Christmas scriptures #1: Isaiah 9
By Elizabeth Prata
1But there will be no more gloom for her who was in anguish; in earlier times He treated the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali with contempt, but later on He shall make it glorious, by the way of the sea, on the other side of Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles.
2The people who walk in darkness
Will see a great light;
Those who live in the land of the shadow of death,
The light will shine on them.
3You shall multiply the nation,
You shall make great their gladness;
They will be glad in Your presence
As with the gladness of harvest,
As men rejoice when they divide the spoil.
4For You shall shatter the yoke of their burden and the staff on their shoulders,
The rod of their taskmaster, as at the battle of Midian.
5For every boot of the booted warrior in the rumbling of battle,
And cloak rolled in blood, will be for burning, fuel for the fire.
6For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.
7There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace,
On the throne of David and over his kingdom,
To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness
From then on and forevermore.
The zeal of Yahweh of hosts will accomplish this.
I wonder if the ancient readers wondered about the verse that a son will be born to them, who will be called Mighty God.
Verse 2 mentions the darkness. I think of John 1:1-5 about the ‘darkness’, which has not overcome the Light.
Roy Gingrich comments on Isiah 9:2,
A great light will shine upon the people of these territories, who have been walking in darkness (this prophecy was partially fulfilled when Jesus ministered for sixteen months in Galilee, Matthew 4:12–16, during His earthly ministry). …
All of this deliverance and joy will be based upon the incarnation and the birth of Christ (“Immanuel,” 7:14), 9:6, 7. Christ will be both human (“a child is born”) and divine (“a Son is given”). He will bear five names: (1) “Wonderful” (He will do wonderful things);
(2) “Counsellor” (He will be able to advise all men in regard to all things);
(3) “The Mighty God” (He will be the mighty “El.” “El” is contrasted with man, 31:3; Hosea 11:9);
(4) “The everlasting Father” (“the Father of eternity”); and
(5) “The Prince of peace” (He will subdue all of His enemies and give peace to all of His friends).
He will do six things:
(1) He will sit upon the throne of David;
(2) He will set the kingdom of David in order;
(3) He will establish justice in this kingdom forever;
(4) He will bear the government of the world upon His shoulder;
(5) He will keep on extending His government (rule) until it covers all men (“of the increase of His government there shall be no end.”) All who refuse to come under His rule will be destroyed; and
(6) He will keep on bestowing His peace until it has been bestowed upon all men (“of the increase of His peace there shall be no end”).
Gingrich, R. E. (1993). The Book of Isaiah (pp. 16–17). Riverside Printing.
Hallelujah for our Great God!
