Well, let us turn to this portion
that we've just read here in Isaiah 9, and I want to direct
you really to the words that we have, the familiar words that
we have in verse 6, but in particular the opening words of that verse,
For unto us a child is born, unto us a son, is given. It's been much on my mind I suppose
these last couple of weeks since we've heard of the joyful arrival
of little Oscar Connolly and we prayed for the child, we certainly
prayed for the mother, we think of Anna who's still suffering,
we think of Ruth up there trying to help, but we do rejoice in
the child that's been born a little boy that God in his goodness
has granted to Joe and Anna and Albert and Henry and all the
family and says as I was saying I I keep thinking of this particular
verse of at least his opening words here we've looked at this
verse on previous occasions it's one of the great texts that we
find in this gospel book of Isaiah And of course it is very much
a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ. 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. And he goes on in verse 7, 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 forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this." We've been reading at home in
the book of Genesis and this morning we were reading in chapter
18 of Genesis and of course it's a remarkable chapter where we
have Abraham entertaining strangers, unawares. Three men come to him
there, to the tent door in Mamre, three men, and we discover in
what follows that two of them are angels, but the third is
none other than the Lord himself. It's a theophany really, I put
it, the technical term, the theological term, it's a theophany, it's
an appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, as a human being
in anticipation, as it were, of the incarnation. It's not the only occasion. Later
we'll read of Jacob and his experience at Penuel where he's wrestling
with the angel of the Lord and again it's the Lord Jesus Christ
who comes and appears to Jacob there at the Brook Jabbok. And there are other occasions
in Judges 13 we read of Manoah and his wife and they also meet
with the angel of the Lord and he does wondrously these appearances
and they are strange appearances but they're anticipating something
and it's what we have here it's not until the fullness of the
time that God had ordained from all eternity that he sends his
only begotten son. Remember the language of Galatians
4 when the fullness of the time was come. God sent forth his
son made of a woman and made under the law. Back in the Old
Testament he was not yet made of the woman, not yet conceived
by the Holy Ghost in the Virgin's womb. And what we have here,
as I said, is a prophecy. and that God says he will perform
this. The zeal of the Lord of hosts
will perform this, we're told, at the end of verse 7. And the
interesting thing is that the language that we have in verse
6 is in what we might term the prophetic perfect. These future
events are spoken of as if they've already happened. Not the future
tense, is it? What do we read? Unto us a child
is born, unto us a son is given as if God has already accomplished
what will happen in the fullness of the time. And as I said, there
are those events that anticipate the coming of the Son of God
in human flesh in what is the experience of men like Abraham
and Jacob and Manoah and his wife. I want us to look at these
opening words in verse 6, but before we seek to understand
them in terms of a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ, let me
just say a little bit with regards to the context, the historical
setting of the verse. In the previous chapter we read
much of Israel, and of Judah. Of course Isaiah is ministering
after the subdivision of the nation with the ten tribes Israel
in the north with their capital at Samaria and Judah and Benjamin
maintaining Jerusalem as their capital in the south. And in
the previous chapter we see how Israel in the north has entered
into league with Syria against Judah. In chapter 8, and there
at the end of verse 4, we have mention of this child
that's born to the wife of the Prophet, who is to be called
Meher Shalashbas. And there at verse 4 we have
the meaning of the name that was given to the child Before
the child shall have knowledge to cry my father and my mother,
the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria shall be taken
away before the king of Assyria." So here is Damascus, the capital
of Syria, Samaria, the capital of Israel, but they're going
They're going to fall. Though they're in league, though
they've set themselves against Judah, they're going to fall
to the great armies of the Assyrians. God is going to frustrate this
alliance that they've entered into. In verse 9, "...associate
yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces,
and give all ye five countries gird yourselves and ye shall
be broken in pieces gird yourselves and ye shall be broken in pieces
take counsel together and ye shall come to naught speak the
word and ye shall not stand for God is with us or Emmanuel that's
how it's rendered at the end of verse 8 we have the land thy land O Emmanuel
and of course It's the same word really at the end of verse 10,
God is with us. And so all this association,
this alliance, as it says in verse 12, say ye not a confederacy
to all them to whom these people shall say a confederacy? Neither
fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself,
and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread. Judah
might want to enter into some sort of alliance with Egypt,
because of the threat of the Assyrians. But what is the Lord
God saying? They are to look not to any of
the nations round about them, but they are to trust in the
Lord God. And so God is defending His people,
He's defending Judah, and speaking of judgments that are going to
come upon their enemies really. And so, it also continues here
in chapter 9 from verse 8. The Lord sent a word unto Jacob,
and it hath lighted upon Israel, and all the people shall know,
even Ephraim, the inhabitants of Samaria, that then speak in
the pride and stoutness of their hearts or they think that they're
going to be able to resist the Assyrians, they're going to be
able to rebuild whatever it is that the Assyrians might destroy
but not so says the Lord God in verse 11 where we really were
coming to the end of the portion we read the Lord shall set up
the adversaries of Wresin against him and join his enemies together,
the Syrians before and the Philistines behind, and they shall devour
Israel with open mouth. And for all this his anger is
not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still." So,
the whole context, what we have in chapter 8 and what we have
here in chapter 9 from verse 8 through to that 12th verse,
it's speaking of the situation that God is pouring out His judgment
upon upon Israel to the north and Israel of course does ultimately
fall before the Assyrians and the people are scattered many
are taken away and it's the end really of the northern kingdom. The amazing thing is that in
the midst of all these verses that speak of God's judgment
we have this section at the beginning of chapter 9 from verse 1 through
7 which takes us to another situation and speaks really of the promise
of the Messiah. The promise of the Messiah is
what we have in these verses. We have mentioned, of course,
at the beginning of the land of Galilee, Galilee of the nations,
where much of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ takes place
during the Gospel. but then we come to these words
in particular in verse 6 and in a sense we have a sort of
ascending scale in what is being said you'll notice previously
verses 4, 5 and then verse 6 we have the opening word in each of those verses
4 for thou hast broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff
of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. For every battle of the warrior
is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood, but this shall
be with burning and fuel of fire. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his
shoulder." It's a sort of ascending scale, really, the message of
the prophetess, the servant of the Lord God, what the Lord God
will do, and it comes to the climax, really, in the statement
that I want us to consider more particularly, as I said here
at the beginning of this sixth verse. What is it that we have
here? What do we see? Well, as I say,
it's a promise of Christ, it's a prophecy of Christ, and here
we certainly see something of His is humiliation the humiliation
of the son of God and we see it in two ways we see it with
regards to his person and we see it also with regards to his
work we see it both in the incarnation and we see it also in the crucifixion
First of all, surely we see it when we consider what the incarnation
entails. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given. And how we need to mark the distinction
that is so clear in this statement. The child is born, but the son
is given. And who was that one who was
given? Well, it was none other than
the Eternal Son of God, the second person in the Trinity. God the Son. God so loved the
world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
in Him should not perish but have an everlasting life. Who
was He? Who is He? When the fullness
of the time has come, we read, God sent forth His Son. He is Jesus Christ, the Son of the
Father, in truth and love. He is truly the Son of God. There
are others, which is one of the blessings of salvation, of course,
that those who are in Christ are the adopted sons of God.
But He is the Son of the Father in truth. We have the language
of the great Nicene Creed, the only begotten Son of God, begotten
of His Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very
God of very God, begotten not made of one substance with the
Father. How those words were hammered
out, of course, in the midst of great controversy in the early
years of this Christian era, the great creeds of the early
church, and a plain statement there concerning who this person
is. He is God's Son. Unto us a Son is given. And the Jews understood this
when the Lord Jesus is exercising His ministry, And they sought
the more to kill him, we're told, in John 5, because he not only
had broken the Sabbath day, or their perversions of the Sabbath,
but he had said that God was his father, making himself equal
with God. And that was the charge, wasn't
it, that they laid against him when they bring him to Pontius
Pilate and make their accusation We have a law, by our law he
ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God. Who is this person, this Son,
that's not born here, is the eternally begotten Son of God,
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Who
is this that is being spoken of? It is the Messiah, and when
Peter makes his confession in Matthew 16, Thou art the Christ,
he says, the Son of the Living God. Or the disciple Peter knew the
Old Testament Scriptures. He knew that the Messiah who
was promised there in the Old Testament, the one who would
come in the fullness of the time, was the Son of God, or the Christ,
the Son of the Living God. And as I say, it's a truth that's
vehemently contended for in the early church, even at the end
of the apostolic age. John has to speak plainly. there in that second epistle
of John verse 9 he says whosoever transgresseth and abideth not
in the doctrine of Christ hath not God he that abides in the doctrine
of Christ he has the Father and the Son or the Christ is the
Son of the Father there is an eternal Father because there
is an eternal Son and there is also of course an eternal Spirit
so Who is this one that is being spoken of in prophecy, this one
who is being promised in a situation where there's terrible conflict
and warfare, all the worlds there in the Middle East would seem
to be in flames at that time. And yet in the midst of all that
we read in chapter 8 and then later in chapter 9, in the midst
of all these terrible conflicts we have this great promise concerning
the Eternal Son of God, who He was. And then also we see what
He became. He becomes a real man. He becomes a real man. Now He
appears in the Old Testament many times as a man, but it's
not till the fullness of the time that He is actually born
into this world. unto us a child is born and now
we see here what humiliation is involved in the incarnation
twice it says here unto us unto us a child unto us a son and
the language then of the angels at the birth of Jesus there in
Luke chapter 2 for unto you, that is unto you men, unto you
is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ
the Lord. Oh, that Christ is also the Lord. He is Jehovah Jesus. And who
is his message to? Who does he come for? Unto you,
that is unto you men. And John says, doesn't he, 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. We see Jesus. Or the language
there in that second chapter of Hebrews. We see Jesus, who
was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering
of death. Verily, He took not upon Him
the nature of angels, but He took upon Him the seeds of Abraham. And forasmuch as the children
were partakers of flesh and blood, He likewise took part of the
same. He is the eternal Son of God,
God gives His Son, and He becomes a man. We read of God sending his own
son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. God sends
his son, God gives his son, he becomes a real man, the great
mystery of our religion, the mystery of godliness. God was
manifest in the flesh and we are familiar with that great
passage in Philippians 2, Christological passage speaking of the doctrine
of Christ. who, being in the form of God,
thought it not robbly to be equal with God, but made himself of
no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and
was made in the likeness of men." Or the humiliation of the Incarnation. The humiliation when we think
of the person of Jesus of Nazareth. He is God, yes, but he's also
a man. He's the last out of us. He's the second man from heaven. He's the sinless man, but he's
a man, a real man. And then, of course, it goes
on, doesn't it, there in Philippians, being found in fashion as a man,
he became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
So he's not only seen to be humbling himself when he becomes a man,
but he humbles himself in the work that he comes to accomplish.
And what do we read here? The beginning of this sixth verse,
for unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the
government shall be upon his shoulder. the government shall
be upon his shoulder. I like the comment. It's an interesting
comment made by Matthew Poole, the Puritan commentator. He says
with regards to this statement about the government being on
his shoulder that it's an allusion to the cross of Christ which
was laid upon his shoulders. Also, the way to his kingdom
or his government, he says. He makes that twofold statement,
an allusion to the cross that's laid upon his shoulders, but
the cross is also the way to his kingdom. He must go through the way of
the cross in order to establish his spiritual kingdom. Now clearly
we see him bearing that cross. John 19.17, he, bearing his cross,
went forth into a place called the place of a skull. It was
called Golgotha in the Hebrew tongue, the place of a skull. And we do sometimes sing that
lovely hymn. We certainly sung it at the Lord's
Supper 950. You're familiar, I'm sure, with
the words. It's in the Inghamite hymn book.
The Inghamites were Calvinistic Methodists. Methodists up in
the North, in Yorkshire and Lancashire, a little denomination. And Allen
and Batley, the authors of this hymn, were both of them Inghamites.
What objects is which meets my eyes without Jerusalem's gates,
which fills my mind with such surprise as wonder to create?
Who can it be that groans beneath a cross of massy wood, whose
souls all whelmed in pains of death, and body bathed in blood?
Is this the man? Can this be he the prophets have
foretold? Should with transgressors numbered
be, and for their crimes be sold? Yes, now I know it is he, it
is he, it is Jesus, God's dear son, wrapped in humanity to die
for crimes that I had done." And so he goes on. It's a lovely
hymn to read and to meditate upon. But it's Christ bearing
his cross, and as the Puritan says, the government upon his
shoulder. This is the way to his kingdom. This is the way to his kingdom.
What is Christ doing? He's accomplishing salvation,
of course, by those sufferings upon the cross. As he says to
those two on the road to Emmaus, at the end of Luke, ought not
Christ to have suffered these things and entered into his glory? It is by suffering these things
that the Lord Jesus enters into his glory. And what are these
things that he suffers? Oh, the intensity. The intensity. Look at the language that we
have here in verse 5. Every battle of the warrior is with confused
noise and garments rolled in blood. And that was going on
all around at the time with the Assyrians, you see. destroying
Israel in the north and then coming further south and laying
siege to fenced cities and even coming to the very gates of Jerusalem
every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments
rolled in blood but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire
all the intensity of those those sufferings that the Lord has
to endure and yet by and through all this
he's crucified through weakness And yet in that crucifixion he
accomplishes a glorious salvation for his people. What we have
in verse 4, that was broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff
of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. So there's a reference here,
isn't there, to Gideon's great victory over the Midianites,
back in Judges chapter 7. And remember what the Lord God
did in those days, the days of the Judges, when He wrought that
great victory through Gideon, He reduced the army of Israel
to just 300. 300. And there's a reason the Lord
God says it there in Judges 7-2, lest Israel vaunt themselves
against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. All God can
save by many or by few. And as there in Judges the defeat
of the Midianites by Gideon's 300 and also how the Assyrians,
how the Assyrians are going to be frustrated and overthrown
and we have it later here in chapter 37 and there at verse
33 following remember Ezekiel and Ezekiel's prayers and how
God answers his prayers and Sennacherib withdraws his armies and goes
back to Nineveh and he himself is killed by his own sons or God does it, it's God's own
work And it all directs us to the amazing truth that though
crucified through weakness, the Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished
the great salvation. Now this book of Isaiah is for
so much of the Lord Jesus. Look at the language that we
have later in chapter 63 and verse 5. It says, And I looked,
and there was none to help me, and I wondered that there was none to uphold. Therefore my
known hand brought salvation unto me, and my fury upheld me."
And those words that we have at the end of that verse, my
fury upheld me, it's God's concern for his own glory. He will accomplish
these things, as we see it here at the end of verse 7, the zeal
of the Lord of hosts will perform this. What he's got doing there
in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, he is vindicating his
own holy law, he is just, and yet he's the justifier of all
those that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the great
wonder of the salvation that was accomplished. But what was
accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ is that that also must
be applied. The one who procures the salvation
is the one who also performs it in the souls of his people. The government shall be upon
his shoulder. He is the one who is governor.
He is the one who is king in Zion. He is the one who applies
salvation. verse 7 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 forever.
Oh this is our comfort is it not? Oh the day to us is a dismal
dark day It was more difficult in those days when God first
gave this word through his servant Isaiah. There was real conflict
all about them. We bemoan the day, it's a day
of small things, there's confusion, there's sin on every hand. But
here is our comfort. The government is upon the shoulders
of the Lord Jesus Christ and He exercises His authority and
He is saving the people. even in our day. And how does
he save his people? Well, as he humbles himself,
humbles himself both in terms of his person as God-man, God
manifest in the flesh, and as he humbles himself in
the execution of his work, so in the salvation of his people
You have to learn humility. If any man will come after me,
Christ says, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow
me. Oh, the Lord Jesus, how he humbled
himself in order to to conquer, to establish salvation, and again
that passage we've referred to it already in Philippians 2,
that great passage which speaks of Christ, his person and his
work, the context of course there is one in which he is teaching
the importance of humility, let this mind be in you, which was
also in Christ Jesus, who thought it not robbery to be equal with
God. that made himself of no reputation, took upon him the
form of a servant. Oh, in the covenant, of course,
he's the mediator, but he's the Lord's servant. He's equal to
the Father. He is God of gods. He's begotten,
not made. He's of one substance with the
Father. There's one God. And the three persons, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, are co-equal. And yet, though he's God, and
he thinks it not robbery to be equal, it's not something he
needs to seize after it is his by right, but he makes himself
of no reputation. Oh, the humility, then, of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And as we come to prayer, we
have to humble ourselves before that throne of grace. Oh, it's
the most gracious place to come. God hears our prayers, our poor
prayers. But let us not forget it's a
throne, it's the throne of grace. And so we're to come with all
reverence, but we can come with great confidence, because this
is the God who rules and reigns, and it is the day of grace, the
year of our Lord, the acceptable time. and the day of salvation. May the Lord help us as we turn
to him in prayer. May the Lord bless to us his
own word. Let us now sing. Our second praise
is the hymn number 737, the tune Buckland, 450. Gracious Lord, incline thy ear,
My request vouchsafe to hear, Hear my never-ceasing cry, Give
me Christ, or else I die. 737 TUNE 415