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How the Christmas story in Luke 2 shows the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy
The familiar Christmas story of Luke 2:1-20 tells of shepherds watching their flocks at night when a dramatic event surprised these rugged outcasts of proper society.
Shepherds were in the fields near Bethlehem. They were taking turns watching their flock during the night. An angel from the Lord suddenly appeared to them. The glory of the Lord filled the area with light, and they were terrified.
The angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid! I have good news for you, a message that will fill everyone with joy. Today your Savior, Christ the Lord, was born in David’s city. This is how you will recognize him: You will find an infant wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger.” (Luke 2:8-12 GW)
As the angel announced the birth of the Savior, he was joined by a mighty heavenly army, who joined the first angel, and they praised God—
“Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace to all those whom God will show favor to upon the earth!” (Luke 2:14 author’s paraphrase)
This is a passage we hear every Christmas, but its message is often misappropriated. Many take the angelic declaration as a mandate for global peace—as if the mission of Jesus was to bring an end to war, injustice, or conflict on a societal level throughout the earth.
Although a noble pursuit, it is a futile one. No human government will ever bring about a lasting peace in this world. The angels were declaring a far greater, deeper, and more lasting peace: the peace of God.
God’s peace is a peace anchored in the Prince of Peace Himself
This is why Christian believers can have an assurance of peace in their hearts. A peace rooted in the identity and reign of the One whose birth we celebrate. It is not dependent on circumstances. Isaiah foresaw this roughly seven hundred years before Christ, writing in Isaiah 9:6-7 words that find their fulfillment in Luke 2.
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given...
(Isaiah 9:6)
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given…”
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. (Isaiah 9:6)
The humanity and the divinity of Christ are emphasized in this familiar text in Isaiah, an important theological truth about the Messiah.
“A child is born…” God entered the world just as every human does—through natural birth. Christ became like us in every way, yet remained fully divine. His coming was announced by prophets, by angels, and by humble shepherds.
“A Son is given…” God held nothing back for our redemption. As John 3:16 reminds us, the Father gave His only Son for “the world” … for “whosoever will.” When Abraham was willing to offer Isaac, his promised son, it served as a prophetic type of what God the Father would do in giving His Son, Jesus (see Genesis 22).
We understand this in a small way when we think of our own children, and how we would willingly give our lives for them. God did so in an eternal sense by giving His one and only Son.
“The government will be upon His shoulders.” This is why we can be assured of God’s peace. The responsibility for the world, the kingdom, and our own lives does not rest on our shoulders, but on His.
Many Jews of Isaiah’s day did not recognize this as a Messianic prophecy. They expected a warrior-king-statesman like a combination of King David and King Solomon, and perhaps Daniel the prophet. Of course, Jesus was not what they expected, which led to His rejection as the Messiah they longed for.
I see this having a direct application to our lives. We often resist the Lord’s rule in our lives by carrying burdens He never intended us to bear. Instead, Jesus calls us to rest in Him (see Matthew 11:28–30) and to submit to His gracious leadership in our lives.
Isaiah reveals the identity of the Messiah through His names, which are more like titles. Each one is a revelation of the eternal nature of the Lord.
“Wonderful Counselor.” Jesus is the One who performed signs and wonders throughout the Gospels, amazing people, and glorifying the Father. As the two on the road to Emmaus described Him (in Luke 24:19), “Jesus of Nazareth who was a prophet mighty in deed and word.”
After the Lord’s ascension into heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to be our Advocate, Teacher, and Intercessor. Our indwelling Counselor.
“Mighty God,” Jesus existed eternally with the Father before His birth. We know this from the opening of John’s Gospel.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.
All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-4, 14)
Jesus is the self-existent One—the “I AM,” as He told Moses in the desert (Exodus 3:14), and as He declared to the Jewish leaders in John 8:58. He is the King of Kings (Revelation 19:16), all-powerful and ever-present.
“Everlasting Father.” Jesus is not a replacement or duplicate of the Father, but He is the exact representation of the Father’s nature (see Colossians 1:15; Hebrews 1:2-3). As He told Philip, to see and know Jesus is to know the Father (John 14:7-10).
“Prince of Peace.” Jesus is the ruler of the Kingdom of God. Wherever He reigns, His peace reigns as well. Jesus promised His followers a peace the world cannot give (John 14:27; 16:33), a peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:7).
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. (Isaiah 9:7)
“Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end…”Christ’s kingdom is everlasting, far beyond earthly rule or the millennial kingdom at the end of the age.
Gabriel echoed these words to Mary in Luke 1:31-33, announcing a kingdom without end. This fulfills God’s promise to David in (2 Samuel 7:12, 16) that David’s throne would continue forever—a promise realized through Joseph’s lineage and the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem.
Isaiah could not fully grasp the depth of this Messianic prophecy then, but we understand it because we have seen its fulfillment in Christ. God’s kingdom is both present and future.
Jesus declared, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matthew 4:17), and as Paul wrote, the kingdom is “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). God’s Kingdom is both within us and beyond creation. Limiting it to a single era is to misunderstand its vastness, just as many Jews misunderstood Jesus.
Jesus established true judgment by doing only the will of His Father (John 5:30). He fulfilled all righteousness at His baptism (Matthew 3:15). The Holy Spirit continues this work in the world (John 16:8). Human justice is always limited and often biased, but God alone is perfectly just and true (Deuteronomy 32:4). He is the foundation of all morality and ethics.
“The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.”
God alone establishes His kingdom. No human government, political movement, or moral reform can bring lasting peace. Even a nation led by Christians cannot bring about the Kingdom of God.
True peace is only found in surrender to the reign of Christ in a person’s heart. Until Jesus comes again, He rules in the hearts of those who submit their lives to Him as Lord.
Jesus became perfectly human so He could identify with us in every way (Hebrews 2:9, 14–18), and He remained perfectly God so He could redeem us. Our redemption begins with His birth, completed by His death and resurrection, and received when we surrender our lives to Him.
The birth of Jesus Christ is far more than a sentimental story about a baby in a manger. His first advent is the entrance of God into human history—“the Word made flesh.”
Do you have the assurance of God’s peace?
The angels proclaimed it, Isaiah foretold it, and Christ offers it still.
True peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of the Prince of Peace reigning in our hearts.
This Christmas post is taken from a message I gave at The Chapel Cleveland. If you’d like to listen to it, click the link– Our Peace Is Anchored in the Prince of Peace
