Isaiah 9:2-3 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

2The people walking in darkness
have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of the shadow of death,
a light has dawned.
3You have enlarged the nation
and increased its joy.
The people rejoice before You
as they rejoice at harvest time,
as men rejoice in dividing the plunder.

I have read and studied and written from the teachings of the book of Isaiah many times, especially over the past 22 years, but longer than that. And one thing I have noticed is how much the book of Isaiah speaks of the coming of Jesus Christ, of His birth, His life on the earth, His death and resurrection, and of the Messianic age, even though He had not yet come, and often as though He had already appeared. Isaiah 53 especially covers these subjects.

And all of us humans are born into sin, with sin natures, in the image of Adam. And we are separate from God and unable in our own flesh to be acceptable to God. So God the Father sent His only begotten Son into the world to be born as a baby to a virgin woman. But he was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and not of man. So Jesus was not born with a sin nature as we are. And He grew to be a man, and then He began His years of ministry on the earth accompanied by 12 chosen disciples. He is/was The Great Light!

We read about Him in John 1 where He is, at first, referred to as “The Word.” But further on down in the passage of Scripture it is revealed to us that “The Word” is Jesus Christ (God-incarnate) who lived among the people. He was with God in the beginning, and He was/is God, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And all things were made by Him, i.e. He is our creator God. And He is The Light that shines in the darkness.

Although some people did acknowledge Him for who He was (and is), and they did receive Him as their Lord and Messiah, the vast majority did not. And it is still the same today. Even though many have seen the “Great Light” which shines in the darkness (in a world of sin), and some may give lip service to Him, only a minority have discontinued walking (in conduct) in the darkness (sin, wickedness) and are now walking in The Light of truth and righteousness (Jesus Christ) in the power of God at work within their lives.

Isaiah 9:6-7 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)

6For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given,
and the government will be upon His shoulders.
And He will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7Of the increase of His government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on the throne of David
and over his kingdom,
to establish and sustain it
with justice and righteousness
from that time and forevermore.
The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this.

Again, this is talking about Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who came into the world, was born as a baby to a virgin woman, but conceived of the Holy Spirit. When he was about 30 years old he began His earthly ministry with his 12 selected disciples. For the next three years he healed the sick and afflicted, raised the dead, delivered people from demons, fed the hungry, comforted the sorrowful, and taught the necessity of repentance (death to sin) and obedience to God for salvation and for eternal life with God.

For a while He had a large following, mostly because of the miracles that He performed, and because He fed large groups of people miraculously on at least two occasions, that I am aware of. But most of the religious rulers and people of influence in the temple of God were jealous of His popularity and they hated Him, and so they did all kinds of things to try to trip Him up in hopes to discredit Him. And they especially did not like His messages and the words that he spoke to the Pharisees, Sadducees, and to the Scribes.

Eventually they plotted His death on a cross, which they had carried out by the Roman government. But in Jesus’ death on that cross He put our sins to death with Him, and in His resurrection he conquered death, sin, Satan, and hell so that, by faith in Him, we will now die to sin and live to God and obey God and His commands as a matter of life practice. And He is now Lord and Master of our lives, and He is Lord over His church, i.e. over all of us who have surrendered our lives to Him. He is our wonderful counselor, our God.

Now, what is important for us to know here is that Jesus is God, and for us to have salvation from sin and eternal life with God we must, by faith in Him, deny self, die to sin daily, and follow Him in obedience to His commands, in life practice, in the power of God. And He is to be head of the church, not the government, not the marketing schemes, and not the pastors, but Christ. He is the one who is to be in charge of the church and directing her in the way she should go. And we are to follow Him wherever He leads us.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God
An Original Work / August 9, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

My Jesus, I Love Thee

Hymn lyrics by William R. Featherstone, 1864
Music by Adoniram J. Gordon, 1876

My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine;
For thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou;
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I love thee because thou hast first loved me,
And purchased my pardon on Calvary’s tree;
I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow;
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say, when the death-dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

In mansions of glory and endless delight;
I’ll ever adore thee in heaven so bright;
I’ll sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.

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