November 6, 2020
Unto Us A Child is Born
Isaiah 9:6
A Child is born says Isaiah A Son is Given. Matthew and Like tell us of the Child that was born; John tells of the Son that was given. The child born! That points us to the Son of Man. The Son given! That points us to the Son of God. The child born was the Babe of Bethlehem; the Son given was “the Lord from heaven.” The Child born reminds us that He was truly man, and the Son given tells us He was God. The Child born! That marks a beginning in time. The Son given is the Ancient of Days, from everlasting to everlasting, Jesus was both the Child born and the Son given.
The prophet gives us a fourfold description of this glorious one born of the Virgin Mary and conceived by the Holy Spirit. He is “the wonderful counselor.” That is, there is no problem He cannot solve. There are thousands of psychiatrists in the United States Alone. People go to them to pour out their anger, frustration, bitterness, hatred, fear, envy, and guilt—and the problems in our society multiply and grow more and more horrendous all the time. Obviously psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and trained counselors do not have any real answers to the problems of people in general and socicty at large. But Jesus does! There is no problem He cannot solve. No one ever appealed to Him in vain, No one ever found Him at a loss, For in Him “are hid all the treasures of wisdom’ (Col. 2:3).
Then, too, He is “the mighty God.” There is no power He cannot subdue. He is the “Creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime.” He who can fling a hundred billion galaxies into space, or populate a drop of ditch water with countless microscopic organisms, or pack enough power into an atom to incinerate a city can surely put down at will any power on earth or in heaven or in hell.
Moreover, there is no period He does not span, He is “the Father of Eternity.” We go back, ever further back in time, and always He is there. Back we go to the creation and even back beyond that. And there He is about to launch countless stars and their satellites into vast orbits, at conceivable velocities, to travel with mathematical precision on predictable paths! Always He is there—inescapable, gathering all time into the eternal present tense.
And, too, there is no person He cannot save. For the one who sits astride the centuries, who walks amid the galaxies, who has all wisdom, and who dwells amid great certainties has nail prints in His hands. He Is mighty to save: “Whosoever will may come, He says. That Child born, that Son given, is our Savior and our Lord. And, blessed be God our God, He is our peace.