“Unto Us A
Child Is Born”
The
verses in Isaiah 9:1-7 relate to a subject that has thrilled the civilized
world for centuries...one, which will never grow old; a subject, which, on the contrary,
shall to all eternity be a theme of both angels and men. The birth of Jesus, to
be rightly understood and esteemed, must be considered from the standpoint of a
gift of Love Divine. Any other view of the matter is merely the casket without
the jewel. The Scriptures give us the key to this thought in the familiar verse
of John 3:16, often termed ‘the little Gospel.’
The
world was under sentence of death; mankind had been dying for more than 4,000
years. God had pitied humanity from the beginning. Yea, before sin entered,
divine wisdom saw the end, and would not have created man or permitted the
condition which led to sin and the sentence of death, had divine wisdom not
foreseen and arranged in advance for human redemption. God had purposely arranged
the matter so that it would require the death of a perfect man to redeem Adam
and the race, which lost life in and through him. God knew from the beginning
that no such perfect man could be found on earth, because all men were “born
in sin,” sharing in Adamic weakness, imperfection and
condemnation. From the beginning God in the divine plan contemplated that the
Only Begotten of the Father, the Logos, the active Agent of Divinity in the
work of Creation, should be granted the great privilege of being man’s
Redeemer, and thereby secure a great reward: ”Glory, honor and immortality”
through the resurrection from death.
THE FIRST STEP OF REDEMPTION
The
primary step in man’s recovery necessarily was that the Logos should be made flesh, dwell among us and taste
death, by the grace of God, for every man (John 1:14; Heb. 2:9). It was this
first step that we remember at this season of the year...the birth of Jesus. He
who was rich, for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might
become rich.
Isaiah,
in these above verses, points out that the ministry of Jesus would be in
Galilee; that those people of the Jews who at the time were in great darkness
would see the great light of divine truth, as represented in Jesus and His
ministry. This had a primary fulfillment in
Before that glorious
Sun, sorrow and sighing will flee away; ignorance and superstition will vanish;
sin and darkness will be no more; every knee will bow and every tongue will
confess. Jesus is Lord of all, to the glory of God the Father. However, as the Scriptures point out, the
bride, in process of selection during this age, is to be with Him in the
morning, shining forth His glory. They shall sit with Him in His throne. After
the “wheat” of this age is “gathered into the garner” by the power of the first
resurrection, the bride of Christ will shine forth with the bridegroom, to heal
earth’s sorrows and to scatter earth’s night (Matt.l3:43). All this will come to us because “the Government shall rest upon his
shoulders,” and “his name shall be
called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty One, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”
Selected
THERE SHALL BE PEACE ON EARTH
Our God will not be mocked! The
angels’ singing
Were not vain words flung on the
empty air,
But vital prophecy and truth set
winging
That will not be denied. Today’s
despair
Is
pierced by golden shafts ~ The sunlight breaking
Its way through clouds should bid our darkness cease,
And ease our anxious hearts long numbed by aching.
There shall be Peace on earth
There shall be peace!
Men will
give glory to their God, and nations
Will yet turn to Him, unified at
last;
Class after class of high and lofty
station
And race after race will turn, their
warring past,
And brother will
kneel by brother, each tongue naming
One Name, and like a spring flood, thus release
Their pent up praise, too long withheld, proclaiming
Him Counselor, a
Mighty God,
The Prince of Peace.
Grace Noll Crowell