Let us turn now to God's Word
and our text in the portion that we read in Isaiah chapter 9 and
reading again verses 4, 5 and 6. Isaiah 9 verses 4, 5 and 6. 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, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Well as we consider these verses
for a while, this evening I want to say something with regards
to the Lord Jesus Christ in his conflicts and his conquests. We see here something of his
humiliation but also something of the triumphs of the Lord Jesus. But before we come to that spiritual
significance of what is being said, let me just make some remarks
with regards to the context, the historical setting of the
passage. Here we see in the previous chapter
how Israel and Syria were in league against Judah. There had been that sad division
in the kingdom after the death of Solomon, as you know, when
Rehoboam, his son, behaved foolishly and there were those ten tribes
that rebelled against the house of David and chose Jeroboam.
the son of Nebatz to be their king and he established his kingdom
with the capital in Samaria. And there was just that little
kingdom in the south, Judah and Benjamin, with the capital at
Jerusalem. And here we see how the Northern
Kingdom, Israel as it was called, was in league with Syria against
Judah. There in chapter 8 at verse 4, we read
of the riches of Damascus, the capital of Syria, the spoil of
Samaria, which was the capital of the kingdom of Israel. And there, of course, in the
opening words of Chapter 8, we see something of the significance
of the personal life of the Prophet, how he receives this strange
commandment from the Lord to take a great role, and write
a man's name, Meher Shalalashbas. And he does what God commands,
and there are faithful witnesses. And then he goes to the prophetess,
she conceives and bears a son. And the Lord says to him that
he is to call the son by this name that he has written. Call his name Meher Sharal Ashbas. And in the margin we're told
the significance of the name. Strange name to give a child,
but it means in the Hebrew in making speed to the spoil, he
hasteneth to pray." There's a prophecy here, before the child shall
have knowledge to cry, my father and my mother. God is going to
send a terrible judgment upon those kingdoms of Israel and
Syria. as they seek to associate themselves. He says at verse 9, in chapter
8, associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken
in pieces. And give ear, all ye of far countries, gird yourselves,
and ye shall be broken in pieces. Gird yourselves, and ye shall
be broken in pieces. Take counsel together, and it
shall come to naught, speak the word and it shall not stand for
God is with us or God is there with that little kingdom of Judah
in spite of all these who are associating themselves and seeking
to destroy them God is with us and of course the word there
at the end of verse 10 is really the same word that we have at
the end of verse 8 But at the end of verse 8 it's not being
translated, it just stands, it's a transliteration of the Hebrew
words, Immanuel, God is with us. Now what Judah should therefore
be doing at this time is to trust in the name of the Lord. God
has said he will appear for them, he will help them. But instead
of looking to the Lord, when they see that it is the Assyrians
who are going to overwhelm those kingdoms of Syria and Israel,
they begin to look to the Assyrians. This was their father. How foolish they were. They were
wanting to enter into a confederacy also. as he says there in verse
12 of chapter 8 speaking to Judah, 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 let
him be your fear and let him be your dread and he shall be
for a sanctuary but instead of a sanctuary what is God is a
stone of stumbling or the folio as they looked at these Assyrians
who were going to overthrow their enemies. Eventually the Assyrians
will come and they will approach even Judah, they'll lay siege
to Jerusalem. All these things did come to
pass as we see subsequently. These things happened of course
in the days of that godly king Hezekiah. He says then here by
prophecy, verse 7, Behold the Lord bringeth up upon them the
waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria,
and all his glory. And he shall come up over all
his channels, go over all his banks, and he shall pass through
Judah. He shall overflow and go over,
he shall reach even to the neck, and the stretching out of his
wings shall fill the breadth of thy lands, O Immanuel, or
the folly of those Jews, those in Judah, that they should want
to enter into some sort of confederation with the Assyrians. And how these
things ultimately come to pass, as we see later there, for example
in chapter 37, Verse 33, Therefore thus saith
the Lord concerning the king of Assyria, He shall not come
into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before
it with shields, nor cast a bank against it. By the way that he
came, by the same shall he return, and shall not come into this
city, saith the Lord." This is the word that the Lord gives
as a word of assurance to his servant, that godly king Hezekiah. Though the Assyrians come, yet
God will appear for them. This is something then, in brief
outline as it were, of the situation, the political situation that
pertains in the days when Isaiah is seeking to exercise his ministry
as the Lord's servant, the Lord's prophet. But then, what of the
spiritual significance of these things? Thinking in particular
now of the words that we come to hear in our text. Verse 4, 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 back of the warrior
is with confused noise and garments rolled in blood that this shall
be with burning and fuel of fire God would overthrow those Assyrians,
they wouldn't be successful though Syria might have fallen and Israel
certainly did fall yet Judah would not fall to the Assyrians
as we saw there in chapter 37 but what of the spiritual significance
To whom is the prophet really ministering? Well, remember what
we're told in the New Testament concerning the ministry of the
prophets. We have the language of Peter
there. In his first general epistle
he says, concerning salvation, of which salvation? The prophets.
have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace which
should come unto you, searching what, or what manner of time,
the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, did signify, when it
testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that
should follow." The Lord Jesus Christ is that one who ultimately
is the Spirit of prophecy. And all these prophets therefore
are those that speak of the Lord Jesus Christ himself. And isn't that the case with
regards to these words that we have at the beginning of chapter
9, where he speaks of the lands of Zebulun and of Naphtali. Those regions in the north, round
about the Sea of Galilee, the people that walked in darkness,
it says, have seen great light. They that dwell in the land of
the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined. Now, we
know, we know that these words at the beginning of this ninth
chapter don't just pertain to events in the days when Isaiah
was exercising his ministry. It's a prophecy concerning the
Lord Jesus Christ. It has to do with Christ and
the commencement of his ministry, there at the beginning of the
New Testament Scriptures. In Matthew's Gospel, in Matthew
chapter 4, Christ begins his ministry. Verse
12, When Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he
departed into Galilee. And leaving Nazareth, he came
and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast, in the
borders of Zabulon and Naphtali, that it might be fulfilled which
was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying, The land of Zabulon and
the land of Naphtali, by the way of the sea beyond Jordan,
Galilee of the Gentiles, Galilee of the nations, the people which
sat in darkness saw great light, and to them which sat in the
region and shadow of death, light is sprung up." Ultimately then,
what we have here before us tonight is to be understood in terms
of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And look at the words
that we announce for our text, these three verses. And now,
in a sense here, we have a sort of ascending scale. Each of the
verses begins with the word for. 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 and
then his name there is I say an ascending scale and how this
ascending scale reaches a climax. And where does the climax come?
It comes when we read in verse 6 of the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's the Incarnation. It's the
Incarnation. It's not the first time that
the Prophet has spoken of the coming one, the Messiah. We have
that remarkable statement previously In 7.14, therefore the Lord himself
shall give you a sign, behold a virgin shall conceive and bear
a son and shall call his name Immanuel. Immanuel by interpretation,
God with us as we see it here at the end of verse 10 in the
8th chapter. It all reaches its climax here
then with his reference to the person of the Lord Jesus. And first of all I want to say
something about that, and then secondly, more particularly to
say something about the work of the Lord Jesus that he's spoken
of in verses 4 and 5. Now we have on previous occasions
considered these remarkable words in verse 6, but let me just remind
you of what he's being spoken of here. We see the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ And we see two great truths concerning
this one. He is God's and He is man. He is clearly here set before
us as the eternal Son of God. Unto us a child is born. Unto
us a son is given. Now we mark the difference. It's
an important difference. It's because of a child being
born But it doesn't speak in particular of a son being born. No, the son is given. The son
is given. This is the eternal son, who
takes to himself a human nature. This is that great mystery of
godliness. It is God that was manifest in
the flesh. We're familiar with those words.
John 3.16, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life. God gave His only begotten Son. It was what the persons in the
Godhead had covenanted from all eternity. It was the fulfillment
of God's decree, that Council of the Trinity, when the fullness
of the time was come, God sends forth His Son, made of a woman,
made under the law. But here we think of Him as that
Son who is given the Eternal Son, the Eternal Son of God,
Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and in love. And we know how the Jews understood
what he was saying in the course of his ministry. How they would so often have
destroyed him, stoned him. How they were wanting always
to be rid of him, accusing him of blasphemy. They thought the
more to kill him we're told. because he not only had broken
the Sabbath, but said that God was his Father, making himself
equal with God. There in John 5, it wasn't just
a matter of him performing a miracle on the Sabbath day because of
that great love that he had towards the needy sons of men. They despised him for that, but
he wasn't just a miracle. it was because he had said that
God was his father and saying that God was his father they
understood the implication he was he was equal with God oh
how they make that accusation before Pontius Pilate this is
why he must be condemned to death because he called himself the
son of God he's a blasphemer he's a blasphemer But how important it is that
we embrace that blessed truth concerning Him. He is the Son who is given. He is the
Eternal Son, the Only Begotten Son. Whosoever transgresseth
and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, John says, hath not
God, he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father
and the Son. It seems to my poor mind in a
sense so simple if there is an eternal father there must be
an eternal son and so to deny his eternal sonship is really
to deny the very doctrine of God Father, Son and Holy Spirit
again listen to the language of the Lord Jesus John 6 46 He
says, not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is
of God. He has seen the Father. Oh, He
is of God. Because He is the eternally begotten
Son of God. And this is the one that is being
spoken of. Here in the midst of this passage
in which, as I said, the prophet is addressing a very real situation
there in the kingdom of Judah. They've had Israel and Syria
associating themselves against Judah and then in their folly
they've looked more to the Assyrians who were but the instrument of
God to overthrow that conspiracy. that confederacy and now they
are looking to the Assyrians. But in the midst of all this
we are directed to the Lord Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God
but also He is a real man. Oh, this is the wonder, this
is the mystery. He is one person and yet in that one blessed person
There are two distinct natures. He's God. He's man. And in everything he does, he's
God and he's man. We're not to divide in any sense
the natures. He is but one person. It's a
mystery. It's a mystery. But what a gift
it is that God gives unto us. Says God through the Prophet
unto us. Oh, unto us men, a child is born. Unto us, a son is given. There was never any provision
made for the fallen angels. Not unto the angels. No, it's
unto sinners, men and women of mankind. And so he must be born. And he was born. The Holy Ghost
shall come upon thee, the power of the highest shall overshadow
them. Therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee
shall be called the Son of God. That was the message of the angel,
the messenger of God to Mary, his human mother. She is with child. She is with
child of the Holy Ghost. His child is to be born. And so we see how the angels
come at that birth. What do they say to those shepherds
in the fields? Unto you, that is unto you men,
is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is
Christ the Lord is unto you. All this is the wonder of it. He comes where men are. He comes to mankind in that condition
of sin. That's the wonder of it. The
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. John says, and we beheld
His glory. The glory is of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. He comes to men. He's made a little lower than
the angel. for the sufferings of death. It's because the children
are partakers of flesh and blood that He partakes of the same.
He doesn't take upon Him the nature of the angels. He takes
upon Him the seed of Abraham. Oh, it's a particular people
that He is incarnate for. It's Abraham's seed. And Abraham,
the father of all them that believe, he identifies, you see, with
that people who will come to precious faith, who will come
to trust in him as their Saviour. And he comes just where they
are. He doesn't identify with Adam
and Eve in their state of innocence. No, he comes to man as a sinner. We read of God sending his own
son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. Though he comes in the flesh,
yes, but it's in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. Now he humbles himself. We're not for a moment to imagine
that There is any sin in him, he is preserved from all sin
by the miracle of his birth, the virgin birth. And yet he
comes to identify with the sinner. What a humiliation! He was in
the form of God, he thought he did not properly to be equal
with God, but he made himself of no reputation. He took upon
him the form of a servant, he was made in the likeness of man.
And being found in fashion as a man, Paul says, he humbles
himself and becomes obedient unto death, even the death of
the cross. He who knew no sin, Paul says,
made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Or the humiliation then of the
eternal Son of God. that he should be born a child
that he should identify with men and identify with man as
a sinner and stand in the sinner's place and become subject to the law
for that sin and answer the law in all its in all its terrible
punishments bearing all that dreadful penalty of the broken
law of God and yet not only that but also as he stands as the
surety of his people answering the law in respect to all its
commandments, all its precepts he's obedient and he's obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross well that really brings me to
Our second point tonight, we have the person, the person of
the Lord Jesus Christ, spoken of in these remarkable words,
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. But turning now to think more
particularly of that work. Our salvation, you see, it's
in these two things. It's in the person of the Lord
Jesus Christ and it's in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That is the doctrine of salvation. It's the person but also the
work. And I want us now to consider
that work in particular. And it's spoken of, really, in
the previous verses. His work on the cross. But not
only his work on the cross in the accomplishment of salvation,
but his work also with regards to the application of that salvation
in the conversion of sinners. 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 these shall
be with burning and fuel of fire." What a conflict is being expounded
in these words that are said before us. Now consider then
his work, his work on the cross. His work in the conversion of
sinners, the salvation of sinners. We read here, in verse 6, that
the government shall be upon his shoulder. The government
shall be upon his shoulder. Interestingly, that great Puritan
exegete in his commentary, Matthew Poole, says here there is an
allusion to the cross, which was laid upon his shoulder. This
is the way to His Kingdom. The government shall be upon
His shoulder. How does He come to reign? It
is by that work that He accomplishes in His death upon the cross,
His obedience. His obedience unto death. Or
we read of Him, do we not? He bearing His cross went forth
into a place called Golgotha. How we need to meditate upon
that precious truth when we see the Lord Jesus Christ there.
We sometimes sing that lovely hymn, 950, an Inghamites hymn. Benjamin Ingham, of course, was
one of the Calvinistic Methodists in the 18th century and there
were a group of churches there in Yorkshire and Lancashire that
were much influenced by his ministry, the Inghamites. And these two,
Aaron and Batten, were Inghamite ministers. What objects this
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
the cross of massive wood, whose souls all wound in pains of death
and body bathed in blood? Is this the man? Can this be
he the prophets have foretold? Should we transgress as numbered
be? and for their crimes be sought. Yes, now I know, tis I, tis I,
tis Jesus, God's dear Son, wrapped in humanity to die for crimes
that I had done." Oh what, what a commentary there in that hymn
950 upon these words that we have before us tonight. The government
is upon his shoulder. as he bears that cross of Masiwux,
as he goes to that place called Golgotha, the Skull, as there
he's going to lay down his life in order to redeem his people. This is how he enters into his
kingdom, into his government. Ought not Christ to have suffered
these things, and entered into his glory the words of the Lord
Jesus himself to those two on the road to Emmaus this is how
Christ enters into his glory it is by that remarkable death
that he dies upon the cross and here you see in the previous
verses What is indicated to us is something of the intensity
of those sufferings, that awful conflict, that spiritual conflict.
Every battle of the warrior is with confused noise and garments
rolled in blood. Ah, but this shall be with burning
and fuel of fire, or there he will taste the very wrath of
God. there he will suffer the penalty of the sins of his people. You know, when God deals with us as sinners,
when God comes and as a Father corrects us and chastens us,
there's nothing of pen or wrath in any of that. There's nothing
of wrath in any of God's dealings with his children, because the
Lord Jesus Christ is the one who has borne all that wrath.
When God comes to deal with us in the way of correction, it
is a manifestation of his tender love, his kind compassion, delivering
us, weaning us from our sins. But here we see something of
the very real sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what spiritual
anguish there was in his soul, or he made his soul an offering
for sin. The reality of that human nature
you see, not just a human body, a human soul. He made his soul
an offering for sin. And what do we see when we read
so many of the Psalms? We have the veil drawn aside
and we're looking into the soul of the Lord Jesus. There upon
the cross, Psalm 22, that dreadful, that cry of dereliction, he feels
utterly deserted. My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? Oh, what a mystery. What a mystery. Could he be forsaken of God?
Could there be division between the persons in the Godhead? God
is one. Oh yes, God is three. Three distinct
persons, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit,
but not three gods, God is one, undivided, indivisible. That's the mystery. When the
Lord Jesus Christ, He says, My God, My God, it's still the language
of appropriation, He still calls upon God as His God, His Father,
and yet He feels something. It's his soul being made an offering
for sin. It's a spiritual conflict that
the Lord is engaged in and his people are engaged in a spiritual
conflict. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, says Paul, but against principalities, against powers,
against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
wickedness in high places. Yes, the context here, historically,
is speaking of the nations, the kingdoms, the
Syrians, the kingdom of Israel, the Assyrians, the little kingdom
of Judah. But we have to see more than
that, we have to see that spiritual conflict. Again Paul says the
weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty through God
to the pulling down of strongholds. It's a spiritual conflict that
is really being spoken of and if God's people are involved
in a spiritual conflict why is that the case? It's because our
followers of him who knew a terrible spiritual conflict when he came
to vanquish sin and Satan It's interesting here, in verse 4,
we have this reference to the day of Midian. Thou hast broken
the yoke of his burden, the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his
oppressor, as in the day of Midian. What is the day of Midian? Well,
are we not taken back there to the days of the judges? And to
that judge, that Savior that was raised up, Gideon and there we read of Gideon in
Judges chapter 6 and 7 and remember what God did with Gideon how
his army was so reduced before he obtained the victory over
the Midianites how his army is reduced and reduced and in the
end it's just 300 men 300 men set against the thousands
of Midian. And what does God say? Why has
God reduced His army? Because it must be seen that
it is God's victory and not Gideon's victory. It's not the victory
of the children of Israel themselves, it's God's. Judges 7 verse 2,
Lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own
hand hath saved me. Oh, we must see that His salvation
is all together of the Lord. It's nothing of us. It's all
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's what He has done. As in the defeat of those Midianites,
as in the defeat of the Assyrians when they did come and they laid
siege to Jerusalem in the days of King Hezekiah there, in the
later chapters, in chapter 36 and the following chapters what
a remarkable deliverance! God gave the victory and so too
in the defeat of sin and of Satan. It is the Lord's work that is
being spoken of. It is the Lord's work and it
is the Lord's work alone. What do we read here? In verse
4, 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. Don't we see here another aspect
of that great work of the Lord Jesus? It's not just the accomplishment.
of salvation by that work that he does upon the cross when he
dies, the just for the unjust, when he makes his soul the offering
for sin, when he suffers in his own soul all that wrath of God
against the sins of his people. It's not just the accomplishment,
there's also the application of that work. And what do we
have here? We read of burdens, We read of oppression. And what
are these things? Oh, not to think here in terms
of sin, of the law. We have the yoke, the staff,
the rods. Luther says here concerning these
things that these are the deadly enemies that rule over the people
of God when they're under the law of God. They are under the
law of God. That's the state of all men by
nature. We know that whatever the law
said, it said to them who are under the law that every mouth
may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. The
natural man is under the law. The law is not made for a righteous
man. No, that law is made for the lawless, the unbeliever,
for sinners, rebels against God. And Paul there in 1 Timothy speaks
of the lawful use of the law. It's meant to show a man what
he is, where he is. It's a ministration of condemnation,
it's a ministration of death. But here we have one, you see,
who breaks the yoke of his burden and the staff of his shoulder
and the rod of his oppressor. Oh, this is a great work that
the Lord does Himself in the souls of His people. Oh, that
Lord is a terrible taskmaster. The strength of sin, we're told,
is the law It's that ministration of condemnation, it's that ministration
of death. But what has the Lord Jesus Christ
done? He has come and He has disarmed the law. He has satisfied
the justice of God. Look how He is spoken of again
in the following chapter. That remarkable verse. Chapter 10 verse 27, it shall
come to pass in that day. Now there's a clue to what's
being spoken of, that day. What is that day? It's the last
day, it's the gospel day. It's the day of grace. It's the
day in which we're living. It shall come to pass in that
day. That his burden shall be taken away from off thy shoulder,
and his yoke from off thy neck, And the old shall be destroyed
because of the anointing. Again, what a clue is there in
those last words, because of the anointing. Who is the anointed
one? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the Gospel day. It's the
work of the Lord Jesus that is being spoken of here in chapter
10, 27. In that day, it comes to pass that his burden shall be taken
away from off thy shoulder, his yoke from off thy neck, the yoke
shall be destroyed. It's the Lord Jesus Christ delivering
his people from all the condemnation of the law, all the power of
the law of God. It's the Lord Jesus coming to
liberate his people. This is the great work that he
has done. He has disarmed the law. And how has he done this? Always accompanied such a great
salvation. all that spiritual conflict that
is engaged in spoken of here in verse 5 how Christ has redeemed
us Paul says from the curse of the Lord being made a curse for
us for it is written cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree
and that's the Lord Jesus the person of the Lord Jesus the work of the Lord Jesus Christ
these two great truths stand before us here in our text tonight
and there's a mystery in all of this it's the humiliation
of the Lord Jesus humbled in his person humbled in that great
work that he has done he was in the form of God he thought
it not robbery to be equal with God And yet he makes himself
of no reputation, takes upon him the form of a servant. For
he does that, does he not, in the eternal covenant he becomes
God's servant even then? Behold my servant whom I uphold,
my delect in whom my soul delighteth. He takes upon him the form of
a servant, he's made in the likeness of men. And then found in fashion
as a man, why he humbles himself He humbles himself, becomes subject
to the law, honours, magnifies that law. He's obedient, obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. Or what do we see
here as the consequence of this great salvation that is in Christ
Jesus, his deliverance. The believer you see no more
under the yoke of that law. No, there's liberty now. He is
subject not to the law, he is subject now to Christ and all
those holy precepts of the gospel. He's not lawless. He's called
to a life of holiness. These are the things that we
contend for. We contend for deliverance, deliverance from the curse of
the law, deliverance from the power of the law, and yet deliverance
into the Lord Jesus Christ and that desire to walk in obedience
to all His holy commandments, to do the thing that is pleasing
to Him, to live to His honour and His glory, who has done it
all. He's done it all. 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. Oh, it's a more glorious work
than that that God wrought in the day of Gideon against the
Midianites. 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. Oh, it was an awful, spiritual,
conflict that the Lord engaged it. For unto us a child is born,
unto us a son is given. Here is the Deliverer. The government
shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. O God grant that we might know
him that we might be those who delight in him, delighting in
all that the Scriptures declare concerning his person and his
work. O Lord, may it please the Lord
indeed to bless to us his truth tonight. Amen.