Unto Us (Wonderful)

Main Text: Isaiah 9:6
Isaiah 7:10-14

Ahaz was king of Judah. The Arameans were plotting with Israel to overthrow him and put their own king in place.

Isaiah comes to meet with Ahaz. Ahaz is upset that he is going to be overthrown. Isaiah assures him that God is going to take care of the situation.

V. 10 - God challenges Ahaz to ask for a sign.
v. 12 - Ahaz refuses.
v. 13 - Ahza gets impatient and doesn’t like the answer “to just have faith.”
v. 14 - the sign is Immanuel - strength. Almighty, God with us.

Isaiah 9:1-7

The virgin birth is spiritually significant because it points to His identity as Immanuel, “God with us.”

The Messiah, the One “born of a woman” (Gal. 4:4), would be different than any other king in the history of Israel.

By looking at Isaiah 7:14 in the context of Isaiah 9:5–6, this becomes even more evident:

For to us a child is born,
a son will be given to us,
and the government will be upon His shoulder.

His Name will be called
- Wonderful Counselor [Pele Yoetz],
- Mighty God [El Gibbor]
- Everlasting Father [Aviad],
- Prince of Peace [Sar Shalom]

Of the increase of His government
and shalom there will be no end—
on the throne of David and over His kingdom.

For centuries Christians have applied this well-known passage from Isaiah 9 to Jesus.
Jewish tradition also affirms this understanding: “The Messiah will be called by eight names:
- Yinnon (He shall flourish),
- Tzemach (Branch),
- Pele (Miracle/Wonderful)
- Yo’etz (Counselor),
- Mashiah (Messiah),
- El (G-d),
- Gibbor (Hero), and
- Avi ‘Ad Shalom (Eternal Father of Peace).

Most Jews do not see the names mentioned in Isaiah 9:5–6 as prophesying a divine Messiah.

The divinity of the Messiah has historically been a major point of contention between followers of Jesus and Jewish rabbis.
There are, many clues hidden in Scripture that do point to the Messiah as being divine.

Isaiah 9:6 states, “Of the increase of His government and shalom there will be no end.”

The Hebrew letter “mem” in the phrase “of the increase” ( לםרבה†) is grammatically incorrect.

In Hebrew, there are two ways to write the letter mem, open ( מ) and closed (ם)

The open mem gets its name from its shape—there is an opening on its left side.

The open mem can be used anywhere in a Hebrew word except as the last letter.

The closed letter mem, also known as the final mem, is used exclusively when the letter comes at the end of a word.

Why is the closed—final—mem used in the expression “of the increase” (leMarbeh / ?(לםרבה
Jewish rabbis teach that the letter mem can represent a woman’s womb.

In Hebrew, which is read from right to left, one of the biblical terms for “womb”—me’eh ( מֵעהֶ†) begins with the open mem (Ruth 1:11).

The open mem represents an open womb—the ability for a woman to conceive in a normal way.

The use of the closed mem in Isaiah 9:6 alludes to the fact that the Messiah would be conceived
miraculously through a woman with a closed womb, one who should not naturally be able to bear a child.

This refers to the virgin spoken of in Isaiah 7:14.

The two letter mems in Jewish tradition also point to the two great redeemers of Israel.

The open mem points to Moses, who came as the first redeemer and who is a type of the Messiah (Deut.18:18).

The closed, or final, mem is symbolic of the second Redeemer, the Messiah, who will come at the end of history and bring final redemption.

Another reason the final mem is used in the middle of the phrase in Isaiah 9:6 in the word “increase” (leMarbeh / לםרבה†) is because the Messiah, the One born of a virgin, will complete the work of salvation as the second Redeemer at the end of time.

The name of the young virgin who bore Yeshua is Mary—Miriam in Hebrew, which also begins with the letter mem. Thus, the letter mem also hints at the name of the virgin who would bear the Messiah, begins with the letter mem.

The numbers, also, allude to the identity of the Messiah as being divine.

The phrase “his name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14) in Hebrew (shemo Imanu El) has the numeric value of 545.

This is the same numeric value of “the Name of ADONAI, the Everlasting God [Shem YHVH El Olam]” (Gen. 21:33) and “I AM WHO I AM [Eyeh Asher Eyeh]” (Ex. 3:14).

The number 545 is also the numeric value of “my God, You are very great” (Ps. 104:1) and “the kingdom belongs to ADONAI, and He rules over the nations” (Ps. 22:29).

The Messiah—Immanuel, the “Name of ADONAI, the Everlasting God,” the “I AM”—became human in the person of Yeshua.
The Messiah would be both human and divine. His divine nature is clearly seen in the names ascribed to Him in these passages.