A Gift For Us

As we begin the advent season, it is appropriate to refresh ourselves as to the meaning of advent. It is the period of waiting for the soon arrival of someone special. During the Christmas advent season, we celebrate and reflect upon the period of waiting for the birth of the Christ child. We do not do this in expectation of His birth today; but rather in memory and reflection as we prepare for the celebration of the birth of the Savior of the world. I don’t want anyone to get hung up on the thought of the actual birth date of Jesus, or other peripheral minutia. The time chosen to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ has gone on since the 4th century.

One scholar stated the following, as to why December 25 is the day we celebrate. The eventual choice of December 25, made perhaps as early as 273, reflects a convergence of Origen's concern about pagan gods and the church's identification of God's son with the celestial sun. December 25 already hosted two other related festivals: natalis solis invicti (the Roman "birth of the unconquered sun"), and the birthday of Mithras, the Iranian "Sun of Righteousness" whose worship was popular with Roman soldiers. The winter solstice, another celebration of the sun, fell just a few days earlier. Seeing that pagans were already exalting deities with some parallels to the true deity, church leaders decided to commandeer the date and introduce a new festival. A theologian asserted in 320, "We hold this day holy, not like the pagans because of the birth of the sun, but because of him who made it."

Christmas, December 25, is symbolic of a very real event in which Jesus Christ entered into this world as a baby, fully God and fully man. He became Immanuel, God with us.

For this week, I would like to focus our thoughts on the first part of one verse of Scripture; namely, Isaiah 9:6, the first part: “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us . . .”

God the Father has provided a gift for each one of us who will accept it.

The Greatness of the Child.

We read that Isaiah has prophesied that a child would be born, a son was to be given. Now to the normal individual, that would not be earth-shattering news. Since multitudes of children are born every day, this was not a brand new discovery. In fact, statistics show that there are nearly an equal number of daughters born as there are sons born.

So what exactly is the significance of this part of the verse in Isaiah’s prophecy?

Look at the preceding verses to get a bit of an idea. There is quite a grim picture given as we read Isaiah 8:19–9:5: “When they say to you, “Consult the mediums and the spiritists who whisper and mutter,” should not a people consult their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn. They will pass through the land hard-pressed and famished, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will be enraged and curse their king and their God as they face upward. Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish; and they will be driven away into darkness. But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walk in darkness Will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, The light will shine on them. You shall multiply the nation, You shall increase their gladness; They will be glad in Your presence As with the gladness of harvest, As men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For You shall break the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders, The rod of their oppressor, as at the battle of Midian. For every boot of the booted warrior in the battle tumult, And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.”

In these verses, we have a portrait which is painted quite graphically of the evil that used to prevail in the nation. We observe a people that had been walking in darkness. When one thinks about this, you have to wonder about why the prophecy is given in verse 6. After all, nobody would ask a child to help someone walk through darkness. It is usually the children who would be the most afraid.

The reality seen here is that individuals were living in the shadow of death. Death is something from which most of us would attempt to shield from our children. However, as has been painfully obvious as of late in our world, this cannot always be done. Yet, Isaiah continues out of those dark verses with the prophecy of a child being born.

There is a further picture of an oppressive war, with a heavy yoke. When young men and women go off to war, families would nearly give anything to keep them from having to face such a harsh part of this world. You and I would certainly never expect a newborn child to have any possible effects on this sort of environment.

Yet, in each of the scenarios, there is an opposite presented. Those in darkness and the shadow of death are greeted by a great light in Isaiah 9:2. In verse 3, the nation that was being bound up is portrayed as one which is enlarged and rejoicing. In fact, in the next scene in verse 5, we see that the war-torn people will find relief from the oppressor. Even to the point that the gear used for war, would be used for warmth.

Now how does this all come to be? Read the first part of verse 6, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…” We’re back to this child being born.

The word “for” is extremely important. It takes us from the horrible background found in the earlier verses to this. In order for all the preceding events to turn out for the good, there has to be a very good reason and a feasible way for it to occur.

Today, as we look backward over time, we recognize that this child, this Son, was none other than Jesus Christ. Here in this short portion of the verse, we see some decidedly human aspects to Jesus Christ. He did not just pop into humanity. He was born. He went through the normal process of growing up and experienced all that we experience, so that He might be able to completely identify and sympathize with us. The Savior was and is not only fully God, but He was and is today fully man.

This Son, this child, was not only great, but because of this child, we can receive a great gift.

The Gift of the Child.

Notice that the child, the Son, is to us. He is not just for one particular family, He is to us.

Let’s look for a moment at what should be considered an extremely important part of this verse. “To us . . . is given.” Many of us will be looking about in the stores seeking the right gift which expresses your love and appreciation for different individuals. When we find that perfect gift, we are overjoyed with the opportunity to be able to give to somebody else, totally unsolicited.

That must be how our Father felt when He provided for us Jesus Christ. We were not looking for any special gift. In fact, Romans 3:11 states: “There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God . . .” Imagine the great joy that the Father had knowing that even when we did not expect it, nor even want it, He had the perfect gift for us.

The amazing thing is that even though we did not have any real love for Him, He still wanted to give us a precious gift. There is the famous John 3:16, which shows the extent of God’s love; “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” God the Father knew that there was nothing else that He could give that would more thoroughly express His great love for each one of us who would believe in Jesus Christ.

On the other side of the gift are those of us who receive a special gift. There has been many a time, when my wife and I have been speechless as we have received a beautiful gift of love from someone. We felt so undeserving, so honored that they would think of us in this special way. Sometimes, we would even be quite embarrassed because there was no way that we could match the gift. The people quickly let us know that they were not expecting a gift in return, much less of equal value. They just wanted to show us how much they loved us. And of course, this only increased our love for them. Then we recall 1 John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.”

Paul summed it up so perfectly in 2 Corinthians 9:15: “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.” There is no way that we could come up with the ability to deserve this precious gift. The Bible tells us in Romans 6:23 that the “gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” If we received from God what we actually deserved, the first part of this verse explains what would happen; “the wages of sin is death.”

Think about this for awhile. We think of the child or adult who expects a special gift from another individual. They assume that because of whom they are, they will receive it. In actuality, this is quite presumptuous. There are many walking this earth who have the same attitude about heaven. They think that because of who they are, they deserve to go to heaven. But think of the thoughts that should go through one’s mind when we come to the realization that all that we are and all that we do only deserves complete separation from God for all eternity. Then, the righteous judge of all comes along and offers to take my sins away. He offers to come and dwell within me. He promises to give me eternal life. You and I don’t deserve this. Yet Christ’s simple response is that we must simply believe on His Name. This is a gift for each one of us. All we must do is accept it.

Conclusion:

There are some who can hardly wait until after Christmas when the stores open again. If what they received is not quite what they wanted, then they can take it back and exchange it for something better. When this occurs, because of a selfish spirit, it is quite unfortunate.

With the gift which the Father has given us, we need to understand that the real reason to celebrate Christ is because “to us a child is born, to us a son is given.” In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” In other words, if you don’t like this precious gift that God has given to us, there is no exchange. It is either Jesus or condemnation for all eternity.

What a precious gift given to us. This child, this Son was given that we might have eternal life, for all who would believe on His Name.

God the Father has provided a gift for each one of us who will accept it.