In one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible, Isaiah speaks of the Child born who is a Son given (9:6). There can be no doubt who this Person is, for verse 2 of this chapter – “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” – is quoted in Matthew’s Gospel (4:16) as referring to the coming of Christ. He was the Child born, as to His human nature, and the Son given, as to His divine nature. This prophecy, given through Isaiah, was fulfilled in the Messiah. John Calvin comments as follows: “Son, without any addition, can mean none else than the Son of God; and it is now ascribed to Christ, by way of eminence, in order to inform us that, by this striking mark He is distinguished from the rest of mankind. . . . This Son was given to the people, in order to inform the Jews that their salvation and that of the whole Church is contained in the person of Christ.”
This Person was given a name in this prophecy, one with several parts. We can understand it as a particular revelation of the Messiah – making known, in particular to those who lived when He came into the world, various glorious truths about Him. One part of that name is: “The Mighty God”. Elsewhere He was named Immanuel, which in Hebrew means God with us. This divine Person came where sinners were, taking human nature, to do all that was necessary to reconcile sinners to the God against whom they had sinned. If sinners were to be reconciled, He must bear the guilt of their sin, and He therefore must have infinite strength.
Only He could endure the punishment that the guilt of these sins deserved. Sin deserves eternal separation from God and, when bearing that guilt, Christ so felt, in His human soul, the separation due to sin that He cried out: “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” He, the infinite Son, bore the punishment in a finite period of time, but could only do so because He was the Mighty One. No finite being, not even the highest angel – certainly no human being – could have endured what He had to suffer so that human sin might be forgiven in a way perfectly consistent with justice.
We see again the necessity for the Saviour being mighty if we consider the creature with whom He had particularly to contend. That was Satan, who had done so much damage to the human race after he came into the Garden of Eden to tempt our first parents. The outcome demonstrated Satan’s powerful but malevolent intellect; the evil one brought Adam and Eve, and all their descendants, into a state of sin and misery. We can be sure that human beings, in their fallen state, cannot successfully resist Satan in their own strength; men and women can only withstand Satan and his temptations through divine grace strengthening them to hold out against these subtle and powerful attempts to bring them into deeper and deeper sin. Yet this Mighty One was able to resist Satan by His own power, and He did so.
Further He is “mighty to save” (Is 63:1), mighty to deliver sinners from the power of Satan and to bring them into the kingdom of God, there to enjoy all the blessings that He bestows on those who trust in Him. It was “for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil” (1 Jn 3:8). The devil’s work was to destroy holiness and to build up a kingdom of darkness and wickedness; Christ came to destroy that evil work and to deliver an innumerable multitude of sinners from the sway of the evil one and to build them up as a holy Church, to be presented pure and spotless to His Father at last.
It was prophesied: “The government shall be upon His shoulder” (Is 9:6). Thus Christ, in ruling over all things, is restraining the devil’s power and is rescuing sinners from his kingdom and preserving them as they follow the narrow way which leads to eternal glory. It certainly does not always appear that Christ is obtaining the victory over the devil and his kingdom; often the opposite seems to be the case, as false religion flourishes in many parts of the world, as secularism is taking over Western society and as scriptural moral standards seem to disappear. But let us never lose sight of the fact – and it is a fact – that the government is upon Christ’s shoulders. He is ruling, and it will ultimately be obvious that He has had the victory.
Because of what Christ, while in this world, has done to redeem sinners from the wrath to come, He sends the Holy Spirit to work in their hearts. The Spirit puts life in their dead souls, enables them to trust in the Saviour, and begins the process of making them holy. Whatever resistance is shown by the sinner and by the devil, Christ will always be victorious; all whom the Father gave Him in the eternal covenant will be saved. Divine purposes can never be thwarted – not least because of Christ’s almighty power.
Nor could death hold Him when the appointed time came for Him to rise from the grave – on the third day that He was in the grave, as He had foretold. So it was said: “Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive: Thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them” (Ps 68:18). Here we have another prophetic view of the risen Christ, who ascended to heaven. He sits there as the Mighty One distributing spiritual gifts to rebellious sinners, gifts that He purchased on the cross.
As the Mighty One, working by the Holy Spirit, He subdues the rebellious wills of sinners who resist His invitations. He rightfully claimed, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth”, and accordingly He sent His disciples to preach the gospel. They were His ambassadors to proclaim the good news of salvation throughout the world; yet as they did so they could not expect to convert even one sinner by their own power, any more than Peter and John were able, by their own strength, to heal the man at the temple who had never been able to walk. Those who succeeded the disciples as ministers have likewise no power to bring anyone to believe; yet they are to go out with the good news of salvation, looking to Christ to apply the truth powerfully to the hearts of sinners, by the Spirit.
How should we react to what is revealed to us about “the Mighty God”? We must submit to Him. When He calls sinners to come to Him, as He does in the preaching of the gospel, they are obliged to obey – for He calls with divine authority. Unbelief is not an allowable option. We ought to remember that He “is able to save and to destroy” (Jas 4:12); He has both the power and the authority to deliver souls from Satan’s kingdom, and to destroy those who refuse to believe. It is He who will sit on the judgement seat on the last day and, as “the Mighty God”, both human and divine, will dispense perfect justice. He will send unbelieving sinners away to eternal destruction.
Further we are to worship Him. Thomas was guilty of unbelief when he refused to accept the reports he heard about Jesus’ resurrection. Yet when he met the risen Saviour, his doubts were swept away and, in the spirit of believing worship, he exclaimed, “My Lord and my God” (Jn 20:28).
Paul reminded the believers in Thessalonica that they had “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven” (1 Th 1:9,10). These Thessalonians had submitted to Christ; they had received Him as the almighty Saviour whom God had appointed. And as they continued to serve Him, the focus of their minds was on the second coming of Christ, when all the affairs of this life, including the activity of the Church under the rule of its great Head, will be brought to a conclusion. Then it will be clearly seen that the devil has been conquered and his works destroyed, and that the government of this world indeed lay safely upon the shoulders of “the Mighty God”. May we, in the short time left to us in this world, seek to serve and worship Him with all our heart! Let us never doubt that He is altogether worthy of our wholehearted service and worship.