Meditations on the Meaning of Christmasনমুনা

For Unto Us a Child Is Born

Read: Isaiah 9:6-7

This passage from Isaiah is perhaps the most famous prophecy of the birth of Jesus. For those of us who grew up with classical music in our homes, especially at Christmas time, we think of the famous setting of these words in Handel’s Messiah.

The power of these words drips through every phrase of this passage of Scripture. For unto us a child is born. In the present day we have the advantage of hindsight and can marvel and worship at the fulfillment of these words of prophecy.

A child is born, but that child is God himself in the person of Jesus, God’s own son! A son is given as John 3:16 helps us understand; God loved us so much that he sent his only son Jesus to come to earth and be born as a child.

Sin entered the world through Adam and Eve’s disobedience. They went against God’s ways and peace with God was broken immediately. From creation to the flood we see small stories of people following God’s ways and having a kind of peace with him, but the world grew so evil that God nearly wiped it out with a flood.

Enter Abraham and the promise from God to save the world through his offspring, and we see a continued revelation that helps us know God more, and to know his character more, as revealed in the ten commandments and the law.

From there the cycle repeats in the people of Israel. When they follow God’s ways they have peace with him, when they rebel they experience judgment in the form of losing the land,  prosperity, and peace they had previously enjoyed. When they repent there is restoration. 

But this cycle is not sustainable, it must be broken once and for all. Sin must be dealt with forever.

I feel this cycle in my own life. My little rebellions and my fight against the flesh. I lose the peace that can only be found through repentance. The difference is that now, forgiveness is available to me all the time. At any moment I can have perfect peace restored through repentance because of what Jesus did on the cross!

In this child, we are promised a king who will reign forever with justice and mercy. The titles he is given tell us he is divine and they culminate with the title Prince of Peace.

How much we groan as people longing for justice, righteousness, mercy, and peace! Jesus came to earth to dwell with us, to deliver us from sin through his sacrifice, and ultimately to give us peace with God the father.

If you long for peace, if your heart pangs for peace even reading these words, it can be found today, right now, in Jesus Christ. We can praise him, pray to him, ask him, and abide in him to find the peace he provides. Jesus, God with us.

Reflect

• Does the story of Jesus’ birth stir worship in your heart?
• Meditate on God’s love for you, so much love that he sent his only son.
• These verses ultimately speak of salvation through Christ, dig into what the “zeal of the LORD of hosts" means for you.