“Unto Us A Child Is Born, Unto Us A Son Is Given”

Feature 2 – December 2021 — Grace & Truth Magazine

“Unto Us A Child Is Born,
Unto Us A Son Is Given”

“Unto us a child is born; unto us a Son is given.” —Isaiah 9:6 JND
“When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, come of woman, come under law.” —Galatians 4:4
“And we know that the Son of God has come.” —1 John 5:20

How wonderful that He who is eternally God the Son has come into this world and become a Man. We call this “the incarnation.” God has become Man: “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:14).

Sometimes, especially in December, as preachers speak about the incarnation, they put such an emphasis on our Lord’s humanity that they almost run the danger of denying His deity. An older brother in Christ taught many of us the following saying, which the writer has found helpful:

He never ceased to be what He ever was,
When He became that which He never was before.

The Lord Jesus ever was God, and He continued to be God following the incarnation. He became Man, which He had never been before. God and Man in one blessed person! It is a great mystery which we cannot fully explain or understand. We are only called to believe it!

Three Great Attributes Of God
In Psalm 139, three great attributes of God are mentioned. All three are seen in the Lord Jesus. They are:

1. Omniscience – He knows all things. For example, the Lord Jesus knows the thoughts of people, even the “evil things” of the heart (Mt. 9:4). He knew all about Nathanael’s character before he came to Jesus (Jn. 1:46-48) and, later, Peter’s conversation with the tax collectors (Mt. 17:24-25).
2. Omnipresence – He is everywhere. In the Lord’s conversation with Nicodemus, Jesus spoke about Himself: “And no one has gone up to heaven, save He who came down out of heaven, the Son of Man who is in heaven” (Jn. 3:13). Notice that while He was talking with Nicodemus, He could speak of Himself as being “in heaven.” He is still omnipresent as God.
3. Omnipotence – He is all-powerful. Who could calm a storm but God (Mk. 4:35-41)? The power that the Lord Jesus displayed over death, whether in raising others or Himself (Rom. 1:4; Mt. 9:18-26; Lk. 7:11-17; Jn. 10:17), shows that He is God. He is the Son of God.

Having Attributes Of Man
At the same time we would not understate His humanity. Jesus became a true Man without sin. He was obedient to His Father (Phil. 2:8). The Son was dependent upon His Father and was a Man of prayer (Mk. 1:35; Lk. 3:21, 5:16, 6:12, 9:18, 22:41-45). The Lord knew what it was to be hungry (Mt. 4:2) and thirsty (Jn. 4:7, 19:28). He awoke morning by morning to hear as One instructed (Isa. 50:4), in order to have a word in season to those who were weary – something He also had experienced (Jn. 4:6).

Again we say it is a great mystery! Let us not use His true deity to deny His true humanity (without sin), or vice versa, but to believe both and worship! Hold on to what the Scriptures say!

Old Testament Prophecy
Consider some prophecies that foretold His first coming. The first promise was of the woman’s Seed who would bruise, or crush, the serpent’s head, but whose heel would be bruised (Gen. 3:15). Since the moments after the fall, Adam and Eve and their descendants have had hope of a coming Deliverer. They also knew this One would have to suffer: His heel would be crushed.

In Isaiah 7 Jehovah gave a promise to the house of David that “the Lord Himself shall give you a sign: Behold a virgin shall conceive and shall bring forth a son, and call His name Immanuel (v.14 KJV). “Immanuel” means “God is with us.” This verse tells us how this coming Deliverer, later referred to as Israel’s Messiah, would come into this world. He would be born of a virgin, something which had never happened before!

In Isaiah 9 another wonderful prophecy was given: “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given” (v.6). The Child would be born of the virgin, but the Son would be given. The New Testament confirms both of these truths. The Child was born, as confirmed by Matthew 1:18,25. First John 4:14 testifies that the Son was given, for “the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.”

In Micah 5, the very place where the coming deliverer and Messiah would be born is given to us. “And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah … out of thee shall He come forth unto Me who is to be Ruler in Israel: whose goings forth are from of old, from the days of eternity” (v.2 JND).

Hosea 11:1 tells us God would call His Son “out of Egypt.” The fulfillment of this is given in Matthew 2:19-21 when Joseph, Mary and the young Child returned from Egypt.

The Fullness Of Time
We have seen that the Old Testament prophesied of the coming Christ, or Messiah. From Adam and Eve on through the many intervening years, this was the hope of all who believed God. Then, 40 centuries after the first promise was made, the Christ of God appeared in this world. In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law (Gal. 4:4). The Father sent the Son to be the Savior, not of the Jews only, but of the world (1 Jn. 4:14). He has come!

What does it mean that He came in the fullness of time? Every reader of the Old Testament is able to see that our God tried man in many different ways to see if fallen man could be recovered on his own. Before the flood, mankind was left to himself and his own conscience. We read that violence and corruption filled the earth (Gen. 6:5,11). So, conscience could not help man.

Then we read that after the flood, in Noah, God instituted human government. Did this help man to return to God? No, Noah himself became drunk and could not govern himself. Man also tried to build a tower in Babel. Rather than seeking to exalt God, man wanted to exalt himself (Gen. 11:4). This, according to prophecy, will be the character of the various men who will be involved in government during the tribulation (see Daniel 11:36; Rev. 13:6,14).

We then read that God called Abraham out of Ur of the Chaldees and gave him promises. His grandson Jacob had to confess, “I am not worthy of the least of all [Thy] mercies and of [Thy] truth (Gen. 32:10 KJV). After this came the law of Moses, and the New Testament assures us that by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified before God (Rom. 3:20).

Therefore, whether under conscience, government, promise or law, it was fully proved that man could not be recovered to God on his own. If mankind were to be reconciled to God, God Himself would have to act. So, the fullness of time is when there was no other hope for mankind, except that God would send His Son!

The Account In Matthew
The gospel of Matthew presents to us the Lord Jesus as the King, beginning by saying, “Book of the generation of Jesus Christ, Son of David, Son of Abraham” (1:1 JND). As Son of David, He will sit upon the throne. Being Son of Abraham, He is the “Yea” and “Amen” of all the promises (see 2 Cor. 1:20). Guided by the Holy Spirit, Matthew then presents to us the wise men coming from the east to honor the One born King of the Jews. It appears that the wise men came from the east sometime after the birth of the Lord Jesus. The fact that Herod wanted to kill all the male children two years old and under would seem to indicate the wise men were not in Bethlehem immediately after the Lord was born as Man into this world. They did not meet the Lord where He had been laid in the manger, but they came into the house (Mt. 2:11) – Joseph and Mary were living in a house by the time the wise men came.

Why did they come, following “His star” (v.2) on the long journey to Jerusalem? It has been suggested that they came from the area of Persia, where Daniel had lived. Daniel, of course, was one of the wise men, or counselors, in the Babylonian and, later, Persian empires.

In the book of Daniel there are a number of references to the coming Messiah. He is the Stone cut without hands (2:45) and as the “Son of man … there was given to Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom” (vv.13-14). We do not know for sure, but perhaps this was a passage that started them on their journey to find the King of the Jews. Notice that Scripture does tell us the star which they saw while in the East moved them to come to Jerusalem and then was over the house in Bethlehem.

When they arrived in the house where Joseph and Mary and the young Jesus were staying, the wise men presented their gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh (Mt. 2:11). All three of these items speak of the glory of the Lord Jesus:

• Gold speaks of His deity. He is God, though now manifest in flesh. As Isaiah said, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given” (9:6).
• Frankincense tells of His perfect life that was always fragrant to His Father. The Lord rightly said, “I do always the things that are pleasing to Him” (Jn. 8:29). How wonderful that after 4,000 years of the stink of sinful man before God, there was a blessed Man who in everything would be fragrant to Him!
• Myrrh is indicative of His sufferings and death – it smells sweet but tastes very bitter. The Lord’s life, wonderful as it was, could not save us. He had to endure the cross, suffer the judgment for our sins and go into death. He tasted “death for every thing” (Heb. 2:9).

At the very commencement of His life as a Man on earth, we see His person (the gold), His perfect life (the frankincense) and His sufferings and death (the myrrh). It is no wonder that the wise men when they found Him “rejoiced with exceeding great joy” (Mt. 2:10). Occupation with Christ gives joy even in the midst of trials and suffering. May we all be more and more occupied with Him!

The Gospel Of Luke
In Malachi 3:16-18 we find a little remnant of the Jews who were faithful to the Lord, in the midst of many who were bringing polluted offerings (1:7-8) and who despised the Lord’s name (v.6). As we begin the first two chapters of Luke’s gospel we find there was still a remnant walking with the Lord and waiting for the Son of God to come. Zacharias, Elizabeth, Joseph, Mary, Simeon and Anna are named for us. There were others, for Anna spoke to all who looked for “redemption in Jerusalem” (2:38).

The gospel of Luke emphasizes the true humanity of the Lord Jesus. He is the Son of Man. In accord with this, we are given many of the details of the events which surrounded His birth into this world, including details about His forerunner: John the Baptist. After John’s birth, his father Zacharias gave a prophetic word while being filled with the Holy Spirit (1:67-79). In verses 67-75 he spoke of a deliverance from their enemies, then in verses 76-79 Zacharias told of deliverance from their sins. Dear reader do you know through faith that your sins are forgiven? That is one reason why the Lord Jesus came into the world.

About six months after the prophetic comments given by Zacharias, the blessed Lord – the Jews’ Messiah and the Savior of the world – came. We enjoy the record of what took place, such as Luke 2:10-11: “And the angel said to them, Fear not, for behold, I announce to you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people; for today a Savior has been born to you in David’s city, who is Christ the Lord.” The verses surrounding this great event – His coming and birth – are often read at Christmas time, but they are worthy of our meditation all year long!

In Luke we do not read about the wise men visiting the Lord in the house. Instead, we find the shepherds coming to meet the Lord just after He is born. How appropriate, since the Lord Himself came as the Good Shepherd who would give His life for His sheep! Following the angel’s direction, they arrived to see the Lord soon after He was born, lying in the manger. “The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all things which they had heard and seen, as it had been said to them” (v.20). If we know today that the Son of God has come into this world, we can well understand the shepherds’ joy and praise. May we join them in worship!

After this we have the account of the Lord Jesus being brought to the temple to be circumcised, “as it is written in the law of the Lord” (v.23). This shows us that Joseph and Mary were careful to obey the Word of God. May we learn from them to value and obey the complete Word, which we have today. While they were there, a man named Simeon approached and took the Lord Jesus up in his arms. It had been “divinely communicated to him by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death before he should see the Lord’s Christ” (v.26), who is God’s Messiah. Simeon held the Lord Jesus in his arms and said, “Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples; a light for revelation of the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel” (vv.30-32). How wonderful that he held God’s salvation! The promised woman’s Seed according to Genesis 3, who is the Child and Son of Isaiah 9, has come!

Our God and Father is faithful to fulfill His promises. Dear reader, we can trust Him – do you?

By Kevin Quartell