“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 God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
(Isaiah 9:6)
When we read this prophecy, immediately Jesus comes to mind, the child, the Son. We think about the baby Jesus, lying in a manger. Maybe we hear in our minds the familiar music of Handel’s Messiah.
And yet there are a few phrases here that don’t quite seem to describe Jesus. Was the government on His shoulders? Certainly not the government of this world. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world…” (John 18:36). Was Jesus called The everlasting Father? We typically think of Him as the Son of God, not the Father. The angel told Mary, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest…” (Luke 1:32). Was he called the Prince of Peace? He does bring peace to our hearts, but the world as a whole has not yet known peace. Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34)
Could it be that this prophecy gains its fulfillment with Christ’s second advent? Is it possible that at His second coming, that He should again be born as a child, as a son? We might expect Him to return as a grown man, but the words of Isaiah say that the one who will have the government on his shoulder, the one whose name will be The everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace, shall be born a child.
Had the scholars and clergy who read the signs of the times pondered this prophecy, they might have realized that the One they were expecting would be born as a child. Indeed, the child was born. He was born the son of a great and noble family, a family that could trace its roots all the way back to Abraham.
Seed of Abraham
“And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.” (Genesis 22:18)
The Bible tells us how Abraham had three wives, Sarah, Hagar, and Keturah. Sarah and Hagar each bore a child:
“And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.” (Genesis 16:15)
“And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him, whom Sarah bare to him, Isaac.” (Genesis 21:3)
Abraham’s third wife, Keturah, bore several children. We don’t hear much about them in the Bible because they were separated from Isaac, and sent away to live in the east country.
“Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah. And Jokshan begat Sheba, and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim, and Letushim, and Leummim. And the sons of Midian; Ephah, and Epher, and Hanoch, and Abidah, and Eldaah. All these were the children of Keturah. And Abraham gave all that he had unto Isaac. But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts, and sent them away from Isaac his son, while he yet lived, eastward, unto the east country.” (Genesis 25:1-6)
The family moved eastward and finally settled in an area south of the Caspian Sea, which is the northern part of Iran, or Persia. Some of the great kings of Persia trace their lineage to this family. After hundreds of years, when the Israelites were living in exile in the area of Baghdád, which at that time was part of the Persian empire, princess Dara-Izdadwr (Izdundad) of Persia was married to Bostanai, who was the Jewish Exilarch, and an heir of the Royal House of Judah. Their descendants were thus of the House of David, branched from the stem of Jesse.
Stem of Jesse
“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;” (Isaiah 11:1-2)
Many more centuries passed, and the succeeding descendants were prosperous and successful. In 1817 a child was born into this family. Named Mírzá Husayn ‘Alí, the child was in many ways a prodigy, a wonder. His mother was amazed that as a baby, He never cried. When He grew older and was sent to school, the teacher sent Him back home, saying that there was nothing he could teach Him. He possessed an innate knowledge that astounded anyone who met Him. People would seek His advice on all sorts of questions and problems, and He never disappointed them, giving profound answers and solutions.
As a young man, he became known as the Father of the Poor. Although the family was very weathly, and His father held a high position in the court of the Sháh of Persia, Mírzá Husayn ‘Alí refused to follow in father’s footsteps, as was expected. He was content to serve those around him, particularly the less fortunate. Many of His father’s associates pressed him to encourge his son to seek a position in the court, but he knew that He had a higher destiny.
He was, in time, to fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah. As we shall see, the spirit of the Lord would rest upon Him, the government would be upon His shoulder, and His name would be called “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”