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IS JESUS THE MIGHTY G-D OF ISAIAH 9:6? FULFILLED OR UNFULFILLED?

Isaiah 9:6-7, "For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty G-d, the everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David. ."

Answer for yourself: Christianity puts forward that this speaks of Jesus, but was that the intended meaning of Isaiah the Prophet?

In reality, this passage is of King Hezekiah of Judah, born to King Ahaz. By miraculous intervention, G-d defeated the Assyrians who attacked Judah during King Hezekiah's rule. Hezekiah was a great religious reformer who removed idolatry and reinforced pure monotheism. The series of appellations is intended by Isaiah to describe G-d's characteristics in relation to the extraordinary happenings to be accomplished in Hezekiah's reign.

We must first correct the translation from the Hebrew. The translation in the English projects to the future incorrectly and gives the names to the child improperly.

This is how it should read to be accurate, "And the Wonderful Counselor, the mighty G-d, the everlasting Father, he called the child born the Prince of Peace. . . ."

It is quite clear, even from the verse given, that the child had been born. The confusion arises concerning whether the appellations are G-d's or are for the child. The names are G-d's, as clarified here.

However, it really is of no consequence in our inquiry whose names they are, because they are not of Jesus, who was born many hundreds of years later. With expanded imagination, the names could be made to suit Hezekiah, but never the unborn Jesus.

Hezekiah did have a government. He was a wonderful religious leader. He could be likened to displaying the mighty power of G-d which destroyed the enemies miraculously. As a religious purifier, he assisted G-d's everlasting watchfulness. And his reign did have peace after the enemies were defeated. The peace could be described as abundant, therefore with no end in the Biblical sense. Even though this explanation is not smoothly fitted, you can see that it has all the elements to be considered correct. Christianity's explanation lacks all the elements necessary. But, because the names are G-d's, the appropriateness of them for Hezekiah is of no concern to us.

Furthermore, it should be understood that names which reflect G-d are given to human beings. For example, we have "Elihu" (my G-d is He). Also, people can be called g-d-like in many ways, none of which means the person is believed to be G-d.

SUMMARY STATEMENTS...GETTING TO THE TRUTH WHICH OFTEN RESIDES OUTSIDE OF OUR EMOTIONS

Let's get to the heart of the matter and summarize the substantial ways in which Jesus is proved absent from this passage from Isaiah.

• Jesus was not born at the time described.
• Jesus never headed a government. He never was an earthly king of the land. Bet Emet has presented in prior articles the functions of the Messiah as expected by the Hebrews. In contrast to the Jewish expectation from their Bible we have already in prior articles contrasted the Christian Messiah as against the Jewish Messiah. If you missed them request them and we will see you get a copy for such information is very necessary to correctly understand what the true Messiah is to accomplish and why the Jews today say the prophecies are yet unfulfilled.
• Jesus was not called these names, even in the New Testament. So, how can Christianity appropriate them for him?
• Jesus never thought himself G-d the Father, nor does the New Testament indicate that others thought him the heavenly Father. It is not his role in Christianity. He is called the Son of G-d, never "mighty G-d" or "Father."
• Jesus was not mighty if you look at all the evidence presented concerning him in the New Testament. I offer the following verses from the New Testament to prove this. If we look at Matthew 20:23 (Mark 10:40) we find accordingly: "... but to sit on my right hand, and on my left is not mine to give. ." Also we see in Matthew 26:39, ". . . O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt."
• Jesus might be referred to as the prince of peace, if the Sermon on the Mount were his only sayings. But, if you look at all the recorded material about him in the New Testament, we find many things which had elements which would disqualify him from the title of champion of peace. For example, in Matthew 10:34 (Luke 12:51), "Think not that lam come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." Also if we examine Matthew 10:35 (Mark 13:12) (Luke 12:52-53), "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother. . ." With as many errors contained in the New Testament along with the historical evidence that the early church put many "sayings" into the mouth of Jesus, it is quite possible that he never said the above but was used by the early Gentile church to cause the artificial separation of Jesus from his faith as a pattern for the creation of a new religion in his name.
• Jesus may be a wonderful counselor to Christians, but Jews have another opinion about his counseling. Christians have had poor instruction as to how to treat their fellow human beings, the Jews. I do believe that this is in spite of his advice, yet it shows his counseling did not capture the hearts of his followers and, therefore, cannot be considered superior or wonderful in effect.

Answer for yourself: Understanding how emotion causes us to interject our "beliefs" into passage after passage trying to "proof text" our beliefs, don't you think in light of this evidence it would be better to let the passage, when correctly understood, determine in the first place what your "beliefs" should be? Repentance in our religious beliefs concerning Jesus is so necessary with the Christian doctrine that prevails in the world today. Just in case you missed it, the traditional instruction and interpretation of this above verse by Christians renders the believer an "idolator." Such is a terrible thing and to die as an idolator is even worse. The sad fact is that without study you will never know. Shalom!

Bennoah1@verizon.net