Christmas Prophecies
For Unto Us a Child is Born
Isaiah 9:1-7
I want to read you a quote and then have you tell me if this sounds like something Christians could agree with. “He is the One and only God. The Absolute God. None equals Him.” What do you think, is that a doctrinally correct statement? There isn’t anything in there that would I couldn’t back up with Scripture. As it is written, it sounds fine, except I didn’t tell you that I left out apart. The full quote reads as follows. “He is the One and only God. The Absolute God. Never did He beget. Nor was He begotten. None equals Him.” Suddenly this quote doesn’t sound so good does it? The source of this quote is chapter 112 of the Koran.[i] The conclusion we can draw from this is that one billion Muslims think Christians are foolish for believing in the virgin birth of Christ.
Here’s another quote. "The faith in the Virgin Birth reflects the way American Christianity is becoming less intellectual and more mystical over time.” And, "The Virgin Mary is an interesting prism through which to examine America's emphasis on faith, because most Biblical scholars regard the evidence for the Virgin Birth ... as so shaky that it pretty much has to be a leap of faith."[ii] The source of this quote is the New York Times and the conclusion is that the New York Times thinks that Christians are intellectual slugs. Gee, my feelings are hurt! But that also means that hundreds of millions of atheists also think we are idiots.
One last quote. “What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real, earthly, biological father named Larry, and archeologists find Larry’s tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the Gospel writers threw in to appeal to the followers of the Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births? What if that [belief] were seriously questioned? Could a person still love God? Could you still be a Christian?””[iii] The source of this quote is an evangelical pastor from a church with 14,000 members. The conclusion is: do not attend this church!
The virgin birth of Christ is a belief that is denied by most of the world, but unlike the waverings of this megachurch pastor, it is not a belief that can be jettisoned by Christians without fatal harm to our faith. Chapter seven of Isaiah is the key OT passage on the virgin birth of Christ and chapter nine introduces this child named Immanuel in a way that builds to a great crescendo of truth.
If you remember, chapter eight ended with absolute darkness and despair. In 8:22 we read “Then they will look to the earth and see only distress and darkness and fearful gloom, and they will be thrust into utter darkness.” Without the light of God’s word, we have only despair and darkness. But now chapter nine moves from darkness to light. “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. In the past he humbled the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles, by the way of the sea, along the Jordan— 2 The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
If you listen to Handel’s musical version of this passage, verses 1-5 are the prelude and build-up to the crescendo of verses 6-7. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he 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. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever.”
Which part of these last two verses is not yet completely fulfilled? Verse six is a list of Christ’s attributes. He is a Wonderful Counselor, he is the Mighty God, he is the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. He cannot increase in these characteristics because he is already all of these thing sin an infinite sense. In other words, he cannot become any more mighty than he already is. Verse six is complete in Christ, but verse seven is only partially fulfilled. Is the government upon Christ’s shoulders yet? Not yet, is it. It will be one day but is not yet. This means that verses 1-6 happened at the Christ’s first coming. The first six verses looked forward to and were fulfilled at the first Christmas, but verse seven looks forward to Christ’s second coming.
Christ’s first coming has past but how do we know that Christ will come and reign in everlasting peace on David’s throne? The last part of verse seven gives us the assurance we need: “The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.” This is an absolute promise given by a God who cannot break his promise. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will make certain that this promise is kept. The first half of this promise has already been fulfilled so why should we doubt the fulfillment of the second half. Just as surely as Christ came through a virgin birth and brought light into this dark world, so will Christ come again to bring the full light of his glory to us. I know that The Purpose Driven Life continues to be a best-seller, but rather than live a purpose-driven life, God calls us to live a promise-driven life. Without these promises we would not have a purpose. If the promise of the virgin birth was not fulfilled, we are left without a hope and a future. But a virgin did conceive and give birth to our Savior. He is the Wonderful Counselor, he is the Mighty God, he is the Everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace. The zeal of the almighty Lord will make certain that his future promises will be fulfilled. We are a promise-driven people.
Rich Maurer
December 24, 2006