prophecy needed the history of the Incarnation for its disclosure. If
this is not a God-given prediction of the entrance into human form of
the divine, it is something very like miraculous that, somehow or other,
words should have been spoken, without any such reference, which fit so
closely to the supernatural fact of Christ's incarnation.

The many attempts to translate verse 6 so as to get rid of the
application of 'Mighty God,' 'Everlasting Father,' to Messiah, cannot
here be enumerated or adequately discussed. I must be content with
pointing out the significance of the august fourfold name of the victor
King. It seems best to take the two first titles as a compound name, and
so to recognise four such compounds.

There is a certain connection between the first and second of these
which respectively lay stress on wisdom of plan and victorious energy of
accomplishment, while the third and fourth are also connected, in that
the former gathers into one great and tender name what Messiah is to His
people, and the latter points to the character of His dominion
throughout the whole earth. 'A wonder of a counsellor,' as the words may
be rendered, not only suggests His giving wholesome direction to His
people, but, still more, the mystery of the wisdom which guides His
plans. Truly, Jesus purposes wonders in the depth of His redeeming
design. He intends to do great things, and to reach them by a road which
none would have imagined. The counsel to save a world, and that by dying
for it, is the miracle of miracles. 'Who hath been His counsellor in
that overwhelming wonder?' He needs no teacher; He is Himself the
teacher of all truth. All may have His direction, and they who follow it
will not walk in darkness.

'The mighty God.' Chapter x. 21 absolutely forbids taking this as