The King Is Coming

The King Is Coming

The Advent season — the four weeks before Christmas — begins in late November. Isaiah 9:6 was written in the eighth century BC, seven hundred years before the birth of the One it describes. The fourfold name — Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace — was attached by the prophet to a child not yet born, to a 'son given' whose government and peace would have no end. Handel set it to music in the Messiah: 'For unto us a Child is born.' The first note of the Advent melody: anticipation of what is coming. The church waits again, as Israel waited — knowing the One who came will come again.

Isaiah 9:6 is one of the most concentrated descriptions of Christ in the Old Testament. Each name conveys a dimension of His identity: Wonderful Counselor (the wisdom of God made accessible), Mighty God (the divine nature in human form), Everlasting Father (the caring, fathering character of the eternal One), Prince of Peace (the One whose rule produces the shalom of the age to come). Advent is the season of waiting for all of this — looking back at His first coming, looking forward to His second. The four names are four reasons to anticipate: He is wise, powerful, loving, and peaceful. Whatever you most need this Advent season, He is that. And He is coming.