“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given…”

It was an incredible promise…something they all had been waiting for.  For well over a millennium the Israelites had been hoping for, anticipating, patiently looking for the Messiah and his kingdom.  When it seemed their expectations were dashed or more immediate troubles arose, they forgot their Lord and fell into sin.  At times they forgot the Sabbath days and years.  Other times it was the lack of appropriate sacrifices.  The absolute worst was idolatry, and unfortunately this was all too frequent.  Was the promise of his coming a fantasy or myth?  Or just misunderstood?  It couldn’t be.  There were simply too many signals in the Old Testament for it to be spurious.

Take the passage from Isaiah 9.  The chapter starts out hopeful: “Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress.  In the past he humbled the land of Zebulon and the land of Naphtali, but in the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles (fulfilled in Matthew 4:12-17), by the way of the sea, along the Jordan—The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; of those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (vs. 1-2).  Sounds quite hopeful, doesn’t it?  It gets better: “You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as men rejoice when dividing the plunder” (v. 3).  Now the joy is compared to the harvest and victory in battle (vs. 4-5). And what will be the cause of this joy and rejoicing?  “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders” (v. 6).  A child…a son…who will rule God’s government on earth.  He will be both born and given at the same time.  But it was the excitement of living under the government of the king — the kingdom (v. 7a) — that caught the fascination of the Jews: “Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end” (v. 7).  So anticipated was it that 700 years later the disciples asked more than once when it was coming (Matt. 24:3, Acts 1:6).

Consider now the descriptions of this son: “he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”.  Wonderful Counselor carries the idea of a miraculously wise sage and guide.  Mighty God describes their God of invincible strength and power.  Everlasting Father points to a never-ending parent that governs with all the attributes of a father.  Prince of Peace depicts the son of a king who is known for establishing calm and harmony. If the son is wonderful, mighty, everlasting and peaceful, imagine then what his kingdom, and living in it, would be like!  It goes beyond imagination, especially having this wicked and broken world as their (and our) only frame of reference.  The time sung about in John Lennon’s song, Imagine, sounds utterly empty and ridiculous by comparison.  “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.  The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this” (v. 7b).  Both the precise specifics of this text and the fact of other texts describing similar features of the kingdom are too compelling for this to be pure fiction.  They all point back to the given Son on whose shoulders it rests.

Consider too how the Son was a son.  In the New Testament Jesus gets passing reference as the son of Abraham, son of Joseph/the carpenter, and one mention as Mary’s son.  But he is mostly a son in three important ways, all of them crucial.  First and foremost — and most frequently cited — is Son of God, including the frequent distinction between Father and Son in John’s gospel.  He is God’s Son!  That in itself summarizes the source of Isaiah’s four-fold description.  Second, with the second most numerous mentions, is Son of Man.  This was Jesus’ favorite description of himself while he was here.  What does it say about our existence that God personally entered it himself?  What does it say that the ruler of God’s government deliberately was born in a lowly place, grew up in an blue collar family, worked with his hands, sought no glory for himself, was in total submission to his Father, cared for and healed people who never thanked him, spoke the truth to those who already rejected him, and then voluntarily died an incredibly painful death due to no fault of his own?  This is definitely the Son of Man!  Finally, Jesus is the Son of David.  This refers both to his connection to Israel nationally and regally, as well as to the world prophetically.  It was a Jewish Messiah that would “honor Galilee of the Gentiles [nations]” (v. 1).   Take any of these three aspects of the given Son away, and the whole arrangement crashes to the ground.

Are you longing for the given Son to establish his kingdom?  Are you working to make it happen?