Sermon Recap
Born Champion: Isaiah’s Prophecy of the King
Part 2 of 4 in Hope Is Here
Parte 2 de 4 de la serie Hope Is Here
Read the full transcript · Leer esto en espanol
Brian Hunter · December 14, 2025
“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.”
Scripture Referenced
Recap
Continuing the Advent series on prophecies fulfilled in Jesus, Brian landed on Isaiah 9:6-7, pulling out the familiar chart the church uses a few times a year to trace prophecy and fulfillment side by side. The question he sat with: how does an infant (one who cries, gets hungry, and needs care like any other baby) end up described as bearing the weight of a government on his shoulders? Brian’s answer was that Jesus was born with the intrinsic qualities of that identity already in him, not qualities he had to grow into later. Righteousness didn’t need to develop; it was already there from birth.
He noted that the Old Testament’s picture of the coming Messiah leaned toward a larger-than-life, almost purely divine warrior figure: one who shatters oppressive nations and rises with healing, language that makes it hard to imagine a baby fulfilling it. Brian then walked through Matthew’s account of the wise men, correcting a common assumption: most scholars believe the magi arrived up to two years after the birth, finding Jesus as a young child in a house rather than a newborn in a manger. King Herod’s attempt to locate and kill this “king of Israel” underscored how seriously the threat of a true king was taken even by human rulers.
The message closed by holding together both sides of Isaiah’s title for Jesus: born champion, carrying full divine authority, and yet arriving as vulnerably human as any infant, a tension Brian framed as central to what makes the incarnation worth marveling at each Christmas.
Touch Points
- Isaiah 9:6 calls Jesus Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace. Which of those names feels most true to your experience of him right now?
- Brian said Jesus was born already carrying these qualities rather than growing into them. How does that shape how you think about his authority as a baby in a manger?
- The wise men likely arrived up to two years after Jesus’s birth. Does that change how you picture the nativity story?
- What would it look like this week to live under the “governing rule” of Jesus in one specific area of your life?