiritual Weapons in Season 2. It started with Episodes #9 on 1/3/21 But here are some quick thoughts about what putting on this armor looks like:
- Belt of truth. Putting on the belt of truth means encircling our lives with God’s truth. Besides regular reading of Scripture, the encircling with God’s truth could be done by listening to the Breakpoint podcast which applies the biblical worldview to the issues of the day, or a similar podcast. It might mean turning on your Bible app and listening to a few chapters of Scripture while driving. It might mean taking an hour on a Sunday afternoon to read straight through a book of the Bible, or a book that seeks to apply God’s word to a specific topic. It is the habit of encircling our lives with God’s truth.
- Breastplate of righteousness. The breastplate protected vital organs. I suggest that putting it on means at least these 3 things: 1). Doing the right things is always the priority. Righteousness guards the one whose way is blameless, but wickedness subverts the sinner. (Prov 13:6) The end never justifies the means. 2) Never letting Satan, the accuser of the brothers drive me away from Jesus because of the filth of my sin. We wear the robe of Christ' righteousness, having been declared “righteous” from the lips of the Judge, himself. 3) Putting on the breastplate of righteousness means being known for pursing “rightness” and justice where I can. The armor often indicated the army to which one belonged. Our mission from our CO is to pursue the spread of rightness—restoration and justice—over the world that Jesus claims as his kingdom.
- Readiness of the gospel. Paul compares the Roman warrior’s shoes to being ready to move a conversation towards discussing Christ. Several concepts emerge from the text. First, our direction—where our feet are headed—should be towards sharing Christ with others. The strong implication is that we should have a strategy, a direction, a plan, somewhere we are going to share Christ with others. The second idea is that when the opportunity to talk about Jesus comes, we should be ready. I have found that there is one excellent way to “be ready.” A few years ago, I said to a buddy, “I want to start praying for more opportunities to share my faith.” Within 2 weeks, when my racquetball league opponent started to talk about Western philosophy, I recognized the opportunity and spent the next 30 minutes talking about Christianity with him. I was alert because I was already specifically praying. One of the tools that our ministry provides men is a Check 6 wallet card with 6 questions to help men connect and support each other’s spiritual battles. Question # 5 is, “Who are the non-believers you are building relationships with and how can I pray for your strategy to share Christ with them?” We need to help each other put on readiness to share the gospel of peace.
- Raising the shield of faith. Faith is relentless confidence in the goodness of God’s character—that all of his dealings with us and those we love spring from the character of goodness and love—wanting what is best for us. Satan relentlessly attacks our confidence in the goodness and love of God as he did the confidence of Eve and Job. Three actions seem required here: 1) being alert to Satan’s attempt to make us doubt God’s goodness, 2) realizing that faith is a choice, saying to God, “I choose to trust you no matter what I am feeling,” 3) recognizing how precious our choice to relentlessly trust God regardless of circumstances is to Him.
- Helmet of Salvation. The helmet protects our mind. The helmet of salvation seems to refer to thinking about our salvation correctly. Thinking correctly about our salvation means: 1) We can never turn a cold shoulder to those whose lives are being ruined by sin, because such were we. 2) We can never be judgmental towards other sinners. 3) We can never envy the wicked because we know how destructive evil is. 4) We can never stop striving for personal righteousness, which is not legalism, but something Jesus said we should hunger and thirst for.
- Sword of the Spirit the Word of God. Both this weapon and the belt of truth have to do with the Word of God. Where the belt of truth is more focused on the habit of encircling ourselves in God’s truth, wielding the sword of the Spirit is more about taking captive every thought to expose it to the Word of God. This is the skill and habit of fighting Satan’s temptations with the Word of God, as Jesus did, and is a good reason for committing some texts of Scripture to memory.
C. Praying with perseverance. In view of the reality that we are engaged in a spiritual battle, Paul urges Christians to take a second action, beyond just taking up the armor of God. That command is to pray. Praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. Messiah Jesus, the MIGHTY GOD has now ascended to the Father. In this age, the primary way his kingdom of righteousness defeats the kingdom of darkness is prayer. This seems clear in Psalm 2, where God the Father says to the ascended Jesus, ASK of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. Jesus, right now, is at the right hand of the Father interceding. We join in his work. The way that persevering intercessory prayer overpowers the kingdom of darkness is a great mystery to me. But when I realize that Messiah Jesus had to be the MIGHTY GOD because no other being has the power to overthrow sin, I begin to realize why persevering prayer in Jesus’ name is foundational for defeating evil anywhere—my own life, that of my family members, and the culture in which I live. I remember the great triumph of Elijah on Mount Carmel who prayed that Israel would return to worshipping the true God instead of Baal—and that, as Israel’s covenant with God stated, God would send drought until they repented. He prayed for three years, five months and 29 days without seeing any result. That is 1278 days—probably many hours each day! I’m not sure I’ve prayed that much for any of the spiritual victories I long for in my own life, that of my family, or that of our culture!
For Further Prayerful Thought
- How would you support the idea that the overall teaching of the OT is that the real oppression of Israel was done by foreign military powers but by SIN? Why might this point to the fact that the deliverer would have to be God, himself?
- Paul commanded Christ-followers to abhor evil. What stood out to you in this episode about the awfulness of sin?
- When it comes to being strong in the Lord and the strength of his might, which aspects of appropriating Christ’s power to fight spiritually stood out to you?
- Which piece of spiritual armor do you most need to start putting on?
