“Unto Us A Child Is Born”
The Appomattox Court House Presbyterian Church Pulpit
Rev. Cameron S. Smith
The Lord's Day, December 18, 2005
Isaiah 9:6-7
Luke 1:26-33
"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 Counselor, 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."
The Announcement
I want you to notice that our Scripture lessons have a common theme. Both of them contain a birth announcement. Isaiah says, "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…." In Luke, the archangel Gabriel declares a word that will find fulfillment, literally in Mary: "…[Y]ou will conceive in your womb and bear a son…" (Luke 1:31). This morning, I want to ponder these, pardon the pun, pregnant, prophetic words.
In both of these birth announcements, we find that God doesn't do things the way we might expect. An infant savior? To quote the words of a popular contemporary Christian song, "Now That's A Mighty Strange Way To Save The World!" And so, in the next few minutes, my goal will be to lay bare a portion of what both Isaiah and Luke intended as they brought the good news through these unusual announcements. What you will find is that God's Messiah was the complete opposite of the expectations of that time, and perhaps of our own time as well.
Luke's Perspective
In the Christmas story from Luke 2, we find God's plans a bit strange. The long awaited Messiah, the Son of God, comes not in the appropriate comfort and splendor of a royal palace; but in a dark, dank, stinking cave where he was laid in a common feeding trough made probably of mud, quite unlike the nice wooden cradles that adorn our nativity displays! According to Luke, It's quite apparent that God brought his Son into the world in an unconventional manner to turn the tables on conventional thinking! The Messiah's first earthly reign won't resemble that of a Roman Caesar nor the extravagant life-style of King Herod. This child begins life modestly; lives life modestly; and yet, through and from this baby cradled in a common feeding trough, the proud will be confounded; the mighty will be brought down from their thrones; the hungry will be fed and the humble will be raised up (cf. Luke 1:51-53). Why? Because this baby is God; but this baby is also one of us; he is Immanuel, God with us. The irony of all history -- History's Mystery? -- is that God comes to us, dare I say, commends himself to us, as a weak, vulnerable, dependent infant! How extraordinary that Jesus, being who he was, the God-Man, did not descend from the heavens, riding on a white horse with sword in hand at the ready.
Isaiah's Perspective
Isaiah's message communicates the same thing as Luke…but in a different historical context. "For to us a child is born….and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end…from this time forth and forevermore."
But First, Some History!
Now hang with me here as we shift to Sunday school mode for a brief history lesson. Some back story is needed here! The prophetic material found in the first 39 chapters of the book of Isaiah is directed primarily to the ten northern tribes of Israel. The book of 1 Kings narrates how these ten tribes split from the kingly line of David after the death of King Solomon (1 Ki. 12ff.)
Israel becomes divided with the ten tribes in the north becoming known collectively as Israel, and the remaining two southern tribes called Judah. Simply put, Judah remains faithful to David's line in keeping his descendants on the throne. [NB I should say, relatively faithful, at least when compared to their brothers in the north! Of course, Judah has problems and goes into captivity herself in Babylon 126 years after the fall of Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom]. Meanwhile, Israel in the north openly rejects the hope in David's line (cf. 1 Ki. 12:16, "And when all Israel saw that the king did not listen to them, the people answered the king [Rehoboam, Solomon's son], 'What portion do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. To your tents, O Israel! Look now to your own house, David.' So Israel went to their tents.") This defiance proves to be the first step in their slow demise as a nation!
With this foundational background in place, Isaiah issues prophetic words to the northern tribes in a recurring series of oracles of judgment and hope. In judgment, God is going to punish the nation by carrying them off into exile because of their continuing unfaithfulness. (All one needs to do is to read through 1 & 2 Kings to chart their collective rebellion. God was patient and just in his dealings with the northern kingdom!) In bringing judgment, God uses the Assyrian Empire to do his bidding, (cf. Isa. 10:5, "Ah, Assyria, the rod of my anger; the staff in their hands is my fury!"). Please note well that Assyria was a nation that worshiped military might, possessed a blood thirst for unbounded power and brutally nurtured a well-deserved reputation for cruelty. And yet, they were pawns in God's hands! However, never ever lose sight of this one truth: Where God pronounces judgment, hope is never far behind. The message of hope to the northern tribes is that through repentance, God will forgive them and bring salvation through a coming Messiah.
In a manner similar to Luke, Isaiah's hope is described in a strange way; strange because God envisions a sovereign so unlike the mighty Assyrians. Isaiah gives us a baby who will turn the tables on the power structure! Note the recurring infancy theme from the prophet:
Isaiah 7:14
"Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
Isaiah 11:1-2
"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon [this child]."
Putting Luke & Isaiah Together
Here then is the crux of the matter: Just as Luke portrays the Messiah in stark contrast to the Herods and the Roman Empire of his day; so too according to Isaiah, the coming Messiah won't be anything like the oppressive Assyrian regime. Isaiah's designations for the Messiah here are revealing: He is our Wonderful Counselor, a repository for unlimited wisdom; a confidant whispering "strategy" in the ear when the enemy looks invincible. He is our Everlasting Father, his eternal love comparable to the intensity of a dad's devotion to his own children, a point that shouldn't be lost on any parent or grandparent! He is our Mighty God, giving meaning to Immanuel by emphasizing that it is God who fights our battles for us. But definitively, he is our Prince of Peace, which means that his rule will never be toppled by political intrigue, enemy invasion or popular discontent and unrest.
Assyria comes and goes (more like came and went, but that's not good English!); Babylon comes and goes, Egypt as a world power comes and goes, the Roman Empire comes and goes, the Soviet Union comes and goes; radical Islamic states are here but they will go; and yes, the United States is here but it too will go. But of the Messiah who hails from a feeding trough, "of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end."
In Closing: Think About This!
Still amazing after all these years...the Messiah comes as an infant. What a strange way to save the world. Here's where this connects for me, and I pray for you as well:
First of all, this radical move by God disarms us. Although the infant Jesus is naturally otherworldly, he comes to us as one of us. He's near and he's approachable. Those around during his first sojourn could touch him; see him; eat with him and laugh with him. However, beginning with this baby, we too, through the power of his Holy Spirit, experience divine love. Beginning with this baby, we have a relationship, not a religion -- don't forget this! And finally, through the child in the feeding trough God demonstrates once and for all, that His Kingdom is not of this world, (cf. John 18:36): The stuff that the world values most -- power, conquest, acquisition, status, "toys", achievement, riches -- God simply gives no pride of place. Savor this gift from God. "For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…."
Amen.
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