CHRISTMAS EVE
DR. JIM DIXON
LUKE 2:1-20, ISAIAH 9:6
DECEMBER 24, 1994
Psychologists tell us that parents choose names phonetically. They name their children on the basis of phonetics, on the basis of how the name sounds. A mom and dad might name their little boy Chad, which means warlike, or they might name their little girl Heidi, which means battle maiden, simply because they like the sound of the names Chad and Heidi. The name Miriam means bitter. The name Doug means dark water. The name Corey means pool dweller. But it does not matter because parents choose names phonetically.
God is not like earthly parents. God is concerned with etymology and definition. When God chose four names for his Son, the child born in Bethlehem, God was very much concerned with the meaning of the names.
Tonight, on this Christmas Eve, we will examine the meaning of four names that God gave His Son, this child born in Bethlehem. These four names are found in Isaiah 9:6. “For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor.” God wants the world to know this child born in Bethlehem is “Pele Yoez,” the Wonderful Counselor.
On this night, Christmas Eve, December 24, 1888, the famous artist Vincent van Gogh cut off his ear. Some historians believe he did it when he was in a wild rage, arguing with Paul Gauguin. Other historians believe that he had a seizure. No one knows for sure, but on this all agree: Vincent van Gogh could have used a good counselor. He lived a kind of tragic life. He sold only one of his paintings in his entire lifetime. Today, a single painting of Vincent Van Gogh’s can sell for as much as $90 million. But in his day, no one liked his paintings. He attempted a number of careers and failed at all of them. He felt unloved, felt very lonely, and committed suicide in 1890.
Vincent van Gogh is not alone in this world. According to the American Psychological Association, 1 out of every 10 Americans, 27 million Americans, suffer from some form of mental illness. According to the American Psychological Association, 1 out of 4 Americans, almost 70 million Americans, experience some measure of clinical anxiety. All of us have times in our lives when we could use a good counselor. But good counselors are not always easy to find.
Apparently some people in this crazy world are becoming desperate. Not too long ago, USA Today ran an article entitled “Shrinks on Video.” You can now buy a video, bring it home, put it in your VCR, and your television set will counsel you.
I thought one video sounded particularly amusing. It is a video called “Talk to Me.” You can buy this for $9.95, bring it home, and put it in your VCR. A guy appears on your television set, looks really kind and compassionate, has a nice smile, and says, “How do you feel?” You are then to talk it all out to your television set. The guy on the video looks interested, concerned, empathetic, and compassionate. As you speak, he says things like, “Go with that” or “Expand on that, please.” This is a crazy world, and good counseling is not easy to find. There is a lot of flaky counseling from psychic hotlines to shrinks on videos.
Most people when they want good counsel seek more conventional sources. Perhaps they talk to a pastor. Perhaps they talk to a priest. Perhaps they talk to a therapist or a psychologist or a psychiatrist. Certainly there are many good counselors in this world, but God wants us to understand there is only one Wonderful Counselor. Jesus, the child born in Bethlehem, is the wonderful counselor; and He listens when we pray. He hears every word, and we can pray any moment of any day. There has never been a counselor like that. Jesus cares. The Bible says, “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:1-15).
Jesus is the wonderful counselor, and we come to Him in prayer. When we come to Him and invite Him to be our Lord and Savior, when we invite Him to be our Savior from sin, when we invite Him to come and sit on the throne of our heart, when we receive Him as Savior and Lord, He actually comes to us and dwells with us by His Spirit. There has never been a counselor in the world who could do this. He actually comes to us and dwells in us by His Spirit, whom the Bible calls the paraclete, the counselor, the comforter; and we have Him at every moment of every day. You can go to some counselors once a week or twice a week, but Jesus dwells within the believer every day. He is the wonderful counselor. He has given us His counsel in this book, the Bible, which He commanded His apostles to write and His Spirit inspired. Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, and Carl Young wrote, but their wisdom pales when compared to the wisdom of the Son of God. Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor. He came into the world that He might give counsel and that we might follow His counsel.
God gave His Son a second name. God calls this child born in Bethlehem El Gibbor. “For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called… Mighty God” (Isaiah 9:6).
What an incredible title. God calls His Son “El Gibbor,” Mighty God. Theologians sometimes debate whether people the world over are really seeking God. Some theologians believe that men and women the world over are seeking God. They say that is why some people become Buddhist. That is why other people become Hindus. That is why some people become Muslims. That is why some people become Christians. That is why some people follow New Age. Religion manifests the reality that people are seeking God. But other theologians say no. They say people are not really seeking God. People are seeking to fill a void that is in their life because they are separated from God. People are seeking some veneer of spirituality or religiosity, but they are not really seeking God. They are not seeking God for the same reason that criminals are not seeking law officers.
A sinful world is not seeking a holy God. In Genesis 3 we read that sin entered the world. Adam and Eve sought to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord God. The Bible tells us that people the world over are seeking to hide themselves from God. But the great message of Christmas is this: God is seeking us and that is why He came into our world. He took upon Himself human flesh. This is the mystery of the incarnation. That child born in Bethlehem is God seeking you. The child born in Bethlehem is El Gibbor, Mighty God.
Larry King was on David Letterman not too long ago. David Letterman asked King if he could interview anyone from history, who would he want to interview most of all? Larry King did not hesitate. He said, “Jesus Christ.” David Letterman seemed surprised. He said, “What would you ask Him?” Larry King said, “I would ask Him if He was really born of a virgin. The answer to that question would change history.” That is what Larry King said. The answer to that question has already been given. The Bible says, “Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear a son” (Isaiah 7:14).
The angel told Mary, “‘You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of His kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How shall this be, since I have no husband?’ And the angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God” (Luke 1:30b-35).
This was no normal birth. This was no normal child. He is El Gibbor, Mighty God. John 1 reads, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth; we have beheld His glory” (John 1:1, 14). Hebrews 1 reads, “In many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days He has spoken to us by a Son, whom He appointed the heir of all things, through whom also He created the world. He reflects the glory of God and bears the very stamp of His nature, upholding the universe by His word of power. When He had made purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name He has obtained is more excellent than theirs. For to what angel did God ever say, ‘Thou art My Son, today I have begotten thee’? Or again, ‘I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a Son’? And again, when He brings the first-born into the world, He says, ‘Let all God’s angels worship Him.’ Of the angels He says, ‘Who makes His angels winds, and His servants flames of fire.’ But of the Son He says, ‘Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever'” (Hebrews 1:1-8a).
The Father calls the Son God. The Father calls the Son El Gibbor, Mighty God. The Bible tells us that Jesus Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. The Bible says, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:5-7).
The apostles called Jesus Christ our great God and Savior. When the disciples came to Him and said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied,” Jesus replied, “He who has seen me has seen the Father… I am in the Father and the Father in Me” (John 14:8-11). “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30). Jesus is Emmanuel, God with us. He is El Gibbor. Jesus is the Mighty God, and the deity of Jesus Christ is not in question. The only question that God asks us tonight is this. Is He your God?
Perhaps you have heard the story of the Christmas program that a second grade classroom put on at their school. All the parents were there, and the other students were there. The teacher had worked hard with these second graders. She had a group of four kids who were to come onto the stage, each holding up a letter. The four letters spelled STAR. This was the part of the Christmas program that dealt with the wise man and the star of Bethlehem. As these four kids were excited and a little confused, they came onto the stage in reverse order. Holding up their cards, they spelled the word RATS, which is star backwards.
The Bible indicates that men and women the world over are confused concerning deity. They have it backwards. The Bible tells us some people live as though they are their own god. People the world over live for themselves. They place themselves on the throne of their lives and live for themselves. They serve themselves. That child born in Bethlehem came into the world so that He might help us get things right. He invites us to turn things around and place Him on the throne, not ourselves. He is the divine king, and we are not. Christmas is an invitation to receive His reign, to invite Jesus Christ to come and sit on the throne of our lives.
Jesus said to Peter, “Who do you say that I am?” (Matt. 16:15). He asks that same question to you tonight. “Who do you say that I am?” God has named His Son El Gibbor, Mighty God.
A third name that the Father has given the Son is the name Avi’ad. “For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called… Avi’ad” (Isaiah 9:6). This name is sometimes translated Everlasting Father. That is an unfortunate rendering of the Hebrew and confuses Christians because a lot of Christians who are thinking in terms of the Trinity want to know how Jesus can be both the Son and the Father. How could Jesus be the Everlasting Father?
This name Avi’ad literally means Father of Eternity. It means Lord of time. This child born in Bethlehem transcends time and space and has authority. He has authority over time and space. He is the Lord of time. We are all subject to time. My birthday was a few weeks ago. I turned 49, and my son and daughter, Drew and Heather, gave me birthday cards. Both cards had to do with getting older, kind of making fun of that. Heather’s card on the outside said, “Hey dad, it’s your birthday. Go crazy.” When you open it up, it says, “Take two naps,” (and I probably will take two naps tomorrow).
We all feel the effects of time. We are all getting older. That is true of every person in this sanctuary. That is true of every person in the world. We are all getting older, and eventually we will die. The death rate is a hundred percent. But there is hope because that child born in Bethlehem is Avi’ad. He is the Father of Eternity. He has authority to give eternal life. It was Jesus who said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes In me, though he die, yet shall he live, and whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die” (John 11:25). God “loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Jesus is Avi’ad and has power to give you everlasting life.
In London, England, in Westminster Abbey, there is a chapel called the Chapel of Saint George. It is actually a World War II memorial. In this chapel there is a shrine, and the shrine has an altar with a great book upon it. There is a light that always shines upon that book. Inside that book there are 60,000 names. They are the names of the men and women who died in London during World War II. During the Nazi assault, 60,000 men and women, young and old, rich and poor, titled and common, died in London during World War II.
It is a book of the dead by command of the English government. Every day, a person enters the chapel, approaches the shrine, goes up to the book, and turns a page. Every day a new list of names is exposed to the light. It is a book of the dead. The Bible tells us there is a book in heaven. It is not a book of the dead. It is called the Book of Life. It contains the names of everyone who has eternal life. It contains the names of everyone who is going to heaven. God wants your name to be in that book. That is why God sent His Son into the world.
If you believe in Jesus, if you receive Him as your Savior from sin and the Lord of your life, He will give you victory over death because He is Avi’ad. He will give you eternal life. He has this power because He is Avi’ad, the Father of Eternity, He will also consummate history. Jesus Christ will come again. A recent issue of US News and World Report revealed that 60% of people in this country believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ. That is an incredible statistic. Forty-nine percent (49%) of people in America believe an Antichrist will come at the consummation of the age. Forty-four percent (44%) of the people in America believe that Armageddon will consummate history. These are amazing numbers.
If 60% of the people in America believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ, that means 40% of the people do not believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ. Although, it would not matter if 90% of the people in America did not believe in the second coming of Jesus Christ because God is not scripting history on the basis of earthly polls. God has declared what He is going to do, and God says that He is going to send His Son back to this world a second time. The Bible says that He is coming with the clouds. Every eye will see Him. Everyone who pierced Him and all the nations of the earth will cry out on account of Him. Jesus Christ says, “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing My recompense, to repay everyone for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 22:12-13). Jesus Christ is Avi’ad. He will consummate history. He is the Father of Eternity, and He alone can give eternal life.
There is one final title that God gives His Son, this child born in Bethlehem, and that is the title Sar Shalom. “For to us a child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called Sar Shalom, the Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9″6). God wants the world to know His Son, this child born in Bethlehem, is the Prince of Peace.
This past year, Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres, and Yitzhak Rabin were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in negotiating a treaty between the Palestinians and the Israelis, between the Arabs and the Jews. This peace process has covered two and a half years. It was two and a half years ago that the United Nations declared Norway as the neutral country where the deliberations would take place. Representatives of the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) and representatives of the Israel government met in Norway in a private residence outside the city of Oslo, a residence that belongs to the Norwegian foreign minister, Mr. Heiberg, and his wife Marianne.
For 18 months, day after day, these representatives of the PLO and these representatives of the Israeli government came to that home. They talked. They argued. They fought. The Heibergs have a young son named Edward. He is almost seven years old today, but he was four years old when the talks began. He is a cute little guy, and all the representatives of the Israel government and all the representatives of the PLO loved him. Whenever he came into the room, these foreign representatives would get down on their knees and play with him.
A curious thing happened during that 18-month process. Whenever the discussions became heated, whenever the dialogue became tense, whenever it looked like the representatives of the PLO or the representatives of the Israeli government were going to walk and let peace fade, whenever it looked like that was going to happen, Marianne Heiberg sent little Edward into the room. They would see him coming, and they would all say, “Hi Edward.” They would stop what they were doing and start playing with him. It gave them a different perspective and changed the tone of their discussion. Today, the Norwegian government claims that if it were not for Edward Heiberg, that peace treaty never would have been signed. But Edward Heiberg is not the prince of peace, and on the basis of biblical prophecy, that peace in Israel will not last. Armageddon is coming. The Bible says there will be wars and rumors of wars right up to the end.
The Bible tells us that the nation of Israel will be reborn. People from all over the world will come to this reborn nation of Israel. That happened in 1948. The Bible prophesied that in the end times, the Jewish people would reoccupy the city of Jerusalem. Nobody thought it possible, but it happened in 1967. The Bible tells us that in the end times the nations of the earth will polarize themselves with respect to this little nation of Israel. That is happening in our time. The Bible tells us that there will be peace made with Israel, and the Bible tells us that that peace will be broken.
The Bible tells us there will be wars and rumors of wars right up to the very end. More people have been killed in war in this century than any prior century. Despite the Industrial Revolution, despite the glorified technological attainments of our generation, despite the so-called enlightenment of our time, despite the breakthroughs in everything from genetics to space, there is no peace. There is no peace. But that child born in Bethlehem is Sar Shalom. He is the Prince of Peace. One day, when He returns, He will bring peace to this world.
Isaiah 2:4 is a verse quoted on the United Nations building in New York City: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” The Prince of Peace will do this. The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord, and He shall reign forever and ever. He will usher in the millennium and the new heavens and the new earth. He will come to judge the world, and He will receive His people unto Himself. He will bring peace. Of course, that is an eschatological peace. That is a peace that comes with the consummation.
There is another peace that Jesus Christ offers tonight because He is Sar Shalom, the Prince of Peace. It is not a political peace. It is not an international peace. It is a very personal peace. He offers you an inward peace. I do not know what you think of when you think of peace. Perhaps you think of a mountain stream or a fishing pole. Maybe you think of a margarita and a sandy beach. Maybe you think of a snowy night, a warm fire, and a good book. Maybe you just think of a cup of coffee and the newspaper. Maybe you think of a Christmas dinner with family and friends. But these all pale when compared to the peace, the deep peace, the true peace that Jesus Christ offers.
Only Jesus Christ can offer you forgiveness of sin. He can wash you whiter than snow. He can remove your sin from you as far as the east is from the west. Knowing your sin is forgiven, that is peace. Jesus Christ is Sar Shalom. Only Jesus Christ can offer the peace of His indwelling presence. The psalmist wrote, “Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast” (Psalm 139:7-10). That is the peace of Christ. He is with us always by His indwelling presence.
And there is the peace of eternal security and knowing that we are bound for heaven. Only Jesus Christ offers that peace. Jesus said to all who believe, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am (John 14:1-3). “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you” (John 14:27). The Apostle Paul wrote, ” Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?… For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:35-39).
That is peace, knowing you cannot be separated from His love. Jesus said, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” (John 10:27-29). That is peace, and it comes through Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, Sar Shalom.
These four names the Father gives to His Son, this child born in Bethlehem. His name shall be called “Pele Yoez,” the Wonderful Counselor. Through the privilege of prayer, He listens, and He hears us, and He cares. For all who believe, He has given us His word to counsel us day by day. His name shall be called “El Gibbor,” the Mighty God. He is deity, this child born in Bethlehem. The question that is asked tonight is this: Is He your God? Have you placed Him on the throne of your life and of your heart? He is “Sar Shalom,” the Prince of Peace, and He is “Avi’ad,” the Father of Eternity, the only one that can consummate the age and offer us eternal life. Let us look to the Lord with a word of prayer.