This is another one of those amazingly beautiful passages with a lot of richness and depth. And that this section is written in poetry only adds to the beauty.
One of the most beautiful and most powerful images, I think, is when something dark and evil is juxtaposed with tenderness and innocence. Take, for example, the scene from the movie The Untouchables, when Costner's character goes to the train station to pick up a key witness. It's a scene of gore, of death and killing. But right in the middle is a little baby in a stroller, ignorant to what is happening around him. And at the same time all the shooting and killing is going on, Costner is trying to save the baby. It makes for a very beautiful and powerful scence, one of my favorites.
And in Isaiah 9, the same thing is done. Verses 4-5 are dark verses speaking of God's judgement and wrath, ending with a very vivid picture of fire and burning and death. And the very next verse (or line) begins, "For to us a child is born"(v.6, ESV).
In the midst of all this fighting and killing, death and darkness, there is a light of hope and peace by way of an innocent child, Jesus Christ.
And as I look at the world today, the fighting and bombings in the middle east and in other places, the murders, and the blatant disregard for other people, there remains that same hope. "... and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace" (v.6, ESV).
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