01.01. I. The Christ of Prophecy
I. THE CHRIST OF PROPHECY
“Unto us a child is horn; unto us a son is given; and the government shall he upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace .”—Isaiah 9:6.
THERE is much in Isaiah that must be referred to the shadows, owing to the degeneracy of the times in which he lived; still, when the light does break, it floods the page with glory, for it is the light from the face of the Messiah of prophecy. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, speaking from the phrase “His name shall be called Wonderful,” compares this text to a storm at sea which he had just witnessed. It was a dark night and the sky was covered with clouds, and thunder answered to thunder, and lightning’s flash but left a deeper darkness on all the waters, when he noticed far away on the horizon, as if miles distant, a bright spot shining like gold. It was the moon breaking through a rift in the clouds, and while she could not shine where the prophet of God stood, he could behold the spot far distant upon which her mellow rays fell in beauty. And he thought of Isaiah when all about him was thick darkness and the very air was charged with the thunders of God’s anger, and the lightnings of His vengeance, and yet he could say “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light. They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death upon them hath the Light shined,” by anticipating the hour when the text of this chapter would be the truth. No one can read the Major Prophets, or for that matter, the Minor Prophets of the Old Testament, without appreciating how dark were their days. All that they were privileged to see with the natural eye was apostasy and captivity, with all the evil consequences of both. But they never despaired, because the last man of them entertained “the glorious hope” voiced in this text. They knew their time to be that dark hour which presages the coming day. In other words, they believed in the Christ to come. If to us Christmas is a memorial, to them it was an anticipation. And as we look back to the manger and the Cross, they looked forward to both. Our prophets are imploring us to “believe on the Christ who came,” at all seasons their prophets were pointing them to “the Christ who was to come,” as witness the words of Isaiah spoken more than seven hundred years before the birth of the Wonderful One, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Ever lasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even forever.” (R. V.) Now, following the suggestion of the text, we see four things:
I. THE COMING OF CHRIST.
“Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given” Isaiah has before spoken of this wondrous child. To the house of David he had addressed these words, “The Lord himself will give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat” (Isaiah 7:14-15).
He knew, then, that He was to come in the flesh—born of a woman. He not only prophesies his humility in that He was to be born of a virgin; but the hardships of his life in that He was to subsist upon “butter and honey,” for butter and honey are the products of that land which the people ate when all else had failed. The true humanity of Jesus is suggested also by the phrase, “Unto us a child is born.” As Jesus said to Nicodemus, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh.” Paul, in his epistle to the Philippians, speaks of Christ Jesus “who existing in the form of God emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross” (Isaiah 2:6-7). But “the form of a man” would not indicate the nature. There might be a sinless, there might be a sinful servant. This same apostle, however, in his epistle to the Hebrews, says, “Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same. . . . For verily not to angels doth he give help, but he giveth help to the seed of Abraham. Wherefore it behooved him in all things to be made like unto his brethren” (Isaiah 2:14; Isaiah 2:16-17). While to the Romans Paul writes, “For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God, sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit.” Every man may feel, therefore, that when Christ was born He descended sufficiently deep to lay hold upon his condition, and lend him help. He who was equal with the Father for our sakes became as one of us, that He might bring us to God.
Dr. Lorimer, in one of his volumes, speaks of the Christian’s influence in the Roman Empire. He treated the Goth, the Persian and the Roman as if they were one until they themselves came to see that they were “made of one bipod.” And Lorimer remarks “As a result of this growing conviction, Caracalla conferred the dignity of Roman citizenship upon the civilised world. The day when this famous edict was issued has been considered one of the epoch-making days of history. Nor can its significance be over-estimated; it was in a sense the Coronation Day of Humanity. It recognised the essential greatness of man’s nature” But do we not believe that the great Coronation Day of Humanity occurred when Jesus was born “in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh”? That day recognised the essential degradation of Humanity, but by the act of God in Christ, lifted the same up to its Coronation. And not a child has been born since that need lead a hopeless life or die a hopeless death.
Isaiah knew, also, that he was to come from God—begotten by the Holy Ghost. As Jesus said to Nicodemus, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” Therein is the explanation of the angel’s words to Mary, “The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). John, in his first epistle, (Luke 3:5) says of Jesus, “And ye know that he was manifested to take away sins; and in him is no sin,” and explains by verse nine, “Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin because his seed abideth in him, and he cannot sin because he is begotten of God.” The humanity of Jesus, therefore, harmonised perfectly with His essential deity. And it is one of the marvels of inspiration that Isaiah saw and expressed this harmony when he said, “For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given.”
He was born of a virgin; He was given of God— “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” That is why Jesus could say unto the Jews, “Ye are from beneath, I am from above: ye are of this world, I am not of this world.” And that is why Jesus could make claim of wisdom, might and power, which would have been blasphemy upon the lips of another. Such, for instance, as “I am the Way,” “I am the Truth,” “No man cometh unto the Father but by me,” “Except ye believe that I am he, ye shall die in your sins,” “I am the door of the sheep,” “I am the good shepherd,” “Whatsoever ye shall ask in my name that will I do.” That is why Jesus could lay claim upon the consciences and to the obedience of men, saying, “Ye are my friends if ye do the things which I command you.” His colossal claim, “All power in heaven and in earth is given unto me,” accorded perfectly with His command, “As ye go preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils; freely ye have received, freely give.”
We may have a debt of gratitude to the Unitarians and Universalists, and other Liberalists for having laid beautiful emphasis upon the humanity of Jesus, but they have also imposed upon us the painful necessity of uttering repeated warnings against forgetting or denying the essential deity of Jesus. With Comte, too many are now tempted to believe that the only religion is “the religion of Humanity,” by which, as one of our greatest preachers has remarked, “They mean a religion without a revelation, and even without a God.” The work of those critics who propose to give us a human Christ is no less a denial of His deity because they happen to cover His humanity with speeches fair as midsummer flowers. We are told that the executioner who beheaded Charles I. bowed before His majesty, kissed his hand, and begged pardon for undertaking the unpleasant commission in which he was engaged. But the king’s head came off just the same. Not a few of our critics seem to have studied this bit of history to a purpose and when they propose to decapitate Christianity by removing its Head, the Christ who is “very God,” they proceed with specious words and extravagant compliments to the humanity of Jesus, but deny His deity just the same. Utter what compliments they may, the Holy Ghost answers their words— “Who is the liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?” (1 John 2:22), and again of Jesus Christ, “This is the true God and eternal life” (1 John 5:20). If the humanity of Jesus is essential to our Christian characters, and it is, the deity of Jesus is our only hope of salvation; for if we have trusted in a man and not in God our hope is in vain and we are yet in our sins. But Isaiah says not only “Unto us a child is born,” but, also, “unto us a son is given.”
II. THE CROWNING OF CHRIST.
“And the government shall be upon his shoulders,” reference to the insignia of office which is worn on the shoulder where it marks the high official and also suggests his power to sustain that which is committed unto him. Isaiah himself gives us this very interpretation of his own words when he speaks of Eliakim, who was to be a “father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah,” and of whom the Lord of hosts says, “I will commit thy government into his hands—and the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder.”
Keeping this in mind, permit three suggestions concerning the crowning of Christ:
He shall govern God’s people. This Coming One is more often described under the single phrase “the king of Israel” than by any other of the marvelous and many sentences employed to depict Him. If one trace the Scriptures through he will find that when He sets up His throne it will be in the midst of His own people, children of Abraham by flesh, and children of Abraham by faith. “When the tabernacle of God is with men he shall dwell with them and they shall be his peoples.”
He shall govern absolutely and alone. “The government shall be upon his shoulder.” The exclusiveness of Jesus’ reign is signally set forth in the seventy-second Psalm, “He shall have dominion also from sea to sea; and from the River unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall render tribute; the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him; All nations shall serve him.” It is related that the king of Prussia visited a village school and was welcomed by the children. Having spoken to them, he took an orange from a plate and asked, “To what kingdom does this belong?” “To the vegetable!” Then a piece of money. “To the mineral kingdom,” answered a little girl. “And to what kingdom do I belong?” questioned the king. Upon a little reflection the child answered, “To God’s Kingdom, sire.” It is said that tears came to the king’s eyes. As he placed his hand gently on the child’s head he said, “God grant that I may be counted worthy of that kingdom.” And the time is coming when every king of the earth, instead of sitting in the place of power, shall prostrate himself at Jesus’ feet, for it is written, “As I live, saith the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to God” (Romans 14:11).
He shall govern with authority and power. The mark of office upon His shoulder is the sign of His authority, while the shoulder itself is the place and symbol of power. It was Jesus who said, “All authority is given unto me in heaven and on earth,” and who claimed for Himself, “Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of Power.” Authority and Power—He shall govern with both. They belong to the very office which He holds, they are essential to the success of the King. I remember that in Hood’s “Cromwell,” chapter twelve, when the Scots invited the return of Charles II., and were defeated by the army of Cromwell, Hood remarks, “It certainly does appear that David Leslie, the Commander of the Scots at Dunbar, found his hands tied by a committee, and any kind of battle anywhere may be lost, but probably no battle of any kind was ever gained by a committee.” The King—Christ—takes His opinions from no other. You will remember the astonishment that the teaching of Jesus created because “he taught them as one having authority and not as their scribes.” And with that authority there is coupled power.
How many men there are now who feel absolutely bound by every word which Jesus speaks. They recognise His right to utter what He will and His power to enforce His least wish. There was a time when Hildebrand was not only a person of authority, but also of power. He could even leave the Emperor of Germany, himself, standing outside the gate of his castle at Canossa, barefoot in the snow, begging for mercy from the man who professed to be the Vicar of Christ. But where is that authority and where is that power now? It passed, as did all his splendid pretensions. Nobody cares what Hildebrand said, for his arm of flesh, like his magnificent robes, rests now in the dust. Not so with Christ, upon whom God has laid the insignia of authority and power! He commands more men today than ever before. He exercises, today, all the power of the Godhead. And yet He has only commenced to command; He has revealed but a little of His power. Wait until the government is laid upon His shoulder, and He is crowned King of kings, and Lord of lords, “then will he stretch out his hand over the sea, and shake the kingdoms.”
III. THE CHARACTER OF CHRIST.
According to the pen of Inspiration this character is four-fold, the “Wonderful Counsellor,” the “Mighty God,” the “Everlasting Father,” and “The Prince of Peace.” George Adam Smith doubts if these four names prove incontrovertibly that the prophet had an absolutely Divine Person in view; but we cannot share Smith’s scepticism. These words can never be applied to another than the King of kings, the Lord of lords, who though the Son is yet “the very God.” The Wonderful Counsellor. In the original this is a compound word, and expresses what is with Isaiah a favourite feature of the “Coming One’s” character. It is the same idea he expresses when he says concerning the increase of the ground, “This also cometh forth from Jehovah of hosts, who is wonderful in counsel.” Spurgeon, in his sermon on “The Wonderful Counsellor,” reminds us that Jesus is God’s counsellor. He sits in the cabinet council of the King of Heaven. He was there when God said “Let us make man in our own image.” He was there when the subjects of grace were determined. He was there when the plan of the ages was perfected. “And yet,” adds Spurgeon, “He is our Counsellor, a necessary Counsellor, a hearty Counsellor, a sweet Counsellor, and, thank God, a safe Counsellor.” No wonder Spurgeon concluded his great sermon by saying, “Obey His counsel and you shall have to rejoice that you ever listened to His voice, for He is indeed the ‘Wonderful-Counsellor.’ ” The Mighty God. Here is another phrase of which the Holy Spirit seems fond. In the very next chapter we read of a “remnant that shall return, even the remnant of Jacob, unto the Mighty-God.” It is not sufficient to speak of the authority and the power of Jesus, a weightier word is needed, a compound word which confounds His enemies and comforts His people—“The Mighty-God.” I am glad for the thought of power suggested. I am still more glad for the deity affirmed. And we know that Jesus has already so far filled up this description that Theodore Parker, though a liberal and a sceptic, was compelled to confess that fulness in these words, “Nazareth was no Athens where philosophy breathed in the circumambient air; it had neither Porch nor Lyceum; not even a School of the Prophets. There is God in the heart of this youth, that mightiest heart that ever beat; stirred with the spirit of God, how it wrought in His bosom.” The Everlasting Father. This is another of the prophet’s favourite terms. It was Isaiah who wrote, “For thou art our Father, though Abraham knoweth us not and Israel doth not acknowledge us: thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer, from everlasting is thy name” (Isaiah 63:16). And yet again, “But now, O Jehovah, thou art our Father; we are the day and thou our potter, and we are all the work of thy hand.” It is blessed to couple the thought of Creator and Father in one. The working of principles may produce certain effects, but only a person can feel affection. When, therefore, we call the Creator “Our Father,” we put a heart into that force which spake and the worlds were. And, oh, what a heart! Who can sound all the depth of the meaning of the word “father”? Who can search out all the fulness of a father’s love? And if it be true that the affection of an earthly father is unspeakable, immeasurable, with what words shall we weigh that of our Christ when He comes to us in the name of “the Everlasting Father”? It speaks to us not alone of redemption, but also of reconciliation. It means what Charles Wesley wrote:
“My God is reconciled;
His pardoning voice I hear;
He owns me for His child;
I can no longer fear: With confidence I now draw nigh, And Father, Abba Father, cry.” The Prince of Peace. It is intensely interesting to see how Isaiah keeps up this term “Peace.” It is truly a theme with him. He prophesies “The Prince of Peace.” He sings “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee.” He says of Jehovah, “Thou wilt ordain peace with us.” He affirms of the work of righteousness, “It shall be peace,” and the effect of righteousness “quietness and confidence forever.” He declares, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace” And he rejoices with the children of Jehovah because “great shall be their peace.” And when he concludes his prophecy he writes of Jerusalem, the words of Jehovah, “Behold I will send peace to her like a river”; but he makes Jesus the Prince of all this peace.
There is a climax in all these phases of character; He is a “Wonderful Counsellor,” He is “Mighty God,” He is “the Everlasting Father,” but He is, and, blessed be His Name, “The Prince of Peace.” No wonder Morrison sang:
“The race that long in darkness pined Have seen a glorious Light; The people dwell in day, who dwelt In death’s surrounding night.
“To us a Child of hope is born, To us a Son is given;
Him shall the tribes of earth obey, Him all the hosts of heaven.
“His name shall be the Prince of Peace, For evermore adored; The Wonderful, the Counsellor, The great and mighty Lord.
“His power, increasing, still shall spread;
His reign no end shall know;
Justice shall guard His throne above And peace abound below.”
IV. THE INCREASE OF CHRIST.
“Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even forever.”
There shall be growth in His government. This idea may be interpreted in the light of past events. There was a time when the followers of Jesus were few indeed. But “the little one” has already “become a thousand” and the “small one a strong nation.” Those who think Christ’s kingdom is now upon earth call our attention to this fact, and remind us that He governs everywhere. But who shall answer that heretic George Herron when he asks us to show him “a village, a town, a city, in which Christ rules”? And yet, the promise is that a time will come when He shall reign from sea to sea, and from the rivers unto the ends of the earth, when the government shall indeed be on His shoulder. And we hold that that government shall grow. Jacob Seiss, in his third volume on “The Apocalypse,” discusses the perpetuity of “the race, and the ongoing of the redeemed,” proving that “the earth abideth forever,” and that those who are upon it when Jesus comes will only be an earnest of “the generations of the age of the ages” of which Paul speaks in Ephesians 3:21.
That, also, is the explanation of the Apocalyptic vision, “After these things I saw, and behold a great multitude which no man could number, out of every nation, and of all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands; and they cry with a great voice, saying, Salvation unto our God who sitteth upon the throne; and unto the Lamb.” When Thomas Kelley sang,
“Hark! ten thousand harps and voices, Sound the note of praise above;
Jesus reigns and heaven rejoices;
Jesus reigns, the God of Love;
See, He sits on yonder throne;
Jesus rules the world alone,” he dealt in small figures, forgetting Isaiah’s claim “of the increase of his government there shall be no end.”
Peace also shall prevail in it increasingly. When Christ first comes all rebellion against Him will not be at an end. Read Matthew 25:1-46; read Revelation 20:1-15, and see also what the Apostle Paul means when he says, “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have abolished all rule and all authority and power, for he must reign until he hath put all enemies under his feet” (1 Corinthians 15:24-25). Go back over the past and see the conflicts of the Christ; conflicts with false teachers and hypocritical followers in the first century; conflicts with arrogant bishops and evil emperors, in the fourth and fifth centuries; conflicts with a rising Roman Papacy in the sixth century; conflicts with the immoralities and spiritual deadness of the eleventh and twelfth centuries; conflicts with the false doctrines of the sixteenth century; in the commonwealth of the seventeenth; in the revolutions of the eighteenth; conflicts with the slavery and selfishness of the nineteenth. And yet, such a teacher as Newell Dwight Hillis tells us—“He has triumphed, as one knows who studies the conquest of the first century church, the Christian activities of the fourth and fifth centuries, the crusades of the eleventh and twelfth, the reformation of the sixteenth, the revolutions of the seventeenth, the emancipations and missions of the nineteenth.” And Hillis remarks, “Christ has touched poverty and clothed it with power. He has touched marriage and turned it into romance and love; He is now ready to touch work and wages and make them sacraments of human fellowship.” But there is even a better hope. The absent Christ has accomplished this by His ever-present Spirit. The “Christ to come” by “the increase of his government” shall compass infinitely more. When Henry VII. was crowned King of England the army of the Duke of Richmond sang a hymn of praise to God, and Tytler’s History tells us that “That auspicious day put an end to the civil war between the houses of York and Lancaster. By marrying the Princess Elizabeth, Henry united in his own person the interests and rights of both these families (his own and that of Edward IV.). The nation, under his wise and politic administration, soon recovered the wounds it had sustained in those unhappy contests, the parliaments which he assembled made the most salutary laws, the people paid their taxes without reluctance, the nobles kept in due subordination.” All of which brought to that government, now famed the world around, a peace and prosperity which has since made it the notable, kingdom of the world. But who was Henry VII, and what were his laws when compared with the King of. whom our text speaks? “Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end.” Why, then, should we not sing,
“Come, quickly come, great King of all Reign all around us, and within;
Let sin no more our souls enthrall, Let pain and sorrow die with sin;
Come, quickly come, for Thou alone Canst make Thy scattered people one.” His government, also, shall increase in righteousness. “Of the increase of his government there shall be no end. And to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even forever.” Do you remember how that Danish king Canute wrote to his English subjects, “I have vowed to God to lead a right life in all things, to rule justly and piously in my realm, and subjects, and to administer just judgment to all. If, heretofore, I have done aught but what was just, through headiness or negligence of youth, I am ready, with God’s help, to amend it utterly.” Jesus needs to add no such postscript to His declared purpose of ruling with justice and with righteousness, for, as the four-and-twenty elders have affirmed of Him who sits upon the throne, “He is worthy.” “With righteousness shall he judge the poor; and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. . . . Righteousness shall be the girdle of his waist, and faithfulness the girdle of his loins” (Isaiah 11:4-5).
“The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.” Let us rejoice in the fact that God himself is bade of the increase of the government of His Son. Its peace is as sure as His everlasting promise, and its righteousness is in keeping with His own character, while of His Christ, studied in the light of this text, we may sing with Richard Gilder:
“Behold Him now where He comes!
Not the Christ of our subtle creeds, But the light of our hearts, of our homes, Of our hopes, our prayers, our needs; The brother of want and blame, The lover of women and men, With a love that puts to shame, All passions of mortal ken.
“Ah, no, Thou life of the heart, Never shalt Thou depart! Not till the leaven of God Shall lighten each human clod; Not till the world shall climb To Thy heights serene, sublime, Shall the Christ who enters our door Pass, to return no more.”