For 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. There 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 the LORD of Hosts will accomplish this. Isaiah 9:6-7.
Isaiah and the other prophets follow these major themes:
- God loves you (Israel), has chosen you, has made many great and wonderful promises to you, and has been faithful to you.
- God calls you to respond to Him with love, obedience, faithfulness, and exclusive and authentic worship.
- Your response has been compromised by mixed worship of other gods, disobedience, and lack of faith.
- God has sent various and ever-increasing calamities trying to get your attention, that you would turn your heart back to Him. The latest and strongest of these has been invasion and domination by other countries and peoples.
- These invading powers sometimes become misled into thinking their domination is because of their superiority, or God’s rejection of His people.
- However, God will judge, punish and sometimes destroy those peoples for their own wickedness, including idolatry, and pride.
- God does not intend these calamities to continue unendingly, but that there will come a season of restoration and redemption, where you will live in God’s covenant relationship as He originally intended.
- The promise of restoration culminates in the coming of the Messiah, and His permanent rule and reign.
It is in this cosmic context, and to this last point of the coming Messiah in particular, that God promises, of all things, a child.
To be sure, the promises concerning the child are great: Wonderful Counselor, peace, justice and righteousness, among them.
But, still, the initiation is a child.
Weak. Small. Insignificant. Powerless. Dependent. Vulnerable.
But full of promise.
It is in this promise, God’s promise, that there is hope. It is because God promises that we are not to despise the day of small beginnings.
We hope. We believe. We rejoice. Because to us a Child is born.
Isaiah 9:9 & 10 follows what you have written about. “All the people will know….who say in pride and arrogance of heart….the bricks have fallen down but we will rebuild with hewn stones. The sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them with cedars.” This is what happened to Israel and it is what happen in the United States at 9/11 and afterward. Jonathan Cahn has written about this in the Harbinger. If you haven’t read it, you should. It is God’s warnings to us that the same thing can happen to us if we will not repent of our pride and arrogance and come back to God. The answer is 2 Chronicles 7:14; if the church will do it.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I’m reminded of the prodigal son, who coming to the end of himself, turned back toward home. But he misapprehended his father. He rehearsed a speech forsaking his relationship as a son. He did not anticipate that his father would be watching at the horizon, probably every day, for his son’s return. Nor was he prepared for his father to cut off his prepared speech, rejecting his son’s abdication of sonship, rushing to reaffirm it, killing the fatted calf, putting on him the best robe and the signet ring.
The older brother was indignant that his father would be so quick to receive and forgive. He, too, did not understand his father’s heart.
I do not affirm application of Isaiah 9:9-10 to the United States. That passage was part of a word to a particular people at a particular time. Not all words spoken apply to all people at all times. The US is not Israel. From prophetic words to Israel we can learn general and universal principals about God’s character and other truths. But one must be careful about making extensions of general application of words in scripture spoken to individuals or identified groups.
“The Harbinger” is a work of fiction, as are “The Chronicles of Narnia,” “The Shack,” The Da Vinci Code,” and other works. While it may have value as such, I stop short of recognizing it as something more.
Whether or not there are coincidental parallels between Israel and the US, or any other nation in history, does not change God’s call, universal for all peoples and all times, to repentance and to relationship with Himself.
So, so good! Love your insights
As I’ve studied art history, I have often wondered why paintings and sculptures of the Virgin and Child have been such a popular subject at least until the late 18th century. Then it dawned on me that the Church and the artists they commissioned has wanted to convey the reality of the Incarnation – that God really became man, and not just an adult, but vulnerable, as a child. We can conjecture, of course, but the historical record suggests that Almighty Father trusted a woman to birth, wean and raise the One who would save us from our sins. But the new Eve did not repeat the mistakes of the original Eve, nor did the new Adam repeat the mistakes of the old Adam. Nonetheless He is truly like us.
Glory be to the Father
And to the Son
And to the Holy Spirit
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be
World without end
Amen.