Things that make life hard often feel worse at Christmastime. Culturally, we have turned Christmas into a matter of performance. There is the cultural pressure to have life at its “Instagram-able” best: impressive-looking homes, delicious-looking food, precocious-looking children. Meanwhile, strained relationships, bereavement, financial difficulties, and uncertainties can feel even more pronounced. A season of presumed celebration makes the hardships even more apparent.
So Isaiah 9 is for us. Look at who the prophecy is addressed to:
“Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined” (Isa. 9:1–2).
God didn’t come to this world to congratulate the successful and high-five those who have their lives together. He came for those walking in darkness—they have seen a great light. Not “O come all ye faithful, joyful, and triumphant”—otherwise none of us could be there. No. Christmas is for the faithless, joyless, and defeated. How is this possible? Through a baby.
Marvelous Savior for the Weary
It is normal for parents and grandparents to make somewhat outlandish claims about their newborn. But Isaiah’s claims in Isaiah 9:6 here put even the most over-enthusiastic parent to shame:
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
Four in One
These four titles are his one “name.” They are inseparable and indivisible. We can’t hope to have his peace without his deity, his death without his counsel. He is only any of these things to us because he is all of them.
And the cause of such a figure cannot fail (v. 7). His government and peace will only increase. In 2020 the kingdom of Jesus Christ has grown, not shrunk. In 2021, the kingdom of Jesus Christ will grow, not shrink. If we are on the right side of Jesus, we will never be on the wrong side of history. He will never fail us.
All that’s left for us is to marvel at him. And to receive him. To us a son is given. And so we pray along with the carol:
“O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray.
Cast out our sin and enter in; be born in us today.”