Christmas Eve - Isaiah 9.2-7 - December 24, 2014
1) The
prophet Isaiah gives us so many rich words describing our savior. One could
spend hours unpacking the beautiful titles the prophet assigns to our Lord
Jesus, Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of
Peace. But we must first turn our attention instead to two small words from the
prophet. They are two small words which make all the difference in the world
for us poor, miserable sinners. These two words summarize the entire doctrine of
the Holy Gospel and without these two words, the preaching of the Gospel falls
flat on the floor before it can reach our ears. It is true that the child of
Mary, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in the manger Wonderful, He is
Counselor. He is the Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace.
But all of these titles to describe who He is and what He does mean little in
and of themselves until we understand two of the tiniest words in the text. The
prophet, speaking 800 years before the Christ would we born, says, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son
is given.” “Unto us.” This is the key for rightly understanding this child
of Mary. “Unto us” is the cornerstone for our contemplation of the birth of
this child of the Eve of this Holy Day. For all that the child is and all the
child does is worthless if He is not ‘unto us.’ Everything that He brings
doesn’t matter a hill of beans if He doesn’t come ‘unto us,’ if He isn’t given
to us, that is, for our sake and our benefit.
2) “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son
is given.” Not to anyone else. The child is not born for the sake of the
angels for they do not need what this child brings. The angels, being both
without bodies and without sin benefit nothing from the incarnation of the Son
of God. If they needed salvation from sin God would have surely taken on the
form of the angels. But He is not born unto them. Neither is the child born for
His own sake, or for the sake of God the Father or God the Holy Ghost. The
Triune God has no reason to assume human flesh for Himself. God, being God, is
perfect and complete within Himself, so He stands to gain nothing by
incorporating manhood into the Godhead. Nor was this child born unto sheep and
cattle, dogs or cats or any other animal which has no rational soul. Having no
souls they have no need of this child who comes to pay the ransom for souls. This
child is born “unto us.” The Only-Begotten Son of God, begotten from the Father
from eternity is given unto us because we are the ones who need Him. So on the
night of Christ’s birth the angel appears not to the sheep but to their
shepherds, “keeping watching over their
flock by night.” (Luke 2:8) That angel says to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy
which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of
David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11) The angels echo
Isaiah. His tidings are for ‘all people.’
For there is born ‘to you’ this day
a savior. This child is given to all
mankind as gift from God the Father. None of His titles matter if He is given
to anyone else but us. None of His work matters if He is not given to you.
3) Why
is this child given to us? God the Father sends God the Son to assume our human
nature on this night so that He might save us from our sins. There really is no
sentimentality in the church on this day that would cause us to cast aside THE
reason for this child. Joseph is told by the angel in a dream that Mary “will
bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name JESUS, for He will save His people
from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) So this child lying in
the manger in a swaddling cloth will be put forth as the price for all our
sins. This child is given “unto us” because all of us are sinners in need of
redemption. This child is given to all mankind because all mankind fall under
the condemnation of sin. This child, Jesus, is THE manifestation of God’s
grace, so that any talk of the grace of God apart from Christ falls short.
Jesus is given unto us. He is our savior, for that is what ‘Jesus’ means. As
our savior, given to us by God the Father, He then becomes all of His glorious
titles not for His own sake but for our sake.
4) He
is Wonderful. His incarnation and birth cause of to marvel at His great love
for us, the love that would drive God to become man and unite with us in such
an intimate way. His entire work is wonderful and fathomless to our thoughts,
for this child, who Himself is gift, gives sinners everything that is His by
faith. His righteousness is given to us who have only the filth of sin and
unrighteousness in our hearts. His innocence is reckoned to us who are guilty
of all sorts of gross, despicable, unseemly sin. His blessedness as THE Son of
God is given to those who have been child of the Devil, chained by sin and
bludgeoned by temptation, so that by baptism we become sons and daughters of
God. All this is Wonderful, something to be pondered, something on which to
meditate, but something never to be fully understood by human reason or
feeling.
5) This
child becomes our Counselor. Not in the way that counselors are thought of
today, listening to our problems and allowing us to fix them through our own
rambling on. Nor is He a counselor to advise us what we ought to do in every
decision we make throughout our days. He is our Counselor because He offers us
the true counsel of the Holy Gospel. When our consciences attack us, reminding
us of our sins and magnifying them in our sight, so that we can only see the
enormity of our transgressions and guilt, Christ counsels us with His Gospel
that our sins are atoned for for His sake. When Satan seeks to dredge our sins
out of the sea of God’s mercy, there is Christ, speaking His counsel to us that
“the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us
from all sin.” (1 John 1:7) When the world throws up our unworthiness to be
called Christians, when the world persecutes us for observing all the wonderful
things Jesus gives to us, Christ counsels us with His Gospel. You are baptized
and so you belong to Him and have had your sins forgiven in those waters. You
have been absolved of your sins, so your sins are gone from your eyes
forevermore. You have been fed with the Lord’s Supper, so you lack no good
thing in this life, having tasted Christ Himself. You have the Word of God in
the pages of Scripture and preached from your pulpit. He bears the name
Counselor because He is with us to comfort us in every distress from the Devil,
the world, and our own sinful flesh that seeks to torment us.
6) He
is Mighty God, though we celebrate Him as a lowly child today. He is Mighty to
accomplish all that He promises, so that all His promises and counsel will not
fall short and miss their mark. All His promises are good and true because He
is Mighty God, able to perform all which He promises to us. He is Everlasting
Father to remind us His relation to the faithful. Christ is not a tyrant. He is
not a stern judge. Nor is He our therapist, our cheerleader, or a source of
sentimentality for this season. He reconciles us to God our Heavenly Father. He
teaches us this when He teaches us to pray, “Our Father.” Luther writes in His Small Catechism, “With these words, God tenderly invites us to believe that He is our
true Father and that we are His true children, so that with all boldness and
confidence we may ask Him as dear children ask their dear father.” The
Christ child, here to save us from our sins, forgives our sins and brings us to
His Father, God the Father, so that we might belong to Him as His dear
children. If God is now your Father, will He treat you terribly or as a servant
or slave? He is Everlasting Father. By baptism you are His everlasting child,
whom He loves and with whom He is well pleased. This child is also the Prince of
Peace. His reign and government will be upon His shoulders and is one of peace
of the soul and tranquility of the conscience, which is why His herald says to
the shepherds, “Do not be afraid.” He does not come to demand anything from
you, but to give you every good gift and every perfect gift out of sheer grace
and mercy.
7) So much more could be said
about these titles and needs to be said about the titles the prophet gives to
our Lord. They are a constant sort of meditation for us Christians not only tonight,
but every day of the year. This child is given unto us for our salvation and as
a defense against all the attacks of the Devil. As we ponder the manger of our
Lord Jesus and the great paradise that it is for our souls, we must first and
foremost ponder that this child, our Lord Jesus, is gift given “unto us.” He is all of these things, Wonderful,
Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace, not for His own
sake, but for us and our salvation. Let us give thanks to the Lord, for He is
good and in Christ Jesus His mercy endures forever. Amen.