A Child Is Born and A Son Is Given
Please stand with me as we go over our current memory Scripture:
Psalm 1:1-2
“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the Law of the LORD, and on His Law he meditates day and night.”
And our memory Scripture “refresher” verse is:
Isaiah 9:6
“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.”
Today we will be reading from Isaiah 9:2-7
What do you do when you come across information that flies in the face of something you have always believed? How do you handle that?
Isaiah 9:6 is a text written by one of Israel’s most revered prophets.
Now, Jews believe in one God, Yahweh or Jehovah and so do we.
This is a prayer from Scripture that faithful Jews often repeat.
“Hear O’ Israel, Yahweh is our God, Yahweh is One” and this is a true belief for Christians as well!
Jews also believe that Yahweh is the eternal God who exists, “before all ages, now and forever more” (Jude 25) and that He was never a Child.
So, what do they do with a verse that speaks about a Child who is called “Mighty God” among other things!
Let’s take a look at Isaiah 9:2-7 and see if we can figure all of this out.
(Prayer for help)
So, how do the Jews handle Isaiah 9:6?
They have various interpretations, of course, and it is translated in a variety of ways.
For instance, some believe that the “child” was the king Hezekiah.
And, they word it something like, “Unto you a child is born, unto you a son is given and the government will be upon his shoulders and the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father shall call his name, Prince of Peace.”
You see, there is a great tension in Judaism. They long for their Messiah and reject Him at the same time.
Our hearts should be heavy for the Jews. The Bible tells us that Jesus came first to the Jews and then to us, the gentiles. So, our prayer should be that many would turn to Jesus and find their Messiah who is the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace.
OK. So, if the Jews DO believe that this passage is about Hezekiah and not about Jesus, why do WE believe it is about Jesus and not about Hezekiah? After all, they have had those Scriptures hundreds of years before we had them, right?
Let’s start out with the first two phrases found in Isaiah 9:6, “Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given …”
This is a very familiar Scripture to those of us who have attended church for many years and who have heard many Advent sermons and those of us who have read the accounts of Jesus’ birth in the Bible.
It is easy to simply take the two phrases to mean that a child will be born and the child will be a son.
But, it is NOT really that simple.
A child is born TO a father and mother and into a family, right?
Our son and daughter were born TO us and into our family.
I guess you could say that they were born into the world because they became members of the world population but that would really be stretching the usual understanding of how that phrase is used.
But, here we are seeing something different. Yes, the Child is being born into the world but He is also being born unto, or for us!
How do we know that? We know that because the first phrase cannot be disconnected from the second phrase.
“Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given …”
Now, this is saying much more than “there will be a child born and the child will be a boy.”
This is a description of what we call the incarnation. The Eternal God who is Spirit is joining His Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity with the Child who is a human and who is being born of a woman by the Holy Spirit.
When this verse says, “unto us a Son is given” this is describing the giving of God’s eternal Son in the form of a man, the God Man.
And, we see the confirmation of this awesome truth in Luke chapters 1 and 2 which confirms the phrase, “Unto us a Child is Born”. He is the Child of God born of a woman; fully human.
And, then we need to connect that phrase with “Unto us a Son is given”.
Where do we see that phrase confirmed in the New Testament?
We see it in what is likely the most famous verse in the Bible where it says, “For God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son …”
This is what we call the incarnation, where the Son of God became the Son of Man. Fully God and Fully Man. He was one being and yet both God and man. He still is one and yet both. He is the great mystery revealed in Christ. He is EXACTLY the Child Who was promised in Isaiah 9:6.
But, why? Why did god do this?
The answer lies in the rest of John 3:16-18
“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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.
“Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
You see, there are only two spiritual conditions; those who have placed their faith and trust in Jesus the God Man and those who have not.
And, by the same token, there are only two eternal destinies for our immortal souls.
Those who have placed their faith, their trust and their very lives in the hands of Jesus have eternal life. Those who refuse Him are eternally lost.
And, this gift of eternal life is not only useful for after this life is over, it is the only way of truly being alive in the here and now as well.
Let me try to explain this.
Imagine that you REALLY need a car but you CANNOT afford a car. The next day you get an advertisement in the mail from a car dealership that had a key attached to it.
And the ad says something like, “Bring this key to the Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang dealership on February 30th. If it fits any car in the lot you can have that car for FREE!”
Now, you know that the key attached to the advertisement does not have even a remote resemblance to any car key you have ever seen but you REALLY need a car and you CAN’T afford a car so this is your big chance!
So, you go running to the dealership on February 30th and come away sadly disappointed. Why?
“IT’S A TRAP!!!”
So, what does that have to do with anything???
God made everyone with a need for God. Everyone REALLY needs God in order to feel the true joy that a relationship with God brings.
Without a personal relationship with the Lord there will always be an emptiness inside. Kind of like a hollow spot in your soul.
1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says,
“Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.”
Why do you think people would be wrongdoers or sexually immoral or idolaters or adulterers or homosexuals or thieves or greedy or drunkards or slanderers or swindlers? What would cause people to be like that?
It is because they are trying to find something to fill that vacancy in their soul that only Jesus can fill!
You see, the man who has the key that will never start any car on the face of the earth will always be frustrated. In the same way, the man who tries to find peace in ANYTHING other than Jesus will always be frustrated.
JESUS IS THE KEY!
Let me read 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 but this time I will add verse 11 as well …
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NIRV
“Don’t you know that people who do wrong will not receive God’s kingdom? Don’t be fooled. Those who commit sexual sins will not receive the kingdom.
“Neither will those who worship statues of gods or commit adultery. Neither will men who sleep with other men. Neither will thieves or those who always want more and more. Neither will those who are often drunk or tell lies or cheat. People who live like that will not receive God’s kingdom.
(Here comes the good part! Are you ready???)
“Some of you used to do those things. But your sins were washed away. You were made holy. You were made right with God. All of this was done in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was also done by the Spirit of our God.”
That is why Jesus came!
He IS the key to a life free from slavery to sin!
He made it possible that our past sins COULD be forgiven!
This was made possible because “a Child was born” and “a Son was given”.
Are you living enslaved to something other than Jesus?
Are you well off on the outside and impoverished on the inside?
Are you beautiful on the outside and wretched on the inside?
There is only one hope. There is only way of escape and that way is with and through Jesus who said, “I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life. NO ONE comes to the Father except through Me!” John 14:6
And, what will you get in exchange for the slavery to sin you will be abandoning?
“Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.” Galatians 5:22
Wouldn’t you love to get some of that?
Jesus the Son of God and the Son of Man is the key!
Let Him open your heart to a love you cannot comprehend.
Final thoughts and prayer …
