Unto us, Isaiah 9:6

I'd like to read with you Isaiah's prophecy, please, in chapter 9. Isaiah in chapter 9. Verse number 1, Isaiah 9, verse number 1. Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as intervexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea beyond Jordan and Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell on the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

Now just over to verse 19, the end of the chapter, through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel fire. No man shall spare his brother. He shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry.

He shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied. They shall eat every man, the flesh of his own arm. Manasseh, Ephraim, Ephraim, Manasseh, and they together shall be against Judah.

For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still. Now in the midst of that, just come to verse number 6, Isaiah 9, verse number 6. For unto us, in other words, above all these conflicting scenes and battles that are going on with the Assyrians about to overrun the nation, the northern kingdom definitely is going to fall, and Judah not far behind. Isaiah sees a glimmer of light, as he does in chapter 6. But in chapter 9, verse 6, for unto us a child is born.

Unto us a son is given. The government shall be upon his shoulder. His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.

Now over to please to a final reading of Luke chapter 2, Luke's Gospel chapter 2. Luke chapter 2 and verse 10, almost a similar scene if you like, but a scene of tranquility. But the same is going to take place, and we're going to have a quotation almost from Isaiah chapter 9. Verse 10, and the angel said unto them, fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. Okay? The angel says unto them, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you, unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be the sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of heavenly hosts praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace. That's what was lacking in Isaiah chapter 9. Peace, goodwill toward men. Now, I know this is a very similar quotation, but we miss much if we miss one word.

Isaiah chapter 9 is for unto us. Unto us. The angels can't really say that in Luke chapter 2. They say unto you.

Unto you. The difference would be this. The angel is kind of occupies a role, the role if you like, of an interested spectator.

Sees what's taking place, but realizing that they have little part in that. Isaiah sees it differently. Isaiah, in other words, the prophet occupied the role of a most grateful benefactor, and he says unto us, not just unto you.

If he said unto you, it would have to almost be limited to the nation. But he doesn't. He goes beyond that.

So we can take that language this morning to understand that unto us, unto us has been born a Savior, and so on. Now, I'm just going to look at this just for, to share the time, of course, here this morning. Just these two expressions that are used.

Angels could never know him as father, okay? Their knowledge of him and divine persons, and I'm not minimizing or discounting that, but they could never know him as father. I think we should appreciate something that we take for granted at times, brethren and sisters, that he's our father. He's a father.

And if children are before the foundation of the world, it's necessary that they have a father before the foundation of the world. And he is that father. So in Isaiah chapter 6, Isaiah is writing amidst battles in a very, very dark background, if you like, when that Syrian king, Ben-Hadad, that was literally a threat to the nation as long as he lived, and would overrun different parts of the country.

Go back to 1 Kings chapter 15 and read about it. And it become a melting pot for Jews and Gentiles together. It was a mixture of Judaism and paganism that became a dominant religion.

And that was what came in. That was always the concern of God, is that that heathen influence with their gods would permeate his people to the point where it would turn them away from him. So whether you're looking at Isaiah chapter 9 and in chapter, rather in chapter 6, Isaiah's got his eyes likely on a wrong king.

It was in the year that King Uzziah died. Uzziah was the man that brought everything to the nation as far as power, prestige, and motivation. He's a tremendous gifted statesman and orator.

But he died. It took the death of that man to get his eyes focused on the ultimate king, the Lord himself. Then he pictures himself, of course, as being the leper that we are well aware of.

So he saw the place in spiritual darkness. Doesn't it remind us somewhat of our day today? As we gather this morning, we will rejoice that he did a man become. That God became manifest in the flesh.

And that we know him this morning, not only as a Savior, that's what we first knew him as, brother, a Savior. But we've known him as a shepherd as he carries us along. We know him as the great high priest.

We know him as the coming king. But in the meantime, there's something very affectionate when we can address God as our Father. Just a side note that this is only coming to my mind while I'm here.

I'm a little reserved on some addressing and prayer that I hear lately as Jesus. And there's no mention of Lord. And there's less mention of Father.

When the Lord Jesus would pray any type of a pattern that he left us, he would address him as Father. Our Father in heaven. That's a wonderful privilege and a great honor.

So that mighty Assyrian army was ready to march south. And it didn't matter whether it was the southern kingdom, when the northern kingdom is going to fall first, of course, and even the southern kingdom. And when all is going to take place, they had to realize what this prophet realized.

Instead of getting your eyes on that, here's someone that God has promised. And so we have the beautiful words of the prophet for unto us. A child, not a son.

Unto us a child is born. A son is given. 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. So let's just think of that for a few minutes, if you would, just in my part of this meeting this morning. The child is born, a picture of absolute dependence.

Yet at the same time, Almighty God, not less because of his incarnation, of his coming into the world, becoming man, but simply a manifestation of God himself. He that hath seen me hath seen, said the Lord Jesus, the Father. So the long-awaited seed of the woman would be born of the one we know to be the Virgin Mary.

But it's interesting the way that Matthew and Luke introduce them. Now I know your Christmas cards is going to run cross-grain to them. They put the two together, you know, they've got the shepherds abiding in the fields and announcing and then they put Matthew and Luke chapter 2 together.

But remember, he's not called the babe of Matthew's gospel, he's called the young child. I think five times, young child. I would suggest to you, there's likely about two years difference.

He's likely close to two years of age when we're looking at it in Matthew's gospel versus what we have in Luke's gospel where we have read here today in chapter 2. However, having said that, it's interesting she would wrap him, Luke says, in swaddling clothes. Remember that Job reminds us that he had created the earth, that he had wrapped it in swaddling clothes. How about his preservation? It needed the salt, but he didn't.

Remember when the Lord speaks to Ezekiel, don't call me on the chapter just now, he speaks of the nation as having wanted to wrap it in swaddling clothes. He says, I would have. What I would have done, I would have salted them.

And they needed preservation. But I want to tell you, the one wrapped in swaddling clothes here needed nothing to preserve him. He was what he was eternally, the Son of God.

God manifests in flesh. So is a child born, it's a son that is given. Picture of absolute deity, if you like.

The ancient of days, the self-existing one. This is the son that is given. And of course, that's the way that John introduces him as being born of the Holy Spirit.

Well, the son was not born, the son was given. The child is born, the son is given. The government, he says, shall be upon his shoulder.

Poor Adam, he tried his best, I think he did, but he couldn't hold it. He couldn't sustain it. He failed.

And we can go right down through the time and right down to even those in the Bible, no other same thing. Human government is put on his shoulders. Too much for him.

On both shoulders. But this one, this son that is given, this child that is born, this one that the government shall be upon his shoulder, singular. The book of the Judges, what is his name? The wonder of his name is the wonder of his person.

And so we bow and we worship as we think of that one this morning. He says, wonderful counselor. Not a problem that he can't solve.

And of course, we know that we can separate those two, wonderful and the truth of being the counselor. Wonderful is a noun, it is not an adjective here. So it's not describing the counselor, it's just telling me he's wonderful.

We sing that in our hymn. And it causes worship from our hearts, brethren and sisters, when we realize how wonderful he is. With the God that would grip our hearts this morning.

It would give us an unforgettable time of remembering him as we gather to do such in this building in less than an hour. I'm not sure all, whenever I'm in high school, like this same as our high school back home, it's a large one. I've been in some fairly large high schools and I know some fairly prominent people, including the governors up here, be governor of your state or whoever.

But back our way, it would be, you know, the local politicians. They meet for this, they meet for that. And some pretty popular actors and actresses have had shows at our high school.

Packed the place out, couldn't get them in the auditorium. But that's not the most important thing that ever took place in our high schools. It's not the most important thing that took place in this Logan High School.

The most important thing as far as I am concerned, and likely you too, is what we're going to do this morning. God will look down over his creation and spotted and dotted on this planet are these little companies. Some have already done it away to the east.

Gathered, gathered just as a little company. I'm not into the numbers game, brethren. You'll seldom, I don't think you'll ever hear me using the expression, the larger the largest assembly.

I don't use that type of language. I know one man that did. Within two years, that assembly was half its size.

Brother wrote me one time, he said, so you went to that conference? He said, man, there wouldn't be. I said, listen, I'm not into counting numbers. Know what I'm interested in? Numbers that count.

There's a vast difference. Numbers that count. Let us be among the numbers that count.

And whether it was those that would welcome the Christ, those that would later gather to his precious name. Against what we know today to be Christendom in all of its size. Really, we're pretty small.

Pretty small. I have a good friend of mine on the, back home on Prince Edward Island. I just want to get myself away here.

When she goes to visit her sister and her brother-in-law, he wants her to take her, used to be in the assembly, to see their megachurch. And she says, before we leave the house, Murray, I'm not interested in this megachurch. But I go along, she says to keep peace.

And really, she says, when I come home, I'm frustrated. I've got to look at this massive building, and this is where 3,000 people at times meet, and so on, and so on. She says, it doesn't appeal to me at all.

She says, let me get back to that little company. The Lord Jesus called them a little flock, so precious to him. And let me there gather with those that gather to his name.

What an honor and what a privilege. So, wonderful, and then he calls her, the mighty God. Wonderful counselor, his prudence.

Mighty God, his power. Everlasting Father. When we think of a father, we think of pity.

Prince of Peace, his peace. So, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, no person that he cannot subdue. And we bless God for such a person this morning, and we can praise him and thank God that he wasn't born for the sake of the nation, okay? We're not like the angels.

They could never sing redemption story. They'd have to say, unto you, unto you. But we join in worship this morning and bless God that we with the great prophet Isaiah can say, unto us.

A child is born, and a son is given, and so on. Thank God this morning for such a person.