‘For unto us a child is born …’

One of the more popular Christmas verses of the Bible is Isaiah 9:6, the verse popularized by George Frideric Handel in the 12th movement of his oratorio, “Messiah:” “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.”

In recent years, however, is my own personal discovery that this verse speaks more of the reign of the Messiah than of his birth, a discovery no doubt in part due to a lack of biblical exposition on the passage because of a tendency to focus on the tradition surrounding his birth. it is a discovery that also underscores the importance of personal bible study. II Timothy 2:15 says, “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

The plain and simple truth is that if you know how to read, you are responsible before God to know what the Bible says, and what it means. When you stand before God, you will wish you had read your bible more. You will wish you had a better answer to give than just “I don’t know.”

In regard to Isaiah 9:6, then, one of the first things we need to know is that God had more than one purpose in mind for his Messiah. While today we see Jesus as the Messiah who came to save us from our sins through his substitutionary death, the Jews of Jesus’ day wholly missed that. Instead, they were looking for that Messiah who would break the yoke of national bondage and lead them as a nation to their promised place of world prominence.

These sentiments are expressed by Jesus’ own disciples in passages such as Luke 24:21 on the road to Emmaus: but we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. You see, the Jews back then, as well as those who are Orthodox of today, had passages such as Isaiah 9:6 clearly in view, and to these, Jesus did not fit — at least not yet.

The trouble with this view, however, is that the cart is ahead of the horse. For the Messiah to come and deal with their national problem before dealing with their sin problem is to effectively leave them in their lost estate. It is to ignore the message of their entire sacrificial system. Hence, Jesus rebuked his own disciples in verse 26 with the words, “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?”

Thus, it behooved Christ to deal with man’s sin problem before dealing with Israel’s national problem, and this he did. Yet, let us not lose sight that the Messiah still has a promise to keep in regard to his people, Israel. And while it is nice to take Isaiah 9:6 and tie it to Jesus’ first advent, to do so really subtracts from its true intention, the second advent.

Consider what the verse has to say.

First, it says, “unto us a child is born.” In John 3:16, God is very clear as to the object of the first advent in that he says, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.” But in Isaiah the world is not in view, only Israel from verse one. Hence, this son is given for a specific people and a specific time, regardless if that time is yet future.

Second, it says, “and the government shall be upon his shoulder.” The implication here is not that of an oppressive government that lays a cross upon his shoulder, but that he is the government. Just as military rank is carried upon shoulders, even so Jesus will come again, only this time to rule the earth. He came the first time as a lamb to take away the sins of the world, but the next, he will come as a lion, executing God’s judgment on a Christ rejecting world.

Last, it says, “and his name shall be called …” Following this phrase the prophet gives us five names that fully describe our Christ. While each is significant, and that there are five is not to be overlooked, the very middle name — The mighty God — is the most significant. The Hebrew word for “mighty” here is “ghib-bore,” meaning powerful. It is the same word translated mighty in Psalm 45:3, itself a very significant passage in relation to Christ’s second advent.

The real jewel, however, is what this word implies: a warrior and a tyrant.

My friend, some day Jesus will return to this earth to redeem his people Israel. When he does, he will conquer as a warrior (Is. 9:5 & Rev. 19:11-21), treading out the winepress of the wrath of God (Rev. 14:19). He will then rule the earth as a tyrant so that peace may prevail (Is. 9:10 & Ps. 2:6-12).

In our zeal for his first advent, let us not lose sight of the next.

Ron Hamman is pastor for Independent Baptist Church of Wasilla. Contact him at 357-4229.