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.
Of the increase of his government and of peace
there will be no end,
on the throne of David and over his kingdom,
to establish it and to uphold it
with justice and with righteousness
from this time forth and forevermore.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. Isaiah 9:6-7 (ESV)
I love this verse. When I read it I can hear choirs singing “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” And I remember all the ways that Jesus is those things. How he is wonderful in my life; my Counselor, Mighty God. All of it.
As I kept reading, I realized I needed to add another description. Zealous.
The last line of verse 7 reads “The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”
According to Merriam Webster, zeal implies energetic and unflagging pursuit of an aim or devotion to a cause. Think about that for a minute.
God, your God, loves you with so much passion, so much devotion that he pursues you with zeal. And then take that a step further. The entire Christmas story, everything in the Bible, everything in our lives is about God’s zeal for each one of us. His passion for us, His love for us – It’s all to get us into relationship with him.
God was so zealous for us that he offered up and sacrificed His Son so we would see how great His heart is toward us. There is no love like this. None. He uses everything in your life as a means to speak to you. I love the words ‘unflagging pursuit’. There is no pause. There is no hesitation. Only a consistent, never ending, never waning desire to be in a love relationship with you. He will do whatever it takes. It started at the beginning and will continue until Jesus comes.
That is the best Christmas present ever.