A CHILD BORN, A SON GIVEN “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, and The Prince of Peace” Isaiah 9:6 This verse in a very clear way sets forth a truth that is commonly misunderstood: namely the dual nature of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ was, is, and will remain the God-man, very God and very man. Christ from all eternity was God (coexisting, co-eternal, equal in power, and equally glorious). It was in the fullness of time that He became man (see Galatians 4:4). He must of necessity become man and He must necessarily remain God if He is to fill the office of a mediator between God and Man. Observe the verse very closely, “…Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given.” As a child born He’s to be born of woman, a human birth. As man He must have a beginning. As a Son given He has no birth. He’s from everlasting to everlasting. He’s the eternal Word (see John 1:1). As a child born we find Him lying in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes, but as a Son given we see wise men come and pay homage to their King. As a child born we find shepherds as they come to see this thing brought to pass. As a Son given we hear a choir of angels singing, “Glory to God in the highest, Peace on earth and good will toward men.” As a child born we find Him often hungry and thirsty. As a Son given we see Him take just a few pieces of bread and a few fish and feed five thousand people. As a child born we find Him lying tired, worn and fast asleep in the bottom of a boat. But as a Son given we see Him rise up among the terrified disciples and speak to the angry waves, “peace be still,’ and even the sea obeyed Him. As a child born He sits on the curb of a well, weary and thirsty, saying to an adulterous woman, “Give me to drink,” but as a Son given we hear Him say to the same woman, “If you had asked of me I would have given you living water.” Then as a child born we see Him hang in pain and agony on Calvary’s cross, dying the death of a felon, but as a Son given we hear Him say to a condemned thief who hung beside Him, “Today shalt thou be with me in Paradise.” And then after this we hear Him cry, “it is finished.” He commended His spirit to the Father and gave up the ghost. We hear the testimony of a Roman soldier, “Truly this was the Son of God.”
Hark! The herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn King; Peace on earth, and mercy mild; God and sinners reconciled.” Joyful, all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies; With angelic hosts proclaim, “Christ is born in Bethlehem!”
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