The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 181

into our sonls. Dow~ need connsel on an.y special matter~ let us take it to. him1,and he will ~bow ns the "·isesL &nd best course. III. 'T'HE NAME OF "MIGHTY .Goo." The Son of God is himself God, and if God then certainly " mighty "-nay, '' almighty." What the Messiah was to do, could b~ <l!lne by none less Lhan God. He WM to redeem mankind ; he 'Wa'8 t:o vanq'Uieb death nnd sin; he we.s to triumph over Satan; he was to be a meritorious Sacrifice. "God "·ith us" had already been cleclared to be one of his nan1es (eh, vii. 14). Now ho h an!loun~ as "God the Mighty One." It i_s to the last degree uMritifal tp' compare tlus 1LSS1gnment of so Rngn,t a namo, coming from tho mouth of an )lltense tliei~t, with the R8cription of Divine titles to the Egyptian kings by themselv011, or by their ~ubjects, when both king and subjects were polytheists. Isaiah could riot have int~nded to call a mere m:m "God ; " he must have recognized, as David had done (Ps. xh-. 6), that the Me:;giah would be_ more than man, would in some way or other he a partaker of the Divine nature. ·.:re~m\a'h did the same when ho announced the :Messiah as "Jehovah our Righteousness." The prophets ~ay not have been aware of the doctrine of the Trinity, but they cot1ld conceive an incarnation of God, The name of" Mighty God" in Isaiah's list must be accepted as a distinct announcement of the true Di,·inity of the :Mes,;iah, just as the words "child" and" son," which had been previously applied to him (ver. 6), were announcements of his true humanity. IV. THE NAME OF "EvEilLASTING FATHER.'' Wheu the Me_ssiah .is caU,;!d, a "Father," we must understand the _word ~s n:iean~ng_primarily "Pro:tep'tort. f:lo,';J;oj:> was a '.' father to the poor" (Job xxix,. l 6), and Ehak1m a " father to ,the J,Dhal;>itan\" of ,Jerusalem" (eh. xxii. 11). ~he .idea of protection, h~wJf~r,.impHea..' i11 ,.. ~•~th~r" does not exhaust the connotat10n of. the 1vord. It contams also .1the :n.otioµs ,r;>f. "Creator" and "Preserver," of one whom we ,are bounp., 'to loye l;ionour, ~nd ·obfty,. " Have we not all one father?" sa.rs Malachi. •• Ha_t~ not one God creatett'u11 ?. ·~, ' ., ~f I be a Father," says Jehovah by his mout~ "where ,is my honour? " T4e Messiah wa,ii to be" Father" in all these senses.. As the Second Person in the Holy Trinity, he created man; as "God with us," lie preserves him; as the typical Man; the Head o(the redeemea human race, he will ever keep and protect him., 1.~e prophet calls him. "Everlasting Father," first, to show that he is no mere human protector, like Job,or Eliakim; but also, further, to indicate by an additional phrase his Divinity, since God alone is "everlasting," or "eternal." His people are assured hy the epithet that he will never cease to be their Protector, will never desert them, o* weary of inter{losing for them. No; "he ever Ii veth to make intercession for us ". (Heb. v/~. 25 ). He is ".Alpha. ano. Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, the First and the Last" (Rev. t &). He " will not fail us, nor f0rsake us" (Deut. xx:xi. 6). "V, THE NAME OF .. PP.INCE OF PEACE," So long as there is evil, there must be war between good and evil. The Messiah is" Prince of Peace," especially, because he come~ to convert the world; to "turn men from darkness to light, and from the power of Satar,. unto God;" to destroy sin, and "bring in everlasting righteousness''. (Dan. ,ix.: 24). When there is universal rightC'ousness, there will be universal peace. Oerta.ioly, the time is not yet come. The Prince of a peaceful kingdom, whose servants _may not seek to advance his kingdom by viol~ce, has ;not annihil_ated evil, ~as n~t swept all the wicked from the world. And .so the fight goes on; evil m~n still st1~, up "'.ars and tumults, an:l. good men are forced to resist them. But tl1e _Prince of Peace" shows his power and justifies his name, (1) in the pence that 'he icitn;>d_uces 1nto the hearts that love him; (2) in the .peace found whe1ever the Spirit of Christj:>revails~ as in pious households, in brotherhoods and sisterhoods, in assemblie!\ of Chrislian men like our convocations, etc.; (::!) in the comparative peace that obtains in Christian lands, the growing desire for peace and hatred of war, t~e readiness to resort to arbitration,. and the like. , Taken in connection, the five names would seem to teach (1) the :mysteriousness !If Christ's natnre, which lies at the 1·ery basis of Christianity, and upon which all else is built; (2) the wisdom of his teaching, which makes him our only safe "Counsellor-;" (3) the power which he bas, as "¥,ighty God," to accomplish a_ll his designs _in hfa <1wn good time; (4) the love which lea.ds him to exert this po_wcr continually 1n the protection of his Church; and (5) the peaceful condition to which he wi)l in the end bring his Church, when its probation is accomplished and he comes k> ,reign over it a~ OH, IL 1-21.] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 171