Unto Us a Son is Given
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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, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this (Isaiah 9:6-7).
Isaiah is looking at two aspects of the birth of Christ. First of all, he sees the human side. Isaiah declared, "For unto us a child is born." It must be recognized that the child who was born, and about whom Isaiah prophesied, was unlike any other child ever born. For this child had no human father. Isaiah had predicted this in the seventh chapter. "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel" (Isaiah 7:14). The name Immanuel means "God with us."
The child who was born was the fulfillment of God's promise to man in the Garden of Eden. God had said that the woman's seed - intimating the virgin birth - would bruise the head, or authority, of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). This child was to destroy the power and authority of Satan in our lives and to bring us victory over the power of darkness. This child who was born was unlike any child ever born. So many facets of His life were predicted in the Scriptures. Where He was to be born, the circumstances around His birth, the events in His early childhood and in His ministry, etc. These events were predicted in more than 300 prophecies of the Old Testament. This child who was born was heralded by the angels. At the time of His birth there were in the same country shepherds keeping watch over their flocks at night. And the angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. The shepherds were frightened. But the angel said,
Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Suddenly, there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men (Luke 2:10-11,13-14).
This child who was born was destined for greatness. For we read in Isaiah's prophecy, "And the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever." The power of God was to rest upon this child. He was to rule over the world as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
But this child who was born was also destined for suffering. Isaiah wrote, "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:... he was despised, and we esteemed him not" (Isaiah 53:3).
His suffering was also spoken of by Simeon the priest, the aged man who had a glorious secret of God within his heart. God had spoken to him and said, "You will not die until you see the Messiah." As Mary and Joseph brought this child to the temple to offer sacrifices for the first-born, to redeem him and to present him to the Lord, Simeon was brought to them by the Spirit. He took the child into his arms and lifted him up to heaven. He cried, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,...for mine eyes have seen thy salvation" (Luke 2:29).
Then Simeon prophesied concerning the child. "This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel. And he shall be a light to the Gentiles." And then speaking directly to Mary, Simeon said, "And a sword shall also pierce through your own soul" - referring to the pain Mary would experience when she saw her child hanging on a cross, mocked, despised, and rejected by men.
The child was born to die upon a cross. When Pilate talked to Him, Jesus said, "To this end was I born, that I might be the King." Daniel prophesied that He would be cut off without receiving the kingdom (Daniel 9:26).
How can we reconcile a child destined for greatness and also destined for suffering? Destined to reign forever, yet destined to be cut off without receiving the kingdom? It is reconciled in the fact that this child who was born in Bethlehem is coming back again to reign as King of Kings and Lord of Lords!
Jesus said, "Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven:... and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory" (Matthew 24:30). As Jesus left Earth from the Mount of Olives, the disciples saw the clouds receive Him until He went out of their sight. The men in white apparel said, "Men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner" (Acts 1:11). He is coming again as King of Kings and Lord of Lords to establish it in judgment and justice from henceforth even forever. That portion of Isaiah's prophecy shall be fulfilled at the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
Unto us a child is born - destined to suffer, and yet destined to reign forever. That's looking at the birth of Jesus from the human side.
Looking at the birth of Jesus from the divine side, the prophet declared, "Unto us a son is given." This child who was born was, in reality, a Son who was given. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16).
God gave His Son, so that the Son might reveal to us the truth about the Father.
Man's concepts of God had become so totally garbled and confused that man no longer knew the truth about God. Just read the ideas about God in the Greek and Roman mythologies. You'll see how man lost all sense of truth about God. Even the nation Israel, the people God had revealed Himself to in the clearest fashion was confused about God. The teachers, scribes, and Pharisees, who pretended to know more about God than anybody else, were constantly rebuked by Jesus, because they taught the wrong things about God. They gave the people a totally wrong concept of God. "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!" (Luke 11:44). They completely misrepresented God to the people, and so the people didn’t know or understand Him.
A Son was given to us to reveal the Father, so that we might know the Father in truth. The people had beer taught to think of God as some cruel and vengeful judge ready and anxious to destroy them. In reality, He was a heartbroken Father, grieving because His children were lost
The essential truth that Jesus taught about God was that God has an undying love for you.
God wants to display and demonstrate all of His love to you in the fullest and richest way. "God is love" (I John 4:8).
The Purpose of the Son
A Son is given so that He might teach us the truth about God and His love for us. A Son is given so that we might again have fellowship with God, that we might come back to God's first and original intent for man.
When God created man, His purpose was that man might enjoy constant and beautiful fellowship with Him. So, God placed man in the Garden of Eden. The Bible speaks about God coming into the Garden and walking with man, communing and talking with him. God's intent for man was fulfilled as Adam walked in fellowship with God.
But we read that Adam disobeyed and that sin entered the world. Adam's fellowship with God was broken as the result of sin. This is always the effect of sin. For Isaiah tells us that God's hand is not short that He cannot save, neither is His ear heavy that He cannot hear. But your sins have separated you from your God (Isaiah 59:1-2). Sin always separates a man from God.
A Son is given to bring us back into fellowship with God. In order to do that, He must take care of the sin problem. We read that God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God through Him (II Corinthians 5:21). "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6).
Jesus came to us. He was given by God to remove from us the sin which had destroyed our fellowship with God, and to restore us to fellowship with God.
John wrote, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (for the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) that which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full" (I John 1:1-4).
If you say that you have fellowship with God and you're walking in darkness, you're lying. You don't know the truth. But if you walk in the light as He is in the light, then you have fellowship with God - and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, is continually cleansing you from all sin. Unto us a Son is given to bring us into fellowship with God by continually cleansing us from all sin, thus keeping us in continual fellowship with God.
A Son is given that He might be the Savior of the world. The whole world is lost in the darkness of sin, but the light of the world is Jesus. Paul said that the Gentiles were without God and without hope in the world. But unto us a Son is given who might lead us from that darkness into the light of God, that through Him we might experience the love of God. He is that true light that lights every man who comes into the world.
The Reactions to the Son
What was the world's reaction to this child who was born, this Son who was given? Jesus always evoked sharp emotional responses from people. They either hated Him or loved Him. Some people said, "We will not have Him rule over us!" They hated the light that He brought, because the light revealed the truth about themselves. The light revealed the fraud and sham of their own existence. They wouldn't come to that light, and they nailed the Son to the cross. As he hung on the cross, they mocked, jeered, and taunted Him. He was despised and rejected.
There was another crowd at the cross. It was much smaller. These people were weeping and sobbing, because they loved the Son, and He was suffering. They had submitted their lives to Him, to serve Him and to live for Him with everything they had.
There is a sharp contrast between the two reactions to the child who was born and the Son who was given.
Though 2,000 years have now passed, and man has supposedly made great strides in his cultural and social development, we find that these same two emotional responses are still evoked by Jesus Christ. Today, people either love Him or hate Him. Some people still become violent in their reactions to Him. If they could they'd crucify Him again. They're still crying out, "We will not have Him to rule over us!" They would like to get rid of Christ and the influence of Christianity in the world today. For they love their darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. On the other hand, some have rejoiced in that light and have found glorious fellowship with God. They walk in the light, thanking God that they know and have fellowship with Him once again.
One of the saddest Scriptures in the Bible is found in the first chapter of John's Gospel. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made" (John 1:1-3). Look around. Everything you see was made by Him. "In him was life, and the life was the light of men... That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world" (v. 4,9). And this is the Scripture that has such pathos and sorrow: "He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not" (Jn 1:10).
Jesus was walking around, looking at all the life forms that He had created. He understood completely the genetic codes within the cells long before men stumbled onto these truths. But men had become so alienated from God in their minds and consciousness that when God walked among them they didn't recognize Him. The world "knew him not. He came unto his own [the Jewish people], and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:10b-12).
Unto us a Son is given... to bring us into fellowship with God by taking away our sins and dying in our place. He thus became the light of the world and the hope of mankind.
Today, you are in one of two groups: those who have a right to celebrate Christmas, and those who through their celebration of Christmas are guilty of the greatest hypocrisy. If you have received the Christ of Christmas, then the joy and peace of fellowship with God is yours. For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given. Have you received this, the greatest gift of all?
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