One of the most powerful and convincing aspects of the Christian faith is the fulfillment of prophecy. There are hundreds of Old Testament prophecies that find their completion in the New Testament, and there are some prophecies in both Old and New Testaments that have yet to come to fruition. But there are some that have been exquisitely completed. For example, in Micah 5:2, written 500 years before the time of Christ, the very place of His birth is given. The Ruler, the One from everlasting, Micah says, will come from Bethlehem. That is such a powerful statement. The prophet Isaiah also gave detailed prophecies concerning Christ in
7:14,
chapter 53, and in our text for this week,
9:6.
The setting of our text is Isaiah, the prophet of God, in the midst of serving and addressing the people of Israel in the 8th century BC. He ministered from 740-701 BC. Four times in his ministry, the Assyrian Army attacked Israel, and in 722 BC, they defeated them and took the Jews captive. But during King Ahaz's reign in the bleak days of oppression and war, Isaiah gives this wonderful prophetic word about the coming One who would indeed be wonderful.
Our text,
Isaiah 9:6, is a very popular one during this time of year. In 1741, a man by the name of Charles Jennens took this as one of his biblical texts and gave it to George Frideric Handel, and based on
Isaiah 9:6, Handel composed the music to number 12, entitled, "For unto us a Child Is Born", in his famous oratorio,
Messiah. Handel completed the masterpiece in just 24 days, locking himself away and working assiduously on it. He was a dedicated follower of Jesus Christ, and
Messiah reflects his deep faith. When he finished the work on September 14, he wrote the letters SDG:
Soli Deo Gloria—To God Alone be the Glory. (
Source.)
W.A. Criswell, who served as the pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, TX for fifty years, makes this statement about the divinity of the Christ Child, the eternal Son of God: "'And unto us a Son is given,' this is His deity. Without fail and without exception, all of the Scriptures present the Messiah Christ as being preexistent, and they delineate the work that He did before the foundation of the world. He is co-equal and co-existent with the Father, and we saw in Him the grace and the glory of God." (
Source.)
God has preserved His Word through the centuries so that you and I can have a personal relationship with Him. God is awesome and invites us to seek and find Him within the holy pages of Scripture. He loves you and desires for you to know Him and experience the peace of soul and forgiveness of sins that only He can provide. Will you open your heart and your Bible and allow God to speak to you in profound ways?
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