Advent Week 3: The Power of Christ

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; 

and the government shall be upon his shoulder, 

and his name shall be called 

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 

Isaiah 9:6

…but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. 

1 Corinthians 1:24–25.

This coming Sunday we will consider the fact that Christ is the power of God. Now for us to appreciate the fact that the infant Christ was and still is the power of God we have to go back to the prophecy of Isaiah. Long before Jesus took on human nature, Isaiah preached sermons that looked forward to that day. ‘For unto us a child is born, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and he’ll be called: wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace.’ This sounds so wonderful, but do we realize what it’s saying? This baby born will be mighty God. And if he will be called this, that means he is God. This means as a human he will have a divine nature. That means as a human he will exercise the power of God. 

It is easy for us to forget that Jesus was powerful in the manger. When we think of a baby, we think of limitations. Someone else had to feed him. Someone else had to change his diaper. Someone else had to wrap him in swaddling bands. He seems to have had no power, but he did not lay aside his power. The book of Philippians is often read in a bad way. Christ did not lay aside his divine nature. The new NIV says this, ‘Who, being in very nature God,  did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage.’ He could have said, ‘It is not right for me the divine Son to take on human nature.’ Instead he said, ‘Not my will but yours be done.’ He said, I will add humanity to person and experience to the full human nature. But his human nature didn’t limit his divine nature. This is the mystery we can meditate on forever. He as a baby was mighty God. He as a baby was carrying the government on his shoulders. He as a baby was God at work. 

And that is something that he continues to do today because one thing we have to know is that God cannot change. He stays the same no matter our situation. When we lose it all, he is mighty God. When we are on our deathbeds, he is our wonderful counselor. When we are rejoicing in his provision: God is the one who has done it. Don’t forget that we’ll never be able to fully understand how God is at work in your life. We put our faith in him because he is at work. Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God, and he always has been. His weakness as a baby is greater the our greatest powers. His foolishness as a child is wiser than any Einstein. Shouldn’t we trust him in everything?