Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called … Mighty God …” (Isaiah 9:6).
Last week, we learned about the first title given to Jesus in Isaiah 9:6: “Wonderful Counselor.”Jesus was given that title because He spoke with authority. He spoke with authority because He was speaking as God Himself! Jesus’ counsel is wonderful because His teaching is the very teaching of God. Again, this is why it is so important for us Christians to hear, read, study, believe, and trust Holy Scripture. As Jesus says in John 8, “If you abide in My Word, you are truly My disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32).
Tonight, we will focus on the second title given to Jesus: “Mighty God.”
Back when Jesus physically walked on this earth – as He performed healings and miracles – there were many people who refused to believe that Jesus was God in human flesh. Well, in 2024, not much has changed. Today, we find people celebrating Christmas with the gifting of presents, but they refuse to believe that Jesus is God. However, if we take Scripture seriously, we cannot avoid the fact that the Child born of Mary is Mighty God!
Some today, who get their theology from 15-second social-media “theologians”, try to say that the original Hebrew for “Mighty God” should be translated as “great hero,” which implies that this Child born of Mary would only be a famous man – but only a man. If this is the case, we have some serious problems.
First, we already know that the Child born of the virgin would be called “Immanuel,” which means “God with us” (Isaiah 7:14).
Secondly, the original Hebrew of “Mighty God” can’t be translated as “great hero.” Why is that? Well, Scripture interprets Scripture. And this original Hebrew אֵ֣ל גִּבֹּ֔ור (El Gibbor) just so happens to be found in other places in the Old Testament. And each of those other cases אֵ֣ל גִּבֹּ֔ור (El Gibbor) refers to God Himself and not some human who happens to be a “great hero.”
§ In Deuteronomy 10:17, אֵ֣ל גִּבֹּ֔ור (El Gibbor) shows up, which reads: “For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.”
§ In Jeremiah 32:18, אֵ֣ל גִּבֹּ֔ור (El Gibbor) again shows up, which reads: “O Great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts…”
§ In Isaiah 10:21, אֵ֣ל גִּבֹּ֔ור (El Gibbor) pops up a third time, which reads: “A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God.”
So, based on Scriptural evidence, אֵ֣ל גִּבֹּ֔ור (El Gibbor) can only mean “Mighty God.” This Child born of the virgin will be called “Mighty God” because He is the very Son of God in human flesh.
In fact, John 1 stresses this point: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:1-3).
What John, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is teaching here is the divine mystery known as the Trinity as God exists as three distinct Persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
So, Jesus, the Son of God, was with the Father and the Holy Spirit “in the beginning” – before creation.
A few verses later, John writes: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Here, John is alluding to the fact that the Son of God took on human flesh in the womb of the virgin Mary. The eternal Mighty God became what He wasn’t through the Incarnation.
In John 5, as we heard tonight, Jesus was performing miracles on the Sabbath, a day when God’s people were supposed to rest from their work so they could focus on God’s work for them in worship. But Jesus says that He must work on the Sabbath. Why would He say that? He said it because He must work on the Sabbath because as God He upholds all creation.
Then there were others who refused to believe in Jesus because they were not children of God. To that, Jesus said that all Old Testament believers – including the father of Israel, Abraham – believed in Jesus and looked forward to His coming.
When the unbelieving Jews heard this, they said, “How could Abraham have known You? Abraham lived and died hundreds of years before you were born!” To that, Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). By these words, Jesus is teaching that He is the eternal Son of God in human flesh.
So, why am I stressing the point that Jesus is “Mighty God”? It’s because He was and still is God in the flesh. But Satan does not want you to believe this fact that Jesus is “Mighty God.”
You see, if Jesus was only a man, then He could not be the Savior. Scripture teaches that only God Himself can save us from sin, death, and the devil.
In Genesis 3, God said that the woman would give birth to a Son who would crush the power of the devil (Genesis 3:15). But only God can crush the power of the devil. So, the Child born of the woman would have to be God Himself in human flesh.
But how would God’s Son crush the devil? God’s Son would crush the devil by allowing Himself to be crushed by our sin so that we might be saved from the death and eternal hell that we each deserve. No mere human could pay for the sin of all. Only God Himself could do that!
So, if God Himself was not hanging on that cross, then you are still under the curse of your sins and you are still a slave of the devil. No wonder the devil does not want you to believe that Jesus is “Mighty God.”
Just think about it! All who deny that Jesus is God either have to deny the reality of sin or they have to try to deal with their sin themselves. But both options are based on a lie to keep us from receiving salvation from the “Mighty God”!
Sometimes we are tempted to deny that our sin is a big deal. We are all guilty of this. But if we really believe that Jesus is God and that He is always with us, then we would not be so comfortable with our sin.
But sometimes we do get comfortable with our sin! Why do we do this? Maybe it’s because we think Jesus was just a man who lived in the past. Why should we worry about what some dead guy thinks about our sin? But the reality is that Jesus lives and He is with us! So, we better take our sins seriously because Jesus is Mighty God and He sees all.
On the other hand, maybe we do take our sins seriously, but we foolishly think we can deal with our sins ourselves. Maybe we think that we can make up for our sins if we only do a good works to impress God.
When we do think like this, we don’t realize that our sins in fact deserve God’s present and eternal punishment. We don’t realize that only God Himself can save us from our sins and that He did this by dying on the cross for us.
So, when we try to deal with sin ourselves rather than repenting, trusting, and clinging to Jesus, we show that we actually deny that Jesus is Mighty God who came to die on the cross for our sins.
But the Good News for us tonight is that God has used His Word to rescue us from Satan’s lies! Tonight, God has taught you that the Child born of the virgin Mary is Mighty God, the One who hung on the cross, crucified for your sins – including your sin of forgetting that Jesus is Mighty God in the flesh and that He is with you always to the end of the age. Jesus is Mighty God and He forgives you – and if the Mighty God forgives you, Satan has no claim on you.
Jesus is Mighty God, and He claimed you as His own at your Baptism where He put His name on you and washed you from the guilt of your sin by the power of His divine blood.
Jesus is Mighty God, and He nurtures your faith in Him as He teaches you with His Word.
Jesus is Mighty God, and He gives you His own body and blood in the Lord’s Supper to assure you that your sins are forgiven and that your Mighty God is with you!
Jesus is Mighty God, and He will help you to live as His child in this world.
Jesus is Mighty God, and He will give you eternal life in His love when He returns in power and glory. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +
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