"For unto us a Child is
born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His
shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9:6)
I’ve discovered that I like to cook. Decades ago,
after I lost the wife of my youth, a kindly older lady gave
me some helpful hints about how to raise my daughter alone. She also
provided six recipes, all of them casseroles, including meatloaf,
macaroni and cheese, a tuna casserole and more. My daughter, Jenni, and
I had the same dinner meal every six days for a long time. Somehow, as
I cooked breakfasts, lunches and dinners in the years that followed, the
idea formed in my mind: why am I following recipes? I am the cook.
I can alter the ingredients as much as I want. I can even invent new
meals - and I did!
I’ll share one of them with you today. I call it
“Traditional Southern Fried Oatmeal,” though it’s only traditional for
me; and I live in Southern California, not the “Southern” portion of the
United States you might expect. Here’s how you make “Ron Beckham’s
Traditional Southern Fried Oatmeal” (servings for two people):
Prepare two servings of “Old Fashioned” oatmeal
in a microwave (or on the stove if you prefer). Mix in cinnamon, nutmeg,
half a non-sugar sweetener or so, and vanilla flavoring to taste. Use
much less water than the recipe calls for. After it’s cooked, add two
eggs. Mix well. Separate the oatmeal into two portions and fry in a
small amount of olive oil. In a separate bowl, mash a couple of bananas
and mix a cup of flavored yogurt (strawberry, peach, whatever flavor you
like) with the mashed bananas. Put the fried oatmeal onto plates and
top each patty of fried oatmeal with the banana and yogurt mixture.
Try it – you might like it. That recipe is my invention and it changes
every time I make it. Sometimes I add orange juice to the oatmeal
instead of water. Other times grape juice. It’s always different and
we like it. I also prepare apple pancakes with whole wheat flour,
which you also may like. Write to me:
Ron@FridayStudy.org and I will give you the recipe. And by the way,
on most mornings, I serve my wife, Genevieve, breakfast in bed. I’m the
cook and I can do what I want.
Now, please note that my way of doing things is
not necessarily the way other people would do them. And note that each
of us is only sovereign in certain areas of our lives. I can do what I
want as a cook, but in some areas I defer to other people, and
especially – life is best when we defer to our God.
Our Scripture for today is from the Book
of Isaiah, written by “Isaiah the son of Amoz”
(Isaiah 1:1), a man who was given wonderful glimpses of the Messiah, the
Christ, revealing incredible aspects of His ministry in eternity and on
earth that we would not otherwise understand. For example, Isaiah 7:14
tells us, 700 years before Mary the mother of Jesus was ever thought of
by humanity, that she would be a “virgin
(who would) conceive and bear a Son.” And
one of His names was given to us in that verse – “Immanuel,”
which best translates, “God is with us.” Indeed He was with us 2000
years ago, and He is here for us right now.
Isaiah’s statement was given to him for King
Ahaz of Judah, a frightened man whose capital city, Jerusalem, was being
attacked by the combined armies of Israel and Syria. Ahaz was given the
Word of the Lord by Isaiah the prophet that Jerusalem would be spared,
but he did not believe it. The Lord replied through Isaiah, “Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord…” (Isaiah 7:11).
Ahaz replied, “I will not ask, nor will I test the
Lord…” (Isaiah 7:12), which sounds commendable, but note that he
was disobeying the Lord, who had just told him to “ASK!”
And so the Lord gave him a “sign” whether the man wanted it or not: “the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His
name Immanuel,” as we saw in Isaiah 7:14, speaking of an event,
the birth of the Son of God, which was to occur 700-years in the future
from that moment.
Another very interesting prophesy of Isaiah,
involved the place where the Messiah, this “Immanuel”
was to live, 700-years later. It was to be the area of Galilee,
and the people of that place were thought to be “country-bumpkins” by
the proud religious leaders, the “in-crowd” at Jerusalem. Some of them
said about Jesus, “This is the Christ,” but
others sneered at Him, asking contemptuously, “Will
the Christ come out of Galilee?” (John 7:41). They should have
read the Book of Isaiah more carefully because it said that one of the
places He would be from was to be “Galilee of the
Gentiles” (Isaiah 9:1-2).
Another incredible verse is our Scripture for
today, which reveals who this Man from Galilee really is. As you can
read in many places within Scripture, the Messiah (a Hebrew word), the
Christ (from the Greek) both translate as “the Anointed One.” In these
days, a president-elect or a new king will swear an oath of office, but
in those times, precious oil would be poured onto the head of the one
named to office. This Anointed One was described in various places
within Scripture. He had and has many names and titles and some of them
are included in today’s Scripture verse, which was written 700-years
before He came to earth. Let’s read that verse together:
He did not come as a conquering king, a judge of
humanity, He came to us as an obscure “child,”
born to poor parents in an impoverished area that was outside the
mainstream of polite society. If we were God and were sending our Son to
this world, we would probably pick Rome, the capital of the Roman
Empire, or maybe we would send Him to the present New York City or some
other notable place. We would likely have Him be the son of the king or
in-line to be the president-elect, but that was not the way God thought
about it. The “Son,” as described in Isaiah
9:6, would be born in a manger, a cow-stall in Bethlehem, another
obscure place, then be moved as a fugitive to Egypt, where He would not
be known or recognized, and then His parents would move back to rural
Nazareth, where He was to be thought of as a “Galilean.”
But from God the Father’s perspective, He is our sovereign King. “The government will be
upon His shoulder,” means exactly what it says – He is the Lord,
now and forever. And if you haven’t read Isaiah 9:6 for awhile, take a
look carefully at the rest of the verse: Some of His other names and
attributes include, “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty
God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” He is “Wonderful.” Many women spend their lives looking for
“Mr. Wonderful,” but so many have looked in all the wrong places, and He
has been here all the time. He is our “Counselor.”
He is not merely someone who is paid a fee to counsel us – He is the One
who LISTENS to you, knows what you need and loves you without limit. He
was, is and always will be the “Mighty God”
and He is our “Everlasting Father.” Those
who view the Messiah, the Christ as a mere man must prayerfully read
Isaiah 9:6, where it clearly says He is the “God”
and the “Father” of all who place
their trust in Him. He is your “Prince of Peace,”
the One you have always needed to finally quiet the storm that is inside
and bring peace to your soul. He is the Master Chef who can do whatever
He wants, and His recipe is not what the world expects – he wants you to
be filled with His love, His peace. Will you trust in Him?
Mighty God, I trust in You now. Forgive my
sins and save me, now and forever. Thank You for
loving me. In Jesus Name. Amen.
