“Mighty God”
(Second in a series of Four)
Isaiah 9:1-7; Isaiah 42:1-13
 
Introduction

We are on our second sermon of a four-sermon series exploring the four names of Christ found in Isaiah 9.  Last week we discovered that Christ is a miracle-working counselor.  We celebrate this Advent/Christmas season the amazing event of Christ, son of the Most High God, coming to planet Earth as a human infant, son of Mary and Joseph.  

Yet, even as a human, Christ was still the almighty, eternal, creator God.  This human/divine nature of Christ is what makes Him a wonderful counselor.  We can run to Christ, no matter how troubling our questions, embarrassing our struggle, or overwhelming our struggle, and we always encounter a God who meets us with open arms of grace, and with the power to do something about our situation.  

This morning, we are going to explore further the power of God by discovering what it means that Christ is also called a “mighty God.”

Let us pray…                    Scripture reading…


There are three main themes running through these two passages in regards to Christ being a “mighty God” that we are going to explore this morning.  The “might” of God, the power of God, the Sovereignty of God, is displayed throughout the Bible in both a positive sense and a negative sense.  On the positive side, our mighty God displays His power in the awesomeness of creation, in rescuing His people through the ages from all manner of harm, captivity, and evil. On the negative side, God demonstrates His might, power, and Sovereignty, through His righteous judgment against evil and evil doers.  

Now this is the side of God that we don’t really like to think or talk about very much.  But for us to understand God more fully, and therefore worship and serve God in the spirit and truth God desires, we must embrace both aspects of God’s might and power, the power of God’s justice and His grace  So our first theme of Christ as “mighty God” is that:


I.    Christ is a mighty God who executes eternal judgment against wickedness

A major danger in how we celebrate Christmas is that we foster all these images of Christ being a cute little baby lying in a manger.  Now to the degree that an awareness of the humanity of Christ empowers us to run to Christ as our Wonderful Counselor, able to relate to our human struggles, this can be a powerful image.  But when we allow the image of Christ as infant foster sentimental images of Christ as helpless baby, then we trivialize the incarnation, and disempower our understanding of Christ as mighty, holy, and eternal God.  

So many have an image of the almighty triune God that sees Father God as a doting grandfather, Christ as a docile, girly-man who universally grants forgiveness and heaven to everyone regardless of how they live, and the Holy Spirit as some mothering presence of soft comfort.
Father God is indeed the loving Father who adopts those predestined for such.  But God is also the God of holiness and wrath against wickedness who will not tolerate unrepented sin.  God is a jealous God who commanded the nation of Israel to take the Promised Land by force.  God’s people served as a military force of holiness that required them to slaughter every man, women, teen, child, and animal to purge the land of evil.  This same Father God will one day soon again purge His creation of all wickedness through His Son Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is the forgiving Savior for all those whose names God wrote in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the world was created.  Christ did come to earth first as a baby, but soon Christ will return as a mighty warrior to judge the living and the dead.  In our Bible passages from Isaiah 42:3, we discover that Christ, the Mighty God, will, “in faithfulness bring forth justice.”  And in 42:13, we read, “the Lord will march out like a mighty man, like a warrior, He will stir up His zeal, with a shout He will raise the battle cry and will triumph over His enemies.”   

Listen to how Christ is described in Rev 19:11-16:
“I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True.  With justice, he judges and makes war.  His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns.  He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself.  He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God.  The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean.  Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations.  "He will rule them with an iron scepter.”  He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.  On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.”   

Indeed, Christ is a “Mighty God!”

Now I labeled the display of God’s might, power, and Sovereignty against wickedness as negative.  It is received as negative only by those on the wrong side of God’s grace, those who insist on remaining God’s enemies.  But for those of us who have been embraced by God’s grace and so have surrendered our lives to Christ, we should long for the day when our Mighty God once again executes His wrath and justice against all wickedness.  For only then will the eternal Kingdom of God be established.  Only then, can God reach down and wipe away the last tears from our eyes.  Only then can we live in a world with no fear, crime, violence, perversion, oppression, injustice, disease, broken relationships, and death.  

Now we do not long for God to execute His wrath against any human being.  We know that for God to remove all evil from the universe, it will one day require sentencing some people to eternal judgment.  But we don’t long for that.  We long for God’s justice, for God’s name to be vindicated.  When we are in our glorified state, we will be able to embrace the truth that God’s justice includes eternal damnation.  But for right now, if we are able to speak of hell, or someone’s damnation, without a tear in our eye, there is something terribly wrong in our heart!

God forbid that the knowledge of Christ’s eternal judgment against unbelievers should foster within us any drop of self-righteousness, or any “us-versus-them” mentality, or any hint of judgementalism!  The harsh realty that Christ as Mighty God includes the possibility of eternal damnation for those not embraced by grace, should provoke grief and compassion that compels us to tell as many people as possible about the gospel of grace!

Christ is the Mighty God who will one day triumph over all God’s enemies.  But for those of us who are adopted children of God:


II.  Christ is a mighty God who executes miracle-working power on behalf of God’s people!  

Now I searched for the words to describe somehow Christ as mighty God and all-powerful King over His people.  But my words just kept coming up short.  So instead of my words, let me preach to you a rather extended, modified quote from a now famous sermon by the late African-American preacher, Dr. S.M. Lockeridge:
  (adapted from the full text of this sermon found at http://gatewaytojesus.com/thatsmykingtext.html)  

“He's God's Son.  He's the sinner's savior.  He's the centerpiece of civilization….He's unparalleled.  He's unprecedented.  He's supreme.  He's pre-eminent.  He's the grandest idea in literature.  He's the highest personality in philosophy….He's the fundamental doctrine of historic theology….He supplies strength for the weak.  He's available for the tempted and the tried.  He sympathizes and He saves.  He's the Almighty God who guides and keeps all his people.  He heals the sick.  He cleanses the lepers.  He forgives sinners.  He discharges debtors.  He delivers the captives.  He defends the feeble.  He blesses the young.  He serves the unfortunate.  He regards the aged.  He rewards the diligent and He beautifies the meek.  That's my King.

Do you know Him?  Well, my King is a King of knowledge.  He's the wellspring of wisdom.  He's the doorway of deliverance.  He's the pathway of peace.  He's the roadway of righteousness.  He's the highway of holiness.  He's the gateway of glory.  He's the master of the mighty.  He's the captain of the conquerors.  He's the head of the heroes….He's the King of kings and He's the Lord of lords.  That's my King.

His office is manifold.  His promise is sure.  His light is matchless.  His goodness is limitless.  His mercy is everlasting.  His love never changes.  His Word is enough.  His grace is sufficient.  His reign is righteous.  His yoke is easy and His burden is light.  I wish I could describe Him to you . . .but He's indescribable…. That's my King.  He's incomprehensible.  He's invincible.  He's irresistible…. the heavens of heavens can't contain Him, let alone some man explain Him.  You can't get Him out of your mind.  You can't get Him off  of your hands.  You can't outlive Him and you can't live without Him.  

The Pharisees couldn't stand Him, but they found out they couldn't stop Him.  Pilate couldn't find any fault in Him….Herod couldn't kill Him.  Death couldn't handle Him and the grave couldn't hold Him.  That's my King.”

Christ is our mighty God!   

Now for many, as we talked about earlier, their misunderstanding of Christ comes from seeing Christ as too weak.  But for others, their misunderstanding of God is that they consider God too much a mighty warrior.  They see the God of the Bible, especially the God reveled in the Old Testament, as just too violent.  And so they either ignore or reject this side of Christ as mighty God.  You see, their view of God doesn’t adequately embrace a balance between God’s justice and God’s grace, God’s love and God’s holiness, God’s wrath and God’s patience.

Christ is a mighty God who executes justice against wickedness, and a mighty God who executes power on behalf of His people, but also:


III. Christ is a mighty God who executes His power in gentleness toward the hurting

Christ describes Himself in Matt 11:28-30 like this, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  

In our Bible passage from Isaiah 42, we discover this description of Christ, "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight; I will put my Spirit on him and he will bring justice to the nations.  He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets.  A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.”

What an amazing, incomprehensible breadth there is to Christ as mighty God!  With one hand, Christ reaches down and executes justice to those who look Him right in the eye and say, “No I don’t want your grace!”  While with the other hand, Christ reaches down to gently restore the one in struggle or sorrow.

Christ is the mighty God that is bringing justice to all the nations through the judgment and removal of all sin.  Someday that execution of justice will require final judgment.  But today is not the day of judgment!  Christ declares that when He came to earth the first time it was to proclaim the “year of God’s favor!”  Elsewhere we read in the Bible that today is declared to be “the day of God’s salvation!”  

If you are not 100 percent certain that you have made the move from being God’s enemy to God’s friend by being embraced by the forgiveness and adoption that is offered in Christ alone, then let today be the day of your salvation!  Come to Christ, all you who are weary and burdened, and He will give you rest.  Take His yoke upon you and learn from Him, for Christ is gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  

And whether you are already embraced by grace or not, every one of us have areas in our life where we need to experience Christ as mighty God who executes His power in gentleness to bring His healing, freedom, and restoration.  

A portion of the passage we read from Is 42 is quoted in Mt 12:16-21 to describe the current ministry of Christ.  Let me read that passage:
Many followed him, and he healed all their sick, warning them not to tell who he was.  This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
"Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations.
He will not quarrel or cry out; no one will hear his voice in the streets.
A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out,
till he leads justice to victory.  In his name the nations will put their hope."

In the time when Isaiah wrote and in the time when Christ walked the earth, reeds, like reeds you would still see growing in marshes, were used in many different ways such as in building, in making baskets, for making writing tablets, etc.  But a bruised reed was considered unusable, worthless, thrown aside or used for firewood.  

Any of you ever feel unusable, worthless in some way, thrown aside, ignored, undervalued, abandoned, rejected, betrayed?  Christ says a bruised reed he will not break!  No one is unusable, worthless, unwanted in the eyes of Christ!  Christ specializes in making beauty from ashes, turning mourning into dancing, loving the unlovable, remaking a broken vessel into a work of art, making shattered dreams into hopeful vision.

I know first hand how Christ turns bruised reeds into splendid oaks.  I was 25 years old, not yet a Christ-follower, I recall waking up one Christmas morning all alone in my efficiency apartment.  I was lonely, addicted, directionless, depressed, no hope, no purpose, and nothing to offer anyone.  I was a bruised reed.  

And then Christ reached down as the Wonderful Counselor and Mighty God, called me out of darkness, and declared over me, “You are my priceless son!  Rise and be healed!”  Christ declared over me another prophecy also from Isaiah in chapter 61: “No longer will you be a bruised reed, but you, “….will be called an oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.”  

So where do you need Christ to turn your bruised reed into a splendid oak?  Or where has Christ already turned your bruised reed life into a might oak and so you need to be telling your story so that others are drawn to this gospel of grace?

Christ also declares that a “smoldering wick he will not blow out.”  

Perhaps your faith is like a smoldering wick in some way because you are in a season where the trials of life seem stronger than Christ’s power in your life?  Christ declares to you today, your smoldering wick, I will not blow out.  Call out to me, and my Spirit will blow that smoldering-wick faith back into full flame!

Maybe your smoldering wick is a dream you once had that you thought was from God, but years have passed, and now it seems impossible, or you question if it was a vision from God in the first place.  Christ declares to you today, your smoldering wick, I will not blow out.  Call out to me, and my Spirit will blow that smoldering-wick hope back into full flame!

Perhaps your smoldering wick is a love grown cold.  Maybe in your marriage, or family member, or friend, or perhaps even your love for God feels like a smoldering wick.  Christ declares to you today, your smoldering wick, I will not blow out.  Call out to me, and my Spirit will blow that smoldering-wick love back into full flame!

Let us call out to Christ now as our Mighty God in prayer…