Unto Us A Child Is Born

Unto Us a Child Is Born

Chuck Sligh

December 7, 2014

TEXT: 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, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”

INTRODUCTION

Illus. – One of my favorite pieces of classical music is Handel’s Messiah. When Handel composed The Messiah he completely withdrew from the world for twenty-three days straight. So immersed was he in his music that the food brought to him was often left untouched. Describing his feeling when “The Hallelujah Chorus” burst on his mind, Handel said, “I did think I did see all Heaven before me, and the great God Himself.”

In that wonderful oratorio is one song based upon our text titled, “Unto Us a Child Is Born.” The reason Handel included it is in The Messiah is because Isaiah 9:6 is one of the towering Old Testament prophecies concerning the promised Messiah.

Isaiah 9:6 is part of a larger passage of prophecy, starting at the beginning of chapter 8 and continuing through verse 7 of chapter 9, which details the coming of Israel’s Deliverer, often called the Messiah, or the Christ. That Messiah is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let’s look at this beautiful verse this morning and see what the Messiah is like:

I. “For unto us a child is born…” – TELLS US HOW JESUS WOULD COME AS A MAN.

• He would be BORN.

He entered the world like any other baby.He was BORN!

Illus. – of the omnipotent God being born as a helpless baby. (EXPAND)

• He would be born a CHILD.

In other words, though He would still be 100 per cent God, yet He would also be a human being.

Compare Philippians 2:6 – “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:”

Imagine that.

• He would be born UNTO US.

God would come and dwell among us…Among us who are sinful. Among those who would turn him away. Among us who, as Isaiah 53 puts it, have, like sheep gone astray, and have turned to our own way, instead of God’s way.

This is the marvelous truth called the INCARNATION. The incarnation is the truth that God came to dwell among us. One of the names of Jesus is Immanuel which means “God with us.” John tells us about that in His Gospel: John 1:14 – “And the Word was made flesh, and DWELT AMONG US, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

II. “...unto us a son is GIVEN…” – TELLS US HOW JESUS WOULD BE THE GIFT OF GOD TO MAN.

Note John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world, that HE GAVE his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

With this holiday season upon us, many people have interrupted their daily routines by shopping for gifts they plan on giving as an expression, an act, or a demonstration of their love or appreciation for the people in their lives.

But they are gifts that are temporal, which will break down, and wear out, and rust, and decay with the passage of time. Isn’t it wonderful that so much time, energy and resources are given to gift-giving? But we must never forget that they are all short-lived!—

God gave to us a gift that is…

eternal,…

everlasting,…

the greatest of all gifts,…

the unspeakable gift.

What is that gift?—The gift of Jesus Christ.

“For unto us a Son is GIVEN.”

III. “...and the government shall be upon his shoulder...” – REMINDS US OF HIS FUTURE RULE.

In His first advent (advent means “coming”)…

Jesus came as a simple little child…

He came as a lowly servant…

He came into the home of a simple carpenter.…

He was born in a humble manger.

Illus. – of “For Better or Worse” cartoon a few years ago: The family was visiting a barn, with all the attendant smells and odors that you have in a barn. One of the children asked, “Did it smell like this that first Christmas?”

Well, yes, it probably did. Because Jesus was placed in a little manger, which is a feeding trough for animals, indicating that they may have been in a barn or a cave where animals were kept.

Jesus was born in humble surroundings.

In His first advent, Jesus had no riches – Illus. – Henry G. Bosch said:

Socrates taught for 40 years, Plato for 50, Aristotle for 40 and Jesus for only 3. Yet the influence of Christ’s three-year ministry infinitely transcends the impact left by the combined 130 years of teaching from these men who were among the greatest philosophers of all antiquity. Jesus painted no pictures; yet some of the finest paintings of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Leonardo da Vinci received their inspiration from Him.