Christmas Stuff Part II

Sunday my pastor/husband finished his message from Isaiah 9. 

For a child will be born for us,
a son will be given to us,
and the government will be on His shoulders.
He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

I blogged about the first part of the message HERE. So last Sunday he spoke about:

Everlasting Father. And yes, it means forever. But it means ancient (as in: times past) and also continuing future. That name only confirms that God has always been and always will be. Now for Father: God as father of his people, head of a household, of benevolence and protection, ruler or chief. The part that interested me most in this is the Hebrew word. Hebrew here is simply "ab". Hmm. Sort of made me wonder about the connection in the New Testament. Abba Father. But also I noticed that this word Father comes as the very first word in the Hebrew dictionary. It's number is H1. Father comes first.

Prince of Peace. Daniel noted that often we think of prince as being simply "the son of the king". A young man who has only the power of a prince, but not the authority of the king. However, when you do the word study you'll learn that it not only means prince, but also ruler, leader, chief, captain, general, commander. And also, Ruler of rulers. Jesus is the Ruler of rulers. 

And peace. It's a familiar Hebrew word: Shalom. It means completeness, soundness, welfare, peace, safety, quiet, tranquillity, contentment. But also friendship, with God especially in covenant relationship. 

Jesus is the Ruler of rulers of peace with God, especially in covenant relationship. 

*sigh*

I've had to ponder these new things I'm learning about Jesus. And be amazed all over again at what can be learned when you dig a little deeper. 

Dig deeper this Christmas and see what you can discover about this Jesus who longs for a "covenant relationship" with you. It's one of the reasons He came.