A name of God
El Gibor, the Mighty God
In the middle of a dark chapter about looming war, Isaiah suddenly turns to light. A child will be born, a son will be given, and the government will rest on His shoulders. Then Isaiah, in chapter 9 verse 6, lists the names this child will carry, and one of them stops the reader cold. He is called El Gibor, the Mighty God. This is not a prophet praising a future king with flattering words. It is an Old Testament title of the promised Messiah that plainly calls Him God. Centuries before Bethlehem, the Spirit-carried prophet announces that the coming deliverer will be more than a great man. The child in the manger of Isaiah's vision bears the very name of the mighty God, and the wonder of it should never grow old.
“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
What the name means
El Gibor combines El, the word for God, with gibor, meaning mighty, valiant, a warrior or champion. Elsewhere in the Old Testament gibor describes a hero strong in battle. So El Gibor is God the Mighty Warrior, the divine Champion whose strength no enemy can overcome. This is not merely a strong man. The word El places the might squarely in the realm of deity. Isaiah is naming a figure of divine power, One able to save His people not by human force but by the strength of God Himself. The name joins tenderness and terror. The very same One who comes as a vulnerable child is the Mighty God whose arm brings salvation and whose reign will have no end.
Where it appears
El Gibor appears in Isaiah 9 verse 6, part of a prophecy that flows out of the darkness of chapter 8, where the land lies under threat and gloom. Isaiah promises that on those walking in darkness a great light will shine, that the yoke of oppression will be broken, and that a child born to the people will carry the government on His shoulders. Then come the names, Wonderful Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, and the promise that His kingdom and peace will increase without end, established in justice forever. Isaiah returns to the title in chapter 10, where a remnant will return to the mighty God, tying the Messiah's name to God's own.
How you see it in Christ
This name is one of the most direct in all the Old Testament, because it is spoken of Jesus before He came. The child Isaiah saw is the child of Bethlehem. The New Testament confirms with awe what the prophet announced. John 1 declares that the Word was God and became flesh. Thomas, seeing the risen Jesus in John 20, calls Him his Lord and his God. Paul writes in Titus 2 of the appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ. So when Isaiah names the coming child the Mighty God, he is not exaggerating a hero. He is telling us, centuries ahead, that the Messiah would be God with us. Let the wonder stand plain and reverent. The baby in the straw is El Gibor.
Questions people ask
Does Isaiah 9:6 really call the Messiah God?
Yes. The Hebrew phrase El Gibor plainly means the Mighty God, using El, the word for God, joined with the word for mighty warrior. The same title is used of the LORD Himself in Isaiah 10. Christians have long read this as one of the clearest Old Testament testimonies that the promised Messiah would be divine, fulfilled when the Word became flesh in Jesus.
What is the difference between El Gibor and El Shaddai?
Both are titles of the one true God but stress different things. El Gibor, the Mighty God, highlights His warrior strength and power to save. El Shaddai, often rendered God Almighty, appears in Genesis with the patriarchs and emphasizes His sufficiency and blessing. They are not rival gods but different facets of the same God, each name lifting a particular part of His character into view.