E-mail Address
To correspond with Dr. Perdue or schedule a meeting click the email address below.
A Name Above Every Name (Isaiah 9:6-7)
Isaiah has been called the evangelical prophet. His book is the poetic masterpiece of the Bible. In this prophetic letter he reveals in detail not only the character but also the mission of Christ in this world. Though written some 700 years before the birth of the Christ child, it reads as though he was a contemporary of that day. It is a reminder to all believers that our joy is because of Jesus, because of Him we can sing the song of the Savior, we are able to love because of His Lordship, our inheritance is because of the incarnation, and all of our blessings are a result of His birth. Throughout the book of Isaiah the emphasis is on the conquering Christ, not only as Savior but as Sovereign.
In I Cor. 2: 7 the Apostle Paul said, “we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery” and to Timothy he writes concerning the “mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh..” To confound the wise of this world God chose a peasant virgin from a downtrodden people as the mother of His only begotten Son. His birth took place in a very obscure town and He was laid in a lowly manger in a barn where cattle were housed. Mary and Joseph did not even choose His name, it was chosen for them. In Matthew 1:21 we read that the angel of the Lord said, “Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins.”
Our text reveals various names and offices that he fills in His relationship with man. Let us look at the various names and at the same time notice the ministry that each one conveys to the needy and hungry soul.
I. Wonderful: We speak of the wonders of the world such as the great wall of China, the pyramids, the grand canyon, but all the wonders of the world cannot compare to the wonder of His birth. That event was so full of wonder that the angels stooped low and sang over the balconies of heaven, “glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men.”
When man fell in the Garden of Eden the singing died. The last word in the Old Testament in Malachi 4: 6 was ‘curse.’ The singing was once again heard at His birth and the singing of the angels represented both music and mercy. He came to lift the curse and set man free. God came in the flesh and we “beheld His glory!” In the incarnation we do not have man aspiring to God-hood but rather we have God assuming man-hood. The wonder of His birth, the wonder of His life, (He was perfectly what every saint is partially), the wonder of His death, His resurrection, and His continuing intercession. Oh the wonder of it all!
II. Counselor: He is the answer to all our questions and solutions to all our problems.
a. To the restless and weary He says, “come unto me and I will give you rest.”
b. To our basic needs He admonishes, “seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.”
c. To the fearful he says, “let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
He has counsel for every crisis, direction for every dilemma, He is the prescription for every pain, and the message for every man.
III. Mighty God: He was mighty in creation as John tells us, “all things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” Paul tells us in Colossians 1: 16-17 that, “by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether there be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist.”
One adequately stated: “He did not need to put His signature in the corner of a sunrise, or a laundry mark in the lapel of a meadow, or carve His initials in the side of a mountain, or put His brand on the cattle of the hillsides, nor even copyright the songs that the birds sing because He is sole creator, author, and proprietor of it all.”
He is mighty in redemption because fallen man needed more than a make-over. The cry of Tennyson speaks the plight of the whole human race:
“O that a man would rise in me,
That the man I am might cease to be.”
The disobedience of Adam had rendered all men dead in sin and separated all from God. Jesus came to save His people from their sins. “Having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself….and you that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath He reconciled. In the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable in His sight,” (Colossians 1:20-22) what a mighty God He is!
IV. Everlasting Father: In John 14: 8 Phillip said to Jesus, “Show us the Father and it, sufficeth us, Jesus responded with a gentle rebuke and said, “Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Phillip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father..” Jesus was the supreme revelation of the Father. In Christ, God has laid aside the thick armor plate of majesty and might and unveiled His heart to the sons of men. He is the timeless one who is from everlasting to everlasting. He is the first cause, the fixed center, and the final conclusion of everything and is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
V. Prince of Peace: When we speak of Christ as the Prince of Peace in this day that is being ravaged by war many are prone to ask, ‘where is this peace’? We must first realize that there is an inner Kingdom and one day there will be an outer Kingdom. Jesus speaking to Nicodemus said, “except a man be born again, he cannot see (or enter) the Kingdom of God.”
Here Jesus is saying that the Kingdom of God is within man. Paul in Romans 14: 17 says, “the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink: but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Amidst all the war, fighting, anger and hatred in this world we have the promise recorded in Isaiah 26:3, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”
While the Christian can enjoy an inner peace, outwardly we are yet in a battle, “not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this world.” While there is unrest on every hand and wars and rumors of war abounds on all sides, the real battle is between God and Satan, between Christ and antichrist. There will never be a war to end all wars; no earthly peace conference will end wars. The only one who can end all wars is Christ and He is excluded from the world’s peace conference. There will never be peace in this world until He comes to establish the outer Kingdom and sets up His reign on this earth. Then the Prince of Peace will be on the throne and justice and judgment will cover the land. Until then if we continue faithful we “are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.” (Romans 8:37)
‘O COME LET US ADORE HIM!’
