Unto Us a Son is Given

So good to be with you all again today. And I do want to thank Pastor Keith for his graciousness in having me back in the pulpit. It's very kind of you, sir. And Meryl and I would like to take this opportunity of publicly just thanking, I mean, congratulating you and Lisa on the receipt of your PhD degree. And we give God Thanks for the wisdom he gave you and also for the dedication. It's a lot of hard work that most of us here today wouldn't want to give ourselves to. And I do appreciate the opportunity to bring to you once again the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and especially at this Christmas season. And we will be continuing the exposition of chapter 9, verse 6 of Isaiah this evening, and I do hope that many of you will be able to attend that service as well. So please stand with me as we read from God's Word. from the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 8 and we begin at verse 16 and we go through to chapter 9 and verse 7. Isaiah chapter 8 and verse 16. I'm reading from the New King James Version. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples and I will wait on the Lord who hides his face from the house of Jacob. and I will hope in him. Here am I and the children whom the Lord has given me. We are for signs and wonders in Israel from the Lord of hosts who dwells in Mount Zion. And when they say to you, Seek those who are mediums and wizards who whisper and mutter, should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living? to the law and to the testimony. If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light in them. They will pass through it hard-pressed and hungry, and it shall happen when they are hungry that they will be enraged, and curse their king and their God, and look upward. Meaning, they will look up and curse their king and their God. Then they will look to the earth and see trouble and darkness, gloom of anguish, and they will be driven into darkness. Nevertheless, the gloom will not be upon her who is distressed, as when at first he lightly esteemed the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward more heavily oppressed her, by way of the sea beyond the Jordan in Galilee of the Gentiles. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. For you have 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 worrier's sandal or boot from the noisy battle and garments rolled in blood will be used for burning and fuel for fire. For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. Upon the throne of David and over his kingdom to order it and to establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. So far, the Word of God reads, The Lord blessed to our understanding by His Holy Spirit. Please be seated. The Christmas season is upon us again, and it's important for us to remind ourselves of its true spiritual significance. For although it is the most popular of our holidays, the wonder of its real meaning is steadily being eroded by the tendency to secularize it. And I'm not referring entirely and solely to the proliferation of centers and reindeers and snowmen, although that is a sorry part of our decorations. What concerns me most is that the spiritual values of the incarnation, the moral power of the incarnation, is giving way to crass consumerism. Christmas has become the ultimate holiday of the hedonist. Drunken parties, madcap spending, obscene gluttony all characterize the way that much of the world celebrates Christmas. How can we rationalize the self-indulgent excess by calling it a celebration of Christ's birth? He whose cradle was simply an animal's feeding trough. Now, please don't misunderstand me. I'm not suggesting that Christmas should just be a solemn, somber, religious observance, utterly devoid of joy and cheer. On the contrary, Christmas should be a time of joy and thanksgiving, based on the fact that the one whose birth we celebrate is the saviour of the world and the giver of eternal life. Now, one of the clearest prophecies of his birth was predicted 700 years before the event. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the prophet Isaiah gives an amazingly accurate picture of the Saviour's coming to the world. He foretold that it would be a miraculous event, such as the world had never before seen. He says in chapter 7 verse 14, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. The Hebrew name Immanuel of course means God with us. It's a promise that God himself is going to come among us as a little baby and deliver mankind from the curse of sin. And here in chapter 9, verse 6, the prophecy is reiterated but further amplified. I want us to look at it together. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon his shoulder, and his name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince, of peace. As I've already intimated this morning, we want to confine ourselves to the opening statement, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the first thing I want you to notice is that the gospel is a message of hope. And this is brought to our attention by the use of the adversative at the beginning of chapter 9. the King James Version and the New International Version, it is the word nevertheless. In the English Standard Version, it is the word but. And that's why I read from chapter 8 and verse 16 onwards, because we can't appreciate the contrast that is laid out for us in chapter 9 without the background of chapter 8. Verse 17 of chapter 8 tells us that this child is going to be born in a day when God hides his face from his people, the house of Jacob. Verse 21, Isaiah says that the people will be greatly distressed, hard pressed. Verse 22, they will look to the earth and see only trouble and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be driven into thick darkness, of course, spiritual darkness. But, chapter 9, verse 1, there will be no more gloom for the distressed. That is how the gospel is always announced, isn't it? It comes with this glorious adversative. Here is the world. It's full of trouble. and anguish and gloom, and suddenly Isaiah breaks in with this marvelous announcement, but there will be no more gloom for those who are in distress. That's the gospel. And it's important that we remember this, not only at Christmas time, but all through the year. Carols are not meant to be sung only in December, but throughout the year whenever we are speaking on Christ's glorious incarnation. God intervened in our situation to give us hope. The world is groping in darkness and distress, but man's extremity is God's opportunity. Chapter 9, verse 2. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Oh, they didn't produce it. It suddenly shined upon them from heaven above. God intervened when we were helpless and didn't deserve it. It's wonderful. The gospel is a message of hope, I say. And if you and I are not thrilled with the significance of this mighty adversative, but, then we are very poor Christians indeed, if we are Christians at all. And then secondly, consider what the hope of the gospel is. In verses 2 to 5, Isaiah uses two pictures to bring home the desperate need of the entire human race and what God has done to save us from the curse of our sin. And the first picture is a picture of men and women walking in darkness, spiritual darkness. And when we are surrounded by darkness, we grow. We are helpless. We don't know where to go. We feel utterly lost. And this, of course, is a favorite description of man's spiritual condition in the Bible. He suffers from spiritual blindness, from the darkness of spiritual ignorance. And this ignorance of where and how to find God always leads to the spiritual distress and hunger and anguish and gloom mentioned in chapter 8 and verses 21 to 22. In chapter 9, verse 2, the people are described as those who dwell or live in the land of the shadow of death. And that word shadow, the same word that appears in Psalm 23, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, that word shadow literally means deep darkness. And that is what is so appalling about life on earth because of the curse of sin. This is not some temporary experience of spiritual darkness, like a power outage that goes into effect at night and throws the entire household in darkness, and then an hour or two later the lights come back on again. No, this is a gloom of anguish that gets thicker and deeper, the impenetrable gloom of an endless night, which is like the shadow of death, the darkness of death hanging over us. And of course, the hopelessness and misery of this darkness is such that people become desperate. And they show their desperation in the irrational things that they do. Things like consulting mediums and spiritists. Chapter 18, verse 19. When men tell you to consult medians and spiritists who whisper and mutter, should not a people seek their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living? And the answer of Isaiah is absolutely not. They must turn, verse 20, to the law and to the testimony of God. And if they, the people that we are looking to for help, do not speak according to this word, the scriptures, Isaiah goes on, it is because they have no light in them. Literally, no dawn in them. Now, that is what people always do when they turn away from God. They become so desperate that eventually they turn to the dead and to spiritists. To find out, is there a better life beyond the gloom and the anguish of this present life? I must ask my wife who has gone before me. She'll know. And because the living on earth can't help them, they turn to this unseen world of the occult that is pervaded not by the spirits of our loved ones, but by evil spirits. And they go to that to find relief from their spiritual darkness and distress. Well, it was a world just like this that our blessed Lord and Saviour entered. Roman oppression, spiritual blindness and ignorance abounded. It was a world in a hopeless and a lost and a miserable condition. But upon these people, says Isaiah, a great light has shined. There they are, stumbling and groping in the darkness, not knowing where to turn, and suddenly, A heavenly light bursts upon them to show them the way to God. For God has not left his people to grope hopelessly in the spiritual darkness. God has broken into our situation. The light of the world has dawned. God has shown at last the way to himself. God has given us a clear hope. for the future. He has not abandoned us to the gloom, the deep darkness of the grave. He has opened to us the very door to heaven. Christ said, I am the door. By me, if any man enters, he will be saved. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a light has shined. Well, that's the first picture Isaiah gives us of what God has done to help His people, to deliver His people in their predicament. He has given us Christ, the light of the world. And He came into this earthly scene as a little baby. Now, the second picture he gives is just as graphic. It's the picture of those who are defeated and under the power of a terrible enemy, but to whom God now brings deliverance. Look at verses 4 to 5. For you have broken the yoke of their burden and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, as in the day of Midian. for every warrior's boot in the tumult of battle and every garment rolled in blood will be burned as fuel for the fire." What does he mean? Well, the mention of the Day of Midian obviously takes us back in history to that great moment when Gideon and his A little band of 300 men surrounded the camp of the Midianites consisting of tens of thousands The Midianites, you remember, had conquered Israel and they had suppressed them. They had brought them to a state of beggary and near starvation. But Gideon and his chosen men, with their cry, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, put all the host of Midian to flight. That's the picture that Isaiah is using here. He portrays a world that is gripped by a tyranny far worse than the Midian oppressor, or the Roman oppressor, or any other kind of oppressor. For the world's greatest oppressor is the devil, the evil one. But there is hope. God will send a deliverer greater than Gideon, and when he comes, he will put our enemies to flight. He will burn every soldier or warrior's boot, and every garment rolled in blood. There will be no more war, for the victory will be Christ's. and of his peace there will be no end. That's the hope of the gospel. The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light. Those living in the land of the deep darkness of death, upon them a light has shined. That brings us now to the question, how is this hope to be realized? Who is this deliverer? What is he like? And Isaiah bursts into song as he replies in verse 6, unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given. A child is going to be born among the Jewish people who will be the savior of the world. But he's not going to be an ordinary child. Yes, he's going to be child, but an extraordinary child. Unto us a son is given. Not God, but given. For he's not any son of ours, but God's son. The son here is the same son who is spoken of in Psalm 2, when God the Father says, you are my son, ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance. And where God goes on in Psalm 2 to warn the world, kiss the son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way, blessed are those who trust in him. He is the same Son, friends, described at the beginning of John's Gospel, who is the true light which lights every man coming into the world. The one whom John calls the Word, who was in the beginning with God, and who was God, who is the creator and the sustainer of this world. This Word, says John in verse 14, became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory. Listen, glory as of the only Son from the Father. He has made Him, the Father, known. It's incredible, I know. In my mind, it's the supreme miracle, the crowning wonder of Scripture. The child born of the Virgin Mary is God Almighty, the Creator of the entire universe. And we can only vaguely understand it. God acted in sovereign power to ensure that while this one was to come as a child with a full humanity, yet there was to be something very different about him to any other child who had been born since the creation of Adam and Eve. while he was going to be born into this world by means of a normal birth. The process of birth that brings him into the world is going to be no different than the process of birth by which any other child comes into this world. But his conception is going to be miraculous. He is going to be given to us by God. He would not have a human father. In him, the tainted stream of our fallen, sinful humanity is finally going to be checked. The child was going to be born a man, but a man utterly free from sin and divine. Again, this mighty deliverer will not come with a fanfare of glory upon the clouds of heaven, but as a little baby who is born to a virgin and a peasant as such. Low within a manger lies he who built the starry skies. Friends, this is the graciousness of God Almighty stooping into our human situation to deliver us from our sins. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. He's the child of Mary. Ah, but he's the Son of God. He is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh, but conceived by the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb without sin. And He is given to us by the free mercy and grace and love of God Himself, who is the great giver of all things in this world, who gives us our very life, the breath that you and I breathe, The food we eat, everything we enjoy in this world comes from the lavish bounty of our Father in heaven. But this is his supreme gift. It's what Paul calls His unspeakable gift. Thanks be to God, He says, for His unspeakable gift. It's so wonderful, we can't find words to express its greatness. And of course, He's been given to us not for show, but for our benefit. The repetition of the words unto us underline the fact that God did this for us men and for our salvation, but not for the fallen angels. The message of Christmas then is that God sent him to be our life giver. The giver of eternal life to humankind. who are perishing in their sins. For although we live in the land of the shadow of death, John says God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God also gave him to be our light bearer for Jesus said I am the light of the world if any man follows me He will not walk in darkness, but have the light of life. But above all, friends, God gave him to you and to me as our sin-bearer, the one who came to give his life a ransom for many and shed his blood on Calvary's cross for the remission of sins. God gave him to endure all the suffering, all the judgment, all the punishment, all the God-forsakenness that your sin and mine deserved. For this is the child who was born. This is the Son who was given, concerning whom the angels sang, unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord. Well, that brings me to the final thing that I would like to leave with you. Our unworthiness of this gracious gift. There is amazement, surely, in Isaiah's heart as he writes. And to us, human beings, wretched, pitiable, miserable, sinful human beings like us, what right have we to expect such a gift from God? Why should God have made such a sacrifice to meet our needs. We are utterly unworthy because as sinners we have turned our back upon our gracious Creator. Just think of it. What have you and I done with the life that God has so graciously given to every one of us? We've squandered it upon ourselves. We've gone our own way. He's given us talents to use for His glory, and we have taken them, and we have used them to our own advantage. We have no right to expect anything more from this gracious, bountiful Creator. And yet, wonder of wonders, the Bible says, God spared not His Son, but gave Him up for us all freely. to save us from damnation. Oh, remember what the angel said to Joseph. Do not be afraid to take to you Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. And she will bring forth a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Oh, think of poor old Simeon. who had waited so long to see the Messiah. God had revealed to him, the scripture says, that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And now at last, he sees the baby with his parents in the temple and he takes the child in his arms and he says, looking up to God, I am ready to die. Let your servant depart in peace according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, a light to the Gentiles." Or take the Apostle Paul as he writes to the Romans in chapter 5 and he says, God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It was not because of any part on ourselves to better ourselves that God gave this gift. It was a free, undeserved gift, motivated solely by unsolicited love. That's the gospel. And when a Christian reflects upon it, he cannot help but sing with Charles Wesley And can it be that I should gain an interest in the Saviour's blood? Died He for me who caused His pain, for me who Him to death pursued? Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Here is amazement in this exclamation of Isaiah. But there is also a sense of exaltation and joy. It is an outburst of praise, as verse 3 indicates. It's as if the prophet Isaiah is being lifted right out of himself with this good news. For in this child God has given us a wonderful Savior and a mighty deliverance. He has done something to make our hearts rejoice. Listen to how Isaiah describes the joy of God's people at their salvation. Verse 3, you have multiplied the nation and increased its joy. It's a pity that the old King James Version reads incorrectly, Thou hast multiplied the nation and not increased their joy. There shouldn't be a not there. For the joy of God's people is not only the joy of an increase in their numbers. The church is going to become a multitude no man can number. But it is also the joy of an increase in their blessings. Who can count all the blessings of God that are ours in Jesus Christ? You have multiplied the nation and increased its joy. They rejoice before you according to the joy of harvest, as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. Now, those were the two greatest moments of joy in the life of any ancient agricultural people. The joy of harvest time and the joy of dividing the spoil when your enemy had been defeated. Well, says Isaiah, when this child is born, when this Son of God is given, The joy of your salvation will be like the joy of reaping the harvest and of dividing the spoil. Well, to sum up, we who have walked in darkness, guilty, lost and helpless, have seen a great light. Upon us who live in the deep darkness, the shadow of death itself, Upon us a light has shined, and it has shined supremely through the death of Christ, His resurrection and His ascension. And if we are believers, we have this light of life, as Jesus called it, because it is a light which is the source of spiritual life. And as a result, we who have been smarting under the bondage of sin have been liberated. The yoke of Satan has been broken by a greater than Gideon. For on the cross, Jesus not only paid the penalty for our sin, but also vanquished the power of the forces of evil that held us in bondage. For the first time We are now free in Christ to serve God. Oh, my friends, as I conclude, let me ask if you and I know this joy. Has the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ burst upon your soul? Has the oppressive yoke of sin and its guilt been broken? Can we say exultingly with Paul in Romans 8, there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus? Or is this all rather strange talk? Is the birth of Christ just a shadowy kind of event that somehow doesn't seem to have any real deep spiritual significance for us? If so, let me ask you to look afresh this morning at the one who was given It's so hard in these days, you know, to look upon Him clearly because there are so many distractions. But try to see Him now as He really is. See Him as the Son of the living God. See Him as the everlasting and almighty Creator. See Him miraculously conceived in the womb of that poor peasant virgin called Mary. See Him living a sinless and a selfless life, doing good, healing the sick, helping the poor. Ah, but above all, see the Holy Son of God dying on the cross for you and for me, and praying, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. If you have not yet done so, I beg you this morning to receive Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and have His light dispel the shadow, the deep darkness of death, and His power deliver you from the bondage of the evil one. Because friend, when you do receive him as your Saviour, there will not only be joy among the angels in heaven, but as Peter says, joy unspeakable and full of glory in your redeemed soul. Let's pray. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, we thank you for the good news, the gospel of Christmas, the amazing, incredible, impossible to understand event of the miraculous conception of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you that in your great love unsolicited, unattracted by anything in ourselves for we deserved only damnation. You gave him to that terrible death upon the cross to bear our damnation so that we may be pardoned and set free to serve you and to be your children. We thank you for this. Help us not to forget it as we enter into the celebrations of this Christmas season. Help us to share this glorious good news with some of our friends who do not yet understand the meaning of Christmas. And Father, we do pray this morning that if There are any here who, like us at one time, are groping in the darkness, searching for the truth, how to find God and who is God. Father, we pray that today they may come to the end of their search as they respond to the word brought home to them in the power of the Holy Spirit. that their eyes may be opened to see the light, and that they may come to Jesus Christ in simple faith and repentance, and receive Him as their very own Saviour. We ask it, Father, in Jesus' name, and for Your glory. Amen.