O enemy! destructions are ended for ever. -- Thou hast also destroyed cities, even the remembrance of them hath perished.
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The Setting
Isaiah 9:6 stands at the heart of Old Testament prophecy: a luminous announcement, in the middle of judgment on Israel, that a Child would be born whose Person and reign would carry every hope of humanity. The verse holds together two truths that elsewhere seem opposite — a real human birth and the full titles of Deity — and points to a kingdom of unending peace.
A Prophecy in the Midst of Judgment
The wider passage (Isaiah 7–9) was first spoken when Syria and Ephraim were threatening the house of David. The discomfiture of that confederacy was made the pledge of the discomfiture of every later one, securing David's throne for ever:
J. G. BellettWhen the prophecy was delivered, Syria and Ephraim were confederated against Judah... For the discomfiture of the then present confederacy was made a pledge of the discomfiture of all succeeding confederacies, at least so as to secure to the house of David in the end rest and glory... and that "a Child" in due time should be "born," and "a Son" be "given."
Darby notes that Israel did not own Him at His first coming, but will yet do so:
J. N. DarbyThe Child was already born, the Son given; but Israel have not owned Him. When they are renewed, Christ will be owned, as born "unto us" and given "unto us." The church anticipates the people in all this; but for heaven.
The Mystery of the Child and the Son
The very wording holds together a paradox no human writer would invent — a Child of days who is also the Father of eternity:
A. J. PollockIt sounds apparently contradictory to speak of the same Person as a Child of days and the Father of eternity. How could both statements be true? And yet we know from Scripture that the Child of the virgin, begotten by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, as to His deity was God manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). God as well as Man, yet one blessed Person, the Son of God, a mystery utterly beyond the creature's comprehension.
The Fivefold Name
In Scripture a name describes the one who bears it. The five titles unfold who this Child is:
F. B. Hole"Wonderful." — Something singular or unique, altogether surpassing ordinary human knowledge. "Counsellor." — One marked by wisdom, resource, and authority. He who is in the secret of the divine counsels and able to put them into effect. "The mighty God." — The full title of Deity. The Hebrew word for God is in the singular El, not Elohim, which is plural. The virgin's Son is singularly God, if one may so speak. "The everlasting Father" or "Father of Eternity." — He from whom eternal ages spring and have their being. "The Prince of Peace." — He who will ultimately end all the discords of earth under righteous rule.
The Government on His Shoulder
Saul's kingdom collapsed because human hands cannot bear rule. Christ alone is fit:
Samuel RidoutGod must "overturn, overturn, overturn," all power "until He come whose right it is."... Christ is the only One upon whose shoulders the government can be placed and rest securely. He whose name is "Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God," is also the "Father of Eternity" and will finally, in His own blessed person, merge the millennial kingdom of the Son of Man... into that eternal state where government ceases to have the character of restraint and passes into the wider, deeper, fuller... fact that God is "all in all."
The world's dream of peace by other means is exposed as a snare:
F. B. HoleLet not us, my fellow-believer, fall into so foolish a snare. For peace to be established the Peace-maker must appear. For righteous government to be founded universally, there must first be the coming of the Righteous One... Under His beneficent sway the golden age of this world's history will be reached, and not before.
A Reign Without End
Dennett applies the closing words to the millennial city, where heavenly and earthly spheres meet in one ordered reign:
Edward Dennett"The government shall be upon His shoulder... 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." (Isa. 9:6-7.)
Summary
- Two natures, one Person. "Child born" speaks of His true humanity; "Son given" of the eternal Son sent from the Father — God manifest in the flesh.
- Names that describe Him. Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God (singular El, full Deity), Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace — each title unfolding a real glory of His Person.
- A future for Israel. The Child was born and the Son given, but Israel did not own Him; in the day of His power they will say, "Unto us a child is born."
- Government secured. Every human throne fails; only Christ's shoulder can carry rule, and under it the golden age of earth's history arrives — not before.
- No end of peace. His kingdom on David's throne moves on into the eternal state where God is all in all; "the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."