My God and My Country

Special Christmas Day Study

The Book of Isaiah Chapter 9:6

GNV Translation Ed. 1599

6 For unto us a child is born, and unto us a Son is given: and the government is upon his shoulder, and he shall call his name, Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The prince of peace.

Study notes

Three things are here promised, and they all point ultimately at the grace of the gospel, which the saints then were to comfort themselves with the hopes of in every cloudy and dark day, as we now are to comfort ourselves in time of trouble with the hopes of Christ’s second coming, though that be now, as his first coming then was, a thing at a great distance. The mercy likewise which God has in store for his church in the latter days may be a support to those that are mourning with her for her present calamities. We have here the promise, Of a glorious light, which shall so qualify, and by degrees dispel, the dimness, that it shall not be as it sometimes has been. In the worst of times God’s people have a nevertheless to comfort themselves with, something to allay and balance their troubles; they are persecuted, but not forsaken (2 Corinthians 4:9), sorrowful yet always rejoicing, (2 Corinthians 6:10). And it is matter of comfort to us, when things are at the darkest, that he who forms the light and creates the darkness (Chronicles 45:7) has appointed to both their bounds and set the one over against the other, Genesis 4:4 . He can say, "Hitherto the dimness shall go, so long it shall last, and no further, no longer.  God tries what less judgments will do with a people before he brings greater; but if a light affliction do not do its work with us, to humble and reform us, we must expect to be afflicted more grievously; for when God judges he will overcome. There was dimness of anguish in Galilee of the Gentiles, both in respect of ignorance (they did not speak according to the law and the testimony, and then there was no light in them, (Chronicles 8:20 ) and in respect of trouble, and the desperate posture of their outward affairs. But that dimness which threatened (Chronicles 8:22) shall not prevail to such a degree; for (verse 2) the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. 

When the gospel comes to any place, to any soul, light comes, a great light, a shining light, which will shine more and more. It should be welcome to us, as light is to those that sit in darkness, and we should readily entertain it, both because if is of such sovereign use to us and because it brings its own evidence with it. Truly this light is sweet. This is very applicable to the times of gospel light, spoken of (verse 2). Then God multiplied the nation, the gospel Israel. "And to him’’ (so the Masorites read it) "thou hast magnified the joy, to every one that receives the light.’’ The following words favour this reading: "They joy before thee; they come before thee in holy ordinances with great joy’; their mirth is not like that of Israel under their vines and fig-trees (thou hast not increased that joy), but it is in the favour of God and in the tokens of his grace.’’ Note that The gospel, when it comes in its light and power, brings joy along with it, and those who receive it aright do therein rejoice, yea, and will rejoice; therefor the conversion of the nations is prophesied of by this. It is holy joy: They joy before thee; they rejoice in spirit (as Christ did in the Gospel according to Luke  10:21 ), and that is before God. In the eye of the world they are always as sorrowful, and yet, in God’s sight, always rejoicing. It is great joy; it is according to the joy in harvest, when those who sowed in tears, and have with long patience waited for the precious fruits of the earth, reap in joy. The gospel brings with it plenty and victory; but those that would have the joy of it must first expect to go through a hard work, as the husbandman before he has the joy of harvest. 

See the dignity he is advanced to, and the name he has above every name. He shall be called (and therefore we are sure he is and shall be) Wonderful, Counsellor, etc. His people shall know him and worship him by these names; and, as one that fully answers them, they shall submit to him and depend upon him. He is wonderful, counsellor. Justly is he called wonderful, for he is both God and man. His love is the wonder of angels and glorified saints; in his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, he was wonderful. A constant series of wonders attended him, and, without controversy, great was the mystery of godliness concerning him. He is the counsellor, for he was intimately acquainted with the counsels of God from eternity, and he gives counsel to the children of men, in which he consults our welfare. It is by him that God has given us counsel, Psalm 16:7 ; Revelations 3:18 . He is the wisdom of the Father, and is made of God to us wisdom. Some join these together: He is the wonderful counsellor, a wonder or miracle of a counsellor; in this, as in other things, he has the pre-eminence; none teaches like him. He is the mighty God—God, the mighty One. As he has wisdom, so he has strength, to go through with his undertaking: he is able to save to the utmost; and such is the work of the Mediator that no less a power than that of the mighty God could accomplish it. He is the everlasting Father, or the Father of eternity; he is God, one with the Father, who is from everlasting to everlasting. He is the author of everlasting life and happiness to them, and so is the Father of a blessed eternity to them. He is the Father of the world to come (so the Septuagint reads it), the father of the gospel-state, which is put in subjection to him, not to the angels, Hebrews 2:5 . He was, from eternity, Father of the great work of redemption: his heart was upon it; it was the product of his wisdom as the counsellor, of his love as the everlasting Father. He is the prince of peace. As a King, he preserves the peace, commands peace, nay, he creates peace, in his kingdom. He is our peace, and it is his peace that both keeps the hearts of his people and rules in them. He is not only a peaceable prince, and his reign peaceable, but he is the author and giver of all good, all that peace which is the present and future bliss of his subjects.
Matthew Henry Commentary on the Book of Isaiah Chapter 9:1-6 (Edited by RPW Sr.)