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Isaiah 9:6
A Child is Born, 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 Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.[1]
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an any text be more intimately associated with Christmas than the text before us? George Frideric Handel, in creating The Messiah, drew heavily upon this passage of the Word.
Anyone who has attended a presentation of that extraordinary oratorio will have heard the words of this text sung during that presentation.
The promise of Christ’s birth and His reign is integral to the message of Christmas.
Many people, especially if they should be untaught or if they are unknowledgeable concerning the Faith, are surprised to discover that the Old Testament provides Christmas texts.
To us who are conversant with the message of the Word, however, the Faith is firmly grounded on teachings delivered under the Old Covenant.
Though no command to celebrate the birth of the Christ is ever given, there is nevertheless recognition that His birth was foretold and that His advent was anticipated.
The need for the Messiah’s first advent is rooted in the human condition.
Death reigns over the race because of the sin of our first father.
However, in mercy, God promised a Saviour even as He pronounced judgement on the creation as result of Adam’s rebellion.
That promise was iterated throughout the Old Testament as God progressively narrowed the uncertainty surrounding the advent of His Son.
The date of His coming, the place of His birth, the conditions prevailing in the world when He would be revealed, and especially the necessity for His coming, were all foretold of the Messiah.
Isaiah, as was true of other prophets of the Old Covenant, spoke of the incarnation.
Though some supposed scholars have dismissed the importance of Isaiah’s prophecy, the court prophet did speak pointedly of the purpose of the Messiah’s advent.
The purpose of Messiah’s coming, the reason the Anointed One would be born, is detailed in the words of our text: to us a child is born, to us a son is given.
To Us, a Child is Born — The key to understanding this passage is revealed through Isaiah’s use of the prepositional phrase, to us.
Consider the language the prophet used when delivering the comforting promise.
Wnl;A÷T’ni ÷Be Wnl;AdL’yu dl,y,AyKi
For a child is born *to us*, a son is given *to us*.
The prophecy promises that a child is to be born, and the recipient of this blessing is “us.”
The prophecy also promises that a son is to be given, and the recipient of this blessing is “us.”
Some collective entity is the beneficiary of the promise.
Whatever else may be implied or meant by the words of God, some collective group is the recipient of the promise.
If we will assign benefit for the words of the prophecy, we must discover who is the recipient of the prophecy.
Perhaps the prophet intends Israel to be the recipient of God’s grace.
Of course, this possibility cannot be discounted.
Israel is God’s chosen people.
Through Israel, the Messiah was to come.
Through Israel, we Gentiles are blessed, as Scripture makes clear.
In *Genesis 9:27* we discover an enigmatic promise delivered by Noah after one of his sons had mocked him because he was drunk.
May God enlarge Japheth,
and let him dwell in the tents of Shem.
Japheth is the progenitor of the non-Semitic races, the Indo-European peoples.
Ham was progenitor of the Asian and African races and Canaan was the son of Ham.
According to Noah’s prophetic word, these lineages would be indebted to the Semites for some boon.
That blessing is the revelation of the Faith we have received, given through the Semitic peoples and propagated through European peoples to all the earth.
Later, in *Genesis 12:3* we witness the promise of God to Abraham that all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
The Apostle Paul picks up this theme when he informs us of the role of the Jewish people in bringing the message of life to us.
He writes of them that, they are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.
To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever.
Amen [*Romans 9:4, 5*].
Amen, indeed!
Thus, we cannot dismiss the thought that Isaiah may have been speaking of Israel as the intended beneficiary resulting from the child’s birth and from the giving of a son.
Nevertheless, I am quite certain that the divine promise cannot be restricted to one nation, though that one nation figures prominently in the divine plan of God.
I am confident that the promise is given to all mankind—if we are willing to receive the gift proffered.
The reason for my confidence lies in the Word of God. Paul continues with this explanation.
It is not as though the word of God has failed.
For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring [*Romans 9:6-8*].
Considering a variety of Scripture passages and the manifold implications of all that was written, Paul concludes by stating, what shall we say, then?
That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith [*Romans 9:30*].
The righteousness of God is offered to the Gentiles through the child who is born and through the son who is given.
In *Isaiah 9:1, 2* the Prophet declares, there will be no gloom for her who was in anguish.
In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he has made glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.
The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light;
those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,
on them has light shined.
All that follows is directed to us Gentiles.
Therefore, the prophecy is not restricted to the people of Israel, though they will be affected as greatly as will the Gentiles.
Remember, the focus of this portion of the message is that a child is born to us.
Now we must identify this child.
Why is it important to know that a child is born to us?
The fact that the prophet speaks of a child born who will benefit all mankind, and especially a child who will in some way bless the Gentiles, implies that this is no ordinary child.
Earlier in the writings of Isaiah, another prophecy was delivered to a craven king.
Read the prophecy with me; it is found a few pages back in your Bible.
*Isaiah 7:14* asserts, The Lord himself will give you a sign.
Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
A child will be born of a virgin.
Any reasonable person would conclude that this is a rather astonishing promise.
Virgins do not conceive in the normal course of events.
Reports of miracle babies do surface from time-to-time.
For instance, in recent British news reports, a self-styled archbishop, one Gilbert Deya, claimed that infertile women could become pregnant through His prayers.
Women, demonstrably infertile, travelled to Kenya where they were said to have given birth in slum clinics.
However, DNA tests done on at least one of the children in Britain proved there was no link to the supposed mother.
In fact, what was happening was a baby theft ring that was trafficking in stolen babies.[2]
More than twenty babies have been taken into custody in Kenya as result of Deya’s malfeasance.[3]
As is usually the case, the claims of miraculous births can be easily discounted.
Children are not normally identified as “God with us.”
However, a child will be born of a virgin and that child will be “God with us”—Immanuel.
Indeed, people do occasionally appear claiming to be god among us.
The Guru Maharah Ji claims to be god in human form, an avatar.[4]
Though claimants to divinity appear with confusing regularity, only One managed to demonstrate the validity of His claim through raising the dead after restoring sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf.
He alone conquered death.
Only One has brought hope and joy to mankind through forgiveness of sin and the promise of life.
That One is Jesus the Messiah—the child promised to all mankind.
To us a child is born, and the purpose of the birth of that child is that He might provide Himself as a sacrifice because of our sin and then rise from the dead.
That child must be very God, and He is worthy of our praise.
We celebrate the birth of the Christ child because in Him alone do we find hope and joy and peace.
We Christians rejoice in the knowledge that God has become man, for it means that we are not left without hope.
God has remembered us in our helpless condition.
He has sent His own Son to share our condition.
In Christ the Lord, God has become man.
Those who believe this glorious truth should rejoice.
Indeed, it is impossible not to rejoice in the knowledge that God has sent His own Son.
The birth of Jesus speaks of the love of God for all mankind.
The coming of God to share our condition speaks of the esteem for our human condition.
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