"For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and 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." (Isaiah 9:6)
***** SCRIPTURE READING: Psalm 32 *****
Reigning Grace Author: John Newton (Tune to Amazing Grace)
1. Now may the Lord reveal his face, And teach our stammering tongues; To make his sovereign reigning grace, The subject of our songs.
2. No sweeter subject can invite, A sinners' heart to sing; Or more display the glorious right, Of our exalted King.
3. Grace reigns to pardon crimson sins, To melt the hardest hearts; And from the work it once begins It never once departs.
4. The world and Satan strive in vain Against the chosen few; Secured by grace's conquering reign, They all shall conquer too.
***** The Child Born, the Son Given "For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given" (Isaiah 9:6). The sentence is a double one, but it has in it no vagueness. The careful reader will soon discover a distinction; and it is not a distinction without a difference. "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given." As Jesus Christ is a child in His human nature, He is born, begotten of the Holy Ghost, born of the virgin Mary. He is as truly born, as certain a child, as any other man that ever lived upon the face of the earth. He is thus in His humanity a child born. But as Jesus Christ is God’s Son, He is not born, but given, begotten of His Father from before all worlds, begotten - not made - being of the same substance as the Father. The doctrine of the eternal affiliation of Christ is to be received as an undoubted truth of our holy religion. But as to any explanation of it, no man should venture thereon, for it remaineth among the deep things of God - one of those solemn mysteries indeed, into which the angels dare not look, nor do they desire to pry into it - a mystery which we must not attempt to fathom, for it is utterly beyond the grasp of any finite being. As well might a gnat seek to drink all of the ocean, as a finite creature to comprehend the eternal God. A God Whom we could understand would be no God at all. If we could grasp Him, He could not be infinite: if we could understand Him, then were He not divine. Jesus Christ, then, I say, as a Son, is not born to us, but given. He is a gift bestowed upon us, "For God so loved the world, that He gave (sent) His only begotten Son into the world." He was not born in this world as God’s Son, but He was sent or given, so that you clearly perceive that the distinction is a suggestive one, and conveys much good truth to us. "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given." –C. H. Spurgeon *****
"And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory." (1 Timothy 3:16) *****
Comfort for the Fearful "He said unto them, Why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith" (Matthew 8:26). Although the disciples were in a great storm, the power that made the storm was the very power to which they had to trust. There was not a single blast of the tempest but Jehovah’s might had sent it, nor did a single wave leap up, in apparent wrath, but with God’s permission, or at His command. It was His power, outside the vessel, that was putting them into peril, and they ought to have known that the same power would be exerted to deliver them. It is the same in your case; you are in great trouble, but does trouble spring out of the ground? Does it come by chance? Nay, God’s hand is in it all. I know men talk of the laws of nature, but the laws of nature have no force in themselves; the whole force that carries out a law of nature is a divine force. So, your difficulties are of God’s sending, trials of God’s making, and they are all still in the hand of the all-powerful One to restrain, or mitigate, or increase, or direct according to His own will.
You have often heard, I daresay, that pretty little story which I cannot help telling again, because it drops in so appropriately here, of the woman, on board ship, who was much disturbed in a storm, while her husband, the captain, was calm and restful. She asked him why he was so calm when she was so distressed. He did not answer in words, but he took down his sword and held it to her throat. She smiled. He said, "Why are you not afraid? This is a sharp sword with which I could slay you in a minute." "Ah!" she replied, "but I am not afraid of a sword when it is my husband who wields it." "So," said he, "neither am I afraid of a storm when it is my Father who sends it, and who manages it."
Now, since all the trials and troubles of this mortal life are as much (and more so!) in the hand of the great God as that sword was in the hand of the good woman’s husband, we need not be afraid of them for they are all in His power. When He rides aloft in His chariot and the skies tremble at the sound thereof, why should you tremble, even ye timid ones? –C. H. Spurgeon (edited) *****
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