Christ in the Old Testament

Isaiah 9:6

For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (NIV)

Today’s Reading: Isaiah 9:1-7

Not only was Jesus fully human, but he was also fully God. Jesus is the eternal Son of God. The next line of Isaiah 9:6 reads:

“to us a son is given.”

Let’s begin with the obvious statement that Isaiah is telling us that a son will be given. One of our most quoted verses in all of the Scriptures tells us the same thing, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). God gave us his Son so that we would also have eternal life. It was a gift and Jesus was God’s one and only Son.

There are other places where we see Jesus being referred to the Son of God to prove this prophecy was fulfilled by Christ. Here are a few more:

• “The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).
• “And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” (Matt 3:17).
• “The tempter came to him and said, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread’” (Matt 4:3).
• “Then Nathanael declared, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the king of Israel’” (John 1:49).
• “For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father’? Or again, ‘I will be his Father, and he will be my Son’?” (Heb 1:5).

Jesus plays a role in the Trinity as the Son and his role is different than the Father and the Holy Spirit. As the Son, Jesus:

• Shows us the Father (John 14:9)
• Executes God’s will (John 6:38)
• Sent the Holy Spirit (John 15:26)
• Is the head of the church (Col 1:18)
• Is the mediator between God and man (1 Tim 2:5)

Because Jesus is fully human and fully God, Jesus has the unique ability to be our mediator. Paul tells us, “For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people” (1 Tim 2:5-6).

A trustworthy mediator holds the interest of both parties in equal value. You would never agree to have a mediator settle a dispute if they were a relative of the person with whom you have the disagreement. Unless they were also your relative right? You have to believe that the mediator will value your outcome as much as they value the outcome of the other person. That’s why Jesus is the perfect mediator – he is both God and man.

Jesus also has the right to stand before God and mediate on our behalf. Why does he need to be our mediator? A mediator is to resolve the dispute between two parties. That’s correct. God has a dispute with us. Because we are sinners, we have broken God’s law. God is perfectly just so He must enforce our punishment which is death (Rom 6:23). And not only physical death but eternal separation from God (Rev 20:11-15).

Without a mediator, we are doomed. We cannot stand before a holy God and argue for our forgiveness. We need a mediator. “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant” (Heb 9:15).

Because of Jesus, we are able to stand before God clothed the righteousness. “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21). Jesus successfully resolved our dispute with God. Now we are able to enter the presence of God and approach his throne with confidence.

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Heb 4:15-16).

Today’s Prayer: Thank you Jesus for paying my penalty so that I could be right with God and approach His throne of grace with confidence. You are worthy of all praise!