SATURDAY 19th
Isaiah 9:6-7 – ‘For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.’
We turn to another of the prophetic statements of Isaiah, just a couple of chapters after yesterday’s verses.
I guess the verses from yesterday and today are so well known to us and get read so often over the Christmas period. These verses very clearly portray the coming of the promised one, and once we realise that they are foretelling the birth of the Lord Jesus there should be no shadow of doubt concerning the deity of Christ Jesus.
The prophetic utterance says that there is to be a child born, that is the child will enter the world via the womb of a woman and that a son is to be given, this clearly indicates that the child being born is already someone’s son, and that someone is giving the son to be born as a child. And we know from John 3:16 that it was God who gave the son therefore this child is the eternal Son of God. As the Son, Jesus has always existed, as John 1:1 says, ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ When the angel visited Mary to announce to her that she was pregnant with child we read ‘And Mary said to the angel, How will this be, since I am a virgin? And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.’ Notice those important words, ‘the Son of God’, and as the Son of God he came to redeem mankind, for the same angel announced to Joseph, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel.’ (Matthew 1:20-23)
Yesterday we said about the doctrine of the virgin birth as being important to the Christian faith, so also is the doctrine of his deity, that is that Jesus was at the same time both fully God and fully man.
In one of the experiences that the disciples had with Jesus, they made a statement, ‘Truly you are the Son of God’, it happened after they had faced a tempestuous storm that shook them to the core, they were frightened, they were afraid for their lives, but Jesus appeared to them walking on the water, Peter got out to walk to him and began to sink, but Jesus took him by the hand and they landed safely in the boat and immediately the storm was stilled, that was when the disciples made the statement, ‘Truly you are the Son of God’, on another occasion, in the closing moments of the life of Jesus as he hung on the cross, as he breathed his last breath, one of the soldiers who no doubt had been involved in the proceedings exclaimed, ‘Truly this was the Son of God’, and after his resurrection, which in itself was proof concerning who he was, Thomas on seeing him, and putting his finger in the nail prints in his hand, and his hand into the side of Jesus exclaimed, ‘My Lord and my God’ All three exclamations declaring something of the deity of Jesus. The eternal Son who himself is God.
May this Christmas fill us with wonder again as to who this child that was born really is, the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us.
I don’t know what you are expecting to receive this Christmas by way of gifts, nor where it is the gifts will have come from, but remember this the best gift of all came from heaven to earth, wrapped in a woman’s womb, unwrapped on that first Christmas morn and given to every man and woman as the Saviour of the world. Receive him and give thanks from a grateful heart.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity.
The verse for today goes on to let us know that this child born, Son given was to have several names and titles and we will look at the ones mentioned here briefly tomorrow.
Todays song is not specifically a Christmas carol, but the words are applicable at this time:
Thou art the everlasting Word,
The Father’s only Son,
God manifestly seen and heard,
And heav’n’s beloved One:
Divine, O Son of God, art Thou,
In Thee God’s fulness find we now.
In Thee most perfectly expressed
The Father’s glories shine;
Of the full Deity possessed,
Eternally divine:
Divine, O Son of God, art Thou,
In Thee God’s fulness find we now.
True image of the Infinite,
Whose essence is concealed;
Brightness of uncreated light;
The heart of God revealed:
Divine, O Son of God, art Thou,
In Thee God’s fulness find we now.
But the high mysteries of Thy Name
An angel’s grasp transcend;
The Father only, glorious claim!
The Son can comprehend:
Divine, O Son of God, art Thou,
In Thee God’s fulness find we now.
Throughout the universe of bliss,
The centre, Thou, and sun;
Th’ eternal theme of praise is this,
To heav’n’s beloved One:
Divine, O Son of God, art Thou,
In Thee God’s fulness find we now.